XL] WILSON'S CONVICTIONS. 189 



But Wilson was not a man to be driven from his convictions 

 by facts ; he only smiled grimly, with a look which meant 

 — " Would we were safe back again ! ' ; Poor Wilson ! he 

 would have gone only half way with Bacon in his famous 

 Apothegm; he would willingly "commit the Beginnings of 

 all actions to Argus with his hundred eyes, and the Ends" — 

 to Centipede, with his hundred legs. " First to watch, and then 

 to speed " — away ! would have been his pithy emendation. 

 Immediately after breakfast we pulled to the shore, carry- 

 ing in the gig with us the photographic apparatus, tents, guns, 

 ammunition, and the goat. Poor old thing ! she had suffered 

 dreadfully from sea-sickness, and I thought a run ashore might 

 do her good. On the left-hand side of the bay, between 

 the foot of the mountain and the sea, there ran a low flat 

 belt of black moss, about half a mile broad ; and as this 

 appeared the only point in the neighbourhood likely to offer 

 any attraction to reindeer, it was on this side that I deter- 

 mined to land. My chief reason for having run into English 

 Bay rather than Magdalena Bay was because we had been 

 told at Hammerfest that it was the more likely place of the 

 two for deer; and as we were sadly in want of fresh meat 

 this advantage quite decided us in our choice.' As soon, 

 therefore, as we had superintended the erection of the tent, 

 and set Wilson hard at work cleaning the glasses for the 

 photographs, we slung our rifles on our backs, and set off in 

 search of deer. But in vain did I peer through my tele- 

 scope across the dingy flat in front ; not a vestige of a horn 

 was to be seen, although in several places we came upon 

 impressions of their track. At last our confidence in the 

 reports of their great plenty became considerably diminished. 

 Still the walk was very refreshing after our confinement on 

 board ; and although the thermometer was below freezing, 

 the cold only made the exercise more pleasant. A little to 

 the northward I observed, lying on the sea-shore, innume- 

 rable losrs of driftwood. This wood is floated all the wav 

 from America by the Gulf Stream, and as I walked from one 

 huge bole to another, I could not help wondering in what 



