Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/398

374 into an amphitheatre, with perpendicular walls, at least four hundred feet in height. The bottom of the cirque was filled with snow, under which the cascade disappeared. Passing above the cirque and keeping lo the left bank of the stream we gained the highland without much difficulty, our aneroids giving an elevation of 2400 feet; the view looking eastward over the settlement of Godhavn was remarkably beautiful, islands in Disco Bay, though fourteen miles distant, seemed to be directly beneath us; the opposite shores of Greenland were distinctly visible, the great Jakobshavn glacier shone out under the brilliant sunshine, whilst a vast number of icebergs were scattered over Disco Bay. A little beyond this spot we crossed the snow-line, losing sight of the sea. The snow was very soft, and we sunk over our knees : an unbroken line of snow seemed to stretch with a gradual rise into the interior; whether we were walking over a glacier or not, we could not determine, from the depth of the snow. After struggling on for two hours our aneroids gave an elevation of 2600 feet. We then retraced our steps. After reaching the snow-line no trace of animal life was observed, except the foot-prints of a hare.

An excursion made to Uifvak, being our first introduction to camp- and boat-life in Greenland, and moreover having given us an opportunity of observing the more common birds of the sea- coast around Disco, may perhaps not be out of place. Leaving Godhavn in a whale-boat we stopped at Fortune Bay harbour, some four miles to the westward, and prepared supper. The islets which form Fortune Bay consist of rounded masses of gneiss, the result of ice-action : the tops of the islets in some places are distinctly farrowed ; the little valleys lying between the polished knolls are choked with rounded boulders, now moss and lichen coveted. Veins of syenite in some places traverse the gneiss. Traces of old dwellings, marked by the fertility and rich green of the turf, are to be found in sheltered nooks. Hundreds of " dovekies," or Black Guillemots, were swimming round the shores; we shot several for our supper, and obtained more than a dozen of their fresh eggs from chinks in the rocks. A Lapland Bunting was found nesting, and a Snow Bunting had young nearly ready to fly. After pulling at the oars all through the night we reached Uivfak, distant some twenty miles from Godhavn. Landing there is somewhat difficult in fine weather, and when there is any swell on quite out of the question.