These holes in the ice filled with water are in no way connected with each other, and at the bottom of them we found everywhere, not only near the border, but in the most distant parts of the inland ice visited by us, a layer, some few millimetres thick, of grey powder, often conglomerated into small round balls of loose consistency. Under the microscope, the principal substance of this remarkable powder appeared to consist of white angular transparent grains. We could also observe remains of vegetable fragments; yellow, imperfectly translucent particles, with, as it appeared, evident surfaces of cleavage (felspar?); green crystals (augite) and black opaque grains, which were attracted by the magnet. The quantity of these foreign components is, however, so inconsiderable, that the whole mass may be looked upon as one homogeneous substance.