122 ACCOUNT OF THE AIICTIC REGIONS. 



principal mountain near us, we passed along a ridge 

 of the secondary mountains, which was so acute that 

 I sat across it with ^ leg on each side, as on horse- 

 back. One side of it made an angle with the ho- 

 rizon of 50°, and the other of 40". To the very top, 

 it consisted of loose sharp limestones, of a yel- 

 lowish or reddish colour, smaller in size than the 

 stones generally used for repairing high roads, few 

 pieces being above a pound in weight. The frac- 

 ture appeared rather fresh. After passing along 

 this ridge about three or four furlongs, and crossing 

 a lodgment of ice and snow, we descended by a sort 

 of ravine to the side of the principal mountain, 

 which arose with a uniformly steep ascent, similar 

 to that we had already surmounted, to the very 

 summit. The ascent was now even more difficult 

 than before : v^e could make no considerable pro- 

 gress but by the exertion of leaping and running ; 

 so that we were obliged to rest after every fifty or 

 sixty paces. No solid rock was met with, and no 

 earth or soil. The stones, however, were larger ; 

 appeared more decayed ; and were more uniformly 

 covered with black lichens ; but several plants of the 

 saxifraga, salix, draba, cochlearia, and j uncus gene- 

 ja, which had been met with here and tliere for the 

 first two thousand feet of elevation, began to disap- 

 pear as we approached the summit. The invariably 

 broken state of the rocks appeared to have been the 

 effect of frost. On calcareous rocks, some of which 



