Prof. NordensMold — Expedition to Greenland. 367 



far richer vegetation than on the outer coast, A very small tree was 

 said to have been thence transplanted to the clergyman's garden at 

 Egedesminde. This anticipation of the botanist was however not 

 confirmed, at least not to the amomat expected. The flora was 

 indeed richer and the willow-bush larger than at Egedesminde, but not 

 so rich nor so large as in the more northerly situated but fertile basalt- 

 region of Disko, which is travelled by subterranean streams of warm 

 water. The insect Fauna, on the other hand, appears to be somewhat 

 richer here than on the coast; at least we collected the best harvest of 

 insects that we had during the whole summer on the 17th of July, 

 on a little island in Tessiursarsoak, and the time we spent at the foot 

 of the inland ice was, although in other respects extremely pleasant, 

 embittered to a degree — of which those who have not experienced it 

 cannot form an idea — by countless swarms of gnats. The Greenland 

 gnat is like ours, but its bite is far more venomous, though at first 

 not particularly painful. One is therefore usually too incautious 

 at first, and exposes oneself to twenty or thirty gnat-bites in the 

 face at once. A few hours later one's face becomes unrecognizable 

 with the boils and swellings caused by the bites, and this is followed 

 by pain and fever, especially at night, which hinders sleep, and is 

 almost enough to drive one mad. 



The inland ice, in former times, evidently covered the whole of 

 Auleitsiviksfjord, together with the surrounding valleys, mountains, 

 and hills. The ice has accordingly, during the last tliousand or 

 hundred thousand years, considerably retired. Now, on the contrary, 

 its limit in these parts is advancing, and that by no means slowly. 

 Of late years the rowing of an " umiak " in Tessiursarsoak has 

 been rendered difficult by ice-blocks fallen from the glaciers, which 

 is said not to have been the case formerly ; and one of our rowers, 

 Henry Sissarniak, even affirms that he, seven years ago, without 

 obstruction rowed round an island, which now forms a peninsula 

 jutting out from the margin of the inland ice. Many similar exam- 

 ples in North Greenland are adduced : thus, for example, the glacier 

 that issues into Blasedal, near Godhavn, has, since the time when 

 Dr. Eink mapped that place, according to the statement of Inspector 

 Smith, advanced much farther into the valley, — in the fjords around 

 Omenak the ice has advanced considerably within the memory of 

 man, — a path formerly often frequented between Sarfarfik and 

 Sakkak is now closed by inland ice, etc., etc. I shall have occasion 

 hereafter to mention a similar case in the ice-fjord at Jakobshavn. 

 In a word, there can be no doubt that in many parts of North 

 Greenland the inland ice is certainly gaining ground ; but I never- 

 theless think that the conclusion drawn by many persons, that the 

 whole coast of North Greenland will, at no very distant period, be 

 again covered with ice, is somewhat too hastily made. These 

 persons, in observing the phenomena relative to this subject, not 

 only seem to have forgotten to register the examples occasionally 

 adduced by the Greenlanders of a retiring of the ice — a less striking 

 and therefore less observed phenomenon, — but they have also at- 

 tributed far too great weight to an experience extending only over a 



