Page:Report of the Second Norwegian Arctic Expedition in the "Fram," 1898-1902 (volume 3).djvu/62

 Introduction.

Among all the arctic lauds, Greenland is by tar the largest, extending lrom Cape Farewell, in lat. 5916', to tiope Morris Jesup, lat. 83° 39', and Cape Bridgeman, in lat. 83° 35', and trom tlﬂlle Alexander, in long W. tr. Gr. 75° 30', to the east coast ol Shannon Island, in long. \Vi 17°30'. Its area may very roughly be rerkoued as 600,000 square miles. From a botanical point of View, however. only a comparatively small part of its wide expanse is of any interest, the whole interior being covered up by the inland ice. the widest ice sheet of the Northern Hemisphere, which sends out numerous arms of ditlerent size to the coast, thus separating the habitable land into many parts, that may, however, be naturally grouped as follows:

Danish West Greenland, from Cape Farewell up to the southern side of Melville Bay about lot. 74". In the soutlL it is not sharply deﬁned lrom the coastland ot the east coast, but to the north it is separated from the land beyond Melville Bay by the many and mighty glaciers that, except for some coast mountains and nnnataks, alone surround the interior of the hay, lorming a very natural and well- detined demarcation-line between the southern and northern coast tllSll'lL‘lS with their, in many respects, ditlerent lloras and types of vegetation].

North Western Greenland, beginning at the north side of Melville Bay in about lat. 76" and stretching up to the northernmost point. where it merges into the east coast, may be looked upon as being tormed of two diilerents parts, the southern or Smith Sound region up to about lat. 79°, and the northern], from about 80° northwards. The_ boundary between them is formed by the enormous llnlnboldt Glacier, forming the coast'line For nearly one degree of latitude —— a barrier which is not easily surmounted by any plant migration.

Eastern Greenland is not so easily separated into natural divisions. A tolerath well deﬁned line, however, may be drawn about lat. 73°30'.

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