642 



DR. E. KOETTLITZ ON THE 



[Nov. 1898, 



(p. 622) were seen in water- 

 courses that had cut their 

 way through the ice down 

 to the rock below. 



Other glaciers might be 

 described, all having much 

 the same character, and 

 many similar examples could 

 be given, tending to show 

 the comparative thinness of 

 the ice which covers the 

 southern parts of Franz 

 Josef Land. The ridges and 

 dimpling shown in figs. 4 & 

 6, pp. 626 & 628, indicate 

 the positions of the rocks 

 near the surface of the ice, 

 but these features were much 

 more evident when viewing 

 the country itself. 



There is every reason for 

 thinking that on the larger 

 land-areas of this archi- 

 pelago, such as Alexandra 

 Land, there is a greater 

 thickness of ice than on the 

 smaller islands. It may 

 be thought that the ice- 

 face which occurs at many 

 places is an indication of a 

 greater thickness of ice be- 

 hind pressing it downwards ; 

 but it is quite certain that, 

 in some cases, this ice-face 

 is merely part of a winter 

 snow-drift and has no glacier 

 behind it. The depth of 

 the sea under these ice- faces 

 is, in some instances at least, 

 not very great, for in two 

 cases — namely, under the 

 ice-face at the base of the 

 northern slope of Cape Plora, 

 and under the eastern fan- 

 shaped glacier — it is not 

 more than 3 fathoms. 



On one occasion Mr. Bruce 

 and I had an opportunity of 



