74 SPITSBERGEN chap v 



out of the water. Rain poured persistently, and all the hill- 

 tops were lost in cloud. Evil conditions for surveying ! 

 One long snow-bed, through which a stream flowed, was 

 powdered over with broken coal. Bits of coal lay about 

 everywhere, and the bogs were in places black with it. 

 Once I stumbled over what I thought to be a stump of 

 wood. Looking back to see how such an unwonted sub- 

 stance could be there, I found it was a reindeer's antler. 

 The head was so buried in moss that only the tip of a 

 tine emerged. We found plenty more in the same condi- 

 tion, for the whole interior of Spitsbergen is strewn with 

 antlers. Shortly afterwards reindeer footprints appeared, 

 and we presently sighted two deer, looking grey in the 

 distance against the black stones. It is generally said that, 

 in Spitsbergen, reindeer are so tame that they walk up to 

 you to be shot. This is by no means always the case. 

 These deer when they winded us went off up a side valley, 

 and Garwood could not come near them in the time at our 

 disposal. Plenty of bernacle geese flew about or honked at 

 us from the swamps. Often they sat still and let us come 

 within fifty yards of them. But we had no time to attend 

 to their challenge ; we only thought of forging ahead. 



At ten P.M. the mouth of the fourth side-valley was 

 reached. Here it was necessary to pitch camp (Bolter Camp, 

 230 feet). A site was chosen on a bit of rising ground at 

 the edge of the swamp. It was spongy and clamp as could 

 be. Resting the elbow on the rubber sheet, as one lay on 

 the ground, it sank in and made a hole. But there was 

 no drier spot within range, whilst here was grazing for the 

 ponies — a matter of importance considering the small amount 

 of fodder we could carry, for it was already apparent that 

 our ton of hay and oats at Advent Point would be mostly 

 wasted. 



The little tent was soon set up with a sledge on each 



