Preparations having been completed for an extended sledge journey to examine the bays and inlets of the mainland, the party started March 8, 1870, and were absent until April 27 after twenty-three days of most arduous labours. Lieutenant Payer had the satisfaction of reaching 77° 1´ north latitude, at that time the most northerly point ever reached on the east coast of Greenland. From an elevated sight the sea appeared covered with an unbroken field of hummocks, and land was seen to stretch out in a northerly direction as far as the eye could reach. Other journeys which followed at close intervals greatly added to the geographical knowledge of the coast. On the return from one of these, they discovered (9th of August) the entrance to a magnificent fiord to the south of Cape Franklin (73° 10´ north latitude), into which they penetrated to a distance of seventy-two nautical miles. As they advanced into the interior, a decided change in the temperature was noticed, the atmosphere and water became warmer, and herds of reindeer and musk-oxen were seen; butterflies, bees, and other insects fluttered over the green earth. Nothing could exceed the grandeur of the scenery. “Numerous glaciers and cascades descended from the mountains, which rose higher and higher as they advanced towards the west. Lieutenant Payer and Doctor Copeland having climbed a peak 7000 feet high saw the fiord still branching out in the distance, and towards the west a remote chain of mountains, situated about 32° W. long., rising to an altitude of at least 14,000 feet, terminated the magnificent prospect. The interior of Greenland thus proved itself to be not a mere naked plateau covered with perpetual ice-fields, but in some parts at least a country of Alpine grandeur.” [Sidenote: _RETURN OF THE “GERMANIA”_] On the 24th of August, the _Germania_ steered her course for home; as the ship cleared the last of the Greenland ice, Captain Koldewey quoted the words of old Scoresby under similar conditions. “My watch is over!” he used to say—and turning to Mr. Sengstache, Captain Koldewey exclaimed, “My watch is over!” and retired to his cabin with a feeling of security that he had not enjoyed for many a day.