NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE 1 15 



The eider-duck is sacred in Iceland. The delicate feathers which 

 line their nests form one of the leading exports, and nothing must 

 disturb the birds. Although we probably had a sufficient excuse 

 for killing a few specimens, we thought it wiser to leave the eider 

 alone. 



On this same trip the diatom collecting-bucket was tried out, 

 but the specimens were unsatisfactory because we had not located 

 a suitable bottom-area for dredging. 



On the day before leaving port several members of our party 

 were invited to lunch in the ward-room of the cruiser. This 

 group of Danish officers will forever typify to us the hearty, 

 merry life led by naval officers in works of fiction. There were 

 songs and good-natured banter, toasts and speeches — all at an 

 ordinary noon-day meal. They presented us with a beautiful 

 photograph of the Fylla, which was hanging in the cabin when 

 the Carnegie was destroyed in Apia. 



The time had come for us to reciprocate all these attentions, 

 so a dance was arranged in the cabin. The best music we could 

 furnish was from our phonograph; but with the dining-table re- 

 moved we could offer an excellent dance-floor. The Danish 

 officers joined in, of course, and a "good time was had by all." 

 We were not ashamed to make the most of our evenings in Reyk- 

 javik. The next two months were to be spent out of sight of 

 land, in routine that knew no Sundays and no labor laws. And 

 none of us had imagined that we should find here as congenial 

 companionship as we found in any port during the cruise. 



At noon on July 27 we said our farewells and pushed off, using 

 the engine until clear of the coast. Another propitious start — 

 we picked up a favorable breeze that bowled us along toward 

 Cape Farewell, Greenland. The wind was so strong that we had 

 wire-angles of 50° at our first oceanographic station, July 28. 

 There was too great danger of fouling the wires should we use the 

 new plankton-pump, so neither this nor the bottom-sampling 

 was attempted. 



On July 30 conditions were ideal, and for the first time in the 

 cruise we made use of our plankton-pump. Water-samples and 

 temperatures were obtained clear to the bottom (at 3500 meters). 



