RUINS AND GRAVES DISCOVERED. 159 



CHAPTER V. 



Early attempts to settle Spitzbergen.— Fishing-ground con- 

 tested. — A party winter in Bell Sound. — Their sufferings. 

 — Attempt to colonize Jan Mayen. — Sufferings and death 

 of the party. — A similar attempt made at Spitzbergen. — 

 — Death of the party. — Ships repaired. — Put to sea. — 

 Trace the barrier of ice toward Greenland. — Return to 

 England. — Sir Edward Parry's attempt to reach the Pole 

 over the ice. — Concluding remarks. 



It will be seen, on referring to the survey of 

 this coast, which was made by the expedition, that 

 there are seven islands lying off the north-west 

 part of Spitzbergen. The various anchorages 

 which have been referred to in the course of this 

 narrative, with the exception of Magdalena Bay, 

 are formed between those islands and the main 

 land. In the early navigation of this sea, these 

 ports were resorted to by vessels principally from 

 Holland, Norway, and Denmark, so that there 

 have been occasionally as many as forty at anchor 

 at a time. Upon some of the islands around 

 the anchorage there were found the remains 



