washes, that
is, the beach and the deep bays which indent the land here
and there, shows the fine sand bare, without trace of
vegetation. Where the ground rises a little, it becomes
covered with a black and white variegated covering of
mosses and lichens; scattered among which at long
intervals are small tufts of grass. First somewhat higher
up, and properly only round the marshy margins of the
numerous small fresh-water lakes and in hollows and bogs,
is the ground slightly green. The higher plants are
represented by only 17 species, all small and stunted,[95]
most of them rising only some few lines above the sand.
Very few plants reached a height of 15 centimetres. No
kind of willow was found, nor any flower seen of any other
colour than green or white.

"The lichen-flora too was scanty. No species showed any
great luxuriance, and seldom did the black and white
lichen-crust produce any 'apothecium,' The
lichen-vegetation was most abundant on the driftwood of
the beach and on the tufts in the marshes. The larger
lichens, as the reindeer and Iceland lichens, occurred
very sparingly. About 80 species were found. The land
evertebrates were so sparingly represented, that only
three diptera, one species of hymenoptera, and some insect
larvae and spiders could be collected. Only podurae were
found in great abundance; they completely covered the
whole ground at the beach.

"Several herds of reindeer were seen, but we did not
succeed in getting within range of them. A little fish of
the Cottus family was caught by Nordquist in a ditch which
was in connection with the sea. Driftwood still fresh was
found in great abundance, and farther up on land here and
there lay a more rotten stem.

"Rain and fog rendered impossible any determination of
position. During night we went across the sound and
anchored about an English mile and a half from the shore
of Yalmal, right opposite some Samoyed tents which we
discovered a little inland. In the same unfavourable
weather as that of the day before we attempted to land
there, but found the water too shallow. First pretty far
to the east we succeeded in reaching the beach at a place
where the land rose out of the sea with a steep bank about
nine metres high. Above the bank, which consisted of loose
clay, we found a