524 THE GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



pairs of gulls ; from whicli we concluded that the water 

 here must keep longer free from ice. 



Near these rocks we again met with the Ilelianthus 

 peploides ; it was in full bloom, and covered a consider- 

 able spot with uninterrupted green. Now and again, 

 for an instant, we could see the high tops soaring 

 perpendicularly above us through the clouds of fog there, 

 the whole heavens and the landscape thickly veiled, and 

 at last a fine rain began to fall. Vegetation gained 

 both in height and extent, and when the fog rose for a 

 moment we could see all the soft slopes for more than 

 300 yards high distinctly green. In plants, besides fine 

 bushes of bilberry and Andromeda, and the frequently 

 recurring arnica was a new Composite, the Erigeron 

 eriocephalus (Vahl). 



Worth noticing here was the discovery of a piece of 

 whalebone, and that most of the plants of the common 

 saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifoUa) bore light flesh-coloured 

 blossoms. Several large and small pieces of driftwood 

 too were seen. 



Thus, amid continued fine rain, we reached the most 

 southerly promontory ; and upon climbing to the heights, 

 we saw a bay cutting deep into the land, and by the help 

 of glasses could plainly descry in the midst of a large 

 green plain some dark spots, which were evidently 

 Clavering's Esquimaux settlement. 



We opened two of the few graves strewn about : they, 

 too, were long and quadrangular. Here we could dis- 

 tinctly see that the roof-stone, being too short, had 

 been supported lengthwise and across with pieces of 

 drift-wood. There was nowhere the slightest trace of 

 either bones or took. 



