738 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol.. 11., No. 44 



phenomenon on the inland ice of Greenland which 

 is lelated to the 'sun-smoke' phenomenon of Scan- 

 dinavia; viz., what Arago has described under the 

 name ' brouillard sec' 



On the 24lli, after an absence of fifty-seven liours. 

 the Lapps returned. It was the want of driuking- 

 water and fuel which compelled them to return. 

 The surface had been excellent for their journey, and 

 they had covered a distance out and back of two 

 liundredand thirty kilometres, — an estimate which I 

 consider perfectly reliable. During the march forward 

 the barometer was read every third hoiir. It gave 

 the point of return a height of two tliousand metres.' 



As to the run, Lars rendered the following report. 

 When they liad reached thirty miles from the camp, 

 no more water could be found. Farther on, the ice 

 became perfectly smooth. The thermometer regis- 

 tered —.5° C. It was very easy to proceed on the 

 'skidor.' At the point of return the snow was level, 

 and ipacked by the wind. There was no trace of 

 land. Tliey only saw before them a smooth ice, cov- 

 ered by fine and hard snow. The composition of the 

 svirface was this: first four feet of loose snow, then 

 granular ice, and at last an open space large enough 

 to hold an outstretched hand. It was surrounded by 

 angular bits of ice (crystals). The inland ice was 

 formed in terraces, thus: first a hill, then a level, 

 again another hill; and so on. The Lapps had slept 

 for four hours, from twelve midnight on July 23, in 

 a hollow dug in tlie snow while a terrific storm blew. 

 They had till then been awake for fifty-three hours. 

 On the first day there was no wind ; but next day it 

 came from the south, and lasted thus until twenty- 

 four miles on the return-journey, when it changed 

 to west. On the return-journey, when forty miles 

 from our camp, two ravens were seen. They came 

 from the north, and returned in the same direction. 

 The Lapps had for a moment lost the track of the 

 'skidor' in the snow. The ravens flew at first, they 

 found, parallel with the trade, and then turned to the 

 north. 



, On July 2.5 we began the return-journey. It was 

 high time, a;s the weather now became very bad; and 

 it was with great difficulty we proceeded in the hazy 

 air between the number of crevasses. The cold, after 

 the sun sank below the horizon at night, also became 

 very great; and on the morning of July 27 the glass 

 fell to —11° C. 



As to the return-journey, I may be very brief. The 

 rivers now impeded us but little, as they were to a 

 great extent dried up. The ice-knolls had decreased 

 considerably in size too, and lay more apart; but the 

 glacial crevasses had greatly expanded, and were more 

 dangerous, being covered with snow. Even the cavi- 

 ties and the glacial wells, of which many undoubtedly 

 leave a veritable testimony of their existence behind 

 them in the shape of corresponding hollows in the 

 rock beneath, had expanded, and increased in number. 

 On a few occasions on the return-journey we saw 

 flocks of birds, most probably water-fowl, which were 

 returning from the north. 



* I have as yet been unable to verify the barometer calcula- 

 tiQna,.and the figures stated here may suffer some moditicatiou. 



On July 31 we again sighted land, which was 

 reached on the afternoon of Aug. 4, and proceeded 

 to Sophia haibor, where Eskimos were, as arranged, 

 wailing for us. For convenience' sake I now divided 

 our party into two, one of which sailed in the lifeboat 

 of the Sophia to Egedesminde, where the steamer 

 was to take lis on board ; and the other, in which 

 was myself, marched to that place across the low 

 but broad promontory which separates Tessiusarsoak 

 and South-East Bay, and then in two Eskimo 'kone' 

 boats to Ikamiut and Egedesminde. 



On Aug. 16 the Sophia arrived from the north, 

 embarked us, and made for Ivigtut, where we arrived 

 on the 19th. 



Of the expedition carried out under Dr. Nathorst 

 during my absence, he will himself make a report,' 

 and I have no doubt that the results of tlie same will 

 prove very important. Particularly will the very rich 

 collections of fossil plants, which he has made with 

 the greatest regard to the geological condition of the 

 strata, be of great value to science, as they will furnish 

 us with many new materials, and detailed illustrations 

 of the flora of the far north during the epoch when 

 forests of fig-trees, cycadi, gingko, magnolia, and 

 tulip trees covered these regions. Dr. Forsstrand 

 and Herr Kolthofi's collections and studies of the 

 fauna of Greenland will also contribute to extend our 

 knowledge of the naturalistic conditions of the arctic 

 regions; while the careful researches made by Herr 

 Hamberg, of the saltness, composition, and tempera- 

 ture of the sea, will, I am sure, greatly benefit hydrog- 

 raphy. His researches have been effected in Davis 

 Strait and Bafiin's Bay too, the hydrographical con- 

 ditions of which are but little I^nown. 



With regard to the results of my exploration of the 

 inland ice, I may be permitted to say a few words. 

 That we found no ice-free land in the interior, or 

 that it does not exist between 6S° and G9° latitude in. 

 Greenland, is due directly to the orographical condi- 

 tions which exist in this part of the country, as re- 

 ferred to in my programme of the expedition.- The 

 land has here the form of a round loaf of bread, with 

 sides which gradually and symmetrically slope down to 

 the sea; i.e., exactly the shapewhich I then pointed 

 out was a necessary condition if tlie entire country 

 should be covered with a continuous sheet of ice. 



But, thanks to the Lapps, my expedition is the 

 first which has penetrated into the very heart of the 

 enormous Greenland continent, and which has thus 

 solved a problem of the greatest geographical and 

 scientific importance. It is the first exploration of 

 the hitherto unknown interior of Greenland, the only 

 continent in the world into which man had not pene- 

 trated. 



A new means of locomotion, the 'skidor,' seems 

 also to have been acquired for the arctic explorer of 

 the future, which may greatly assist him in his work, 

 and enable him to reach places hitherto deemed im- 

 possible of approach, but of the use of which the 

 Lapp seems to possess, so to speak, the monopoly. 



A. E. NOKDENSKliiLD. 

 ' 2/aturet vol. sxviii. p. 541. 

 2 Ibid., p. 37. 



