74 ON THE BOTANY OF THE BRITISH POLAR EXPEDITION. 



Four principal valleys intersect this country, — The Bellows, 

 the Long Valley, Musk Ox Fiord, and St. Patrick's Fiord; of 

 these the Bellows is the chief, being a long raised fiord about a 

 mile wide, commencing at sea -level and running in a north- 



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westerly direction for about twenty miles to the base of the 

 United States range of mountains (5000 to 6000 feet). 



In these valleys ami upon their slopes with a southern aspect, 

 or about their entrances near sea-level, is to be found most of the 

 vegetation of the district. Inland, and between these valleys, the 

 general appearance of the surface is a vast, barren table-land, or 

 series of table lands from 2500 to 4000 feet, clad in perpetual snow, 

 with here and there blown bluffs or bare declivities. These 

 stretch away westward to meet the inland range of mountains, a 

 range which I was unable to visit owing to the Late return of the 

 sledge-parties. It is not, however, probable that these mountains 

 would have produced anything botanically interesting, but their 

 geological structure and the towering heights of some of the 



peaks were to me sources of great attraction. 



The most luxuriant growth at this latitude is found on banks 

 facing from south to east at from two to five hundred feet above 

 sea-level— as upon Buttercup Banks, on Mount Cartmel, Bellot 

 Island, and between the ship and Musk Ox Fiord, Although 

 there is a deep clay in the valleys in many places, the surface is 

 tor the most part barren; when the thaw sets in, this clay and 

 large pieces of mud banks from the brows and valley-slopes become 

 disintegrated, and, sliding down, are carried by torrents towards 

 the sea. Sometimes plants, especially Scdix arctica, successfully 

 exert a binding effect and partially arrest this wholesale 

 denudation, but it is common to see blocks of half-frozen mud and 

 ice containing plants and roots torn out and hurried to the shore. 



Although, in appearance, many plants, especially ( 'rueifera, 

 bring then- fruits to perfection, yet, north of Disco, no annuals 

 occur. The duration of the sun's power in these latitudes is not, 

 I believe, sufficiently long to thoroughly ripen the seed ; seedlings 

 are never met with, and the extension of the range of any given 

 species would seem to be due to the creeping powers of the 

 mdmdual (a power which, with very few exceptions, all possess) 

 or to plants being drifted downward*, as described above. This 

 T?-' ° f COurse r 1 occurs 1 onl y to a limited extent, obstacles 

 vZ^f,f g '"I r d n t0 Check h ; hence " is evident that the 

 wW H^c m I lSt by degree ^ 8****% ^cumulate at low levels 

 in twi 1 - S 2SP5 - and ' acccmlil >S ^ the land rises from the 

 rut W, 1 1S T f U t mg f* a C011y ^rahle rate, the flora, as a 

 'SS S - Up ° n the 0ther llaml > toe lichens occur chiefly at 

 mi rS tZ ». 2V"* f - they do ' wha * ™ formerly the sea- 



ttiosf lave nnM ' "^ SW ***** **"*** to *• ^ r0ck > 



i!?l h<Ue not becn so liab1 ^ to be earned down to the lower 



level 



hieher A iff mdigenous plants do not germinate in the 



Br g NLis > Id' 810 ? 8 ' *?* St " ls bron " ht ™« Will do so. 

 i*. Nuns planted seeds under a shelter of glass ashore in Discovery 





