PROF. NORDENSKIOLD, EXPEDITION TO GREENLAND. 393 



bringing over mountain, liill, and dale, tlic apparatus of the ice 

 expedition to this spot, and, after our dinner's rest, a little further 

 up the ice-wall. Here our followers left us. Only Dr. Berggren, 

 myself, and two Greenlanders (Isak and Sisarniak) were to proceed 

 ffirther. We immediately commencetl our march, but did not get 

 very far that day. 



The inland ice differs from ordinary glaciers by, among other 

 things, the almost total absence of moraine-lbrmalions. The col- 

 lections of earth, gravel, and stone, with which the ice on the 

 landward edge is covered, are in fact so inconsiderable in com- 

 parison with the moraines of even very small glaciers, that they 

 scarcely deserve mention, and no larger, newly formed ridges of 

 gravel running parallel with the edge of the glacier are to be met 

 with, at least in the tract visited by us. The landward border of 

 the inward ice is, however, darkened, we can scarcely say covered, 

 with earth, and sprinkled with small sharp stones. 



Here the ice is tolerably smooth, though furrowed by deep 

 clefts at right angles to the border — such as that made use of 

 by us to climb up. But in order not immediately to terrify 

 the Greenlanders by choosing the way over the frightful and 

 dangerous clefts, Ave determined to abandon this comparatively 

 smooth ground, and at first take a southerly direction parallel 

 with the chasms and afterwards turn to the East. We gained 

 our object by avoiding the chasm, but fell in instead with ex- 

 tremely rough ice. We now understood what the Greenlanders 

 meant, when they endeavoured to dissuade us from the journey 

 on the ice, by sometimes lifting their hands up over their heads, 

 sometimes sinking them down to the ground, accompanied by to 

 us an unintelligible talk. They meant by this to describe the 

 collection of closely heaped pyramids and ridges of ice over which 

 we had now to walk. The inequalities of the ice were, it is true, 

 seldom more than 40 feet high, with an inclination of 25 to 30 

 degrees ; but one does not get on very fast, when he has con- 

 tinually to drag a heavily laden sledge up so irregular an acclivity, 

 and immediately after to endeavour to get down uninjured, at 

 the risk of getting broken legs, when occasionally losing one's 

 footing on the here often very slippery ice in attempting to mode- 

 rate the speed of the downward rushing sledge. Had we used an 

 ordinary sledge, it would immediately have been broken to pieces ; 

 but, as the component parts of our sledge were not nailed but tied 

 together, it held together at least for some hours. 



Already the next day we perceived the impossibility under such 

 circumstances of dragging ^vith us the 30 days' provision with 

 which we had furnished ourselves, especially as it was evident 

 that, if we wished to proceed further, we must transform ourselves 

 from draught- to pack-horses. We therefore determined to leave 

 the sledge and part of the provisions, take the rest on our shoulders, 

 and proceed on foot. We now got on quicker, though for a 

 sufficiently long time over ground as bad as before. The ice 

 became gradually smoother, but was broken by large bottomless 

 chasms, which one must either jump over with a heavy load on 

 the back (in which case woe to him who made a false step), or 



