LETTER XL 



WE SAIL FOR BEAR ISLAND, AND SPITZBERGEN — CHERIE ISLAND — 

 BARENTZ — SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY — PARRY'S ATTEMPT TO REACH 

 THE NORTH POLE — AGAIN AMONGST THE ICE — ICEBLINK — FIRST 

 SIGHT OF SPITZBERGEN — WILSON — DECAY OF OUR HOPES — CON- 

 STANT STRUGGLE WITH THE ICE — WE REACH THE 8o° N. LAT. — A 

 FREER SEA — WE LAND IN SPITZBERGEN — ENGLISH BAY — LADY 

 EDITH'S GLACIER — A MIDNIGHT PHOTOGRAPH — NO REINDEER TO 

 BE SEEN — ET EGO IN ARCTIS — WINTER IN SPITZBERGEN — PTAR- 

 MIGAN — THE BEAR-SAGA— THE " FOAM " MONUMENT — SOUTH- 

 WARDS — SIGHT THE GREENLAND ICE — A GALE — WILSON ON THE 

 MALSTROM — BREAKERS AHEAD — ROOST — TAKING A SIGHT — 

 THRONDHJEM. 



Throndhjem, Aug. 22nd, 1S56. 

 We have won our laurels, after all ! We have landed in 

 Spitzbergen — almost at its most northern extremity ; and 

 the little "Foam" has sailed to within 630 miles of the 

 Pole; that is to say, within 100 miles as far north as any 

 ship has ever succeeded in getting. 



I think my last letter left us enjoying the pleasant hospi- 

 talities of Kaafiord. 



The genial quiet of that last evening in Norway was 

 certainly a strange preface to the scenes we have since wit- 

 nessed. So warm was it, that when dinner was over, we all 

 went out into the garden, and had tea in the. open air ; the 

 ladies without either bonnets or shawls, merely plucking a 

 little branch of willow to brush away the mosquitoes ; and 

 so the evening wore away in alternate intervals of chat and 

 song. At midnight, seawards again began to swirl the tide, 

 and we rose to go, — not without having first paid a visit to 

 the room where the little daughters of the house lay folded 

 in sleep. Then descending to the beach, laden with flowers 

 and kind wishes waved to us by white handkerchiefs held in 

 still whiter hands, we rowed on board ; up went the flap- 

 ping sails, and dipping her ensign in token of adieu — the 



