468 NEW LAND. 



able to visit the head of the fjord and the country north of it, I should 

 have been able still further to increase this list. 



It is possible that the two large southern fjords Inglefield Gulf 

 and Wolstenholme Sound sustain an equally or even more prolific 

 plant-life, although this does not transpire from the meagre literature 

 we have on the subject. Certain it is, however, that the luxuriance of 

 the Foulke Fjord vegetation far exceeds that of any other place I have 

 seen north of Danish Greenland. In no other part was the country 

 so extensively green ; or in other words, vegetation, and not rock, 

 determined for large areas the tint of the landscape. 



In great measure this luxuriant vegetation was brought about by 

 the manure provided by the millions of little auks which breed here. 

 This was particularly the case on the slopes near Etah, where Alopecurus 

 alpinus reached a height of a foot and a half, and many other species 

 here were larger and more vigorous than elsewhere in these northern 

 tracts, a circumstance which could hardly have been the case but for 

 this fertilization. A vigorous vegetation also clothed the vicinity of 

 the old Eskimo settlement, Etah, and I found there species which I 

 saw nowhere else. Among these may be named Eriyeron compositus, 

 Helper is Pallasii (also found in a few places in Ellesmere Land), 

 Arab is Hooker i, Wahlbergella triflora. The mass of the vegetation here, 

 however, consisted of Alopecurus alpinus, Poa flexuosa, Glyceria sp., 

 and other grasses, also Taraxacum sp., Papaver radicatum, Cerastium 

 alpinum, Drciba hirtct, Saxifraga cernua, etc. The slopes above Etah 

 were less luxuriant, although they were covered with a close carpet 

 of grass, mingled with which were, among others, Arnica alpina, 

 Ranunculus affiiiis, Dryas inteyrifolia, partly in forms which may perhaps 

 have caused the statement that D. octopetala grows here, Potentilla 

 emarginata, Polyyonum vii'iparum, Oxyria digyna, Salix arctica. The 

 mosses play a greater part in this vegetation than the aforesaid one. 

 Farther out on Reindeer Point the vegetation was more meagre, and 

 the bare rock visible in large patches. In certain parts of the slopes 

 predominated the small shrubs MyrtiUus uliginosa, Cassiope tetragona, 

 Empetrum nigrum, which, however, did not rise to any height above the 

 ground. 



From the middle of August, 1898, to the beginning of the same 

 month, 1902, my chief field of work was Ellesmere Land. The first 

 visit, on August 7, was not, however, to the mainland, but to Bedford 

 Pirn Island, in the vicinity of Greely's last winter station, Camp Clay, 

 of sad renown. On account of its immediate proximity to Kane Basin, 

 the plants on Pirn Island were few in species, and, as a rule, stunted in 

 growth. My impression of the vegetation of Ellesmere Land was improved 



