518 THE GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



master-gull wakes tlie eclios with its everlasting scream, 

 and the black guillemot {Uria grylle) pipes gently as it 

 swims; along went the boat, eventually taking a south- 

 westerly direction towards Flache Bay. 



The road was open ; only here and there floated large 

 or small ice-floes. We passed the glaciered snow slopes 

 of Cape Wynn, and by half-past eight reached the very 

 flat bay about a fathom deep, which we entered. The 

 bottom was composed of soft mud, produced by the in- 

 falling of a considerable gutter or drain. The water was 

 of elevated temperature (we found it 39°), whilst without 

 the thermometer had previously shown only 34°. Besides 

 some solitary burgomaster gulls, which seemed to have 

 built their nests in the rocks, and a few eider ducks, we 

 saw a bear in the distance. A calm still reigned, so that 

 it was ten o'clock before we reached the steep cliffs seen 

 from Sabine Island ; as a little to the north of these lay a 

 small flat promontory and a good anchorage, we deter- 

 mined to pass the night here, hoping for a better wind 

 and greater speed the next morning. Vegetation was 

 vigorous, and that not only in damp places. A few 

 plants of Cerastium aljoinum covered spots of a square- 

 foot in size. Here we started a hare, but unfortunately 

 could not kill her. 



On the 14th we again visited the southern projection of 

 the promontory where some Esquimaux had lived ; but 

 we found nothing but tent-rings, and the earth was 

 covered with bleaching bones of animals; here we were 

 struck with the large quantity of marine plants washed 

 up by the ice and tide, along the bank, or in the hollows ; 

 it was mostly the large-leaved Laminaria. 



In the meantime a light sou'-wester had got up, and 



