178 Revieivs — The Arctic Manual, 



by numerous other minerals as well as copper- and iron-pyrites, 

 while tin-ore in thin seams is extremely plentiful. The rigour of 

 the climate and the difficulty of getting easy access to the country 

 are the only obstacles to utilizing largely this source of wealth. 



The phj^sical changes in the country indicate that Greenland is 

 still undergoing a comparatively rapid change. The south-western 

 part is gradually sinking, and the northern portion rising ; and no 

 Aboriginal Greenlander (the western shores alone being now oc- 

 cupied) builds his house in modern times near the water's edge. 



Numerous traces of old dwellings are now washed by the tide ; 

 and, as at the Moravian Colony of Fiskenees, founded in 1758, "in 

 30 or 40 years they were obliged once, perhaps twice, to move the 

 poles upon which they set their large boats, called 'umiak,' or 

 w^omen's boats. The old poles still remain as silent witnesses, but 

 beneath the water." (Pingel.) 



In Franz- Joseph-Land the same gradual upheaval has been noticed ; 

 and the raised beaches there, as well as the whale-bones of Spitz- 

 bergen, and those of North Cornwall, where (at Mount Parker) a 

 skeleton is stated to have been found at an elevation of 500 feet, 

 attest still further the great ])hysical alteration that is going on in 

 the Arctic Seas. Mr. Howorth's paper on Elevation of the Surface 

 in the Arctic Kegions, reprinted in part, pp. 483, etc., gives ample 

 information on this subject. 



It is difficult to foresee the effect of such a change of level. If 

 the Franklin Archipelago does not share this movement, the final 

 result may be that the narrow channel of Smith's Sound may be- 

 come wider and deeper by the sinking of its East Coast, and thus 

 afford easier access to that unknown area, to assist the explorers of 

 w^hich the " Manual " we have been examining has been compiled. 

 In the future, the now often ice-blocked channel may be compara- 

 tively o^oen, and the vast ice-cap of Greenland may extend towards 

 the north-east, where the land would be slowly rising. 



The final section of the work, Physics, by Prof. W. G. Adams, 

 F.E.S., is as fully and exhaustively dealt with as that with which 

 Geologists are more nearly connected ; but the consideration of the 

 branches of science with which it deals belongs to a province other 

 than ours. 



Not the least valuable part of the " Manual" is the Appendix, con- 

 taining a list of the books already published on the question of Arc- 

 tic research ; and lastly a most excellent Index. With a volume 

 containing so much and such varied information, the index is of the 

 highest importance, and the care that has been bestowed on it en- 

 hances the value of the work under reference. 



The " Manual," though produced in a limited time, and under 

 great pressure, is a model of carefully compiled information up to the 

 latest possible date ; and the Eoyal Society may be congratulated on 

 having furnished a most valuable contribution to scientific knowledge, 

 and also in having entrusted the arrangement of the matter to such 

 able and experienced hands as those of the Editor. 



0. Cooper King. 



