98 SPITSBERGEN chap, vi 



the Ondiepe or Shallow River, wider by far than and as flat as 

 Advent Vale, stretching away south-west for some miles to 

 Low Sound, and very gently mounting north-east a longer 

 distance before turning a corner with a slow wide curve 

 to the east. Down Low Sound we could see the purple 

 rocks of the Middle Hook that separates Low Sound from 

 Van Keulen's Bay, and farther off still the peaks of the 

 promontory between Schoonhoven and the sea. The Sunde- 

 wall Mountains were clear of clouds across the flat. Im- 

 mediately over against us three valleys, each containing a 

 glacier, debouched almost together into the Ondiepe Valley. 

 Farther up, pouring out from the east on to the flat, was 

 the wide, circular-domed front of a vaster glacier, draining 

 a high snowy area of considerable extent. With ponies 

 and sledges we might now have advanced straight up the 

 great valley for many miles, and perhaps come within rushing 

 distance of the east coast. At once the thought occurred 

 to both of us that Bolter Pass, which we had not yet ex- 

 plored, might be practicable for the beasts, and if it were, 

 the thing to do was to bring them over at once. There was 

 nothing to be gained by wandering about on the flat. Our 

 business was an immediate return. 



Before setting forth we had one more good look round. 

 The view was worth looking at for all reasons ; to us trebly 

 precious for the price it had cost. No ray of direct sunlight 

 illumined it, no fresh green cheered it, no blue sky over- 

 arched it. The brown flat below, just emerged from winter 

 snow and not yet carpeted with its summer inflorescence, 

 spread abroad, imposingly expansive. In my experience all 

 wide views over new country suddenly revealed, produce on 

 the beholder, at first glance, the same exaggerated impression 

 of extent. You feel the size of the thing more than aught 

 else about it. The relative smallness of the snowy mountains, 

 to one accustomed to associate glaciers with high altitudes, 



