18 Prof. A. E. Nordenshiold — Geology of Spit zher gen. 



experience, we are inclined to suppose that they are again advancing. 

 As instauces of this we may adduce 



Frithiofs Glacier in Bell Sound. — In my sketch of the geology of 

 Spitzbergen I give the following account of this glacier in 1858 

 and 1864 : 



" On the North coast of Bell Sound, directly to the East of the large island which 

 separates Van Mijen's Bay from the main sound, there existed, only a few years 

 ago, one of the best harbours of Spitzbergen. The whalers on their way from the 

 North coast to Stor Fiord used often to anchor at this harbom- in order to hunt 

 reindeer in the neighbouring fertile valleys ; and this too was one of the first places 

 visited by Professor Torell's expedition in 1858. During this expedition I explored 

 the surrounding country in all directions, so that on revisiting the place in 1864 

 I was able clearly to call to mind its former aspect. The shores of the harbour still 

 in 1858 consisted of a broad strip of muddy land intersected by brooks, bounded on 

 the West by high mountains, and on the North-east by a hill, on which an old cross 

 had been erected over a grave. More to the East stretched, as far as Coal Mount, a 

 marshy low flat traversed by a considerable stream. Directly above the banks of 

 mire and gravel, composing the strip of muddy land which formed the shores of the 

 harbour, gradually commenced a low but broad glacier (the Frithiof Glacier) , which 

 did not, as is usually the case with the glaciers of Spitzbergen, terminate abruptly 

 with a l)reak, and which was consequently considered by us as a receding glacier. In 

 the banks of mire were found remains of various marine shells still covered with their 

 epidermis, from which Torell suspected that these mounds of mud were not moraines, 

 but had been recently forced upwards from the bottom of the sea by the glacier. 

 During the winter of 1860-1861 the previously insignificant glacier descended upon 

 the low land and the grave-hillock on the shore, filled up the harbour, and extended 

 far into the sea. It now constitutes one of the largest glaciers of Spitzbergen, from 

 which immense blocks of ice constantly fall down, so that not even a boat can venture 

 in safety beneath its broken border." 



Desirous to ascertain whether the glacier had undergone any 

 further alteration during the last ten years, I undertook, in the 

 summer of 1873, a dangerous row through the northern entrance to 

 Yan Mijen Bay, along the border of the glacier to Coal Mount. 

 The point of the glacier was thought to have advanced still farther, 

 and it had now, if on a smaller scale, a complete resemblance to the 

 glaciers which occasion the formation of the ice-fiords of Greenland, 

 and which are sketched in Bedogorelse for en expedition till Gronland 

 (Narrative of an Expedition to Greenland) (Ofvers. af Vet.-Akad. 

 Forb. 1870, s. lOOD). See Geol. Mag. 1872, VoL IX. p. 362. 



BechercJie Bay in Bell Sound. — A comparison of the existing con- 

 figuration of the land in this bay with the very accurate map which 

 was constructed by the French Expedition in the Eecherche in the 

 year 1838, shows that the glaciers have considerabl}'' advanced. 

 Unfortunately time did not permit us completely to map the fiord 

 anew, on which account a complete comparison of the extent of the 

 ice before and now was impossible. That the ice in this harbour 

 has considerably advanced during the latest centuries is further 

 proved by the remains of old train oil boiling places found in Robert's 

 Valley, about two kilometres from the present shore, close by the 

 side of a completely broken glacier, which here enters the sea, and 

 which evidently has completely filled up the harbour where whalers 

 anchored a couple of centuries back. 



Whales' Bay in Stor Fiord. — According to the account of the 

 whalers, the old harbour here has been of late years completely filled 

 by a glacier. 



