PROFESSOR HEER ON THE EOSSIL FLORA OF NORTH GREENLAND. 447 
“At Sakkak we were joined by a native guide for Atanekerdluk, named Gudemann, 
and also by two others who volunteered their services. We continued our journey after 
a brief halt, and arrived at our destination shortly after 1 A.M. on August the 22nd. 
“ The name Atanekerdluk is applied by the natives to a basaltic peninsula about half 
a mile in length, connected with the mainland by a sandy neck which is apparently 
covered by the sea at spring-tides. A bay with a sandy beach stretches about two miles 
to the south, and at its further extremity there is another promontory, of columnar 
basalt, named Imnarsoit. Between these two promontories, and indeed along the whole 
of the shore from the above-mentioned valley at Sakkak to the most northern point 
of the Noursoak peninsula, mountains rise from the water’s edge, and attain in some 
places a height of 5000 to 6000 feet. Behind the peninsula of Atanekerdluk they 
do not, however, attain a height greater than 3600 or 3800 feet. They are cut up by 
numerous small valleys and ravines. 
“ The position of Atanekerdluk is indicated at a great distance by means of three 
mountain-peaks of symmetrical form. The fossil bed is one-third w T ay up the most 
northern of these, and between it and the central one. Under the guidance of Gude- 
MAW5T we started for it at mid-day on the 22nd. The sides of the hill on which it is 
situate (an outlying buttress of the mountain already mentioned) were of considerable 
steepness, and channelled in many places by small streams. It was mainly composed of 
sand and of shales, and was strewn with disintegrated fragments of hardened clays, sand- 
stones, and basalt. The most prominent features w r ere the dykes of trap which appeared 
in numerous places ; sometimes as regular in form as built Avails, and in others as 
picturesque as Rhine castles. Five, if not six, of these dykes appeared at different places 
in the section of the coast betAveen the headlands of Atanekerdluk and Imnarsoit. 
“ It has been already mentioned that this locality had been frequently visited* before 
1867 for the sake of its fossil deposit. This was evident by numerous fragments that 
we found in the course of our ascent, which had been dropped by others in descending, 
and it seemed at first as if the deposit was very extensive. We found it in fact to be 
confined within narrow limits. It did not appear to extend a greater length than 400 
feet, Avith a maximum depth of 150 feet. In most places the portion exposed was 
nothing more than a seam a few feet in depth. It Avas on a shelf of the hill at the 
height of 1175 feetf ; the southern end Avas exposed on the north side of the most pro- 
minent of the ravines already referred to. The length of the deposit, that is to say the 
face of the hill on which it Avas found, fronted the Waigat, due west (magnetic). 
“ I took from England, besides hammers, picks, and shovels, all the necessaries for 
blasting ; but these latter were unnecessary. The seam was for the most part enclosed 
by sand, and specimens were obtained with ease. After a hard day’s work Ave returned 
to our camp, in a ruined native house by the shore. It froze sharply during the 
night. 
* “ By Danes,. or by natives collecting for Danes. 
t “ The mean of eight observations by aneroid. Captain Inglefieed gives the height 1084 feet. 
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