have recorded temperatures of over one hundred degrees F. 

 While the steeper mountains either are. or may appear to be, 

 bare and rather grim, most of them are covered with lichens and 

 mosses, and the lowlands are carpeted with flowers. Vegetation 

 is really rather profuse. Several hundred plants have been re- 

 corded from Greenland, and in the south there are birch trees 

 over thirty feet tall though their trunks are paltry. There are lush 

 growths of sedges all along the fresh waterways, huge moor- 

 lands of very fine grass on level places, and all manner of sea- 

 grass marshes. In the more sheltered valleys many things will 

 grow, including all kinds of vegetables. In fact, they grow so 

 fast that they often have to be covered with mats on frames for 

 a few hours each day to prevent them from getting too much 

 sunlight. The greater part of the unglaciated land is covered with 

 a mat of tundra, and this contains tiny dwarf willows only two 

 inches tall, probably the smallest woody plant or true tree in 

 the world. 



The most interesting part of Greenland is undoubtedly its 

 eastern face running from Cape Brewster, north of Iceland and 

 west of Jan Mayen Land, north to the northeast of Foreland. This 

 is a rugged and indented coast with numerous glaciers and huge 

 fjords cut into towering, absolutely vegetationless mountains, 

 and leading to great valleys filled with nothing but naked rock 

 and stones. Here geology is laid completely bare, and the results 

 of glaciation. reglaciation. and glacial retreat may be seen and 

 understood by anybody. Moraines lie prostrate in all manner of 

 ways: valleys are carved into perfect U-shaped sections by goug- 



ing ice, and there are huge cirques high above, either still ice- 

 filled with bits spilling over their edges in slow-motion cascades 

 like corn out of a bowl, or dead and dry like old frying pans. 

 Despite the use made of this coast during World War II by both 

 sides in the contest, there is still much of it to be explored. 



On the west coast there are many interesting things to see. but 

 perhaps the most odd is Disco Island, which lies at 70 degrees 

 north about halfway up that coast. This is pitted with hot springs 

 and other signs of a dying volcanic activity, and the whole island 

 is composed of basaltic rocks. The springs are not hot by our 

 standards, ranging from only 36 to 65 degrees, but they remain 

 constant throughout the year, and, although they are covered by 

 snow in winter, they are sufficiently warm to melt out caves in 

 which thousands of flies stay active. Eventually blowholes break 

 through the roofs of these caves and the warmer air then puffs 

 out like steam. They produce enough heat to keep the sea ice 

 from joining the shore in many of the bays, so that the coast 

 remains ice-free. Around these springs in summer all manner of 

 unexpected plants grow, including several species of orchids. 

 Orchids are not really uncommon in Greenland, but of course 

 their presence comes as a considerable surprise 



THE ENDLESS ISLANDS 



The western coast of Greenland is mountainous and rugged. 

 That of the opposite side of Baffin Bay and the Davis Strait that 



