96 Chapter III. 



and Barents Sea. At ten o'clock in the evening we 



o 



weighed anchor and reached Vardo next evening, where 

 we met with a magnificent reception. There was a 

 band of music on the pier, the fjord teemed with boats, 

 flags waved on every hand, and salutes were fired. 

 The people had been waiting for us ever since the 

 previous evening, we were told some of them, indeed, 

 coming from Vadso and they had seized the oppor- 

 tunity to get up a subscription to provide a big drum 

 for the town band, the " North Pole." And here we 

 were entertained to a sumptuous banquet, with speeches 

 and champagne flowing in streams, ere we bade Norway 

 our last farewell. 



The last thing that had now to be done for the Fram 

 was to have her bottom cleaned of mussels and weeds, 

 so that she might be able to make the best speed 

 possible. This work was done by divers, who were 

 readily placed at our service by the local inspector of the 

 Government Harbour Department. 



But our own bodies also claimed one last civilised 

 feast of purification, before entering on a life of savagery. 

 The bath-house of the town is a small timber building. 

 The bath-room itself is low, and provided with shelves 

 where you lie down and are parboiled with hot steam, 

 which is constantly kept up by water being thrown on 

 the glowing hot stones of an awful oven, worthy of hell 

 itself; while all the time young Ouaen (lasses) flog you 

 with birch twigs. After that you are rubbed down, 



