ENGLISHMAN'S HARBOUR 67 



scheme of colour. Many of the Greenland flowers 

 are familiar British or European species; others 

 come from the New World : botanically as well as 

 geologically Greenland has many features in com- 

 mon with both the eastern and western hemi- 

 spheres. It is a noteworthy fact that among the 

 flowering plants recorded from the country as a 

 whole, about four hundred, only one or two are 

 peculiar to Greenland. On rocky slopes, often 

 tucked away in crevices, the cushions of the Moss 

 Campion (Silene acaulis\ anchored by a strong tap 

 root like an elongated rat's tail burrowing far into 

 the covering of earth, represent a well-known 

 architectural type in Alpine and Arctic countries. 

 In the neighbourhood of Godhavn, especially 

 in the exceptionally favourable locality known as 

 Englishman's Harbour, so called because an Eng- 

 lish captain mistook it for the main harbour and 

 wrecked his ship there, the abundance of southern 

 types is a striking feature. By southern types in 

 this sense is meant plants which reach their 

 northern limit on the mainland considerably south 

 of the latitude of Disko Island. The sheltered bay 

 faces south and has the added advantage given by 

 the warm springs, reminiscent of the days of 

 volcanic activity in this part of Greenland, which 

 issue along the irregular boundary between the 

 old gneissic foundation rocks and the much more 

 modern superstructure of basalt and beds of ash. 

 The Willows, often assuming an espalier form 

 against the boulders of gneiss on the slope over- 

 looking the bay, are unusually well grown (Fig. 



