chap, xxi WIJDE BAY 283 



Round went the rudder and away sped the Expres on a 

 new track. In an hour's time we had passed the long low 

 flat of Verlegen Hook and entered the mouth of Hinloopen 

 Strait. The air became warmer and more soft, under a 

 thoroughly English winter sky. Rain-clouds travelled over 

 land and sea, and grey brooms, sweeping along, showed 

 where snow or rain was falling. They were more common 

 in bays and over the land than on the sea. One dense 

 besom swept Treurenburg Bay and hid the point behind 

 which, in Hecla Cove, Parry left his ship before his memor- 

 able expedition to the north over the ice-pack. East was 

 North-East-Land ; its shores sometimes low, but always with 

 a cliff-fronted plateau behind, swelling up to a vast area of 

 snow that vanished into cloud. Little auks again peopled 

 the waters in considerable numbers, and went flopping away 

 from us, beating the surface with their wings ; or dived 

 hurriedly out of sight. The scene on all sides presented an 

 effect of breadth and lowness. Even the cliffs looked very 

 low in contrast with their breadth. White promontories jutted 

 into the water. White hills stood forth against black clouds, 

 and dark rocks against white patches of fog ; for the air 

 was full of vapour and wet, and was mottled light and dark 

 according to its density. The sea in the straits was per- 

 fectly calm, and the prospect of its so continuing enabled 

 us to come to our right minds. The cabin was put into 

 some approximation to order. Sketches were made, guns 

 cleaned, and slides changed in the cameras. Cooking was 

 put in hand, and general cheerfulness reigned. 



From Hecla Hook to Lomme Bay, the whole coast of 

 the part of Spitsbergen called New Friesland is formed by 

 one long glacier front, twenty-three geographical miles in 

 width. In some places rock beds lift the foot of the ice 

 above sea level, but for the most part the glacier terminates 

 in a cliff of ice actually washed by the waves. To describe 



