Report on the expedition. 81 
yellowish colour. One of these layers at least must contain animal fossil 
matter, as all the light-coloured stones which we found at the foot of 
the mountain contained marks of fossil shells. The layers were per- 
fectly parallel and situated apparently at a height of 100, 150 and 300 
metres respectively above the surface of the water. 
The east coast to the north of Sjælland’s Fjældene was not nearly 
so high as the west coast, and rose in evenly undulating hills, one above 
the other, far inland but apparently not higher than 300 metres. The 
Inlandice was visible in some places above the tops of the hills. 
The end of the unbroken basalt wall was reached on May 21st, 
when we came to a very narrow valley or rather break in the moun- 
tain, along the bottom of which a river flows during summer time 
(Fig. 45). The extreme end of the ridge was passed 2 miles further to 
the north, when we came to a river delta with a breadth of at least 
1% mile. The river itself came from the SW, winding its way behind 
the mountain-range just passed, separating it from an isolated, but still 
higher mountain with an elevation of at least 600—700 metres. 
This mountain and two others smaller as well as lower ones north 
and east of it, rose steeply from a very level plain, an ancient ocean 
bed consisting of gravel and covered with an immense amount of shells, 
one kind circular and another topformed. The plain was quite bare of 
snow, save for the drifts collected in the river-beds; a little grass and 
heather as well as some few willows were seen. Saw a great amount 
of tuffstone all over the plain. 
This low stretch of land — Hjærtefjældsdalen — extended north 
and south for 3 miles, and about 4 miles inland. 
It may here be mentioned that we took samples of different geo- 
logical but particularly botanical specimens, whenever we touched land; 
these samples, however, were all lost later on through the sledge falling 
into the water. 
Hjærtefjældsdalen formed the beginning of the comparatively low 
coast extending from there all the way to Cape Rigsdagen, only broken 
in some few places and on one short stretch by a low, but steep moun- 
tain. Inland, however, the mountains were still high and steep, parti- 
cularly in the vicinity of Sjællands Sletten, which we reached on May 
21st (Fig. 46, 47, 48). 
We walked inland over Sjelland’s Sletten to the lake shown on 
Horc-Hacen’s chart. The valley was very desolate and almost void 
of vegetation — at least as far as we went, some 3—4 miles inland. 
The valley was a gravel bed, similar to Hjærtefjældsdalen, but 
otherwise it formed a great contrast to this level plain, being studded 
with large gravel banks, some of which had a height of 10—15 metres. 
These banks had steep sides, and slides must continually take place, 
as no trace of vegetation was seen on them. The valley rose slowly and 
extended far inland in a WSW direction, forming a division between 
LIT. 6 
