536 THE GERMAN AKGTIC EXPEDITION. 



skip, the botanists did their best. They were surprised 

 to find so much vegetation on a tongue of land so sur- 

 rounded with ice. Certainly, after getting over the land- 

 ice, we had had to cross a stretch of the driest and most 

 barren pebbly ground that we had yet seen in Green- 

 land. 



There was, writes Dr. Pausch, not the smallest trace 

 of moss. As we toiled up the slope in the warm 

 morning sun, we were again reminded of the chalk Alps 

 of Switzerland. We stopped upon a height where Andro- 

 meda grew plentifully, but all the plants seemed nearly 

 lifeless ; so dry was their foliage that the Andromeda 

 burnt like tinder. The plants on the summit were as 

 sapless, though taller and more vigorous ; particularly 

 some species of grass between the blocks of rock, and 

 some small willows. 



The whole of this part of the island was, however, not 

 so arid ; in the low-lying districts and hollows lay masses 

 of snow, spreading into ponds, with marshy banks and 

 gurgling brooks running through luxuriant green 

 meadows of moss and grass. Here we saw the yellow- 

 blossomed ranunculus and the saxifrage; the white- 

 blossoming Dryas opened its large flowers, and the Pedi- 

 cularis reminded us of home scenery. 



As was the case on Sabine Island, on our return we 

 came upon large tracts of land under gurgling water, 

 which were of course fruitful. 



Farther on we collected some well preserved pieces 

 of drift-wood ; it was in such masses, and had evidently 

 lain so long, that we concluded that for miles round no 

 natives could have lived for some time. Such valuable 

 material as drift-wood in so accessible a situation they 



