222 Frits Johansen. 



When we came however to the open coastal water on ^°/8 and 

 the land-ice was near, they were no longer seen ; here they obviously 

 had their western limit (ca. 76° N. L., ca. 16° W. L., ca. 200 M. depth). 



Two years later, when we sailed out through the drift ice, we 

 again met with the crested seals; yet it was remarked, that they 

 were much fewer in number than in 1906, and the reason has pro- 

 bably been, that there was practically no ice on the route of the 

 steamer. They were| only seen with certainty at the few places where 

 the ice was most dense; for example, a young specimen with the 

 characteristic dark back and light belly on '''^h (ca. 75^/з° N. L., ca. 8° 

 W. L.). 



Bones of this seal have not been found anywhere in the Eskimo 

 ruins along the coasts of North-East Greenland. 



Whales (Cetaceae). 



Greenland Whale (Balaena mysticetus, L.). 



The Expedition obtained no other evidence of the occurrence of 

 this whale in the waters of North-East Greenland than a piece of 

 the caudal vertebrae, which was found washed up and partially 

 overgrown with moss on the east coast of Store Koldewey on ^-Vs 06 

 (ca. 76V'2° N. L., ca. 18° W. L.), as also the bones and wrought instru- 

 ments of bone, which were found in the Eskimo ruins at the large 

 lake, Sælsøen, behind Hvalrosodden, at Stormbugt, Renskæret (ca. 

 76° 42' N. L., 18° 36' W. L.) and Eskimonæsset (80° 24' N. L.). 



Rorqual {Balaenoptera sp.). 

 The skeleton of an enormous rorqual must at some time, many 

 ages ago, have been stranded on Hvalrosodden, at the time when 

 the land there was in connection with the sea outside, and every- 

 where around (especially round Sælsøen) we found parts of the 

 skeleton more or less buried in the deposited clay and gravel beds, 

 which had been washed out from earlier glacier rivers (similarly^ 

 a separated skull of Phoca barbata was also found there). It has not 

 been discovered with certainty in the Eskimo ruins, but as the whale- 

 bone, ribs and bones of whales are used for household instruments 

 etc., it would be remarkable if the Eskimos living at that time did 

 not make use of the plentiful material they had such access to at 

 Hvalrosodden — unless, of course, they had died out before the 

 whale was driven in here. 



