chap xiii WATERFALL CAMP 



J 93 



bogs, of course, and equally of course Spits got fast in one, 

 but this no longer disturbed either her equanimity or ours. 

 As soon as she found herself well fixed she began com- 

 placently grazing on whatever green tufts were within reach. 

 It was the finest feeding day the ponies had had ; young 

 grass was sprouting everywhere in delightful profusion, and 

 at one spot was a crop almost long enough to be made into 

 hay. In fact, it may be put on record here that about this 

 date the valleys of central Spitsbergen become travellable, 

 and that exploration into the interior cannot be carried out 

 with much advantage at an earlier date. We reckoned that, 

 assuming we had landed at Advent Bay about this time, and 

 possessed of our present experience, we could have reached 

 the Sassendal in three days and Agardh Bay in three more, 

 provided, of course, that there was no surveying, geologising, 

 or collecting to be done, and that the only problem was to 

 cover ground. 



On a direct line between the foot of Peak Milne-Edwards, 

 which M. Rabot climbed in 1892, and Sassen Bay, where he 

 landed, we picked up a peculiar piece of wood, very neatly 

 turned, and shaped for some exact purpose we could not 

 define. It was probably dropped by the Frenchmen. We 

 carried it off as a trophy to be sent back to them. Shortly 

 afterwards we saw a reindeer with a big pair of antlers, a 

 great creature, double the size of the ordinary run of his 

 fellows, and almost white in colour. With him was a dark- 

 skinned back of smaller dimensions. They were wary 

 enough, and made off uphill before we came anywhere 

 near them. These were the sole incidents of this most 

 monotonous march, which was not enlivened by any dis- 

 covery or novelty of view or effect. The cloud roof 

 hung low upon the hills, and distances were blotted out. 

 At Bucking - horse Camp we picked up the things that 

 had been left there, and crossing the shrunken river below 



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