A Diary and Journal from the Second Grinnell Expedition

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the buds already expanding and nearly ready to burst. In the afternoon - knowing the tendency of the Cochleania to spring up around the fertilization of breeding grounds and old Esquimaux huts - I walked to the ancient settlement across the bay. My walk was unrewarded - as far as regarded this one Arctic Crucifer - for we found hardly a vestige of vegetable life.

Although the melted snows dis =till freely over the rocks (Gyenite) it is a rare exception to note any discoloration of the surface beneath. Those primitive forms of [Cenvertaceous?] x diatomaceous growth so universal at Upernavik but 5º further south were absent. How much all these little indications impress us with our high northern= ness. And comparative exemption from fresh water!

[Margin] Wednes June 20

A snow falls - moist and flaky, melting upon our decks and cleaning up the dingy surface of the great ice plain with its new garment. The day is that of greatest solar light - the summer solstice! - would that the traditionally verified but meteorilogically disproved Equi= noxtial storm would break upon us and destroy the tenaceous floes.

How different is this noon day of our long arctic day from the midnight of our long arctic night. Troubled and hard worked as has been the interval between them it does not seem to me as if six months had gone by. Only as a last night's dream I see our pale faced crew cele= brating the climax of our darkness beyond which every minute brought us nearer to the day. What I see now is matter of another sort.

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[Margin] Thurs June 22

The ice changes slowly, but the progress of vegetation is excessively rapid. The growth of the rocky group near our brig is surprising.

Our gentlemen are at last persuaded to wash their dirty clothes in the fresh water holes of the ice foot: Mr. Goodfellow long a nuissance from the tattered state of his attire condescends to mend his breeches.

Two more long tailed duck seen. Two great northern divers.

[Margin] Friday June 22

The eiders! The eiders!! Jubilate - Gaudate- saluate - all the ates. And all the people at me. The eiders have come back. A pair were seen in the morning soon follwed by four ducks and drakes. The poor things seemed to be seeking breeding grounds but the ice must have scared them. They were flying south= wards.

Mr. Sonntag nearly completing his long protracted observations.

George shot a female long tailed duck.

[Margin] Saturday June 23

Looking for the return of McLeary and his party. They were allowed ten days to complete their survey of the glacier and if they take ten to return they will be back tomorrow.

Killed two more long tailed ducks - in the overflow of the land ice near the brig.

Mr. Goodfellow has taken to deer stalking and seal crawling. No success as yet but has broken my

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Kentucky rifle, split my ram rods, smashed my powder flask and retorn his forlorn pantaloons. He will neither mend them nor accept from his messmates another pair. I would give him a trunk load of clothes to save my soup plate from his rags. Goodfellow is much in my way. More perhaps when on than off duty. I often wish him back to the negative condition of gentleman passenger.

Mosses beginning to be green!

[Margin] Sunday June 24

Walked on shore - and watched the slow changes. Andromeda in flower. Poppy and Ranunculus the same. Saw two snipe and some tern (S. Arctica). Returning to the brig killed a long tailed duck.

Mr. Ohlsen returned from a walk with Petersen. They saw reindeer and brought back a noble specimen of the King Duck (anas spectabilis). It was a solitary male resplendant with the orange black and green of his head and neck.)

Stephensen is better - and I think that a marked improvement - although slow - shows itself in all of us. I work the men lightly and allow penlty of basking in the sun. We eat a whole set of plants which are barely rescued from the snow and which it requires all and more of botani= cal accumen than I possess to select.

The Pyrola I have not found nor save in one spot the cochlearia - and then so starved and dwarfed as hardly to give a pinch to myself. But we have on the other hand the young sorrel (Rumex Digynus) - and the flowers of the andromeda and willow bark. This latter an excellent tonic and, I think, antiscorbutic.

Mr. Goodfellow shot a seal. He deserves credit for his perseverance. Five days ago he

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could not load a rifle.

[Margin] Monday June 26

This evening at 6 1/2 o'clock, the East Greenland party under McGeary returned all doing well.

They found the coast of Greenland to head N. 70. E - from Cape Frederick to the face of the glacier. This result coincides with my own observations. The coast of Greenland therefore runs rapidly toward the East and is arrested by this enormous protrusion of ice. The trend ^ reduced to [mannus bim?] was E. by N. 3/4 [?] ^ or nearly due E & West ^ a course which allow= ing Greenland to expand at the same rate on the Atlantic coast would have brought us to the point of intersection in 300 geog. miles. The time occupied by this Expedition was but 21 days - the total distance traversed 278 miles.

The caches were destroyed by bears and as I anticipated from the fate of the provisions within my own line of operation not a morsel of Pemican remained ex= cept the tin cases made at my instance by Borden - these being I think iron cylindrical with cone shaped ens the teeth and claws of the animal could make little impression. Pemican should always be in metal or air tight skin cases as the fat will exude at ordinary Arctic summer temperatures and thus ruin the quality of the food.

The power of the bear as seen in the destruction of our depos must be enor= =mous. An alcohol keg - strongly iron bound was dashed to pieces that not a fragment remained. A tin can of liquor was mashed into a hard solid and the claws had

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perforated the metal and torn it up as with a cold chisel. Salt meats - even soaked pork they would not eat but every thing else entered their insatiable maw. Preserved milk and meat biscuit, and ground coffee - and old canvas - even our flag was gnawed down to its very staff. They showed too a spirit of delicate humour for they rolled our bread barrels over the ice foot into the broken ice - and tied hard knots into the threads of our India rubber bags. The whole area around the slopes was marked by their tracks - and they had proof that these strange beasts slide down slopes of over 45º upon their haunches.

The chart of last fall constructed on a plane scale of 1/7th inch to the geogra= phical mile - the present chart upon the same scale is our final one and has been carefully projected by Mr. Sonntag from the combined result of all our operations. the trend and topography of the coast as well as the determinations of position are entitled to more reliance than field operations generally - for in addition to observed positions by ar.t horizon and Chronometer - our results were strengthened by several sets of sextant triangulations and repeated solar bearings -the whole corroberated by comparison with the work of several parties - and rendered positive by being connected by Theodolite with the well determined position of the Winter Observatory.

This position is based upon a well sustained series of lunar culminations, the determination of local time being in no case dependant upon less than twelve star transits. But

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As a means of still further fortifying our results we have [since?] reliable observations of the occultation of Saturn and one of Mars. The observ.n of Feb. 5 was unique. Noonday was intermediate between the immersion and emersion of the planet, and the mean of our standard thermometer showed a temperature of -53º. The undulation of the moons limit was very great, but the agreement of my own and Mr. Sonntags re= sults make the observation satisfactory.

This is I believe the lowest tepera= ture as it is certainly the highest latitude at which an occultation of a planet has been observed. Mr. Sonntag informs me that some of Hansteen's observations were at a very high latitude and I believe that Biot observed at [Bol'Seloy?] in Lat 72º. But our own Winter observations were made under conditions of temperature greatly lower than our predecessors.

For Latitude we depend upon a careful set of Solar altitudes - as well as repeated by theodolite as well as repeated sextant sights.

Althogether, aided by the excellent as well learned eye of Mr. Sonntag --- a thoroughly dependable transit and Theodolite (x1). I am able to claim for the astronomical determination of our geographical position as great if not a greater accuracy than those of any previous Arctic Expedition

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(x1) Note Parry could not use his transit at Melville Transit kindly lent to me by Mr. McCues of Phil. Theodolite placed at disposition by courtesy of A. Dallas Bache of the coast survey.

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[margin] Tuesday 27

The face of the coast of Greenland is nowfound to front hte north. The shore line so long a blank upon our maps now runs to the E. and W. (From E 20º N to W 20ºS) and the enormous glacier which throws its icy barrier to the North is probably the only separation between ourselves and the Atlantic Ocean.

The probability of this most inte= =resting result does not rest upon mere supposition but direct data disclosed by our observations. The trend of the coast as delineated by us--and the trend of the Eastern Shore--as dis= closed by Scoresby and Sabine (x1) would, if their lines were produced, most in Lat 82º -- but one hundred and twenty miles from the furthest point reached by Messrs. McGeary & Bonsall!! In fact our parties penetrated so far to the East that they were but 210 miles from the axis of the peninsula of Greenland and meridian of Cape Farewell.

The terminating barrier to all further penetration--the Great Glacier --is of high physical interest. As an ice growth it is unique (alone) and if we except some of our ^most^ active volcanoes it it is the ^grandest &^ most imposing exhibition of dynamic force ever witnessed upon our globe.

(x1) I discard the doubtful derminations of whalers & Dutch navigators. Scoresby gives the E. Greenland Coast above [left empty] and Sabine at the Pendulum Id.s in Lat [left empty] thus affording to geographers reliable authority for the final direction of shore line as laid down in the Admiral and other Charts.

K.

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It has been already traced -- at the peril of the lives of the party -- for 90 miles. Throughout all this extent it presented a precipi= =tous face of 3 to 500 feet and when last seen was lost as a mere point in the distance still running to the North. Such a length of protruded ice would imply a corresponding brea[d]th. An icy river already abutting 90 miles in to the sea must have at its sources of exit a diameteter proportioned to its magnificent ^linear^ dimensions --and the 120 miles which seem to intervene between ourselves and the culmination of Greenland are perhaps entirely occupied by this gigantic ice barrier.

Greenland is a continent rather than an island its least possible axis from Cape Farewell to the assumed northern then culmination of 82º gives a length of 1320 miles -- while Australia from its northern to its southern capes is but 280 miles greater (x1). Imagine now the centres of a continent. Throughout nearly this extent occupied by a colossal mer de glace representing at once the water shed of vast areas of snow covered mountains and its atmospheric precipitations. (2) Imagine this flowing on as an icy river -- seeking its lateral vents at every fiord and valley -- and discharging mountains of ice -- ice bergs -- into the Atlantic and Greenland Seas and at last reaching the northern face of its generating

(x)1. Australia between Bass and Torres straits measures about 1600 miles. Determine the accuracy!

(2) Dr. Hayes interior journey off Renssalaer H. was arrested at 90 miles distance by the same great glacier.

short journey came back wonderfully fresh. Only two out of the four returning were laid up - one of them is Mr Mc Geary himself who has severe snow blindness.

Four noble King Ducks were shot to day. The tern are now numerous about our island rocks - they arrived about ten days ago a single pair - they are alrea = =dy beginning to build and their gull like screeching is pleasant and land like to us

[Thurs June 29] The seals fall to us rarely since Hand's departure - Mr. Fordfellow killed one but so young as to give little food to our new reinforced numbers. We give all our bids to Mr [Browns?] who is the lowest now of our party.

George Whipple was placed in Confinement for threatening Mr Goodfellow and using abusive language - Confine = ment means a [snug break ?] (? ?) in the Cabin with better grubb than before yet it is solitude and isolation. Experience shows that it is in every sense punishment and as such efficient.

Placed Sonntag at a mercator projection [company?] , our own results with those of Capt. Inglefields who is in absurd error, as to all his determination above 78 degrees 30 -

Day very clear [?] [ ?] Coast.

[Friday June 30] I walked last night to a large berg in the [?] and after some dangerous climbing succeeded in ascend= =ing it. No break nor signs of breaking was seen in the still solid ice.

24 altered in structure as it is there is an inva= sion of the complete solidity as far as eye can [extend?] at an altitude of 60 feet. Mr Sonntag and Dr Hayes from the Sylvia Head looked out upon a radius 23 miles and saw there the same expanse of ice. The noise noise of a distant water stream is heard in shore to the S.E. I sent Hayes and Bonsall to find it. They are still out.

Mr Ohlsen completed a tinned box for our skinned specimines as a protection against the rats which infest the brig. I had the boat put into the land ice water as a preparatory to complete overhauling.

Placed our [?] Barometer - on deck a change of level of five feet and circled a [?] on [?] Island (Tern Rock?) for magnetic observations Hourly of variables of declimations . Placed Mr Wilson on a day watch and filled up with Dr Hayes, Goodfellow and Bonsall

June

June is one of the critical months of the Arctic year - It heralds the true summer and brings back to land and water the migratory life which winter had driven to the south.

This month has been singularly chararicteristic in our present latitudes Except the [?] gull and snowbird which reached us in not a bird of passage had reached us The falcon and Ptarmigan represented on shore the resident birds. The Raven [?] over ambiguous haunts of sea ice and land-