50 



tance from the water, leaving lower grassy slopes which make 

 good farms for the fishermen. As at Reykjavik there was noth- 

 ing attractive about the little town, and we all walked a mile in- 

 land to a brisk river which took a thirty or forty foot plunge into 

 a small canyon. It was refreshing to sit near the falls as it was 

 a warm day, and here was the best collecting ground I had 

 found, both for flowering plants and mosses. Dryas octopetala 

 was very pretty and common ; Ei'iophorum angiistifolhim and E. 

 vaginatum, Parnassia paliistris, and Viola tricolor made bright 

 spots of color ; and Pingiiiciila vulgaris was in cracks of the damp 

 rocks, where Racoinitrium lamiginositm and several Grivimias 

 were mixed with Distichiuni capillaciuni, Tiimnia aiistriaca or 

 Philonotis fontana. There were also Empetrinn nigrum, GaliiimSy 

 Erigeron alpina, Silene acaulis, and yarrow, dandelions, and 

 sorrel, but no trees or shrubs. 



It took us three hours to steam out of the fiord and about 7 

 p. M. we crossed the Arctic circle and had a call from Neptune, 

 who invited us to be present at the baptismal ceremonies on deck 

 the next afternoon, and then he disappeared astern floating away 

 in a smoking barrel. We could scarcely believe we were within 

 the Arctic circle it was so mild, only 55° F. on deck after dinner, 

 and the sun gave up any attempt at setting. The next two days 

 at sea however were cooler, and in the evening we sighted an ice 

 floe off" to the northwest where Greenland was not very far away, 

 and the thermometer said only 39° F. 



Spitzbergen 

 It was pleasant to have reached a place where the birds were so 

 tame and so numerous as at Advent Bay. There were funny ones, 

 puffins I think, which could not rise from the water but flapped 

 their wings frantically and half walked in a zigzag path, graceful 

 gulls often sitting on the icy water within ten or twenty feet of 

 the boats, and many others I did not know, and all in great 

 numbers. The island is well named Spitzbergen, its peaks are 

 generally very pointed, very steep and pretty much covered with 

 snow, and the valleys are filled with great glaciers whose ends 

 break off into the waters of the Bay, which is also said to be the 



