36 SPITSBERGEN chap, hi 



supplies of food to be bought, our whale-boat and its fittings 

 to be inspected, the ponies to be shod, and a thousand and 

 one more details to be finished out of hand. Incidentally 

 we dropped into various little shops and inspected their 

 stores of furs, horns, and the like oddments — for the most 

 part costly and unattractive. One store was devoted to 

 Lapp manufactures, described by a printed advertisement as 

 " very seeworthy." A poor little Lapp came in whilst we 

 were there, wearing leather clothes and turned-up shoes 

 like a Hittite. I felt as though I had tumbled into the 

 presence of a neolithic man, so broad seemed the tide of 

 centuries audibly murmuring between us. 



The ship, as the day advanced, became a mere pande- 

 monium. Two or three friends of Mr. With came by invi- 

 tation to make with him the trip to Spitsbergen and back 

 — one of them was Mr. Ekroll of Lofoten, who had spent 

 a winter on Edge's Land a year and a half before. There 

 were also a French gentleman and a Stockholm journalist, 

 Herr Stadling, going to join Herr Andree. There were 

 several boats and our ponies to be taken on board. There 

 was a crow's-nest to be fitted up. All sorts of people came 

 to say good-bye — consuls, agents, dealers, and relatives or 

 acquaintances of passengers. The deck was crowded. Glasses 

 clinked. Every one was in the way of every one else, but 

 the sun shone brightly and all were gay. In the midst of 

 the shindy, Gregory digested geological papers from various 

 journals, cross-questioned any one that came handy about 

 Spitsbergen birds or the Norwegian vocabulary, and went 

 on piling up information generally. "You read always," 

 said the French gentleman to him. "Yes," was the merry 

 reply ; " you see I am young and have a lot to learn." 

 Garwood was also busy. He started from England with 

 some work on hand still requiring a preface. With this he 

 had been labouring in the intervals of sea-sickness, negative 

 developing, baggage overhauling, and the rest, at odd moments 



