264 ON THE MINERALOGY 





lis bay, the floetz-trap disappears under the stupendous 

 glacier or ice-blink of this immense arm of the sea ; and on the 

 opposite side of it, not the smallest vestige of floetz-trap is to be 

 discovered. On quitting the shore, however, towards the north, 

 the same formation occurs, at the island of Upernavik or Spring- 

 Island, which is formed of basalt, with immense beds of sand- 

 stone, containing veins of brown and bituminous wood-coal. 

 Two considerable islands situated beyond the Frith, one named 

 Ubekjendte or Unknown Island, and the other Hasen or Hare 

 Island, belong also to the flcetz-trap. 



These islands, although now detached, all appear to have ori- 

 ginally belonged to the same mass, and to have been torn 

 asunder by the impetuosity of the sea, which, impelled by the 

 winds from every quarter, runs with a force almost beyond 

 belief. During such a tempest, I have myself seen the jaws 

 of the great Greenland whale, Balcena mysticetus, thrown to a 

 distance of 200 feet inland upon the beach. 



Beyond the Bay of St James, towards the great Northern 

 Cape called Svartenhuk, the floetz-trap is interrupted, either by 

 the primitive rocks, or by an immense plain covered with al- 

 luvial soil. Svartenhuk is composed of a granitic rock, with 

 large beds of micaceous schistus, mixed with small garnets. 

 In the adjacent bay, called Hytten, the floetz-trap shews itself in 

 small hills, resting on a bed of sandstone, in which bituminous 

 wood occurs. From this point, the continent of Greenland* 



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.4 



which consists of granite, stretches away to the east of north, 

 and is covered with an incredible number of small islands, 

 called the Vrowen or Womeni Islands, The base of these 

 islands is uniformly granite or gneiss; the last sometimes, 

 though rarely, mixed with garnets. Some of the islands are 

 covered with beds of the flcetz formation, particularly Kakar- 

 soak, the largest of the group, 



TO; 



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