VOYAGE OF THE "POLARIS." 323 



Greenland was a very easily accomplished task. For instance, 

 garnets of unusually large size were found in lat. 81° 30', having 

 marked mineralogical characteristics, by which the identity with 

 some garnets from Fiskernaes was established. Drawing a 

 conclusion from such observations, it became evident that the 

 main line of Drift, indicating the direction of its motion, runs 

 from south to north." * 



3. A. H. Markham's " Whaling Cruise^' &c., 1874, p. 205.— 

 " In the latitude of their winter quarters (81° 38') Musk-oxen 

 were met with and 26 were shot. Foxes and Lemmings were 

 also seen ; but other animals were comparatively scarce, and only 

 one Bear was seen during the whole year. Narwhal and Walrus 

 were not seen to the north of 79°, but Seals were obtained up to 

 the extreme point in 82° 16'. They were of three kinds, namely, 

 the common Greenland Seal, the Ground Seal, and the Fetid 

 Seal. The Bladder or Hooded Seal was not met with. On the 

 western side, it was stated by the Etah Esquimaux, that Ellesmere 

 Land abounded with Musk-oxen ; and judging from the con- 

 figuration of Grinnell Land, the same abundance of animal life is 

 to be found there also. The Birds all disappeared during the 

 winter, though Ptarmigan and a species of Snipe made their 

 appearance early in the spring ; and in summer all the genera 

 found in other parts of the Arctic regions were abundant. 



" With the exception of a Salmon seen in a freshwater lake not 

 far from the beach, no Fish were met with. The contents of the 

 stomachs of the Seals they caught were found to consist of 

 Shrimps and other small shell-fish. Dr. Bessels used to dredge 

 on several occasions, but owing to the ice, he could seldom do so 

 to a greater depth than 18 or 20 fathoms, the results being generally 

 unimportant, and with the exception of a few Shrimps and other 

 Crustacea, nothing of interest was procured. 



" No less than 15 species of Plants, five of which were Grasses, 

 were collected by the Doctor at their highest latitude, on which the 

 Musk-oxen must subsist. He gave me four specimens of the 

 fiora of 82° N., the names of which will be found in the List of 

 Plants in the Appendix, to which Dr. Hooker has kindly added an 

 explanatory note. {_See above, p. 321.] 



" Mr. Chester presented me with a fossil from the Silurian 

 Limestone of that high latitude, which is also referred to in the 

 Appendix. \_See further on.'\ 



'' Dr. Bessels made a fair collection of Insects, principally Flies 

 and Beetles, two or three Butterflies and Mosquitoes ; and Birds 

 of 17 different kinds were shot in 82°, including two Sabine Gulls 

 and an Iceland Snipe." 



4. Clements MarhharrCs ^^ Threshold," &c., 1873, p. xxii. — Win- 

 tering (1871) near their furthest point, 82° 16' N., they found 

 abundance of animal life, and saw much Driftwood of recent 

 date, which must have come thence across the Polar Sea from the 

 shores of Siberia. 



* Extracted from " Nature,'* by permission. 



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