TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 93S 
taken for the chronometers, 91° 55’ W.; and the 
latitude, by Cole’s method, 74° 40’ N. What little 
we saw of this coast was as barren as any place that 
we have yet landed on; for, with the exception of 
stunted poppies, there was scarcely any other ve- 
getable production to be seen. It appeared also to 
be but thinly inhabited by the animal kingdom ; 
for all that we saw were some mallemucks which 
were hovering about the face of the rocks, where 
they apparently had nests ; a couple of glaucous gulls, 
with their young: the old birds were shot, and the 
two young ones, being unable to fly, were brought 
on board alive. There was also another gull shot, 
which was about the size of the glaucouses, and re- 
sembled them almost in every other respect, except 
in having the primary feathers of the wings tipped 
with black, from which it was concluded to be that 
species called the Larus Argentatus, which forms 
the connecting link between the glaucous and the 
herring-gull. Although the land seemed to be 
but thinly inhabited, the sea appeared to be as 
well stocked as usual; as during the short time we 
were on shore, six large whales were seen. close in 
with the land, and a number of seals and sea-horses 
were also seen in the course of the day. Even the land 
looked as if it were indebted for a considerable por- 
tion of its constituent ingredients to the sea; for the 
rocks, which were of limestone, contained an im- 
mense quantity of marine fossil shells, and madre- 
pores. The former, in particular, composed so large 
a proportion of the fixed rocks, that it would be 
difficult to find a single fragment of them of any size 
that did not contain many shells ; and if pieces in 
