68 



must be examined separately in each individual sample. As 

 the rocks of the greater part of the coast which comes nearest 

 the sea, consist of basalt, probably those at the bottom of the 

 sea near the coast will also consist of this material. 



With regard to the individual ingredients of the archæan 

 rocks , it is scarcely possible to distinguish different kinds , in 

 fragments of the size in question (4 — 32°i™): they have there- 

 fore been treated collectively. 



In the case of the sedimentary rocks, the sandstone 

 and the quartzite play the most prominent part, as would be 

 expected seeing that they form by far the greater part of the 

 solid rocks on land. It is remarkable that a comparatively 

 large amount of slate is found in the samples, as very little 

 of this rock is found on land. The Silurian formation is found 

 in the inner parts of Keiser Frans Joseph Fjord and 

 Kong Oscar Fjord, may contain a mixture of all the various 

 sedimentary rocks, but it is not very likely that any of this 

 formation would be able to get into the open sea, for reasons 

 which have been mentioned above. Moreover what came out 

 during the ice-age is found outside the territory from which the 

 samples of this expedition were taken. We have a proof that 

 this formation does not occur in the samples in the fact that 

 not a single limestone or dolomite has been found in 

 them, although these rocks according to Nathorst (p. 288) 

 contribute to form the Silurian formation. The Devonian, which 

 has a vide distribution in the outer parts of the two bays just 

 mentioned, and may therefore be supposed to have contributed 

 much more largely to the formation of the deposits, is not 

 stated to contain slate, and this rock was therefore probably 

 derived from the tertiary formation. This formation has only a 

 very limited extent in the country inside the territory explored 

 by the expedition, but is found in far greater amount north of 

 Ho clis te Iters Vorland, and possibly still farther towards 

 the north. It therefore seems most probable that at least a 



