258 SPITSBERGEN chap, xix 



skipper and the bargain was struck. The Lofoten promised 

 to leave coals, and I returned to camp. Joy and gladness 

 reigned there at the tidings I brought. New scenes ahead, 

 new experiences, a wider world, no ponies to drive, no bogs 

 to wade, no sledges to lift over obstacles, no more daily 

 packing and unpacking, pitching and striking, but a tight little 

 boat all to ourselves and the wide unknowable north ahead. 

 At the worst we should see the historic sites of the whale- 

 fishery — the Seven Icebergs, Amsterdam Island, the Norways, 

 ■Cloven Cliff, the north coast, Wijde Bay, Hinloopen Strait, 

 North-east Land, perhaps, even the Seven Islands, and then 

 — who could say ? Oh wondrous world of the unknown, 

 strange and phantasmal like death itself, hail to thee ! 

 Thither, oh thither will we, to win thee to ourselves ! There 

 glowed a light in every eye, a new sprightliness animated 

 every limb. Gaily we sat down to supper in our flapping 

 tent, and cared no more for winds or weather, save as they 

 affected the new prospects so suddenly and attractively 

 opening before us. 



With such ideas to occupy our minds the hours flew 

 by. A new process of crystallisation was set up in the 

 baggage, whose parts no longer assembled themselves about 

 sledges and row-boat, but took quite different combinations. 

 Baron de Geer and his companion now returned to Advent 

 Bay from hard work at Cape Boheman, and we had pleasant 

 visits from them — visits to us most profitable also, for I was 

 able to acquire a great deal of information from De Geer 

 about former Swedish expeditions in these regions. New 

 plans involved a mass of correspondence, a big mail for 

 Hammerfest, not completed in a moment. Thus the busy 

 hours went whizzing by, and always the cold wind blew, 

 and the cloud-blanket hung low overhead, hiding the hills, 

 and making survey work impossible, so that there were no 

 regrets on that score. 



