256 SPITSBERGEN chap, xix 



taken a bolder trip, and steamed on from Danes Island 

 along the north coast and down Hinloopen Strait nearly to 

 Cape Torell — an astonishing record, as any one acquainted 

 with Spitsbergen literature will perceive. As a rule, the 

 ice-pack permits no such casual rambling. Lamont, who 

 spent several summers hunting in Spitsbergen waters, with 

 all the advantages of an excellently-found vessel, was never 

 able to get beyond the mouth of Liefde Bay, or, in the 

 other direction, beyond the Rijk Yse Islands. The summer 

 of 1896 was, in fact, a very exceptional one. Quite early in 

 the year vessels returned from the north with wonderful 

 tales of open sea. Captain Bade's excursion steamer, the 

 Erling Jarl, advanced (about July 28) to 8i° 40' north 

 latitude before meeting the pack. Away to the north-east 

 the sea was reported clear of ice. The same story was told 

 by others. The Expres saw no ice anywhere. From Cape 

 Torell none was in sight. The sea was open. 



It is interesting to note what were Mr. Jackson's simul- 

 taneous experiences in Franz Josef Land. 



''Since the middle of February 1896," he writes, "we 

 have had weather I believe to be unprecedented in this 

 latitude. The thermometers during this time have been 

 hovering close up in the neighbourhood of freezing-point, 

 and we have had in consequence great quantities of snow, 

 which lies deep and wet on the floes. On March 5 the 

 air was as balmy as June. There have been no cold winds 

 to harden the snow on' the floes, and it is almost impos- 

 sible to drag the sledges across it. - Our furs get] dripping 

 wet, and when the inevitable fall in temperature comes, 

 they are frozen hard as steel." This unusual^ condition 1 of 

 weather caused a great body of open water to form in the 

 northern parts of the Franz Josef Land Archipelago. 



We did not know these facts, but we knew enough to 

 cause a great disturbance in our minds. There endured 



