52 



CRUISE OP STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



I'LOVEIi HAY. SlUF.niA. ^ 



The uiouataius l)ouudiiig the glacial fiord called Plover Bay, though beautiful in their coiubi- 

 uatious of curves and peaks as they are seen touching each other delicately and rising in bold, 

 picturesque groups, are nevertheless severely desolate looking from the absence of trees and large 

 shrubs, and indeed of vegetation of any kind dense enough to give color in telling quantities, or to 

 soften the harsh rockiuessof the steejiest poitions of the walls. Even the valleys opening back 

 from the water here and thereon either side are mostly bare as seen at a distance of a mile or two, 

 and show only a faint tinge of green, derived from <lwarf willows, heathworts, and sedges chiefly. 



The most interestiug of the i)lants found here are Rhododendron KdintKchaticum, Fall., and the 

 handsome blue-flowered Siui/ntyu oppositifoliu, L., both of which are abundant. 



The following were collected July V2 and August '2i>: 



(lentiana gtuiiva, Pall. 



Gtiiiii glaciate, Fiscli. 



Dryux uctopetula, L. 



Acuriitum Napellut, L. var. drlphinifoluun, Ser. 



Saxifntga uppoiiti/olia, h. 



piiiutala, L. 



canpitoaa, L. 

 ViapeiiHiu l.uppuiiKU, L. 



lUiutlodivdroii Kamtuchulkiim, Pali. 

 Cuimiope titragoiia, Desv. 

 Anemone narciesijiora, L. 

 Arenaria macrocaipu. PiuhIj. 

 Dmba ulpina, h. 

 Fuiri/u Eimuiini, Leilli. 

 Oxi/ tropin, pothiiiirpii. Griiy. 



H KK A I.l) I SI. A NT). 



Ou Herald Islaud the common polar cryptogamous v^egetatiou is w«ll represented aud 

 developed. So also are the flowering plants, almost the entire surface of the island, with the 

 exception of the sheer crumbling bluft's along the shores, being quite tellingly dotted aud tufted 

 with characteristic species. The following list was obtained : 



Saxifiuya punctata, I.'! 



serpyltifotiu, Pursli. 



aitenifloia, Stejiib. 



bronchialis, L. 



Htellaris, L. var. aimosa, Poir. 



rivularin, h. var, tiyperborm, Huuk. 



ttierucifoliu, \V:ild>*t & Kit. 

 Papuvti iioediciiiile, i.. 



IJiabu ulpinu, L. 



Oi/mnandia i.7(7/<-/-(, Cham. & Schlecht. 

 atelluria luiigipe.i, Golilie, var. Edwardsii T. & G. 

 iUiitvio J'fit/idns, Lef.n. 

 I'iitenlitla frigida, Vill '.' 

 Salu.v polaris, Walil. 

 Alopecunm ulpiniia, Smith. 

 I.uzulu Iti/perlioivii, R. Br. 



WR A N a K I. IS I. A N I) . 



Our stay on the one point of Wrangel Island that we touched was far too short to admit of 

 making anything like as full a collection ol' the plants of so interesting a region as was desirable. 

 We found the rock formation where we laniled and for somt; distance along the coast to the 

 eastward and westward to be a clo.se grained clay siate, cleaving freely into thin flakes, with here 

 and there a few compact metaniorphic masses that rise above the general surface. Where it i.s 

 expo.sed along the shore bluffs and kept bare of vegetation and soil by the action of the ocean, ice, 

 and heavy snowdrifts the i-ock presents a surface about as black as coal, without even a moss or 

 lichen to enliven its sombre gloom. Hut when this dreary barrier is passed the surfiuu! features of 

 the couiitry in general are found to be fini'ly molded and collocated, smooth valleys, wide as 

 compared with their dei)th, trending l)ack from the shore to a range of mountains that appear blue 

 in the distance, and round topped hills, with their side i;urves finely drawn, touching and blending 

 in beautiful groups, while scarce a single rock-])ile is seen or .sheer-walled bluff to break the 

 general smoothness. 



The soil has evidently been derived mostly from the underlying slates, though a few frag- 

 mentary wasting moraines were observed containing traveled boulders of (juartz and granite 

 which doubtless were; brought from the mountains of the interior by glaciers that have recently 

 vanished — .so recently that the outliues and sculptured hollows and grooves of the mountains have 

 not as yet sutt'ered sutlicieut post glacial denudation to mar appreciably their glacial characters. 



The banks of the river at the mouth of which we lauded presented a striking contrast as to 

 vegetation to that of any other stream we had seen in the Arctic regions. The tundra vegetation 



