Bitumen is, in its various forms, one of the most widel y -distributed of substances, occurring in strata of every geological age, from the lowest Archean rocks to those now in process of deposition, and in greater or less quantity throughout both hemispheres, from Spitzbergen to New Zealand, and from California to Japan.
Later, he spent long periods on the intertropical coasts of Africa and America, and again among the snows of Spitzbergen.
A connecting island-chain between Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen is probable.
On the coasts of the ancient ice-sea, in which the glacial clay was deposited, there were heaped-up masses of shells which belong to species still extant around Spitzbergen and Greenland.
He investigated the trade prospects at Bear Island, and recommended his patrons to seek higher game in Newland; hence he may be called the father of the English whale-fisheries at Spitzbergen.