NOTES FROM AN ARCTIC JOURNAL. 93 
almost entirely of accounts of walks taken in the neighbourhood 
of Floeberg Beach, and references to the geological structure of 
the district. On the 23rd, in company with Captain Nares and 
Lieutenant May, I ascended a hill some five miles inland, 
which rises to a height of 1400 feet above the sea. Where 
uncovered, the sides of this hill showed slopes of broken 
slates, looking like the débris thrown out from a slate quarry. 
Mixed with the fragments of slate were numerous pieces of 
yellow quartz, prettily crystallized, which had originally run 
in veins through the slate-rock. From an elevation of 800 feet 
lichen-growth became more plentiful, and luxuriant; several 
of the larger species, which were not to be found at the sea- 
level, covered all the exposed stones and rocks. This obser- 
vation on the increase of lichen-growth at considerable altitudes 
in Grinnell Land was corrroborated by me in the future ; and it 
is deserving of notice, that an elevation of 1200 to 1400 feet in 
Grinnell Land seems to be most conducive to the growth of 
these plants. The lower ranges of hills and headlands, which 
were chiefly accessible to us in Grinnell Land, rose as a rule to 
the altitudes above mentioned, and were of course greatly exposed 
to the violent winds. In consequence, those areas are more 
frequently bared of snow throughout the year, even in winter, 
than the lower levels, where the snow drifts and only disappears 
for a short time in summer under the influence of the sun’s rays. 
Again, on the higher mountains of 5000 feet altitude (none of 
which I ascended) the region of perpetual snow appeared to 
have been reached, and probably there would be a less area 
available for the dispersion of lichens. In other words, we 
found the maximum of lichen-growth at the altitudes where the 
snow lay with least persistency. 
On the extreme summit of the hill which we ascended on the 
28rd, and which was named “ The Dean,” I found the charac- 
teristic erratic boulders of the lower land, in the shape of 
-rounded blocks of gneiss and dark chocolate coloured con- 
glomerates—indeed, these proofs of submergence were found by 
me at the highest altitudes I reached in Grinnell Land. 
On the 29th March a Snowy Owl was seen by Lieut. Parr 
lazily flapping over the lowlands near the sea shore, a lapse of 
five months having intervened between the latest appearance of 
this species in autumn and its return in the ensuing year. 
