THE VEGETATION OF NORTH GREENLAND. 145 
naultia, with bright scarlet flowers, larger and finer than any species 
described, was first brought to me by Mr. Lock Burges, from the grassy 
hills to the east of the Hill river. I afterwards saw the same plant, 
growing sparingly on the sand-plain to the north of the Diamond 
Spring. 
(To be continued.) 
The VEGETATION or NORTH GREENLAND ; translated (by Miss 
Gurney) from * The Danish Districts in North Greenland, their Geo- 
graphy, Produce,’ etc., by H. Rink. Copenhagen, 1852. 
Plants used for Fuel and Food by the Greenlanders. 
We have in another place already spoken of the impossibility of 
keeping cattle in North Greenland ; still less could it be supposed that 
any plants could be cultivated to such an extent as to serve for food 
for the people. The Danish officials have at most of their posts made 
a little garden before the house, and tried how far many of our garden 
plants could be raised by taking all possible pains to use the short 
summer. At Jakobshayn and Godhavn (both 69° 2^ they have suc- 
ceeded in getting up Turnips and Radishes; Green Kale, Spinach, 
Lettuce, and Chervil grow freely in the open air, but the Kale and 
the Chervil almost entirely lose their proper taste and pungency. 
Carrots can hardly be brought to a size to be known as such, and 
Potatoes do not grow as large as those which are found produced 
from old ones brought home on board ship without any earth. At 
Omenak (71°) also we may have Lettuce, Scotch Kale, and Radishes 
in the middle of August, but scarcely Turnips of any tolerable size. 
These are vegetables of which the roots and leaves only are used; 
of course those producing fruit or seed are out of the question. Even 
this degree of horticulture requires the greatest care: the manure 
must be scraped up in the neighbourhood of Greenland houses, where 
fertilizing substances must have lain during the many years required 
to bring them to the necessary point of decay in this cold climate, and 
part of the seeds have to be sown early, and the warmth of a stove 
used to bring them forward for planting out as soon as the ground is 
thawed to the depth of two inches. Gardening can only be carried on 
as an amusement, in pleasing remembrance of the enjoyments of home. 
VOL. V. U 
