Report of the Cruise of the U.S. Revenue Steamer Thomas Corwin, in the Arctic Ocean, 1881

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U.S. Government Printing Office, 1884 - 147 pages
 

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Page 56 - ... in succession. It is the wind, or rather the waves raised by the wind, that brings down the bulk of these enormous masses, by grinding one piece against another, and by undermining and washing away those parts that lie exposed to the surge of the sea.
Page 119 - ... have also at the portal of the tomb the relics of funeral feasts, and within it indications of viands destined for the use of the departed on their way to a land of spirits ; while among the funeral gifts are weapons wherewith in other fields to chase the gigantic deer, the cave-lion...
Page 79 - Corwin, published in 1881, on page 24, Hooper wrote as follows in speaking of his visit to Elephant Point : I searched the face of the cliff at Elephant Point for fossil remains, but found none either in the Ice or in the soil above it. I was more fortunate, however, on the beach below after the tide fell. There I found a large number of mammoth bones and tusks and some smaller bones belonging, probably, to the " aurock " and musk ox. Although the skull here described was not specifically mentioned,...
Page 54 - I landed is four miles and a half in extent east and west, and about two and a half north and south, in the shape of a triangle, the western end being its apex. It is almost inaccessible on all sides, and a solid mass of granite. Innumerable black and white divers (common to this sea) here found a safe place to deposit their eggs and bring up their young; not a walrus or seal was seen on its shore, or on the ice in its vicinity. We observed here none of the small land birds that were so numerous...
Page 15 - The western limit within which the territories and dominion conveyed are contained passes through a point in Behring's straits on the parallel of...
Page 57 - Thus it may happen, that more ice is destroyed in one stormy season than is formed in several winters, and an endless accumulation is prevented.
Page 56 - I judged, that the larger pieces reached thirty feet, or more, under the surface of the water. It also appeared to me very improbable, that this ice could have been the production of the preceding winter alone. I should suppose it rather to have been the production of a great many winters. Nor was it less improbable...
Page 53 - I followed his example ; the others were anxious to do the same, but the sea was so high that I could not permit them. " We hoisted the jack, and took possession of the island, with the usual ceremonies, in the name of her most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria. "The extent we had to walk over was not more than thirty feet.
Page 53 - ... sea that I did not anchor as I intended. I left the ship with two boats; the senior lieutenant, Mr. Maguire, Mr. Seemann, naturalist, and Mr. Collinson, mate, in one ; Mr. Goodridge, surgeon, Mr. Pakenham, midshipman, and myself, in the other, almost despairing of being able to reach the island.
Page 79 - Captain Beechey, of the Royal Navy, while cruising in the Arctic in 1826-27, claims to have fully established the fact that Kotzebue was mistaken ; that what he called a ' glacier ' was occasioned either by the water from the thawing ice and snow trickling down the surface of the earthy cliff from above, or by the snow being banked up against the cliff in winter, and afterwards converted into ice by alternate thawing and freezing, producing the appearance which deceived the Russians. " The cliffs...

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