ON THE PLANT-BEDS OF NORTH GREENLAND. 5 



The impressions in the softer and more brittle shales were obtained some 

 depth below the surface ; these yielded the best specimens, but they suffered 

 greatly in transit. Those found at the greatest depth were almost invariably 

 in lumps of hard clay that fractured irregularly ; these diifered from the 

 others in being of an iron-grey colour. They have reddened since they have 

 been exposed to the atmosphere. The trench was dug about midway be- 

 tween the extremes of the deposit, and examination at other points showed 

 a similar arrangement. The hill at this part was mainly composed of sand, 

 enclosing numerous thin seams of brittle indurated clay, red in colour, con- 

 taining a good deal of iron and of moderately fine-grained sandstones. 



We were unable to find the " perfect stem, standing four feet out of the 

 side of the hill," spoken of by Capt. Inglefield *, and it was unknown to the 

 natives. It was said to have stood on the edge of a precipice, in the ravine 

 on the south of the hill, and it has probably been buried in a fall that 

 appears to have taken place not very long ago. In the sides of this ravine, 

 both above and below the leaf-deposit, numerous beds of lignite are exposed, 

 at least one being of considerable thickness. I brought home from this bed 

 a block 1 foot 9 inches in thickness, a portion of which has been analyzed in 

 the laboratory of Mr. T. W. Keates of Chatham Place, with the following 

 result : — 



" Specific gravity 1-369 



Gaseous and volatile matter 45-45 



Moisture -75 



46-20 



Sulphur -55 



^ 1 f Fixed carbon 47-75 



^^^Ash 5-50 



53-25 



100-00 



The lignite contains a trace of bitumen ; the coke is non-caking, and of little 

 use." 



In this lignite we found small pieces of amber, the largest being about the 

 size of a common pea. We also found amber, but in stUl smaller fi-agments, 

 in the leaf-deposit itself. It was nowhere abundant. 



The scantiness of the living vegetation at Atanekerdluk offered a marked 

 contrast to the luxuriance displayed in the leaf-deposit. Although this was 

 the sumiy side of the Waigat Strait and the hills were completely free 

 from snow, vegetation was as meagre as upon Disco Island itself. The 

 drifting of the sand accounts for this doubtless to some extent. The largest 

 dead wood measured less than an inch and a half in diameter, and the largest 

 growing wood less than an inch. 



The most remarkable natural object at Atanekerdluk is a trap pinnacle f. 

 The surrounding soil has been removed, leaving this portion of a former dyke 

 standing perfectly isolated. Its height is about eighty feet. 



On the evening of August the 24th we rowed across the Waigat to a little 

 settlement on Disco Island, named Unartuvarsok, immediately opposite to 

 Atanekerdluk. At this part the Waigat is nearly twelve miles across, and 

 its passage took us more than four hours. 



* Private Journal of Capt. E. A. Inglefield, quoted in " A Report on the Miocene Flora 

 of North Greenland," by Prof. O. Heer, 1866. Journal of the Eoyal Dublin Society, vol. iv. 

 t A photograph of which from a drawing made from a sketch taken on the spot was 

 exhibited. 



