onsists mainly of gabbro,
which in the interior forms several isolated, black, plateau-formed
hills, 100 to 150 metres high, between which an even, grassy, but
treeless plain extends. It probably rests on sedimentary strata. For
on the western side of Irkaipij the plutonic rock is seen to rest on
a black slate with traces of fossils, for the most part obscure
vegetable impressions, probably belonging to the Permian
Carboniferous formation.

Uneasy at the protracted delay here I made an excursion to a hill in
the neighbourhood of our anchorage, which, according to a
barometrical measurement, was 129 metres high, in order, from a
considerable height, to get a better view of the ice than was
possible by a boat reconnaisance. The hill was called by the
Chukches Hammong-Ommang. From it we had an extensive view of the
sea. It was everywhere covered with closely packed drift-ice. Only
next the land was seen an open channel, which, however, was
interrupted in an ominous way by belts of ice.

The plutonic rock, of which the hill was formed, was almost
everywhere broken up by the action of the frost into angular blocks
of stone, so that its surface was converted into an enormous stone
mound. The stones were on the wind side covered with a translucent
glassy ice-crust, which readily fell away, and added considerably to
the difficulty of the ascent. I had previously observed the
formation of such an ice-crust on the northernmost mountain summits
of Spitzbergen.[246] It arises undoubtedly from the fall of
super-cooled mist, that is to say of mist whose vesicles have been
cooled considerably below the freezing-point without being changed
to ice, which first takes place when, after falling, they come in
contact with ice or snow, or some angular hard object. It is such a
mist that causes the icing down of the rigging of vessels, a very
unpleasant phenomenon for the navigator, which we experienced during
the following days, when the tackling of the _Vega_ was covered with
pieces of ice so large, and layers so thick, that accidents might
have happened by the falling of the ice on the deck.[247]

The dredgings here yielded to Dr. Kjellman some algae, and to Dr.
Stuxberg masses of a species of cumacea, _Diastylis Rathkei_ Kr., of
_Acanthostephia Malmgreni_ Goes, and _Liparis gelatinosus_ Pallas,
but little else. On the steep slopes of the north side of Irkaipij a
species of cormorant had settled in so large numbers that the cliff
ther