4()8 BROWN ON NOURSOAK PENINSITLx\, &C. 



1852, &c. ; (4.), Later explorers in Expeditions from 1852 to 1867, 

 especially Sutherland, Inglefield, Kane, and Hayes ; C. J. M. Olrik, 

 Whymper, and Brown, 1867 ; Nordenskjold, Berggren, Nordstrom, 

 and Oberg,* 1870 ; J. G. Rohde and K. J. V. Steenstrup,t 1872 ; 

 (5.), Scoresby and the German Expeditions, for East Greenland. 



II. — General Geology of Greenland (p. 8). 



'' 1. Pnmitive and Metamorphie Rocks. — These are chiefly gneiss, 

 mica-schist, hornblende-schist, syenite, <fec., pierced by granitic 

 veins, and are the most widely distributed of all the Greenland 

 formations, extending from the extreme north to the south of 

 Greenland, with the exception of a few patches occupied by traps 

 and Miocene beds and the Igalliko Sandstone. They reach to 

 4,000 feet in height, and form the rock almost everywhere seen 

 protruding from beneath the " inland " or continental ice which 

 covers the interior of the country. The aspects of the country 

 occupied by this rock are, rounded bosses of hills, ice-planed, with 

 mossy valleys or glaciers protruding to the sea. Rarely does it 

 form the jagged peaks and more varied scenery of the trap-rocks, 

 though sometimes rising into high hills. 



In this formation are found all the economic minerals of Green- 

 land ; such as Steatite, used to make the lamps and other domestic 

 ware of the natives, though this manufacture is greatly on the 

 decrease, and Cryolite, a mineral of great and increasing value. 

 The mineral was originally brought to the notice of mineralogists 

 by Giesecke 4 but it was not until a comparatively recent period, 

 chiefly owing to the energy of Mr. Tayler of London, now of 

 Prince Edward's Island, and the Messrs. Thomsen of Copenhagen, 

 that its value has been properly developed. The mineral derives 

 its name from %/3to?, ice, from its property of melting in the flame 

 of a candle. It is a crystalline mineral, varying in colour from 

 snow-white when pure to almost black when mixed with extraneous 

 substances, probably, according to Eriglok, graphite, as the 

 colouring matter disappears when the mineral is heated. In 

 chemical composition it is a double fluoride of sodium and alumi- 

 nium : Aluminium, 13 '0; Sodium, 32-8 ; Fluorine, 54*2. It is 

 valuable as an ore of aluminium, and is now exported in great 

 quantities to America and Europe, chiefly to Copenhagen, where 

 it is applied to a variety of purposes. In 1861 30 ships were sent 

 from Greenland with cryolite. From a recent report by Mr. Paul 

 Quale we learn that the chief veins at present worked are situated 

 at Iviktout or Ivigtot on the south side of Arsuk Fjord, in South 



o 



* " Redogorelse for en Expedition till Gronland Ar 1870," af A. E. Nor- 

 denskjold (Ofversigt af K. Vet.-Akad., Forh. 1870, No. 10; and as a separate 

 publication, Stockholm, 1871). It has been translated, apparently by Professor 

 Nordenskjold himself, in " The Geological Magazine," July, August, Sep- 

 tember, October, and November, 1872. 



t Petermann's " Geograph. Mittheil," 1874, p. 142 ; and " Om de Kuhl- 

 forende Dannelser paa Oen Disko, Harcocn og Syd-Siden af Ntigssuak's 

 Halvoen i Nord-Gronland," Af K. J. V. Steenstrup, &c. " Vidensk. Medd. 

 fra den Naturh. Forening i Kjobenhavn, 1874, No. 3-7. 



X See a6oye, p. 341. — Editok.' 



