Page:Proposed Expedition to Explore Ellesmere Land - 1894.djvu/15

 EXTRACTS. (Authors of extracts and letters will please pardon liberties taken in condensing and italicizing.)

A Voyage to the Polar Sea, Vol. I, pp. 67-85.

In the valley (on the north shore of Ellesmere Land) was found what in these regions may be termed a richly vegetated plain. Those amongst us who were fortunate enough to visit the locality were well repaid by the grandeur of the scene. The summer thaw of ice and snow had produced a broad watercourse down the valley, which was occupied by a pellucid stream some twenty yards in width. The flora was surprisingly rich: large patches of Epilobium latifolium were growiug on sandbanks in the dry watercourse, its handsome deep pink blossoms appearing somewhat out of keeping with the Arctic surroundings. Recent traces of reindeer and musk-oxen were very numerous. Insects were not uncommon, the mosquitoes being particularly annoying. Two species of butterflies, a Colias and an Argynnis, two kinds of moths, and a bumble-bee (Bombus) were captured. The shores of the coast where we landed were studded with ancient Eskimo dwellings, numerous caches, and marks of summer tents. The bones of a large whale, no doubt Balæna mysticetus, in pieces over five feet long and a foot broad had been used as rafters to one of the igloos or dwelling-places. Numerous bones of the musk-ox, seal, walrus, and narwhal were found.

I regret extremely that our short stay prevented our ascertaining whether Hayes Sound is a channel leading to a western sea. Although we saw no seals in the sound, yet the numerous remains scattered about the old Eskimo dwellings show that they have been obtained in large numbers in this locality, and this is seldom the case in an inclosed bay, where the water is more ready to freeze than in an open channel. It is remarkable that no icebergs were met with in the western waters of Hayes Sound. This indicates that there are no discharging