198 SPITSBERGEN chap, xiv 



close to a pool of clear water by the cricket-field — the piece 

 of flat dry bog where, I am told, the passengers of a tourist 

 steamer once played a match. Nature has provided a table 

 for the scorer, in the form of a weathered rock on a neat 

 pedestal that stands out of the grass. We used to talk of 

 the place by the name Starvation Bluff, because it was there 

 Gregory and Pedersen spent hungry hours awaiting Trevor- 

 Battye, what time the bay was blocked with ice. Afterwards 

 Trevor-Battye landed here and left tents and supplies for 

 use on our return. We found them near the water's edge, 

 but no boat to enable us to reach Post Glacier, as we intended, 

 or to communicate with Advent Bay. 



There was now little ice about ; only a few white and 

 blue masses, large and small, fallen from Post Glacier, and 

 either floating in the bay or stranded by its shores, objects 

 most beautiful in themselves, and a charming addition to 

 the glories of the landscape. The sky was clear, save for 

 a few cirrus wisps ; the sun shone brightly over the bay. 

 A chilling wind blew, but I escaped it by jumping down 

 the little limestone cliff forming the face of the bluff, where 

 a tiny cave about four feet high was all ready for me, filled 

 with sunshine, and no breath stirring. The rippling waters 

 plashed and broke in wavelets a yard away, strewing a line 

 of fresh, sweet-smelling seaweed along the shore. It was 

 good to be down by the sea again, the sea that unites all 

 the countries of the world, and brings mankind together. 

 No human creature was in sight, but a few pieces of shaped 

 driftwood abolished the sense of utter isolation. We were 

 back by an element on which men live out their lives ; we 

 had left behind the region where life is only temporarily 

 supportable. These sentences of course contradict other 

 opinions expressed above. Such changes of feeling in 

 varying circumstances form part of the charm of travel, and 

 much of its profit. They open the mind to new sympathies, 



