EXISTING GLACIERS. 39 



tude 65° to latitude 69° little or nothing is known of it. 

 In 1822-'23 Scoresby, Cleavering, and Sabine hastily ex- 

 plored the coast from latitude 69° to 76°, and reported 

 numerous glaciers descending to the sea-level through 

 extensive fiords, from which immense icebergs float out 

 and render navigation dangerous. In 1869 and 1870 the 

 second North - German Expedition partly explored the 

 coast between latitude 73° and 77°. Mr. Payer, an ex- 

 perienced Alpine explorer, who accompanied the expedi- 

 tion, reports the country as much broken, and the glaciers 

 as " subordinated in position to the higher peaks, and hav- 

 ing their moraines, both lateral and terminal, like those 

 of the Alpine ranges, and on a still grander scale." Peter- 

 mann Peak, in latitude 73°, is reported as 13,000 feet 

 high. Captain Koldewey, chief of the expedition, found 

 extensive plateaus on the mainland, in latitude 75°, to be 

 " entirely clear of snow, although only sparsely covered with 

 vegetation." The mountains in this vicinity, also, rising 

 to a height of more than 2,000 feet, were free from snow 

 in the summer. Some of the fiords in this vicinity pene- 

 trate the continent through several degrees of longitude. 



An interesting episode of this exjDedition was the ex- 

 perience of the crew of the ship Hansa, which was caught 

 in the ice and destroyed. The crew, however, escaped by 

 encamping on the ice-floe which had crushed the ship. 

 From this, as it slowly floated towards the south through 

 several degrees of latitude, they had opportunity to make 

 many important observations upon the continent itself. 

 As viewed from this unique position the coast had the ap- 

 pearance everywhere of being precipitous, with mountains 

 of considerable height rising in the background, from 

 which numerous small glaciers descended to the sea-level. 



In 1888 Dr. F. Nansen, with Lieutenant Sverdrup and 

 four others, was left by a whaler on the ice-pack border- 

 ing the east of Greenland about latitude 65°, and in sight 

 of the coast. For twelve days the party was on the ice- 



