the German expedition,[1] 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; butterflies 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-Oxen[2] 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,[3] 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,[4] 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' N., long. 20 W., an Esquimaux graveyard was discovered, containing the remains of a large number of bodies of both sexes, with implements and weapons; several of these latter were brought home by the crew.
The 'Balæna,' 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 1891.
- ↑ See also 'Zoologist' for 1890, p. 83.
- ↑ 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.
