The Land of Desolation: Being a Personal Narrative of Observation and Adventure in Greenland

The author recounts a summer voyage to Greenland with a small party aboard a steam yacht, combining travelogue, natural history, and antiquarian inquiry. Early sections describe Norse ruins along the coast and encounters with local communities; middle chapters examine glaciers and icebergs, including observations on formation, measurements, and dangerous crossings; later material follows navigation under the midnight sun, hunting excursions, passage through Melville Bay's ice-fields, and visits to remote settlements. The narrative mixes descriptive scene-setting, practical accounts of Arctic navigation and survival, scientific speculation, and social sketches of gatherings, hunters, and island life.