THE SAXIFRAGES 209 



remember that Nansen was familiar with the rich 

 alpine flora of Norway. " There was grass, 

 heather " (which must have been the ling), " sorrel, 

 and numbers of bright flowers. It was a simple 

 paradise, and wonderfully delightful we found it, 

 to be stretched on the green sward, in the full 

 blaze of the sun. There we gathered a few flowers, 

 in memory of the little Greenland idyl." 



The bright flowers would doubtless include 

 many poppies it may be, in marshy places, a few 

 buttercups ; but by far the greater number would 

 be the various saxifrages. 



The saxifrage is the arctic flower. As soon as 

 the snows rise, it appears. Wherever black earth 

 or black rock is exposed, it takes possession. It is 

 the first and most daring of explorers. No place 

 so northernly that it may not visit. It seems to 

 be able to cross barriers of white that never melt. 

 In one of the recent Arctic Expeditions the saxi- 

 frage was seen to cling to a piece of rock protrud- 

 ing from the snow 



It comes before the snowbird dares, and takes 

 The northern wind with beauty. 



Everyone knows that once upon a time the ice- 

 field lay very much farther down over the 

 Continent, banishing every living thing to the 

 14 



