^■»;';v::^.--vs.'-.f-- 



WAI.DEN ISLAND 



CHAPTER XX 



ADVENT BAY TO THE SEVEN ISLANDS 



AT four A.M. on August 5, we steamed away, on board 

 L the little Expres, for new lands and experiences of a 

 new order. Melancholy indeed was the land we left behind, 

 with its bleak purple shores, sloping up to hills all white 

 with new-fallen snow from a level of about 500 feet, and 

 roofed with cloud. Bleared gleams of misty sunlight cast 

 an added pallor on patches of the view. We thought the 

 weather showed a tendency to clear, one of the many hopes, 

 destined to disappointment, wherewith all our remaining 

 time in these waters was filled. The Expres steamed along 

 by the southern shore of the fjord, where the steep buttressed 

 fronts of the hills were stained in patches on their sloping 

 laps, as by upset paint-pots of vivid green— mossy areas 

 varnished with wet. Running for the Fastningen Rock at 

 the mouth of Green Harbour, where Gregory, Garwood, and 

 Ted were collecting fossils, we passed the Orient Company's 

 steamer Garonne, on its way to Advent Bay, with friends on 

 board whom we were sorry to miss. 



The wind howled, and rain drove in our faces as we 



