148 THE VEGETATION OF NORTH GREENLAND. 
which has taken root in the rifts below the nesting-places. Better is 
the other variety of turf, which is found to contain imbedded in its 
masses the twigs and roots of the low bushes, particularly of the 
Empetrum, and thus to consist of more woody remains. This is met 
with on the eastern coast of Disko Bay, in the district of Christianshaab 
and Jakobshavn, The best in quality that I have seen was from the 
colony of Christianshaab, where it is very compact, and approaches 
nearly to that of our Lyng Mosses. On the whole the Greenland 
turf is lighter, more porous, and less useful for burning in proportion 
to its bulk,.than turf from the mosses or bogs of more temperate 
climates; but it is sufficiently good for culinary purposes and for heat- 
ing common stoves, except in the four coldest winter months, when 
it may serve as an adjunct to coal or wood, but will hardly suffice 
alone to warm a house, unless the stove be contrived on purpose, and 
very spacious. 
The lesser degree of heat derived from this turf is however compen- 
sated by its abundance and the ease of obtaining it. It is cut in 
tolerably large pieces of one-sixth or one-eighth of a cubic foot, and 
about four inches deep, with the outer green surface. At Claushavn 
and Jakobshavn this fuel has been in use for above fifty years, procured 
in part immediately around the houses, and in part from a distance of 
not more than 1000 ells, and at the rate of 20,000 to 30,000 pieces 
yearly, though of course in larger quantities of late years, since stoves 
have been in use in Greenland dwellings, The supply is far from 
being exhausted; and we must remember that the places were not 
chosen for building specially because of the ease of obtaining this fuel, 
but that it exists in this manner along the whole coast, so that we may 
consider the supply inexhaustible. At Claushavn a Greenlander hired 
for the purpose could cut 500 turfs ina day. These have then only to 
be turned, dried, and stacked, generally within the honse. In most 
years the drying is no trouble: for the fitting-up of the Greenlandish 
or so-called Danish houses, inhabited by the married servants of the 
company, the Directors have long been in the habit of providing stoves 
of a suitable construction for cooking, at a very low price ; it is calcu- 
lated that such a stove, for the use of one family, requires 8000 to 
10,000. pieces of turf, and that, with the addition of the Greenland 
stove-lamp, which can hardly be dispensed with, this amount of fuel 
will suffice without coal or wood. 
