ARCTIC FLORA. 33 



A better prospect, however, greeted us behind the 

 town. A beautiful valley lay there, nestling be- 

 tween the cliffs, and rich in Arctic vegetation. It 

 was covered with a thick turf of moss and grasses, 

 among which the Poa Arctica, Ghjceria Arctica. and Alo- 

 pecurus Alpinus were most abundant. In places it was, 

 indeed, a jDcrfect marsh. Little streams of melted 

 snow meandered through it, gurgling among the 

 stones, or dashing wildly over the rocks. Myriads of 

 little golden petaled popj^ies [Papaver imdicaule) flut- 

 tered over the green. The dandelion [Leontodon pa- 

 lustre)^ close kindred of the wild flower so well known 

 at home, kept it company ; the buttercup [Rammcuhis 

 nivalis), with its smiling, well-remembered face, was 

 sometimes seen ; and the less familiar Potentilla and 

 the purple Pedicularis were dotted about here and 

 there. The saxifrages, purple, white, and yellow, 

 were also very numerous. I captured not less than 

 seven varieties. The birch and crowl^erry, and the 

 beautiful Andromeda, the heather of Greenland, grew 

 matted together in a sheltered nook among the rocks ; 

 and, in strange mimicry of Southern richness, the wil- 

 lows feebly struggled for existence on the spongy turf 

 With my cap I covered a whole forest of them. 



I had been in Proven in 1853, and the place had 

 not changed in the interval. The old ex-trader Chris- 

 tiansen was there, a little older, but not less frugal 

 than before. He complained bitterly of Dr. Kane 

 not having kept his promises to him, and I endeav- 

 ored to mollify his wrath by assuring him that Dr. 

 Kane had lost his vessel and could not return ; but 

 his hfe had been made unhappy during seven long 

 years by visions of a barrel of American flour, and 

 he would not be comforted. He was scarcely able to 



