February 27, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



169 



shortly after, two main exploring-parties left 

 the station. 



The party under Acting assistant surgeon 

 O. Pavy, U. S. army, which attempted a north- 

 ing direct from Cape Joseph Henry, failed even 

 to reach the 83d parallel, owing to disruption 

 of the polar pack north of Grinnell Land. 



Lieut. James B. Lockwood was ordered to 

 explore the north coast of Greenland. Leav- 

 ing Fort Conger, April 3, 1882, he crossed 

 Robeson's Channel from Cape Beechy to Cape 

 Sumner, where the main depot of provisions 

 had been established. From that point across 

 Brevoort Peninsula to Repulse Harbor, and 

 thence along the shores of the polar ocean to 

 Cape BiTant, he was supported by three par- 

 ties of men hauling Hudson-Ba}- sledges. From 

 Cape Bryant, Lieut. Lockwood and Sergeant 

 Brainard, with Eskimo Christiansen and dog- 

 team, travelled direct across Sherard Osborn 

 Fiord to Cape Britannia. Midwa} T between 

 these capes a sounding was made, but no bot- 

 tom reached at eight hundred feet. Rounding 

 Cape Britannia Island, which was the farthest 

 point seen even by their English predecessors, 

 they pushed on to the eastward, and later to 

 the north-east, until, on May 15, 1882, Lock- 

 wood Island was reached. Its assigned lati- 

 tude, 83° 24/ north, was the mean of sets of 

 circum-meridian and sub-polar observations. 

 Its longitude was 40° 45' west. To the north- 

 eastward, land was yet seen, the farthest 

 point being about 83° 35' north, 38° west. To 

 the south and east, only a confused mass of 

 rounded, snow-covered mountains was visible. 

 The entire coast was rugged and precipitous in 

 the extreme. Strangely enough, but one gla- 

 cier was observed, although the interior of the 

 country was wholly snow-clad or ice- capped. 

 Along the coast, stretching from headland to 

 headland, was found a tidal crack, which ap- 

 peared to mark the line of separation between 

 the embayed ice and the paleocrystic pack. 

 In the deep fiords along the coast were seen 

 only level expanses of deep snow, devoid of 

 heavy hummocks or marked ice-foot. In re- 

 turning, the same route was followed ; and on 

 June 3 the party reached Fort Conger in good 

 condition, with the exception of snow-blind- 

 ness contracted in the last two days' travel. 



In April, 1882, with three men, dragging a 

 Hudson-Bay sledge, I succeeded in penetrating 

 into the interior of Grinnell Land. Starting 

 from Fort Conger, we travelled south-westward 

 to Sun Bay, and, passing Miller Island, dis- 

 covered that we were in a fiord (Chandler 

 Fiord) which terminated to the south-west- 

 ward in a bay. Passing up the north arm of 



the fiord, a river was reached, having its source 

 in a glacial lake of great extent. Crossing the 

 lake (Lake Hazen) , the farthest point reached 

 was Henrietta Nesmith glacier. The part}' re- 

 turned b} r the same route. 



In June, with a party of four men, I suc- 

 ceeded in reaching the east end of Lake Hazen 

 by an overland route. Following that lake to 

 the west, Ver}^ River was reached ; and fol- 

 lowing up that valley with one man, I alone 

 attained the summit of Mount Arthur on July 

 4. From the top of that mountain North 

 Grinnell Land stretched out before me. An 

 enormous ice-cap covered the smooth-topped 

 mountains to the northward of the Garfield 

 and Conger ranges, through the gorges of which 

 numerous and magnificent glaciers pushed 

 southward. To the north-westward the trend 

 of the mountain range indicated its connection 

 with Challenger Mountains of Aldrich, and that 

 the western polar ocean was not far distant. 



In 1883 Lieut. Lockwood' s attempt to reach 

 the northern point of Greenland was unsuc- 

 cessful, owing to open water at Black-Horn 

 Cliffs. In consequence, I sent him, on his 

 return, to attempt the crossing of Grinnell 

 Land to the western sea. Accompanied by 

 Sergeant Brainard and a dog-team, he travelled 

 down Archer Fiord, and thence westward via 

 Beatrix Bay. They succeeded in reaching 

 Greely Fiord, and followed it some distance 

 westward. From a high mountain, the north- 

 ern shore appeared to terminate in Cape Brai- 

 nard, while to the south-west very high land 

 was seen at Cape Lockwood. This land, ap- 

 parently separated from Grinnell Land, was 

 named Arthur Land.' The remarkable feature 

 of this trip was the appearance of the southern 

 ice-cap of Grinnell Land. It presented an 

 average perpendicular front of one hundred 

 and fifty feet. 1 



As regards Grinnell Land, the southerly 

 trend of coast at Aldrich's farthest, the position 

 of Cape Brainard, and the general trend of the 

 land seen by me from Mount Arthur, indicate 

 that the western coast runs quite directly from 

 Cape Alfred Ernest to Cape Brainard. 



It is to be noted that Cape Lockwood of 

 Arthur Land is nearer to Lindsay Island and 

 North Cornwall of Belcher than to Fort 

 Conger, our own station. 



The considerable extension of Hayes Sound 

 to the westward, by Sergeant Long's journey 

 from Sabine, leaves but a scant hundred miles 

 between its north-westerly point and Cape 

 Lockwood, and but a little farther to the south- 



1 The height of this ice-cap was given at fifteen feet in Science 

 of July 25, 1884. 



