NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHEEY. 109 



the German expedition,* which partly explored this coast. The 

 scenery was magnificent. It was a mountainous country, with 

 smiling fertile valleys clothed with verdure and carpeted with 

 wild flowers and grasses, the air summer-like and balmy ; butter- 

 flies fitted here and there, bees and wasps hummed from flower 

 to flower, and singing birds made the air resound with merry 

 music. ... In the valleys were seen large herds of Musk-Oxenf 

 browsing contentedly on the green sward, and hunting expeditions 

 were quickly arranged. . . . The total bag amounted to twenty- 

 four head. It was with regret that a district so charming was 

 left behind for the rigours of the Greenland Sea." 



Although perhaps this description may be a trifle florid,! it 

 can easily be imagined how charming this arctic paradise must 

 have proved, in such perfect weather, to men who had been for 

 so many weeks pent up on shipboard, anxiously threading their 

 way through the ice-floes. Mr. Kinnes tells me the Musk-Oxen 

 were very numerous, § and that the crew of the 'Polar Star ' killed 

 only those they found straggling on the beach and islands, and 

 did not molest those on the mainland. In latitude 74° 45' X., 

 long. 20 W., an Esquimaux graveyard was discovered, containing 

 the remains of a large number of bodies of both sexes, with im- 

 plements and weapons ; several of these latter were brought 

 home by the crew. 



The * Balsena,' as already said, was equally unsuccessful in 

 her search for Whales ; consequently her captain determined to 

 revisit Franz Josef Land in search of Walrus. He arrived at 

 Cape Flora on the 25th of June, and, in spite of bad weather, 

 killed 257 of these beasts ; but they were of small size, and con- 



* The Danish expedition in 1891-92, under Lieut. Ryder, is probably 

 here referred to. He wintered in Hekla Harbour, Scoresby's Sound, in 1S91. 



f See also ' Zoologist ' for 1890, p. 83. 



X That this is not overdrawn we have the testimony of Lieut. Ryder, who, 

 on the same coast, found a profusion of animal and vegetable life ; Reindeer 

 in "wonderful numbers,"' many Musk-Oxen, thirty-two species of birds. 

 The richness of the vegetation and the size attained by the plants, he says, 

 was •• astonishing." One hundred and fifty flowering plants were found in 

 Scoresby's Sound. In fact, we who have not witnessed it have little idea of 

 the beauty and profusion of the Arctic flora in favoured localities. 



§ Through the kindness of Mr. Kinnes, I have been able to secure a 

 good head for the Norwich Castle Museum. 



