VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. 57 



Solid as the rocks of this barren country are, 

 their disintegration has gone on to a considerable 

 extent. The combined effects of cataracts, formed 

 of melted snow, of frosts, and tempests, are at once 

 perceived in the quantity of grit, or coarse sand, 

 worn down from the mountains. This sterile sub- 

 stance, (the only thing among the rocks resem- 

 bling soil,) is somewhat fertilized by the putrifled 

 lichens, and dung of wild birds. 



No fountains, or springs of fresh water, are to be 

 found here ; frost arrests the watery fluid in its 

 course, and prevents it from ascending to the sur- 

 face. The cascades falling from the glaciers, are 

 solely formed of melted snow, and with this only 

 the navigators can be supplied. 



This inhospitable climate is not entirely desti- 

 tute of vegetation ; some plants are found, which 

 brave the rigour of perpetual frost, and convey 

 some faint representation of a more southern 

 country. They are generally short, crabbed, and 

 have a wretched appearance. The Salix herbacea, 

 (dwarf willow,) the most vigorous of them all, 

 scarcely rises two inches from the ground. Among 

 the few herbs, the Cochlearia, (scurvy grass,) de- 

 serves the first rank, as being the providential re- 

 source of distempered seamen. Here are also found 

 several species of Lichen, (liverwort,) Satcifraga, 



d5 



