364 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
before his first visit in 1906 was practically unknown. He spent the 
greater part of three summers in surveying and exploring the island. The 
map, on a scale of 1 to 140,000, was published in 1913 by the Prince of 
Monaco. Expeditions under Bruce’s command also completed a map of 
Biinsow (Garwood) Land at the head of Icefjord, and took many hydro- 
graphical observations in Foreland Sound, Sassen Bay, Klaas Billen Bay, 
and elsewhere. He made one of the first landings on Hope Island, and 
on another occasion made a new crossing of Spitsbergen from the Sassendal 
to Mohn Bay. 
Bruce took a leading part in the economic development of Spitsbergen, 
and as long ago as 1899, before any claims to mining estates had been 
made, brought home samples of coal for analysis. Only those who sailed 
with Bruce to Spitsbergen could appreciate his marvellously detailed 
knowledge of its coasts and anchorages, the localities for camping, the dis- 
tribution of bird rookeries and of driftwood, and the routes for land travel ; 
while his acquaintance with the course and nature of sea ice round the 
coasts was seldom, if ever, at fault. 
It was in the Antarctic, however, that Bruce’s most important geo- 
graphical work was done. The expedition of the Scotia, financed in 
Scotland, largely by Mr James Coats of Paisley and Major Andrew Coats, 
was designed principally for research in oceanography (including zoology) 
and meteorology. Bruce was too earnest in the advancement of science to 
put the attainment of a high latitude in the forefront of his plans. The 
results can only be briefly summarised. During two summers the Scotia, 
ably handled by Capt. T. Robertson, penetrated the dangerous Weddell Sea 
without serious mishap, and at the end of the second season discovered a 
new part of the coast-line of Antarctica in lat. 74° S. Coats Land, as Bruce 
named it, was traced for 150 miles to the south-west. No landing on its 
ice-cliffs was possible, but high land could be discerned in the far interior. 
This discovery, together with a long series of soundings in the uncharted 
Weddell Sea and South Atlantic, especially the re-sounding in 2660 fathoms 
of Ross’ 4000 fathoms no bottom (lat. 68° 32' S., long. 12° 49' W.), entirely 
revised ideas of the extent and conformation of Antarctica on the Atlantic 
side. Other discoveries included the southern extension of the mid- Atlantic 
ridge, and strong evidence in favour of submarine connection between 
Graham Land and South America via the South Sandwich group and the 
South Orkneys. Wintering at the South Orkneys, the expedition explored 
and mapped Laurie Island, and founded, in Scotia Bay, a meteorological 
observatory which has since been maintained by the Argentine Govern- 
ment — the only Antarctic observatory in existence. 
