C 0 C II L E A R I A. 
209 
ducks passed over our bay, bound for farther breeding- 
grounds; we saw also an ivory-gull and two great 
northern divers, (Colymhus glacial is,) the most imposing 
birds of their tribe. These last flew very high, emit¬ 
ting at regular intervals their reed-like ‘ kawk.’ 
“Mr. Ohlsen and Dr. Hayes are oil’ on an overland 
tramp. I sent them to inspect the open water to the 
southward. The immovable state of the ice-foot gives 
me anxiety: last year, a large bay above us was closed 
all summer; and the land-ice, as we find it here, is as 
perennial as the glacier. 
“June 20, Tuesday.—This morning, to my great sur¬ 
prise, Petersen brought me quite a handful of scurvy- 
grass, ( Gfenestrata.) In my fall list of the stinted 
flora here, it had quite escaped my notice. I felt grate¬ 
ful to him for his kindness, and, without the affectation 
of offering it to any one else, ate it at once. Each plant 
stood about one inch high, the miniature leaves ex¬ 
panding throughout a little radius of hardly one inch 
more. Yet, dwarfed as it was, the fructifying process 
-was nearly perfected; the buds already expanding and 
nearly ready to burst. We found coclilearia afterward 
at Littleton Island, but never in any quantity north of 
Cape Alexander. Although the melted snows distil 
freely over the darker rocks, (porphyries and green¬ 
stones,) it is a rare exception to note any vegetable dis¬ 
coloration of the surface beneath. There are few signs of 
those confervaceous growths which are universal as high 
as Upernavik. The nature of this narrative does not 
permit me to indulge in matters unconnected with my 
