i 5 4 SPITSBERGEN chap, x 



"A sharp walk of two and a half hours brought me to 

 Brent Pass, where I rested for half-an-hour to take food, 

 sketch the hills to the 'south, and write out notes on the 

 geological facts seen during the ascent. I had intended 

 to shorten the journey by keeping along the right bank of 

 the river, and fording this near Advent Bay. But one glance 

 at its channel showed me that I must cross at once ; for the 

 powerful sun of the previous days had melted so much snow, 

 that the river volume was many times greater than when we 

 had crossed before. Fortunately the river channel here was 

 a broad stony plain, more than a mile in width, and over 

 it the river ran in many channels. I forded fifty-two before 

 reaching the ice-foot on the left bank ; many of the channels 

 were small, but several were fifty feet wide, and one came 

 up to my waist. Fortunately after this a narrow band of 

 ice ran along the bank of the river, and over this I was 

 able to make rapid progress. But as the river channel nar- 

 rowed, the stream occupied it all, except for a few shoals 

 in the middle, and I was driven on to the rough, boggy rock- 

 strewn floor of the valley. Numerous deep gullies were cut 

 through this to the level of the river ; some of these still 

 contained much snow, and the snow bridges were strong 

 enough to let me cross the rivers without the nuisance of 

 a wade. Farther on the walking was better, for the ground 

 was dry and stony, and by |a spurt I reached the old 

 terminal moraine at 11.30. I had taken some biscuits from 

 our food cache at Sunshine Camp, and I rested on the 

 moraine till midnight, nibbling kola-biscuits and chocolate, 

 and sketching. The geology here gave me the clue to the 

 structure of the whole valley. So I went on 1 again re- 

 freshed by my half-hour's rest. An hour's walk took me 

 to a point level with Cairn Camp, where I found myself 

 on an old marine beach, so that the fjord once ran up 



