374 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
into an amphitheatre, with perpendicular walls, at least four 
hundred feet in height. The bottom of the cirque was filled with 
snow, under which the cascade disappeared. Passing above the 
cirque and keeping to the left bank of the stream we gained the 
highland without much difficulty, our aneroids giving an elevation 
of 2400 feet; the view looking eastward over the settlement of 
Godhavn was remarkably beautiful, islands in Disco Bay, though 
fourteen miles distant, seemed to be directly beneath us; the 
opposite shores of Greenland were distinctly visible, the great 
Jakobshavn glacier shone out under the brilliant sunshine, whilst 
a vast number of icebergs were scattered over Disco Bay. A little 
beyond this spot we crossed the snow-line, losing sight of the sea. 
The snow was very soft, and we sunk over our knees: an 
unbroken line of snow seemed to stretch with a gradual rise into 
the interior; whether we were walking over a glacier or not, we 
could not determine, from the depth of the snow. After struggling 
on for two hours our aneroids gave an elevation of 2600 feet. We 
then retraced our steps. After reaching the snow-line no trace of 
animal life was observed, except the foot-prints of a hare. 
An excursion made to Uifvak, being our first introduction to 
camp- and boat-life in Greenland, and moreover having given us 
an opportunity of observing the more common birds of the sea- 
coast around Disco, may perhaps not be out of place. Leaving 
Godhavn in a whale-boat we stopped at Fortune Bay harbour, 
some four miles to the westward, and prepared supper. The islets 
which form Fortune Bay consist of rounded masses of gneiss, the 
result. of ice-action: the tops of the islets in some places are 
distinctly furrowed ; the little valleys lying between the polished 
knolls are choked with rounded boulders, now ‘moss and lichen 
covered. Veins of syenite in some places traverse the gneiss. 
Traces of old dwellings, marked by the fertility and rich green of the 
turf, are to be found in sheltered nooks. Hundreds of “ dovekies,” 
or Black Guillemots, were swimming round the shores; we shot 
several for our supper, and obtained more than a dozen of their fresh 
eggs from chinks in the rocks. A Lapland Bunting was found 
nesting, and a Snow Bunting had young nearly ready to fly. After 
pulling at the oars all through the night we reached Uivfak, distant 
some twenty miles from Godhavn. Landing there is somewhat 
difficult in fine weather, and when there is any swell on quite out 
of the question, be . 
— ee 
