Reviews — The Arctic Manual. 173 



matter bearing on these different subjects is also to be found in the 

 many paragraphs of the succeeding sections relating to the Parry 

 Islands, East Greenland, Arctic America, and such other lands as 

 have up to the present time been scientifically explored. 



But it is to the geological portions of the " Arctic Manual " that we 

 wish to draw particular attention ; and for that purpose the subject 

 will be considered as a whole, without taking the information 

 afforded by the various sections in the order given in the book. 



Before doing so, we must recall to recollection the situation of the 

 different localities subsequently referred to, to avoid misapprehension. 

 Briefly then, between the 290 and 340 meridians of longitude, lies 

 the vast and almost unexplored tract of land known as Greenland, 

 extending as far south as 60^ north latitude. Of Ea^st Greenland 

 comparatively little is known ; but in West Greenland are several 

 Danish settlements, the most important being those at or near the 

 Island of Disco, situated in about 70° north latitude, which is sepa- 

 rated by a strait, called the Waigat, from the prominent Noursoak 

 Peninsula. 



The arms of the sea known as Davis Strait, Baffin's Bay, Smith 

 Sound, and Kennedy Channel, taken in order from south to north, 

 separate Greenland from East Arctic America, Boothia, the Parry 

 Islands, etc. ; while opposite the northern part of East Greenland are 

 situated Spitzbergen and Franz-Joseph-Land. 



Greater difficulties lie in the way of the practical geologist in the 

 inhospitable regions near the Pole than elsewhere, from the rarity 

 with which the surface is free from snow, or good sections visible. 

 But some important facts have nevertheless been ascertained, though 

 there is much still to be learnt, both from a detailed examination of 

 the fossil contents of the rocks, and as to the exact extent of the 

 different formations known to exist. 



Thus Cretaceous and Miocene fossils have been found in Greenland 

 and Disco and described ; Silurian rocks are known to exist in 

 Boothia, Melville Island, and the neighbourhood ; lastly, large areas 

 of Basalt occur, and granitoid and metamorphosed rocks are to be 

 seen nearly everywhere. 



The western coast of Baffin's Bay abounds in gneiss, granites, 

 syenites, and siliceous schists. The eastern coast from Cape Farewell, 

 itself a granite island, to the north, consists of gneiss, alternating 

 with granite and syenite. Mica-slate and hornblende-slate charac- 

 terize all the mountain land ; and Kingiktorsoak, one of the most 

 elevated points in this extensive area, is composed of gneiss, against 

 the lower part of which lie beds of mica-slate. This latter appears 

 generally to overlie the gneiss, and all the lower mountains seen' 

 composed of it (Giesecke). 



On the other or eastern coast of Greenland, the underlying rocks 

 are known to be crystalline (Micaceous, etc.), and to be overlain by 

 Basalts (Dolerites and Anamesites), and these re-occur in Spitzbergen 

 and Franz-Joseph-Land. In the latter, ''its broad horizontal sheets 

 and the steep table-mountains, which recall the Ambas of Abyssinia, 

 impart to the country its peculiar physiognomy," and the rocks to 

 the south resembled true Basalt (Payer). 



