362 



SCIENTIFIC NEV\^S. 



[April 20, lE 



SCIENTIFIC TABLE TALK. 



By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 

 Mr. Nansen, Curator of the Bergen Museum, is about 

 to start on a very interesting expedition to the interior 

 of Greenland, in company with some Norwegian athletes 

 who are well trained in snow travelling. A paragraph 

 announcing this has appeared in many of our papers, 

 and I find that most Enghsh readers misunderstand it. 

 They have seen ridiculous pictures representing Lap- 

 landers standing on net-work devices resembling tennis 

 rackets, and naturally conclude that the " snow shoes " 

 of Nansen's expedition will be something like them. 



They will be as unlike as possible. No frame or net- 

 work of any kind ; no widening of the base under the 

 foot, but just the contrary. 



They will not be snow shoes at all, but ski or 

 snow-skates; runners five to sis feet long, rather nar- 

 rower than the sole of the foot, made of light but strong 

 wood, smooth and rounded at the bottom, gracefully 

 curved upwards, and pointed at each end, prow-like, with 

 a strengthening ridge running along the upper part from 

 each end to nearly the middle, where it is thicker and flat 

 to form a stand for the foot. On this is a simple loop, into 

 which the foot is thrust. They are remarkably light, 

 strong, and somewhat flexible. The wearer, instead of 

 waddling like a goose, as he must on the picture-book 

 snow-shoes, dashes over level snow with a speed equal to 

 that of our best skaters on ice, and flashes down the slopes 

 at toboganing speed. He carries a skistav, a light staff 

 about as long as himself, with a small circular frame at 

 the foot, which has a little net or \t icker-work to give it a 

 bearing on the snow, but a diameter of only about three 

 inches. He can lean upon this or check his speed 

 by using it as a break, and also guide his rapid down- 

 sliding. 



English readers should understand that in countries 

 having an actual winter (we have only samples here) 

 the snow is very different from that of Cheapside. 

 Shortly after the first fall it settles itself down respect- 

 ably, and soon attains a firm skifore or skating surface, 

 over which sledges and snow-skates glide luxuriousl}'. 



Mr. Nansen and his friends " will be landed on the 

 eastern shore of Greenland by an experienced arctic 

 skipper, and then left to their fate. They must get 

 across the terra incognita or perish in the attempt " 

 (Iron, April 6th). 



If their snow-shoes were of the tennis-racket pattern 

 their fate might be easily predicted. A dozen miles a day 

 would be about the rate of progress by such waddling, 

 but with the ski above described (my description 

 is based on a model I have before me that was made by 

 a Norwegian Laplander), more than that distance may 

 be covered in climbing steep snow slopes, which is done 

 by placing the ski nearly crosswise to the slope and 

 tacking upwards in a slanting course. On the down 

 slopes and levels 50 or 60 miles per day will be done 

 easily, or more by flying skirmishers, who will probably 

 precede to reconnoitre, and find the best course for the 

 provision bearers. 



We must not fall into the common mistake of sup- 

 posing that these explorers will suffer from the cold. On 

 the contrary, I venture to predict, from my own expe- 

 rience in corresponding latitudes, that in clear weather 

 the direct sun heat will be scorching, though tempered 

 by the ice and snow. They will have continuous day- 

 light until about the end of July. They purpose starting 



on May 5th from Copenhagen, thence to Iceland, and 

 then across to Greenland. One account states that they 

 are to land at Cape Dan, 66" N., and proceed in a north- 

 westerly direction to Disco Bay. The distance overland 

 will be about 500 miles if this course is taken. 



Hereabouts is the interesting region once occupied by 

 a flourishing Norwegian colony, with twelve parishes, a 

 cathedral (the Garda Cathedral), and bishops duly ap- 

 pointed by the Pope, of which formal records remain, 

 extending from the beginning of the eleventh to that of 

 the fifteenth centurj'. Then, for some unknown reason^ 

 all tidings of the colonj' and its 300 farms were lost, and 

 the mystery has remained unsolved during nearly 500 

 years. 



If the physical configuration of Greenland resembles 

 that of Norway, as the deep fjords on its western coast 

 all indicate, there must be, as I have long ago contended, 

 an inner region justifying the name of the country, and 

 with a climate similar to that of corresponding Norwegian 

 latitudes. Some descendants of the old colonists may 

 still exist there. It is simply a question of level. If all 

 the interior of Greenland is a table-land like that above 

 the Justedal, it is certainly covered with permanent ice 

 like the great Justedal snefond, but if there are valleys 

 with moderate slopes there will be habitable, or even 

 richly fertile regions. 



If anj' of my readers are sceptical, let them turn to a 

 map of Europe and note the position and latitude of the 

 frozen Gulf of Finland, and still further north the Gulf 

 of Bothnia. Let him proceed up this 500 miles further 

 north than St. Petersburg, to Tornea, formerly described 

 as the ultima thule of possible travelling, where all is 

 frozen, and described in not very old books as the 

 southern boundary of vast regions of hopeless snowy 

 desolation. He will then, perhaps, be surprised to learn 

 that he may, if he chooses, take a holiday trip from 

 Tornea and travel 500 miles further still due north, and 

 at the end of that distance arrive at the valley of the 

 Alten and the banks of the Kaafjord, where the sea 

 never freezes, and where in summer, to quote the words 

 of Murray's Handbook for Norway, " the traveller will 

 meet as soft and pleasing scenery as any Alpine country 

 can present," where "the fir, the birch, the willow, and 

 mountain ash are abundant ; even cornfields and culti- 

 vated meadows are seen." I am able to confirm this 

 description by my own recollections of this charming 

 region, which lies in latitude 70', or about six degrees 

 further north than the capital of Iceland. 



I may add that the Norwegian army includes a corps of 

 riflemen mounted on ski, whose evolutions are described 

 as very remarkable and efficient. 



Somewhat connected with the above subject are the 

 recent observations of Rink and Helland, who state that 

 the great Greenland glaciers travel at the rate of 35 feet 

 per day, while the average rate of Swiss glaciers is but 

 12 to 15 inches. This, if correct, indicates a great mass 

 of ice, a vast neve or snefond behind the glaciers push- 

 ing them onward. Nordenskjold has proved the existence 

 of this for some distance inland, but such may exist 

 without by any means covering the whole of Greenland. 



This rapidity of flow of the Greenland ice has an im- 

 portant bearing upon the questions that are under dis- 

 cussion concerning the period and duration of the glacial 

 epoch, and also indicates the possibility of comparatively 

 rapid changes in arctic climates, such changes as probably 

 destroyed or drove inland the old Norwegian colony^ 

 We have yet, however, to learn whether the particular 



