R. BROWN, FLORULA DISCO ANA. 259 



Danish Trading Divisions as guides, and looking upon the chief 

 post in each district as the centre and type of the division. It 

 was also in the immediate vicinity of these posts that the greater 

 number of the plants here enumerated were collected. 



(1.) Egedesminde.—JjSLt. 68° 42' 39^' N., long. 52° 43^ 48^' W.* 

 The island on which the settlement is built is low-lying, bare, 

 and bleak. The vegetation is very stunted, and is affected by 

 the cold wind, — no high mountains being in that vicinity to 

 shield the low-lying ground, and few cliffs which can radiate the 

 sun on the soil. The climate here is more foggy than in other 

 places further to the east and nearer the mainland. The Cran- 

 berries and Whortleberries on the small hills in general bear no 

 ripe fruit ; the Arctic Willows and the Birch do not grow in any 

 great luxuriance ; and the greater part of the country is covered 

 with swampy Moss, only allowing a little green to appear now 



and then. Warm springs are found on the island of 



Sakartloek, lying at the head of Tessiursak Bay, about eight 

 miles from Egedesminde, and near the mouth of a little river 

 flowing over a level tract scattered with boulders. One of these 

 springs issues in a large stream out of a very solid granite wall 

 and over a smooth mossy ground, out of which other two or 

 three springs run between the stones and moss with about the 

 same force. The temperature, according to Dr. Rink, is 42°* 1 

 Fahr., or 20°- 2 Fahr. higher than the mean temperature of the 

 island. A little basin, a few hundred feet in length, which the 

 spring forms, is never frozen ; and at the bottom of the bay, 

 where the stream debouches, no ice lies in . the winter. Large 

 banks of Bartramia fontana, &c., form round the springs, which 

 keep these Moss banks always in a tremulous motion. On the 

 island of Aito, and the surrounding islands, the same charac- 

 teristics prevail as in the vicinity of Egedesminde. The vegeta- 

 tion is exceedingly scanty, and but little can be seen but brown 

 rust-coloured rocks and stunted vegetation. Here is found Sedutn 

 Rhodiola^ DC. — found nowhere farther north than South-East 

 Bay. It is said to be here very abundant on the top of the small 

 sterile islands, tipped by turf and the excrement of birds. We 

 arrived at Egedesminde on the 6th of June, and left on the 14th 

 of the same month. During most of this time the weather was 

 snowy, and little or nothing except a few Lichens and Mosses 

 rewarded my search. I am, however, under obligations to 

 Froken Julie Levesen for most kindly presenting to us a small 

 collection of Egedesminde plants, made by her in the preceding 



* In most cases, and in reference to the latitudes invariably, I follow my 

 own observations made during the past summer. In reference to the longi- 

 tudes, my own observations not being all yet (owing to the arrangements of 

 the expedition) accessible, I have followed either Graah's observations (in 

 " Tabel over adskillege Punkters observerede Brede og Laengde paa Vest- 

 " kysten af Gronland," in " Beskrivelse til det visseude Situations Kaart over 

 *' den vestilige Kyst af Gronland," &c., &c. Kjobeuhavn, 1825), or others 

 given to me through the politeness of Premier-Lieutenant H. L. M. Holm 

 of the Kongl. Kaart- Archiv in Copenhagen. The position is that of the chief 

 " colonic " or trading-post. 



R 2 



