chased for the purpose. An Italian, Colonel Nobile, was captain of the airship, and Amundsen and Ellsworth were the leaders of the expedition. The Norge left Svalbard on May 11 at 8:55 a.m. (Gr.time) passed over the Pole on May 12 at 1:25 a.m., over Point Barrow in Alaska on May 13 at 7:25 am., and landed at Teller in the vicinity of Nome after a flight of 71 hours. In 1928 Colonel Nobile attempted a flight across the Pole in a new Italian airship, the Jtalia. The airship came to grief north-east of Svalbard, Amundsen took part in a relief expedition with the Latham, an aeroplane which had been placed at disposal by the French Government and was piloted by Guilbaud, a French flight-captain. The Latham left Troms¢ in the afternoon of June 18, but never reached its destination. It was lost off the coast north of Tromsg. Here ended Roald Amundsen his glorious life along with Guilbaud and the other members of the relief expedition. In 1906 Captain Gunnar Isachsen organised and led a scientific expedition to Svalbard, and this expedition has been followed by Norwegian expe- ditions to this region every year since. A Norwe- gian State institution for the exploration of the Arctic regions was created in 1928, the name of which is Norges Svalbard- og Ishavs-unders¢@kel- ser. It sends out expeditions to Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Jan Mayen and East-Greenland. The leader of the institution is Adolf Hoel. As meteorological conditions in the Arctic 200