The terrestrial mammals and birds of North-East Greenland 5 



While in the following I shall attempt to describe the appea- 

 rance of the country in rough strokes, I shall not omit however to 

 indicate the difficulties involved in this task, as the preparation of 

 the chartographic material has not been finished as yet — a fact 

 which has also caused me no small amount of trouble in working 

 out the single articles. 



From Cape Bismarck to Lamberts Land — lat. 79°10' n. — the 

 coast line is very broken, the coast being dissolved into a great 

 many small islands and rocks. The greater part of the rather 

 numerous inlets are not very significant and without particular rami- 

 fications. The rather large inlet "Skærfjorden" — lying between 

 lat. 77° and 78° n. — the character of which is mostly that of a 

 bay, is divided into several narrower and broader indentations, filled 

 — as the name implies — with numerous rocky islands and crags. 

 The vegetation here and especially at the southern arms of the 

 inlet is comparatively luxuriant, and a great many traces of rein- 

 deer and musk-oxen were to be found everywhere. The bird life 

 as well seemed richer than in any other place on this part of the 

 coast. 



With the exception of a few occurrences of sediment, the whole 

 coast country consists in primitive rock moutonné. Some larger 

 mountain plateaus are to be found nearer to the inland ice. Be- 

 tween lat. 78 and 79° n. ("Jøkelbugten") the inland ice advances near- 

 ly everywhere right down to the coast, from which it is continued 

 unbroken to the range of islands lying outside the bay. Here it is 

 lost in the sea ice which is supposed to be permanent in this place. 



From Lamberts Land to "Nordost-Rundingen" — lat. 81°24'n. — 

 the character of the coast is changed conspicuously, the formations 

 of skerries ceasing nearly altogether. The coast line which runs in 

 north-easterly direction is broken only by a few rather deep and 

 broad inlets. The geological conditions are here less uniform. From 

 Lamberts Land to "Hovgaards 0" an about 65 kilometer broad in- 

 let is found, where the inland ice advances, and here as in Jøkel- 

 bugten it is smoothly merged into the sea ice which is probably 

 permanent even here, the traveller not being able to decide with 

 certainty, whether he is standing on the glacier or on the sea ice. 

 The high island Hovgaards is covered with névé fields nearly 

 everywhere. On the principal part of the outer coast the glacier 

 forms a steep slope, beyond w^hich ice-calves are found. The sea 

 ice was here broken on a long distance in the summer 1907. The 

 travellers who passed the island in October the same year found 

 still open water, reaching from the northeastern corner of the island 

 to the mountain "Mallemukfjeldet". 



