A day or so after landing, Nordenskjold discovered that the island they were on--named Snow Hill Island--was peculiarly interesting from a geological point of view, for he found fossils of ammonites, a token of ancient life of the region which alone would have made the expedition memorable. During the first month of their sojourn, the party were fully occupied in organising their scientific work and in taking preliminary trips through the island. At an early date they satisfied themselves that Admiralty Bay is a Sound, and that the portion of the continent extending to the vicinity was more in the nature of a group of scattered islands, with deep sounds passing between them, than a continuous stretch of mainland. The microscopical examination of the soil revealed the presence of numerous bacteria, while the examination of the waters showed that the lower forms of life were well represented. On the land there were abundance of penguins, seals, and migratory birds; but otherwise there was an absence of the animals found throughout the Arctic regions. On one point they had reason to be dissatisfied with the position selected for the station. At the time the site was chosen it was believed that they would be well sheltered from the force of the gales. The reverse was found to be the case. Gales came from the south-west for days together and blew with a velocity that was astounding. On one occasion a large bag of fossils, left on the steps of the hut, was blown yards away; while on another, a barrel of bread was carried off, and a whale-boat was lifted over a second boat and flung against a mass of ice, a distance of twenty-one yards. When the boat was found, after the storm had abated, it was lying keel upwards, with the greater part of one side smashed in. The oars, thwarts, and inside planks were scattered and broken, even the zinc plating being stripped off and blown away. A curious phenomenon was observed during the progress of these gales. The air became saturated with electricity to such an extent that the metal parts of the instruments gave shocks to the fingers when touched, while the tips of a man's fingers glowed with luminosity when outside the hut in the dark. As a similar thing occurs in the Sahara during the progress of a simoon or sand-storm, it was considered that the amount of electricity was caused by the friction set up by the particles of snow carried along in a never-ending cloud by the gale. The rate at which the dry particles of snow moved was tremendous. An extra severe gale carrying away the wind-gauge, it was not possible to keep a complete record of the velocity of the gales, but from the records secured, it was demonstrated that, during the first half of June, if the hut had travelled with the same velocity as the wind rushed past it, a distance of 14,900 miles would have been covered, or as far as from the hut to Sweden and half-way back.