42 SPITSBERGEN chap, hi 



on the other side from Green Harbour. North was the 

 fine mass of Dead Man's Mount, with the fainter hills and 

 headlands of the Foreland further out. Looking up the 

 fjord were the coasts and bays we were soon to know so 

 well ; the glacier fronts near Cape Boheman, the white hills 

 on the south beyond Green Harbour, remains of a broken- 

 down plateau now cut up by deep valleys, all white with 

 winter snow. The place where we were anchored was close 

 to the southern shore, near a solitary rock named the Fortress, 

 just off the mouth of the Russian Valley. Half a century ago 

 this was the site of a large settlement of Russian trappers. 

 One of them, by name Starashchin, spent, it is said, no less 

 than thirty-seven winters here. Some say that he died in 

 Russia, others point out his grave near the Fortress. The 

 man is often mentioned by old visitors to Ice Fjord, but 

 little seems to be recorded about him except the length of 

 his stay. He used to return to Russia for the summer. 



At an early hour we set forth to land. Rowing against 

 the wind infused warmth into us. We wound about among 

 stranded masses of ice, hollowed below by the sea, but 

 with smooth beds of snow above. Sooner or later the 

 stalk of ice supporting the snow table becomes slender and 

 snaps, or the balance of the whole mass is disturbed and 

 it tips over on its side so that the table slopes up out of 

 the water. This is the fundamental type from which are 

 developed all those queer shapes, as of bird and beast, with 

 which drift ice diversifies the sea. Birds flew 7 close to us or 

 dived into the water by our side— king eiders and common 

 eiders, little auks, puffins, and guillemots. Bravest of all was 

 the fulmar petrel, which hovered close over our heads, then 

 swung away with easy grace, only to circle round again and 

 return to continue observations on the intruders. 



Snow lay deep by the water's edge, and overhung 

 the shore with a splendid white cornice. Landing at a 

 suitable gap, we climbed on to the flat— a raised beach of 



