The age-herald., 1898-01-16

| nart of that age which geologists call the | cretaceous-that is to say, not less in all probability than 5,O0O0Oo years ago Ihe | later cretaceous flora of the Noursoak re- | zion. as proved by the fossils, must have 1 embraced many hardwood trees which were of the same genera as those which | nourished at the same period along the
 east coast of North America from Cape Cod southward and around into the gull states They included representatives of the tulip tree, the poplar, the magnolia, the willow the eucalyptus and the sassa- fras. Apparently, at that time the climate
 of Greenland was much like that or the gulf states today.
 All the evidence seems to point to the
 conclusion that climates all over the world
 in that ancient epoch were pretty much the
 same The same plants grew contem-
 poraneously in Greenland and in california,
 In Spitzbergen and in Virginia. There was
 a uniformity of vegitation in all parts or
 the earth. Nobody can say just why this
 was. though several theories have been
 advanced to account for it. one theory
 is that the atmosphere in those days was
 heavily charged with watery vapor, so mat
 warmth was readily distributed through
 it. and the suns rays did not have a chance to strike the earth uninterrupted, making differences in climate by the de-
 gree of their slant. In the course Of time
 the atmosphere thinned gradually, ana then there came to be climatic variations
 
 | Eventually arrived the tertiary epoch, which was the last great geological period before that in which we live, which IS the | uuatenary. It was at the beginning or that age that mammals first made their appear ance on the earth, so far as is known. NO | remains of tertiary mammals, however, nave | been discovered in Greenland, though the mammoth, the mastedon, the woolly rhin- | oceros, and other creatures belonging to | that epoch may have existed there. Ihe | expedition found the region about Nour- | soak very rich in the remains of tertiary | trees and other plants. In addition to the willow, tulip tree, poplar, sassafras ana | magnolia there were chestnut trees, oaks, | hickories birches, beeches and other com | mon kinds of hard wood trees or modern | types, including some that were nearly re- | lated to the bald cypress of the southern | states There were also several species of palms some of which belonged to the genus Flabellaria, which now survives Tn tropical and sub-tropical countries. UT course the Greenland climate had become n,f,oh cooler hv this t'ne. but na'ns grow
 in attitudes where there are light frosts
 now and then.
 An arctic tertiary flora has been found
 all around the world-in Iceland, in Spitz-
 bergen in Melville Island, and in Grlnnell
 Land, where Greedy discovered FOSSIL TOT
 est within eight degrees of the pole, the
 stumps of the trees still standing. Ihe
 same flora has been found on the Aleutian
 islands and in the basin of the Yukon,
 where it is associated with many veins or
 impure coal. It seems not unlikely that these coal deposits will be drawn upon
 some day to work the gold mines of the
 Yukon region It is very interesting to
 observe that plants associated with this Alaskan coal are the same as those whose
 fossil remains are associated with the coal
 measures of the north and northwest
 United States. It ought to be understood
 fTttrad n Greenland are living today anywhere in the world; they are represented at pres ent merely by allied forms. The further one goes back in geologic times, the less the plants resemble modern ones.
 The flora of Greenland today Is Of an Alpine character. More accurately speak ing. the plants of the Alps which are stranded as it were on islands of cold in the midst of a warm region, resemble those of Greenland. The plants of modern Greenland are dwarf plants, mostly. Some of these arctic forms have crawled down as far as the coast of Maine, just as the cider duck is occasionally seen as far south as Cape Cod. They consist of mosses, a few ferns, birches two or three species or willows, etc. The expedition found pop | pies crowberries and blueberries in Green | land The rocks and hilsides were bare | of vegetation, except in wet places along | streams and on sunny and protected ter | races. A purple flower related to the evening primrose forms patches in boggy places that can be seen for miles.
 On the coast of Greenland are found the long g-abandoned ruins of many buildings erected by the ancient Norsemen, of rock, and very substantial. According to tra- dltion, Morse navigator named Gunni- biorn landed in the country in the year | SIP A. D. The Norsemen certainly went l as far as 75 degrees north latitude, which
 cannot be reached by the stoutest modern | ship without serious risk. These voyages | were accomplished, too, in half-decked, l open ,boats. A stone found near Uperna- vik, in latitude 72 degrees and 30 minutes, bears an inscription in Runic dated 1135. In the old sagas and chronicles there is little mention of ice as an obstruction to navigation, and it is evident that the climatae in those days was much warmer | than it is now. Since then the g.aciers
 have filled the fjords and have made the | country uninhabitable, save in a few spots
 along the coast. The aboriginal Eskimo of | the region were known as Skraellings, or | Little People" by the Norsemen, who | treated them barbarously. But if tradi- | tion does not lie, the Skraellings got ample ! revenge in the end, totally wipng out the
 last of the Morse colonies They built an
 immense raft of boats, over which they | erected low and irregular scaffolding | covered with tanned and bleached skins | so that when afoat the affair looked like | an iceberg? It was turned adrift on the | ford, being permitted to float with the l tide to the shore, where the Morse settle | ment was located The inhabitants were | taken by surprise, and all of them were killed.
 1 There is tradition of one Morse colony | in Greenland which was cut off from civ | ilization and lost. The winters grew cold l er one unprecedented severe season fol | lowing another, until the colony was shut 1 away from the rest of mankind by frozen ! fields along the shores and by the heap ing up of mighty ice-cliffs through which
 there was no passage and over which it
 was impossible to climb. That was 600
 years ago. The colony numbered about 200 souls. According to traditional belief its members still dwell at this day in a sort of ice-bound oasis, without entrance or exit. They are so many Rip Van Wrinkles, having no knowledge of the world without save such as has been conveyed to them through tradition respecting af-