LICHENS AND COLOUR 73 



late summer, when the green leaves have turned to 

 light orange or brilliant red and the Willow catkins 

 are covered with open capsules releasing the white 

 fluffy seeds, the ground becomes a mosaic of colour 

 which would be difficult to match in many more 

 favoured lands. 



The influence of Lichens on colour production 

 in nature is well illustrated in many parts of Green- 

 land; one is reminded of Ruskin's description: 



Far above, among the mountains, the silver lichen spots 

 rest, star-like, on the stone: and the gathering orange 

 stain, upon the edge of yonder peak, reflects the sunsets of 

 a thousand years To them, slow-fingered, constant- 

 hearted, is entrusted the weaving of the dark, eternal 

 tapestries of the hills; to them, slow-pencilled, iris-dyed, 

 the tender framing of their endless imagery. 



At the small Settlement of Niakornat (Map 5, N) 

 the huts of the natives are built close to the beach 

 or perched on ledges on the higher ground (Fig. 

 32). Seen from a distance the massive and partially 

 rounded, though rugged, boulders and hills of vol- 

 canic breccia a rock composed of angular pieces 

 of a fine-grained and in part glassy lava embedded 

 in a matrix of volcanic ash produce a particularly 

 gloomy impression by the contrast of their dark 

 shoulders to the lighter hills near them; but on a 

 nearer view the dark surfaces were seen to be 

 almost covered with splashes of a vermilion Lichen. 

 It is not improbable that, in the menacing head- 

 lands that guard the harbour of Niakornat and 

 partially encircle the Settlement, we have the relics 

 of a vast accumulated mass of ash and splintered 



