30 



shore in several places, we did not see any musk-oxen ; but 

 still I feel no doubt that it is there. I saw traces of a great 

 bull, that had crossed a httle river near Amdrup's depot at 

 Cape Dalton (lat. 69° 25' N.), they were seen very distinctly in the 

 soft ground along the river. Some days later, I saw traces of 

 a party, having crossed a swampy fen stretch a little way up 

 a mountain slope , finally I saw also traces of musk-oxen at 

 Turner Sund. Now there might be the possibihty of con- 

 founding the traces of the reindeer and the musk-ox, but still 

 I do not believe there is ; the big lateral toes of the reindeer, 

 leave marks laterally behind the main hoofs , while the small 

 lateral toes of the musk-ox leave a little mark just behind the 

 main hoofs, and they do not appear distinctly, but when the 

 animal is treading on soft ground. I drew in my pocket-book, 

 a representation of the traces, I meant to be those of the 

 musk-ox at Cape Dalton, then I later on compared them with 

 the traces of musk-oxen in Jameson Land ; they agreed com- 

 pletely. Also the dung I saw at Cape Dalton was like that of 

 the musk-ox, as 1 later on got to know it farther northward. 

 Strange to say the winter wool of the musk-ox was never 

 found, though this is commonly found, where the musk-ox is 

 living; it sticks very easily to willow, heather and the like, 

 when the animal lies down ; but, of course, it is by chance 

 you come across such places, and the animal is hardly common 

 in the regions named here. Besides, considering how the 

 whole rest of the characteristic mammalianfauna of Greenland 

 appears South of Scoresby Sund , it would be very strange , if 

 the musk-ox did not live there also. 



Very far South of Cape Dalton, the musk-ox is not found; 

 nothing was seen of it during the boat expeditions of Amdrup, 

 neither in 1898—99, nor in 1900, though the partakers directed 

 their attention expressly towards this question; and at Angmag- 

 salik it hardly ever lived, though the Greenlanders there know 

 it, and have legends about it. In one of the stories Angitinguak, 



