Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/247

 GREENLAND 233 is through the large friths, down which the ice moves in masses several miles wide, until, reaching deep water in Baffin bay, it breaks up and forms icebergs. Rink counted 22 great ice streams on the coast, indicating as many concealed valleys. Large streams of muddy water pour out from under the ice, even when it is 2,000 ft. thick, showing that a powerful grinding action is going on upon the surface of the rocks beneath. The rocks of the coast are chiefly granite, gneiss, porphyry, slate, and calcareous formations. On the E. coast Scores- by found the slates of the coal formation, con- taining impressions of extinct species of tropi- cal plants, like those of the same strata in more southern latitudes. Good coal is mined in abundance on the island of Disco, and at vari- ous places on the mainland are found silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, plumbago, arsenic, molybdenum, and other metals. The Swedish scientific expedition of 1871 found immense masses of meteoric iron on the coast, between ebb and flow of the tide. One specimen weighing 49,000 Ibs. Swedish, with a maximum sectional area of 42 sq. ft., is now in the royal academy at Stockholm, and another of 20,000 Ibs. in the museum of Copenhagen. They contain 5 per cent, of nickel and from 1 to 2 per cent, of carbon. Asbestus, serpentine, zircon, gadolinite, tourmaline, iolite, rock crys- tal, and garnets also occur ; but the only min- eral exported is cryolite, from the mine at [viktut, on the fiord of Arsut. About 100 miners are employed, and the annual product is from 10,000 to 12,000 tons, one half of which is sent to Denmark and the remainder to the United States, where it is made into commer- cial soda by the Pennsylvania salt company. A royalty of 20 per cent, is paid to the Danish government ; and as the season of working is lort and the navigation of the fiord is attend- with danger on account of icebergs, the mine yields but little profit. The climate is considered healthy by the Danes, and in S. reenland is less rigorous than the high lati- ide and the immense fields of ice would indi- ite, the cold being greatly modified by the On the E. coast the mean temperature is low the freezing point, but it is milder on the W. coast. Further N. the cold is intense, ex- ling that of corresponding latitudes in Lap- land. According to Dr. Hayes, the mercury stood at 68 F. in March, 1861, in lat. 70 30' but in 1871 Capt. Hall found a much milder climate at his winter quarters in lat. 81 38' ; the plain surrounding Thank God bay ras free from snow in June, and the ground was covered with herbage, on which numer- ous herds of musk oxen found pasture, and rabbits and lemmings abounded. The wild flowers were brilliant, and large flocks of birds flew northward. This would indicate either an exceptional season, or that the climate is less rigorous toward the pole. Generally the winter cold is interrupted by thaws, which last sometimes for weeks. Through June and July the sun is constantly above the horizon. The earth begins to thaw in June, and in July the ice is melted away in the southern fiords, and small streams, flowing from the interior, feed a few unimportant lakes, which remain open for a brief season. But even in the heat of summer ice can always be found a short distance below the surface of the ground. Permanent springs are almost unknown, but Dr. Kane found one at Godhavn, Disco, which had a winter temperature of 33 F. t and Giesecke speaks of a thermal spring which maintained a temperature of 104. The heat of the long summer day evaporates the water left by the tide in the hollows and clefts of the rocks and leaves a fine salt. Fogs prevail from April to August. Little rain falls, especially in the north. Gales are infrequent, but in the autumn they rage sometimes for days with great fury. There is occasional lightning, but no thunder. The aurora borealis is often seen in winter, frequently so bright as to cause the stars to disappear, and mirage is common on the coast. The vegetation is slight, but it ex- ceeds that of high mountainous districts in warmer latitudes. Dr. Hooker noted that most of the 320 phsenogams and vascular cryptogams which make up the flora of Green- land were of Scandinavian origin, and that few American types were found, notwithstanding the comparative nearness of the continent. A few additional species have since been discov- ered. Mosses, lichens, and a few grasses and stunted plants and shrubs grow even in the far north, and furnish food for the reindeer, bear, and musk ox. Dr. Hayes noticed at Proven, among other flowers, the golden-petalled poppy (papaver nudicaule), the dandelion (contodon palustre), the buttercup (ranunculus nivalis), the saxifrages, purple, white, and yellow, the potentilla, the purple pedicularis, and the an- dromeda. In sheltered places the pine, alder, and birch attain a height of barely 6 ft. and a stem of but 3 or 4 in. in thickness, and the wil- low becomes little more than a running vine. The scant soil is so full of fibrous roots that when cut and dried it is used for fuel. At- tempts to raise oats and barley are unsuccess- ful, but potatoes are grown in the south. Tur- nips attain only the size of pigeons' eggs, and cabbages are very small. The radish is the only vegetable that is unchecked in its growth. The seas around Greenland abound with ani- mal life. The great rorqual whale, which at- tains sometimes a length of 120 ft., the more valuable mysticetus, or true whale, and other varieties, make them their resort. The wal- rus, the narwhal, the porpoise, and the seal are found on all the coasts. The arctic shark (squalus fiorealis) abounds, and is taken for the sake of the oil extracted from its liver, which is preferred to the best seal oils. Smaller fish are found in all the bays, and various kinds of crabs and shrimps exist in great numbers. Sea fowl in vast flocks frequent the coast, among them the little auk, guillemot, petrel, gull,