Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/343

Rh about lat. 65° N., off the district of Godtshaab. When the dredge was hauled on board it was half full of gravel and pebbles, no doubt left on the ban-k by the grounding and decaying icebergs : the majority of the pebbles brought up were gneiss and granite, more sparingly pieces of basalt. The swabs attached to the dredge were full of Asteroids and Ophiuriaus— Asteracanthion polaris, Solaster endeca, Ophioglypha robusta, O.Stuwitzii, and Ophiopholis bellis being represented in the haul. Inside of the net were six large Hololhurians, Cucumaria froiidosa, and a few Mollusca, chiefly Buccinium, Natica, Astarte, and Saxicava.

As a rule, we passed along the Greenland coast at too great a distance to obtain any accurate idea of its formation. All that we could observe was the peaked aud ragged outline of the mountainous islands that fringe the mainland. At times, looking up some fiord, we caught a glimpse of the great mer-de-glace of the interior. On one or two occasions, as we neared the coast, under sail, we obtained better opportunities of gratifying our curiosity in regard to this most interesting land.* Early on the 4th July, the date on which the Arctic Circle was crossed, we ran in shore not far from Sukkertoppen. The superb colouring of an Arctic summer night was on this occasion displayed to its fullest extent. When the sun reached its lowest declination, the heavens were tinted gold and amber, and for a couple of hours we witnessed a glorious sunset passing into a still more brilliant sunrise. The mountains, previously shrouded in mist and gloom, completely changed their appearance; their snowy summits were suffused with a warm orange glow, deep purple shades climbed up the slopes, clothing each ravine and precipice with rich shades of colour, and hanging like a warm-tinted curtain across the valleys leading into the interior; beyond all, almost hidden in a veil of neutral tint, the line of the "inland ice" cut the horizon.

On this occasion a small whale, which I believe to have been the Common Beaked Whale, Hyperoodon rostratus, was blowing near the ship. Each emission of breath was accompanied by a stentorian grunt, which closely resembled that of the elephant. This small whale was accompanied by a flock of thirty or forty

It being quite beyond the compass of these notes to attempt to do more than record personal experiences, the reader, if inclined to obtain an insight into the physical structure of Danish Greenland, must consult the works of the standard authorities on the subject, namely, those of Dr. Rink and Dr. Robert Brown.