Topography and Vegetation . 35 C 
It will thus be seen that July and August are the only months of the year 
practically without any snowfall. The months in question, however, have quite 
a little rain or fog. This is a direct result of the breaking up of the sea ice and 
of occasional incursions of drift ice and is of decided importance to the develop- 
ment of certain types of vegetation, such as fungi, lichens, and mosses, which 
are more dependent upon the atmospheric humidity than upon that contained 
in the ground. 
__ In September, 1914, about half of the days were clear and the rest overcast, 
with fog, rain, or wet snow almost every second day. September 19, 23, and 
27 had more wintry weather with snow, and when on September 29 much drift 
ice assembled in the outer harbour, which had been free of ice for about three 
weeks, the weather immediately became thick and snowy. 
In September, 1915, the minimum temperature fell below freezing on noé 
less than twenty-four days, the lowest being reached on Sept. 21 with 13-6°F. 
The maximum temperature of the month was recorded on Sept. 6, with 44-3°F-. 
The lowest maximum temperature, 28°F., was recorded Sept. 18 and 21, and on: 
four other days in the middle of the month it was below freezing. There was 
only a total of about a week of clear weather, particularly at the end of the month 
when there were 3-4 days of real “Indian summer’ with the snow melting on 
the ground. Rain or wet snow fell in the beginning and at the end of the month 
on about a total of six days, with more foggy weather, while the middle of the 
month had real winter. 
A conspicuous difference between the weather in Sept. 1914 and the same 
month in 1915 was noticed. In 1914, the rather mild weather prevailing most 
days of the month allowed the plants to keep their flowers and ripen their seed 
far into the month; the more winterly weather was neither too severe nor of 
sufficiently long duration to quell the plant life until October. Snow fell in the 
latter half of the month but mostly melted again and the freshwater accumula- 
tions froze over first at the end of the month. In 1915, however, stormy and 
wintry weather came on suddenly the second week of September and lasted for 
about a fortnight. The result was immediate and lasting freezing of the fresh- 
water bodies and the ground and the quelling of the plant life. The snowfall 
was also heavier and covered the ground earlier and more completely than in 
1914. 
TopoGRAPHY AND VEGETATION 
Generally speaking, the coast gets gradually lower from cape Bexley to 
east of Bernard harbour, and the outcrops of limestone or dolomite are first 
found some distance inland. At Cockburn point especially, the coast is low 
and flat and composed of gravel, limestone fragments and boulders, the latter 
mainly on the smaller points jutting out here and there, separating the bights 
and lagoons. Back from the coast the country is quite similar to that at Bernard 
harbour, as described in following pages, with boulder-strewn ridges of sand 
and gravel running out from the higher land behind.! 
Pthumalerksiak Island 
This small island is situated about a mile off Cockburn point and about 
eight miles northwest of Bernard harbour. Its height is about a dozen feet 
above sea level, and it is composed of limestone-dolomite which crops out as 
flat beds on the north side of the island. Otherwise the rock is mostly covered 
by gravel and vegetation, with many boulders and rock fragments scattered 
everywhere. : 
In depressions here and there are smaller ponds, which probably dry up in 
August, and mossy bogs. Besides in these places, the vegetation is principally 
found around the boulders and stone heaps built by visiting Eskimos for meat 
caches. Around the latter the plants often attain a luxuriant and extensive 
~~ See Vol. XII ,Pt. A, p. 15, of these reports. 
75178—33 
