GEOGRAPHICAL RESULTS
Before taking leave of the reader it seems advisable to indicate
briefly the general geographical results of our two seasons of
exploration in the interior of Spitsbergen, and to state what is
now known about the structure of the surface of one of the most
interesting areas of arctic land. On Nordenskiöld’s chart, the best
map of Spitsbergen existing at the time when we began our labours,
both Garwood Land and King James Land are described as covered with
“inland ice.” Now, if the phrase “inland ice” merely means glaciers,
so that it may be correctly applied to the glaciers of any district of
snow-mountains, such as the Alps or Caucasus, it is a useless phrase,
and ought to be abolished. Most persons of whom I have inquired receive
from it a different impression, and judge it to be descriptive of a
complete and continuous icy mantle enveloping a whole country, as
Greenland, for instance, is enveloped. In fact, Nansen, in his book on
Greenland, always uses the term “inland ice” to describe the great
interior ice-covering. “Ice-sheet” is apparently a better descriptive
term for such a mantle, and I shall accordingly so employ it. The term
“inland-ice,” being essentially vague, should, I think, be erased from
geographical literature, or only used as an indefinite term for the
land-ice of an unexplored region, the exact nature of which is unknown.
As long as a flowing body of land-ice is contained within definite
watersheds and mountain ranges, it is a glacier and not an ice-sheet.
The juxtaposition of no matter how many glaciers does not form an
ice-sheet, but merely a glacial area. It is necessary to be thus
particular in definition because, as has been stated above, neither
Garwood Land nor King James Land, nor any large part of Spitsbergen,
except New Friesland and North-East Land, is covered by an ice-sheet.
They are all merely glacial and mountain areas. The discovery of this
fact is the principal geographical result of our second expedition.
That it is a not unimportant result I now proceed to demonstrate.
[Illustration: NEW FRIESLAND FROM HINLOOPEN STRAIT.]
The old theory that glaciers not only polish but systematically
excavate their beds is practically abandoned. Its supporters naturally
considered that the larger the mass of ice the more vigorous would be
its excavating action. A great arctic ice-sheet was regarded as an
extraordinarily powerful excavator. We now know that moving land-ice
does not so operate upon its bed, but, beyond polishing the surface
of the rock it covers, has mainly a conservative effect upon it. In
the case of a country like the interior of Greenland, wholly buried
under ice, the buried land-surface undergoes modelling to a very
slight degree, except round the coast. On the other hand, in the case
of a glacial region, where mountains rise above the mean level, and
where rock-faces are exposed to the rapid denudation that takes place
at all snowy elevations, great developments of surface-formation are
going forward. In the case of an ice-sheet, the forces acting on the
land-surface are conservative; in the case of a glacial region, the
acting forces are formative. Hence the immense importance of clearly
distinguishing between these two types of ice-bearing country.
Without pausing to describe the particular places or views in
Spitsbergen that suggested particular conclusions to my mind, let
me rather, for briefness, indicate how it seems to me that one or
two well-known mountain groups in Europe have been acted on by
glaciers--for instance the Mont Blanc and Bernese Oberland ranges.
Both, in their present developed condition, have been carved out
of more solid masses which may be described as originally wrinkled
plateaus, the original wrinkles having been approximately parallel
to their length. Of course the denuding forces, whatever they were,
operated simultaneously with the elevating forces; but the two may be
considered separately for convenience’ sake, and we may speak of the
plateau as first elevated and afterwards denuded. It must, however, be
understood that during the earlier stages of the elevating process,
water, not snow and frost, was the denuding agent. The culminating
point of each plateau was approximately in the position of the highest
point of the present ranges. The original main drainage must have run
along the lines of the wrinkles; now, in both cases, it runs at right
angles to that direction.
In order to indicate my meaning, it is not necessary to reconstruct
entirely the original form of the plateau and its lines of drainage;
one or two instances will suffice. In the case of the Mont Blanc
range,[15] I suggest that originally there was a glacier with its head
near the present summit of Mont Blanc, having for its left bank a ridge
(or plateau-edge), now represented by the Aiguille du Midi and other
_aiguilles_, the Aiguille Verte, the Aiguille du Chardonnet, and the
Aiguilles Dorées; whilst its right bank was approximately coincident
with the modern watershed as far as Mont Dolent, except between Mont
Blanc de Courmayeur and the Tour Ronde, where it has been denuded
away. This ancient drainage system has been broken down, and now the
snows of the upper reservoirs are all discharged by such glaciers as
the Mer de Glace or the Glacier d’Argentière, which cut across one or
other of these old containing ridges or plateau-edges. Similarly with
the Bernese Oberland, I suggest that the original crinkled plateau
was drained along depressions approximately parallel to its length,
whereof one was a high glacier basin with its head near the top of the
present Finsteraarhorn and flowing W.S.W. over the Grünhornlücke and
the Lötschenlücke and down the Lötschenthal. The old watersheds to
right and left of this glacier have been driven back by the general
disintegration of the plateau-edge, and broken utterly down in various
places, so that its snows are now drained away at right angles to its
direction by the Great Aletsch and Walliser Viescher glaciers.
In fact, in these cases it is with the glacial drainage as in the
Himalayas it is with the rivers. When the great Asiatic plateau was
elevated, whereof Tibet alone retains anything approximating to the
original surface condition of the whole, the drainage ran off along the
hollows in the line of the crinkling of the surface coinciding with the
strike of the strata. Now, however, by the operation of rivers eating
their way back into the plateau at right angles to the strike of the
strata, all the great rivers flow at right angles to their original
direction. The Indus was originally a stream no bigger than the Swat
River, flowing down the edge of the elevated region. It ate its way
through the Nanga Parbat range into the depression which goes on to
Gilgit, and thus it stole all the waters of the upper Indus of to-day,
which in the remote past, I believe, discharged themselves (over a high
region since excavated into mountain ranges) into the Kunar River, and
before that into the Oxus. Similarly the Gilgit River has eaten back
through the Rakipushi range and stolen the waters of the Hispar-Hunza
valley and the Hunza stream has eaten back through the Boiohaghurdoanas
range, and so reached the Kilik Pass. It is noticeable that, in each
case, the river has broken its way through a range in the immediate
proximity of its highest peak, that is to say, just where the fall and
gathering of snow has been greatest and the denudation most energetic.
In the case of rivers the eating back process is well recognised
and understood. It is not really the work of the river, but it is
accomplished by the various forces of atmospheric denudation, by
frost and thaw, by avalanches and so forth, all taking place about
the head-waters of the stream. I suggest that, under the action of
similar forces, glaciers likewise creep back, and that the modelling
of snow-mountains out of high plateaus is largely due to this process.
According to this theory, though glaciers do not excavate their beds
to any great extent, they widen them by carrying away the results of
atmospheric and other denudation, and similarly they eat back at their
heads. The most striking examples of this process I have seen are in
Garwood Land. There, far in the interior, are a series of cliffs,
several hundred feet in height. What the origin of these cliffs may
have been is immaterial to the question under consideration. They form
the front of the remains of the old plateau, which is being and has
been eaten away. At the foot of the cliffs are the snowfields of the
great glaciers which flow thence in a south-east direction to the head
of Wybe Jans Water. By the melting of the snows above the cliffs and
on their ledges, and by the action of frost and thaw, the rocks are
rapidly broken up. The _débris_ fall upon the glaciers below, and are
carried away. If there were no glaciers in this position, the _débris_
would pile up, a slope would be formed, and would presently reach up
to the top of the cliff, and protect it from further denudation. The
presence of the glaciers below prevents the _débris_ from collecting.
The cliff thus continues its existence, and merely moves backward
by a steady progress, just as the cliff retreats over which Niagara
falls. Where weaker rocks are encountered, or denudation is locally
more energetic, the cliff eats backward more rapidly. An embayment is
formed, which tends both to widen and to creep backwards, becoming in
time a tributary valley. Of such valley heads which have crept back
into the plateau we saw several examples; one in particular I remember
in the midst of King James Land, which had annihilated a portion of a
mountain range dividing two great glaciers, and had thereby caused what
had originally been the chief _névé_ basin of one of these glaciers
to drain into the other instead of down its own tongue. When two
neighbouring embayments, reaching back from the lower level into a
plateau, send arms to join one another, or meet obliquely, a nunatak
is formed. The nunatak near our farthest point in Garwood Land was
produced in this manner.
[Illustration: BLUFFS OF THE SASSENDAL.]
Keenly possessed by the memory of these phenomena, I went recently
to Grindelwald, and was immediately struck by the resemblance in
character between the great bluffs of the Bernese Oberland--the Eiger,
Mettenberg, and Wetterhorn--and the bluffs of Spitsbergen’s Sassendal.
The latter, as we know, were formed, and are still in process of
development, by means of the torrents draining the snowfields above,
which eat away the plateau and cut back into it, thus carving out
a row of flat-topped steep-fronted hills that jut forward into the
ever-widening main valley. It seemed evident that the ancient Oberland
plateau had been similarly cut down, the excavation not having been
accomplished by the grinding action of glaciers pushing forward and
filing down their beds, but by the action, first, of torrents, before
the plateau was elevated above the snowline, afterwards of glaciers;
both torrents and glaciers creeping backwards at their heads, where
faces of rock are exposed to rapid atmospheric denudation, and the
_débris_ that fall are transported to low levels by the movement of the
flowing ice.
It was thus, I suggest, that the Upper and Lower Grindelwald glaciers
and the Rosenlaui Glacier invaded the plateau and crept back into the
heart of the mountain mass, isolating as high individual peaks the
Wetterhorn and Schreckhorn. Originally they were “corrie glaciers,”
plastered on to the north face of the plateau--just such glaciers,
in fact, as is the Guggi Glacier, which lies in the hollow between
the Jungfrau and the Mönch. They have crept farther back than it,
because they had the better start, but the Guggi Glacier now emulates
their former vigorous initiative. The cliffs at its head are being
continually broken and worn away by the action of frost. The rocks
that fall from them either tumble on to the _névé_ and are carried
down or roll into the _bergschrund_, and so get under the ice, where
no doubt they are ground to dust, and may do some excavating in the
process. That, however, can only be in the upper regions; lower down,
the waters below the glacier are the excavating agent, rather than
the glacier itself, except, perhaps, at the edge of some sub-glacial
cliff beneath an icefall. In this way the rocks of the north face of
the ridge between the Jungfrau and Mönch are being eaten away, and the
ridge itself is not merely being lowered, but its crest is being pushed
backward towards the south. Every yard of its movement is made at the
expense of the Jungfrau Glacier. Let the process go forward for a
sufficiently long time, and the area now occupied by the upper basin of
the Jungfrau Glacier will be occupied by a snow-basin lying at a lower
level, and draining northward down the Guggi Glacier.
Similar, I suggest, was the development of what is now the Great
Aletsch Glacier. Originally, according to this theory, the Lötschen
Glacier stretched back to the Finsteraarhorn, and had for its left bank
a ridge parallel to, but south of, the range of which the Aletschhorn
is now the culminating point. The Aletsch Glacier’s original head was
on the south face of this range, but the glacier ate its way backwards,
its head advanced to the north, finally broke its way right through the
range and drew off a portion of the ice of the Lötschen Glacier.[16]
The snout of the Lötschen Glacier was thus disconnected from its former
_névé_, and a pass (the Lötschenlücke) was formed between them. The
_névé_, at what is now called the Place de la Concorde, flowed as a
great icefall over the remnant of the old left bank of the original
glacier. It no doubt deepened and widened the breach, and, as it did
so, lowered the level of the snow in the upper reservoir, whose various
branches were thus likewise enabled, each in its place, to creep
backwards at the expense of the plateau. In this manner were formed the
Ewig Schnee Feld, the Jungfrau Firn, and the other _névé_ tributaries
of the present great glacier. The great icefall gradually diminished
in turbulence as the cliff beneath it was broken and rounded away,
till now it is merely represented by the crevassed area just below the
Concordia Hut.
If there is any truth in the theory thus briefly propounded, in a
form which must be considered altogether incomplete and preliminary,
it follows that the distinction I have endeavoured to make between an
icesheet and a congeries of glaciers is a distinction of the first
importance; for under an icesheet none of the processes are going
forward which are vigorously proceeding in a glacial region. The
old idea of Spitsbergen was that its interior consisted of a great
icesheet, fringed at the edge by a number of boggy valleys and green
hillsides. Our explorations have shown the utter falsity of this
conception. Let me now briefly indicate the outlines of the true
geography of the main island.
Whether at one time the whole island was enveloped in an icesheet which
was gradually withdrawn from the west towards the east, or whether
the west part of the island has merely been longer raised above the
sea than the east part, I do not attempt to determine. At any rate,
it seems to be a fact that the forces of denudation have been longer
at work, or, at least, more vigorously at work, all down the west
part of the island, and that the resulting mountain formation is most
developed in the west, and becomes continually less developed as you
proceed toward the east. All down the western region you find highly
specialised mountain-forms--peaks and ranges of considerable abruptness
and marked individuality. As you advance eastward the mountains become
generally more rounded, till the original plateau-form, and even parts
of the undenuded plateau itself, are encountered.
Bearing in mind this general structure of the land-surface, it will
now be easy to describe the character of different parts of the main
island. The whole of the north coast, as might be expected, bears
evidence of a more rigorous climate than districts further south. This
was specially noticed by us when proceeding down Wijde Bay, at whose
mouth the snow lay down to sea-level in the month of August, whilst,
twenty miles in, the snowline was almost 1000 feet above sea-level. The
northern rim, therefore, may be regarded as a separate geographical
division. At the north-west angle of the island is a region of very
bold mountains and large glaciers. It is well represented by the
beautiful and often described Magdalena Bay. Nothing is known about
the interior south-east of it, but some old Dutch charts mark a
valley leading from the extremity of Mauritius or Dutch Bay up to
a sequestered lake in the hills. Whether the draughtsman intended
his winding valley and river to represent a glacier and the lake
a snowfield, or whether a true lake and river existed here in the
eighteenth century, can only be settled by some one going to look.
Passing southward down the west coast, we come to the seven parallel
glaciers ending in the sea, known to the whalers as the Seven
Icebergs. These all appear to flow down from a high common snowfield
which stretches east toward Wood Bay and south almost to the head of
Cross Bay. South-eastward this high plateau is broken by a series
of _névé_-valleys, the chief of which discharge themselves towards
Ekman and Dickson bays. Their general direction is south-south-east.
South of this plateau region comes the mountainous area of King James
Land, whose character has been described in this volume. The main
watershed runs north and south. A series of parallel glaciers drain
south-south-east from it to Ice Fjord. The valley system on the west is
less regular, but the glaciers are equally numerous and fine.
The deep north-and-south depression filled by Wijde Bay and Dickson
Bay is bordered on the west by a range of mountains, a group of which
intrude between and divide the bays. Some of these are of striking
form, but no one has ever been amongst them or accurately determined
their position. East of the two bays comes the plateau region. Its
edge is cut up by a few deep valleys, down which the icesheet of New
Friesland sends glacial tongues to Wijde Bay, but east of Dickson Bay
the marginal valleys are longer, and no glaciers come out of their
mouths. The portion of the plateau between Dickson and Klaas Billen
bays is a good deal cut up by deep valleys, such as the Rendal, the
Skans valley, and the Mimesdal (all well known to geologists), but
there are no large glaciers found upon it. Further east comes a great
glaciated area approximating to an icesheet in appearance, but with
many exposed faces and peaks of rock. From it several large glaciers
flow into the sea, namely, the glacier that ends in the head of East
Fjord of Wijde Bay, the glacier that fills a wide valley debouching
into Hinloopen Strait opposite the South Waiigat Islands, some more
glaciers that empty into Bismarck Strait and that neighbourhood, the
series of great glaciers at the head of Wybe Jans Water, and the
Nordenskiöld Glacier (specially explored by us) near the head of Klaas
Billen Bay. All these glaciers are divided from one another by more or
less well-marked watersheds.
The neck of Spitsbergen, which may be defined as bounded on the north
by a line from the mouth of Nordenskiöld Glacier to Wiche Bay, and on
the south by the Sassendal and the depression across to Agardh Bay, is
a district that would well repay exploration, and is easily accessible
from the Post Glacier at the head of Temple Bay. Nowhere are better
illustrated than here the phenomena of mountain formation by plateau
degradation under the action of rivers and glaciers. In the east are
the remains of an ice-sheet; in the west are deep and wide glacier and
river valleys. Between the two are many mountain ranges, and some peaks
of considerable height and abruptness.
A line drawn from the head of Van Keulen Bay to Whales Bay forms the
southern limit of the next region to the south--the region that I call
Adventure Land, using the old name which in the case of Advent Bay
has been clipped of its last syllable in the present century. It is a
country of boggy valleys, rounded hills, and relatively small glaciers.
Originally it was one large plateau formed of soft, almost horizontally
bedded rock, except along its west margin. It has therefore been
penetrated by wide valleys radiating in all directions and cut down
almost to sea-level. A range of rather fine peaks lies along the west
coast; behind them are some large glaciers descending north into Green
Harbour and south to the mouth of Low Sound. Then the undulating
country begins. Several valleys lead inland from Coles Bay, whilst
from Advent Bay starts the Advent Vale with its many branches. From
Low Sound a series of boggy valleys strike in to north and south. At
the north angle of its head opens the deep valley of the Shallow River
(after the Sassendal the largest valley in Spitsbergen), whose upper
part has never been explored. The eastward prolongation of Low Sound,
which was known to the Dutch as Michiel Rinders Bay is very poorly
charted, but we know that at its north angle there is a secluded inner
harbour, with a big ramifying valley leading back from it, while at its
extreme east corner three large glaciers debouch together. One of these
probably connects by a high snowfield with the head of Strong Glacier
descending to Whales Bay.
Last comes the south division of the island, over which we had a
panoramic view in 1897 from the summit of Mount Hedgehog. Unfortunately
a roof of cloud covered the glaciers, and we could only see tops
of mountains rising clear above it. The north-west angle of this
region was explored in 1897 by Mr. Victor Gatty,[17] who found it to
consist of a ring of snowy mountains surrounding the _névé_ of the
Fox Glacier, which discharges into the so-called Recherche Bay. A gap
or col, south-east of Dunder Bay, separates this group from a range
of hills running for some distance south along the coast, and called
Roebuck Land. The extremity of these hills abuts against the right
foot of Torell Glacier, one upper bay of which rests against the hills
immediately south of Recherche Bay, whilst another stretches inland
to the east as far as the main watershed of the island. There are
one or two other approximately north and south ranges of hills lying
west of this watershed. East of it the plateau-character resumes its
predominance. The southernmost part of the island, south of Horn Sound,
is dignified by the boldest mountain range in the country, that of the
Hornsunds Tinder, which lie west of the watershed, and run almost due
north and south. East of them are at least two lower parallel ranges,
beyond which the ice-covered country seems to dip to the sea.
Of the other islands in the Spitsbergen group, North-East Land is the
largest. It is known, from Baron Nordenskiöld’s exploration, to be
covered with a true icesheet, the edge of which descends to the sea all
along the south-east coast. The north coast and the small islands off
it altogether resemble the northern belt of the west island. The west
belt is a low undulating region, from which the icesheet has retreated
in relatively recent times.
In the sea east of Spitsbergen are two islands whose existence has
long been known. They were named Wiche Land, after an old navigator.
Walrus hunters have landed on them, but they were first really explored
in 1897 by Mr. Arnold Pike.[18] The west island, now called Swedish
Foreland, has a high flat-topped backbone. The east island, King Karl’s
Land, consists of two hills, about 1,000 feet high, united by a low
flat isthmus. There is no ice-sheet on either island and only small
unimportant glaciers.
I have never landed on Barents or Edge Islands, though I have seen
them from east and from west. Neither possesses an icesheet. Both are
practically devoid of glaciers down their west coast, and have large
glaciers in the east. The whole of the south-east of Edge Island
is occupied by a great glacier ending in the sea. Barents Land has
several sharply pointed peaks, but the Edge Island hills are mainly
flat-topped, like those along the east coast of the main island.
Prince Charles Foreland now alone remains to be considered. It is very
badly represented on the existing chart. At its southern extremity is
an isolated hill. Then comes a very flat plain of about fifty square
miles, raised but a few feet above sea-level. North of it is a mountain
range consisting of fine, sharp snow-peaks. It is cut off on the north
by a deep depression, running in a south-west direction from Peter
Winter’s Bay, which, though marked south of St. John’s Bay on the
chart, lies some miles north of it. North of Peter Winter’s Bay and
Valley the mountain range is continued; but the peaks, though fine
in form, are not so high as those of the south group, but they send
down eastward an almost uninterrupted series of glaciers into Foreland
Sound. Further north are yet lower snowy hills, which end in the bold
headland called Bird’s Cape or Fair Foreland.
[Illustration: FAREWELL.]
APPENDIX
ACCOUNT OF HERR G. NORDENSKIÖLD’S TRAVERSE OVER THE GLACIERS FROM HORN
SOUND TO BELL SOUND IN 1890.[19]
_June 15th, 1890._--At six o’clock in the evening we landed
by boat at the foot of Rotges Mount at a spot where a small
valley gave access to the mountain above. We imagined that
on the other side of this mountain we should meet with the
smooth inland ice and that it would extend all the way along to
Bell Sound. After taking a hurried farewell of our comrades,
we buckled on our ski, put our knapsacks on our backs, and
commenced our course up the little valley. When we reached its
highest point, however, we found that it was connected with
another valley which led down to Horn Sound. We were therefore
obliged to climb the face of the mountain on the north side of
the valley, which was extremely laborious, because the snow
was frozen so hard that we could not use our ski on the steep
slope. One of us went in front and stamped holes for the feet
in the hard crust--tough work in which we constantly relieved
each other. The rest followed in his steps. At midnight we had
mounted a ridge, uniting two summits, and here we rested for
an hour. The temperature of the air was 28° Fahrenheit and the
altitude 994 feet above sea-level.
We continued on the 16th in a northerly direction, but were
obliged to stop again after a few hundred steps, because a
thick mist shrouded the whole landscape. When, after a little
while, this cleared off, we hurried up and descended the
other side of the ridge towards a huge glacier. Down this we
made good speed and in a short time were close to the smooth
snow-slopes. The mountains in this district are built up of the
so-called Hekla-Hook strata--hard slates, quartz, and dolomite.
The mountains which belong to this system always possess much
more precipitous and wilder outlines than those which are built
up of the softer rocks belonging to newer formations. Many of
the former are probably extremely hard or perhaps impossible to
climb; for example, Hornsunds Tind. This is probably the case
with many of the steep-pointed peaks around the wide expanse of
snow over which we travelled. They gave the landscape a wild
and desolate beauty.
In the north, on the other side of the glacier, lay another
mountain range with several lofty summits. In the west a
heavy bank of fog obscured the view the whole time. Probably
the sea would be visible in this direction in fine weather.
Sometimes the fog-bank was driven up the glacier by the wind,
and enwrapped us so completely that we were obliged to retreat
for a time. In the east numerous summits were visible, and the
glaciers in this direction did not appear to be connected with
the inland ice. The snow-mantle which covered the glacier-ice
was perfectly smooth; there was not even a spot to break the
dazzling whiteness, not the smallest unevenness on which
the eye could find a resting-place. This accounted for one
under-rating the distances in this district more than usual,
as happened to us in the case of the mountain on the southern
(? northern) side, because we thought we only had before us a
snow-covered sloping valley, not worth thinking about, which
from its depth could not possibly take more than half an hour
to traverse. In reality it was only after several hours’
walking that we gained the summit of the opposite ridge.
It was long after midday on the 16th when we reached that
summit. The height above the sea at the spot where we crossed
was only 2215 feet, but on the east and west were several
considerable heights. We attempted to scale one of these which
lay nearest to us on the east, so as to obtain an uninterrupted
view over the country; but, after we had with great difficulty
dug a few hundred steps in the hard surface and crept up so
far, it was found impossible to go any farther. We were then
2457 feet above sea level and could easily recognise again from
this point the highest point of Hornsunds Tind. The mountains
to the west of us seemed to be of considerable height and also
easy to ascend. In the north the snow-covered ridge on which we
were fell almost precipitously down to a considerable glacier.
We were therefore obliged to make a little to the west before
we could begin our descent.
Even here the slope was steep and covered with a crust,
hard and shining like ice, so that our advance became pretty
dangerous to our necks, and ended in our losing our balance
and rolling down the slope at top speed without being able to
stop. After we had happily reached level ground, collected
ourselves, and gathered together our widely scattered baggage,
we set forward over the glacier. It sloped gently downwards
and promised a connection with the wide field of inland ice in
the north-west. A little further down the glacier the outlook
became more extended. We had now only a few kilometres left to
the inland ice proper,[20] which spread out before us like a
level white sheet bounded in the distance by blue peaks. Late
in the evening we put up the tent and rested a few hours at the
edge of the glacier. After a long search we were lucky enough
to discover water on a slope. It was the first water we had
seen since leaving the coast. As it was so early in the year we
found neither pools nor runlets on the surface of the glacier.
Our supply of spirits was rather scanty and only sufficed for
warming up our food, not for melting the snow; hence, while
travelling over glaciers and the inland ice we suffered much
from thirst, and were often compelled to eat snow, which is
said to lower the strength considerably.
On _June 16th_ we rose at 11 P.M., and began our journey over
the inland ice proper. The temperature of the air was 31° F.
The weather was lovely, not a cloud was visible in the sky, and
the atmosphere was wonderfully clear. We first passed a number
of mighty moraines, which were heaped up where the smaller
glacier joined the inland ice. At the very brink of the latter
flowed a small brook. The surface of the inland ice itself
was perfectly even, covered with fairly hard frozen old snow.
No crevasses could be distinguished along the whole of our
route, and only in a few places did slight hollows betray the
existence of such.
We first went toward some high mountains which rose out of the
ice some kilometres distant. They formed the spurs of a range
of mountains, running north and south, which continued up to
the end of the mountains at Cape Ahlstrand, east of Recherche
Bay. In the west, along a width of more than ten kilometres,
the inland ice opened into the sea (it bears the name of
Torell Glacier). In the east the horizon was bounded by the
inland ice. To the north-west it extended, shut in between two
mountain chains, unbroken to Recherche Bay, to whose large
glacier it joins on. That was the way we took.
After some hours’ journey, in the early morning of the 17th we
reached the foot of the mountain mentioned above, which forms
the southern point of the eastern range of mountains. At the
foot of the mountain we found several small watercourses, and
therefore chose this place for a halt. A large number of fallen
blocks at the mountain’s foot afforded a strange sight. The
part of the inland ice from the east here joined that from the
north. A bank of gravel, which stretched like a black streak
towards the west, probably formed the middle of the moraine.
The height above the sea at this point was 358 feet.[21]
After some hours’ rest we continued north-west over the
inland ice, which was smooth in all directions and free from
crevasses. We had already been a long time out on the endless
white plain when, at nine o’clock in the morning, we pitched
the tent to get a little sleep. The height of our resting-place
above the sea was 1011 feet. We had walked by night because,
notwithstanding that the temperature does not rise above 39°
F. in the shade, the heat when the sun was high was quite
unbearable. After midday signs of a change of weather appeared,
and heavy clouds began to rise behind the mountain summits. We
hastily got up again, but after a few hours’ walking we were
enveloped in a dense mist. We continued, however, for some
hours, steering our course by a pocket compass which we had
brought with us. On the night of the 18th we stopped because
we feared to make our way among the northern coast mountains,
which could not be very far distant from us now. All the
spirits were finished, and our store of provisions was by no
means abundant.
Next day (19th) we tried to advance toward the coast in spite
of the fog, which had lifted at intervals and given place to
a heavy snowstorm, a terrible hindrance to our progress. The
snow was very wet and fastened in large lumps on Björling’s
ski, which were not covered with sealskin. Our ski, too, which
had been stripped of part of their skin-covering by the hard
snow-crust, slid very heavily. Björling preferred to go on foot
and carry his ski on his back, but he found this pretty hard
work. We soon noticed that we were already quite amongst the
mountains and, after searching about for a long time in the fog
for a way forward, we finally came to a halt, recognising the
necessity of waiting until it lifted somewhat.
We set up our tent near a steep snow-slope, evidently leading
down into a broad valley. As it drew on towards evening the
fog lifted a little. Right down in front of us spread a
broad valley, apparently the continuation of a bay. In the
south-south-west there appeared to be sea, and in the north we
thought we could also see the water. I thought that the bay in
the north-west was Dunder Bay, and that we must have strayed
somewhat too far to the west. Our provisions were scarce; there
would only be sufficient to last the four of us one day; it was
therefore necessary to find the ship without delay. Björling,
partly on account of the unfitness of his ski, was thoroughly
exhausted and was unable to travel any farther. I therefore
determined to leave him in the tent with the sleeping-bags and
the remaining stores, and with Erikson and Joakim, unencumbered
by impedimenta, to endeavour to reach the ship and thence send
to rescue Björling. The way to the ship however was longer
than we supposed, for the _Lofoten_ did not lie in the harbour
in the inner part of Recherche Bay as I had expected. The bay
being ice-packed, the ship lay off Cape Lyell, a circumstance
which added a good ten kilometres to our distance.
It was only after nine hours’ unbroken march, tired and hungry
indeed, that we reached the _Lofoten_, and our way would
certainly have been longer still had we not, after walking a
few hours almost due east, thought we could see water on the
horizon, and so were induced to take a more northerly course.
After we had followed this direction for a time, Erikson
declared he could see a ship in the distance. Our joy was
great when I ascertained with the field glass that three
masts were visible a long way off to the north. The ice over
which we had passed was continuously smooth. Only the last
few kilometres nearest the sea were very full of crevasses,
generally covered by snow-bridges, which we could cross on our
ski without difficulty. Luckily for us the ice on the inner
harbour of Recherche Bay was strong enough to bear, so we
avoided a long detour.
We continued on the other side of the bay to Cape Lyell over
a large glacier, terminated in the north by a precipitous
ice-wall, below which begins a wide expanse filled up with
moraines and cut up by numerous crevasses. We did not see this
precipice at first from above, and were nearly falling over it
on our ski, but just managed to pull up at the last moment.
After following the edge of the glacier for a good distance
to the west, we at last succeeded in finding a place where a
snowdrift had built a bridge upon which we could get down. At
last we stood on the beach, and only a couple of gunshots off
lay the _Lofoten_. Firing our revolvers and shouting loudly, we
aroused the captain’s attention and were soon safe on board. It
was six o’clock in the morning of the 19th.
My first care was to send some men back to rescue Björling.
Unfortunately it was several hours before any one could start.
Klinckowström had gone away in one of the boats with part of
the crew to the east side of Recherche Bay, hoping to meet
us there. A message was sent off to him immediately, and his
boat’s crew were soon on board. Klinckowström offered to go
himself with two men to rescue Björling. The three skisters
were soon ready for their journey. As they rowed in a light
boat to the bottom end of Recherche Bay they shortened the way
considerably. Following the west side of the bottom of the
glacier between the mountain and the ice, they found ski tracks
which they endeavoured to follow right up to the tent. After an
absence of about six hours they returned. They had been able to
follow the tracks for about a couple of hours or so, but the
snow, which had fallen heavily high up among the mountains,
had stopped them completely. Under such circumstances
nothing remained for them but to turn back with their errand
unaccomplished. There was however no very great reason for
anxiety, for the sleeping-bags and provisions enough for one
man for several days had been left in the tent.
It cleared up again a little on the 20th, so I sent off Joakim,
who had been my companion and consequently knew the position of
the tent; two men accompanied him. On the morning of the 21st
one of them came back with the news that they had certainly
found the tent but that Björling had left it. They had found
a card with this communication--that “after waiting in vain
for one and a half days he had started with all possible speed
to the west beach of Recherche Bay.” He had however clearly
mistaken Dunder Bay for this, and started in quite the wrong
direction, as his tracks plainly showed. Joakim followed up
this track while the other two returned on board. I now sent
a boat round Cape Lyell to Dunder Bay to meet Björling there.
Joakim, after following his track for a distance, had overtaken
Björling who was on his way south; he came back then with the
boat, and on the afternoon of the 21st we were all together on
board again.
The ski expedition thus described shows that the inland ice of
West Spitsbergen differs considerably from that of North-East
Land as well as of Greenland. It consists in this (at least at
the time of year when we undertook our expedition), namely,
a perfectly level tract covered with snow without any of
the crevasses and mounds which generally make expeditions
over glaciers and inland ice so dangerous and difficult.
Glacier-rivers, fountains, and glacier-lakes, which are so
often met with in Greenland, are here altogether absent.
Similar formations are also wanting in North-East Land’s inland
ice, but its surface is more uneven; crevasses and channels
are very common. This circumstance--viz., the fact that the
inland ice of West Spitsbergen seems to be very much easier
to traverse than glacier ice in general--gives a certain
importance to the plan of measuring an arc of meridian in this
district, a proposal which has been suggested several times.
A number of triangulation points ought to be established on
the mountains, which are surrounded on all sides by the inland
ice. This might have been thought to be very difficult, but,
far from proving an obstacle, the inland ice forms a capital
medium for connecting the points of triangulation. To convey
instruments and equipment on proper sledges for some tens of
kilometres over this smooth surface would surely be no very
severe task.
A few remarks are called for by this pleasant account of a very
interesting little expedition. The inland-ice referred to was not
any part of an ice-sheet and in no wise resembled the icesheets of
Greenland and North-East Land. It was merely the snowfield of Torell
Glacier, which consists of two great arms, one coming from the north
and reaching to the watershed behind Recherche Bay, the other from the
east, where it is limited by the main mountain-backbone of the island,
the orographical continuation of the Hornsunds Tinder. The time of the
expedition being the month of June, the glaciers and snowfields were
still deeply covered with winter snow, which buried the crevasses out
of sight. Later on, no doubt, there would be no difference in character
between Torell Glacier and the Nordenskiöld and other glaciers explored
by us. The same waterlogged snow, the same large lakes, the same
deep and broad torrents, must be formed in all the glacial regions
of Spitsbergen. Hence it follows that the month of June is specially
favourable for expeditions over glaciers in this part of the world,
for then the chief impediments to progress have not been formed, the
weather is likely to be fair and the surface of the snow to be hard
and smooth. Unfortunately it is not till the end of June that, under
present steamship arrangements, the island is cheaply accessible. An
exploring party desiring to land upon Spitsbergen at the end of May
could only do so by coming up in a vessel specially hired to bring
them.
FOOTNOTES
[1] K. Vetenskaps Akad. Hand. Bihang, ix., No. 2, p. 46.
[2] This is doubtless the direction of West Fjord of Wijde Bay, but it
seems doubtful whether any considerable proportion of it can be visible
from the summit of De Geer’s Peak. All along the south-east side of
West Fjord lies a continuous range of hills, a photograph of which is
now before me. The lowest point of this range between Cape Petermann
and Mount Sir Thomas at the head of the fjord can scarcely be as low as
500 feet, whilst almost the whole of the range is 1000 feet high. The
average width of the fjord is about two miles, but just at one point it
is five miles wide. The height of De Geer’s Peak is given as over 1200
metres, say 4000 feet. Its distance from West Fjord is about thirty
geographical miles. If the intervening hill range happens to sink below
the level of about 600 feet, exactly in the line of sight to the place
where the fjord is five miles wide, the extreme edge of the water would
just be visible; yet, even then, no considerable body of water could be
seen. But De Geer states that there were no hills between the fjord and
his peak. Is it not possible that what he saw was the East Fjord, at
whose head are no mountains? Some undetected iron in the rock on which
he stood might be responsible for the compass deviation. The rocks of
Spitsbergen are full of such surprises.
[3] “My Arctic Journal,” London, 1894, p. 232.
[4] “Die Schwedischen Expeditionen nach Spitzbergen und Bären-Eiland
ausgeführt in den Jahren 1861, 1864, and 1868 unter Leitung von O.
Torell und A. E. Nordenskiöld. Aus dem Schwedischen übersetzt von L.
Passarge.” Jena, 1869. 8vo, pp. 470 _et seq._
[5] Mount Chydenius is, however, north-_west_ of Mount Edlund.
[6] These are continued northward by some lower snowy hills ending in
the bold Fair Foreland or Birds’ Cape.
[7] The first English explorers of Spitsbergen, Hudson and other
servants of the Moscovy Company, formally took possession of the
country on behalf of the King of England. They named it “King James,
his New Land.” This name has long been disused. Now that the interior
of the island begins to be explored, names are needed for the different
natural divisions of the country. I have therefore given the name of
King James Land to the mountainous area included between Ice Fjord and
Foreland Sound.
[8] I cannot give the exact altitude, because Nielsen, who was carrying
the instruments, dropped the aneroid here and smashed it before I had
registered the reading.
[9] It is greatly to be regretted that no scale is attached to these
six maps of harbours, which cannot therefore be applied with certainty
to any general map of Spitsbergen.
[10] Garwood was fortunate enough to discover a fine specimen of this.
[11] The position as determined by the Swedes does not agree with the
position determined by the Austrians.--_Vide_ R. von Barry, _Zwei
Fahrten_, &c. Vienna, 1894. 8vo.
[12] As to the whole project, see: N. Dunér and A. E. Nordenskiöld,
Förberedande Undersökningar rörande utförbarheten af en Gradmätning
på Spetsbergen. K. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handl. Bd. vi. No. 8. In 1891
a Swedish committee was appointed to reconsider the question, and a
further scheme was drawn up by Professor Rosen and published as a
pamphlet in 1893. It has now been decided by the Swedish Academy of
Sciences that the scheme shall be carried out, perhaps in conjunction
with Russia, and expeditions to that end are to be sent to Spitsbergen
in 1898 and following years.
[13] A translation of his interesting account of this expedition is
inserted as an appendix to the present volume, by kind permission of
Baron Nordenskiöld.
[14] The summit of the Aiguille Verte is 3700 feet above the Jardin.
[15] Herr Imfeld’s new map is the best on which to examine this theory.
[16] The Walliser Viescher Glacier was similarly employed.
[17] _Alpine Journal_, vol. xviii., p. 501.
[18] Vide _Geographical Journal_, 1898.
[19] Translated by the Rev. E. Shepherd from Herr G. Nordenskiöld’s
paper, _Redogörelse för den Svenska Expeditionen till Spetsbergen
1890_, published in _Bihang till K. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handl._ Bd. 17,
Afd. 2, No. 3, pp 10-17.
[20] The _névé_ of Torell Glacier.
[21] 109 metres. From the context it seems certain that this should be
309 metres, = 1014 feet.
INDEX
Advent Bay, 1, 67, 90, 121, 126, 154, 221
Adventure Land, 36, 121, 220
Agardh Bay, 220
Ahlstrand, Cape, 229
Andrée and his balloon, 155
Atmospherical phenomenon, curious, 180
Baldwin, Mr., 67
Bar, The, 70
Barents Land, 28, 46, 47, 183, 223
Barrel-vaults of ice, 51
Bear Island, landing on, 191
Bernese Oberland, glacier action in the, 210, 213
Birds Cape, 224
Nesting-places of, 3, 50, 65, 79, 98, 108, 133, 143, 165, 184
Blomstrand Harbour, 71, 145
Mound, 71, 145
Boat, troubles with our, 167
Bornemisza, Baron, 154, 155
Calving of a glacier, 13, 74, 77, 140, 141
Chydenius, Mount, 28, 43
Clouds, low-lying, 63, 104, 113, 131, 138, 140
Coal Bay, _vide_ Coles Bay
Haven, 71, 147
Coles Bay, 68, 221
Cookeries, whaling, 151, 160, 162
Crevassed glacier, 16, 77, 110, 133
Crevasses, Depth of, 143
Difficulties with sledges amongst, 16, 132, 133
Cross Bay, 10, 71, 151, 218
Mountains, 104, 122, 131
Crowns, The Three, 72, 85, 109, 116, 119, 120
Ascent of one of, 119
Glacier, 72, 105, 114, 122
De Geer Peak, 21, 22, 23, 48, 50
Ascent of, 27
Deceptive appearances on snowfields, 24
Deer Bay, 71
Diadem Peak, Ascent of, 124
Dickson Bay, 33, 39, 218, 219
Dubbin, Norwegian and other, 49
Dunder Bay, 221, 231, 233
Dutch Bay, 218
Eating-back rivers and glaciers, 210, _et seq._
Ebeltoft’s Haven, 151
Edge Land, 223
Edlund, Mount, 28, 41
Ascent of, 42
Eiderdown, 65
Ekman Bay, 73, 92, 116, 121, 218
Ekstam, Herr, 1, 67
Elevation of the land, 59
English Bay, 69, 70, 85
Equipment, 18
Exile Peak, 124
_Expres_, The, 2, 154
Fair Foreland, 224
Falling ice, 177
Fleur-de-Lys Point, 5
Fog on snowfield, Puzzling effect of, 31
Travelling through, 21, 31, 32, 33, 34
Foreland, Prince Charles’, 68, 122, 223
Sound, 68, 122, 224
Fox Glacier, 221
Foxes, 88
_Fram_, Crew of the, 2, 192
Garwood, E. J., 1, and _passim_
Land, Description of, 56, 57, 58, 212, 219
Land, Wide view over interior of, 38, 46
Gatty, Ascent by Mr. Victor, 221
Glacier, Ice-tunnel in a, 137
Phenomena, notable, 51, 111, 128
Torrents, 79, 83, 103, 106, 111
Cliffs, 9, 77, 141
Glaciers, Action of on their beds, 207
Advance of, 138
Calving, 13, 74, 77, 140, 141
Ending in deep water, 10
Ending in shallow water must advance, 11
That eat back at their heads, 60
Goose Glacier, 159, 168, 170, _et sqq._
Haven (Horn Sound), 157, _et sqq._
Islands (Ice Fjord), 64
Green Harbour, 220
Greenland and Spitsbergen, Contrast between, 36, 61
Heat on the snowfields, 87, 100, 108, 130
Hedgehog, Ascent of Mount, 170
Heley Sound, 44
Highway Dome, 91
Pass, 90
Himalayas, How rivers have “eaten back” in the, 210
Hofer Point, 158
Horn Glacier, 166
Sound, Visit to, 157, _et sqq._, 225
To Bell Sound over Torell Glacier, 225, _et sqq._
Hornsunds Tinder, 121, 165, 170, _et sqq._, 222, 226, 227
Hyperite Hat, 67
Icebergs, 141, 142, 145, 147
Ice-encrusted rocks, 178
Flat below a glacier’s foot, 160
Honeycomb, 19, 55, 81
Sheets, 36, 37, 206, 207, 216
Inland ice, 206, 234
King James Land, 89, 96, 218
King Karl Island, 223
Kings Bay, 70, 138, _et sqq._
Landing in, 74
King’s Highway, 72, 76, _et sqq._, 115
Expedition up, 76, _et sqq._
Kittiwake Glacier, 165
Klaas Billen Bay, 5, _et sqq._, 48, 55, 62, _et sqq._, 219
Lakes, Burst Glacier, 53, 100, 137
Lerner, Dr., 3
Lovén Islands, 72, 141, 143
Mount, 45
Low Sound, 221
Lyell Cape, 231
Lyktan, 33
Magdalena Bay, 218
Mauritius Bay, 218
Meridian arc in Spitsbergen, Proposal for measurement of a, 173, 234
Michel Rinders Bay, 221
Mimesdal, 7, 17, 219
Mitra Hook, 71, 152
Moraines, Struggle with sledges up and over, 15, 80, 134
Mount Blanc Range, Previous form of, 209
Mountain exploration, Difficulties of, 95
Mountains, Scale of, 91, 118
New Friesland, 207, 219
Nielsen, Edward, 22, 32, 84, 125, 127, 131, 141, 170
Mount, 76, 78
Nordenskiöld, Baron, A. E., 41, 156, 174, 222
Herr Gustaf, 176, 225
Glacier, 6, 8, _et sqq._
Nordenskiöld Gl., Expedition up, 15, _et sqq._
North Cape of Norway, 191
North-East Land, 207, 222, 234
Nunataks, 38, 84
Osborne Glacier, 98, _et sqq._
Palæolithic climbing, 163
Peter Winter’s Bay, 69, 223
Pike, Mr. Arnold, 158, 223
Plateaus carved into mountain ranges by rivers and glaciers, 57, 208
Post Glacier, 220
Pretender Pass, 104
Peak, 73, 85, 105, 107, _et sqq._
Scramble on, 113
Prince Charles Foreland, 68, 122, 223
Prismatic Ice, 102
Pyramid, The, 7
Quade Hook, 70
Queens, The, 73, 85, 101, 104, 105
Recherche Bay, _vide_ Schoonhoven
Reindeer, Destruction of, 9, 144
Roebuck Land, 222
Rotges Mount, 225
Russian trappers, 69, 151, 159
Sabine, Sir Edward, 173
St. John’s Bay, 68, 99, 223
Sassendal, 213, 220, 221
Schoonhoven (Recherche Bay), 221, 222, 229, 231
Scoresby, Dr., 71
Scoresby’s Grotto, 145
Screes, 114, 119
Seven Icebergs, The, 218
Islands, 154
Shallow River Valley, 221
Shoes, Lapp, 49
Silence of the snowfields, 89, 123
Skans Bay, 3, 219
Ski, 24, 30, 34, 37, 55, 93, 100, 106, 123, 125, 127, 129, 194,
_et sqq._, 230
Fastenings of, 197
First attempts on, 25, 201
Footgear for, 199
Glissading with, 203
In the Alps, 204
Kinds of, 196
Makers of, 200
Records with, 202
Staff for, 200
Sledges, Misfortunes with, 55, 79, 80, 103, 132, 139
Snow blown by a gale, 35
Snowfield, Different aspects of surface of, 94, 98
Travelling over, 21-50
Waterlogged, 82, 102, 124
Snowshoes, Canadian, 26, 30, 32, 49
Norwegian, _vide_ Ski
Spitsbergen, Geography of, 217
Stonehenge Rocks, 164
Stones, Falling, 110
Storm on a snowfield, 34, 35
Strong Glacier, 221
Svanberg, Mount, 43
Svensen’s troubles, 23, 32, 34, 35, 36, 40, 48, 50, 66, 84, 101, 119,
129, 149, 153, 156
Temple Bay, 220
Mount, 66
Terrier Peak, 18, 30, 47, 50, 52
Teufelsdrökh on North Cape, 193
Thordsen Plateau, 3, 28, 93, 219
Tibet, Partially undenuded plateau of, 210
Torell Glacier, 222, 228, _et sqq._, 235
Tourists in Spitsbergen, 1, 67, 155
Trevor-Battye, Mr. A., 157
Views, Notable, 6, 17, 19, 23, 28, 33, 38, 46, 48, 71, 87, 92, 105,
112, 114, 120, 126, 136, 140, 144, 177, 180, 182, 192
Weather, Bad, 22, 34
Whales Bay, 221
White Mountain, 41
Ascent of, 45
Wiche Bay, 220
Land, 45, 158, 223
Wijde Bay, 29, 39, 122, 217, 219
Winter, Approach of, 136, 166, 171, 180, 188, 189, 190
Wood Bay, 218
Wybe Jans Water, 28, 39, 41, 43, 46, 47, 183
Zeehonde Bay, 69
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