170 THE GEEMAN AECTIC EXPEDITION. 



itself around ; dwarf birclies, creeping willows showed 

 young shoots, though even here the snow seemed not 

 long to have disappeared. Indeed, we had no need to 

 climb very high above the valley to find the winter 

 carpet still spread. The straits here had more the 

 character of a lake. From our resting-place straight to 

 the south opened another in the distance, bordered by an 

 island. In the east, from whence we had come, rose 

 long-backed ridges ; whilst westward, where the straits 

 disappeared behind a rocky promontory, rose high moun- 

 tains. Still and deserted it was on all sides; scarcely 

 a white gull fluttered over the water, or a snow-bunting 

 piped its simple song. About mid-day I returned to 

 the camp. On the broad granite flat the captain and 

 the pilot had erected a temporary observatory. Ob- 

 servations gave us 60° 4' N.L., according to which 

 we were not in Prince Christian Sound, but some nautical 

 miles more to the south. Graah's chart, which had 

 generally given the run of the coast pretty exactly, had 

 disappointed us more than once with regard to bur 

 geographical position. With a fresh breeze we sailed 

 about twelve miles over the supposed Sound, then found 

 it surrounded by rocks, and after climbing some 

 heights were convinced that we were in a Fjord and not 

 in a sea- strait, so we were obliged to row back again. 

 The scenery on both sides was wildly picturesque, and 

 grand dark rocky walls, covered on the top with snow, 

 rose more than a thousand feet high; torrents of the 

 melted snow rushed from the clefts and fell foaming in 

 the Fjord. In some places, a sickly mossy covering was 

 perceptible. Birds were often visible. At six in the 

 evening, we were once more at the entrance; allowed 



