33 2 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [part i 
The first really serious expeditions were those of 
Nordenskiold in 1870 and 1883. In the former year the 
accomplished Swedish explorer selected the northern 
arm of the Auleitsivik fjord, twenty miles north of 
Godthaab, as his point of entrance into the unknown. 
He was accompanied by the botanist Dr Berggren. On 
the 19th July they reached the ice cap by a cleft, and 
finding the surface impassable for a sledge they abandoned 
it, and went on with a few necessaries on their backs. 
Passing the region of broken-up ice and cleft and favoured 
by good weather, they came to a perceptible rise, with 
a smoother surface, and reached their furthest point 
2200 feet above the sea and 30 miles west of the Auleit- 
sivik fjord, returning after six days. Nordenskiold found 
rivers and streams on the surface. The explorers went 
along the bank of one great river until the whole mass 
of water poured down a perpendicular cleft into the 
depths. 
In 1883 Nordenskiold again came out to Greenland in 
the steamer Sophia, funds being supplied by Baron Oscar 
Dickson, that munificent supporter of Arctic research. 
Nordenskiold believed that the inland ice was not an 
unbroken mass, but that there were islands with bare 
rocks and some vegetation, the abode of reindeer and 
ptarmigan. He started from the same place as in 1870, 
with a party of ten, including two Lapps with ski. In 
18 days they had advanced 73 miles and attained a 
height of 5000 feet. They were stopped by soft sludgy 
snow, but Nordenskiold sent on the Lapps, who returned 
with a report that they had been 145 miles further, 
reaching a height of 5800 feet, and that there was nothing 
but an endless unbroken surface of snow. Yet the sight 
of two ravens rather confirmed Nordenskiold in the belief 
that the expanse of snow was relieved by oases. The great 
Swedish savant was 31 days on the inland ice. 
Meanwhile, Dr Rink, the learned and accomplished 
Danish Inspector of Greenland, had warmly advocated 
further research as far back as 1876. The Danish savant 
Steenstrup observed the rate of movement of glaciers in 
1876 and 1877, and in 1878 an expedition was undertaken 
into the interior by Lieutenant Jensen. This was a very 
interesting journey and revealed the character of the 
