ii 4 SPITSBERGEN chap, vn 



of Temple Mountain beyond. The head of the Sassendal, 

 of course, attracted my most anxious attention, for thither 

 lay the route to the East Coast, a portion of which was 

 traversed by M. Rabot in 1892. The bluff he climbed and 

 named Pic Milne-Edwards was in sight, and so was a wide 

 and gentle glacier, stretching back eastward with slow ascent 

 to a flat white sky-line. I named it Rabot Glacier. 



In the faint sounds that fluttered the air it was surpris- 

 ing to detect a deep bass note, giving volume to the treble 

 ripplings of brooks down the hill-sides, and of the main 

 stream hurrying over stones or washing against its snowy 

 banks. A brief search revealed the cause. The river at its 

 exit from Esker Valley passes through a gorge, cut into the 

 carboniferous limestone which here forms the foundation 

 of the triassic hills. At one point it has to tumble over a 

 wall of rock about fifty feet high. Over it goes at a level 

 edge, in a single plunge, a plain unbroken fall of brown 

 water, straight sided, foam footed, a cascade in its simplest 

 form. It tumbles into a wall-sided caldron, and winds away 

 below a few jutting promontories, which form excellent points 

 of view, and were chosen for nesting-places by a colony of 

 pink-footed geese. The scene is admirably harmonious in 

 its dreary simplicity and sombre remoteness ; even the muddi- 

 ness of the water is better in keeping with the surroundings 

 than clear water would be. It is a small waterfall ; later in 

 the season when the snow had done melting it would be 

 smaller, but it was my own. No one had ever seen it 

 before, except perhaps some stray hunter. It was mine to 

 name and to enjoy, which I did with trembling, for the wind 

 was cold and there was no shelter. 



The hours passed and no one came. Knowing that the 

 march would be a hard one for the sledges, I now began 

 to fear lest some misfortune had happened. The reports of 

 Pedersen's rifle at last relieved me. Then Gregory came in 



