286 SPITSBERGEN chap, xxi 



by sloping ice, whilst along the south are a row of plateau 

 fronting debris-slopes, like those along the south side of 

 Ice Fjord. This bay was specially interesting to us, as 

 being the place where Nordenskjold descended after his 

 famous traverse of the inland ice of North-East-Land. Here- 

 abouts we met another hunting-sloop, the William Bai-ents. 

 She stood out, a dark and sharply outlined thing, against 

 the hazy grey and white background. We hailed her, 

 but learned nothing from her secretive and suspicious 

 skipper. 



Slowly against the powerful tide we forged onward down 

 the strait, passing the low Foster Islands, and approaching 

 the archipelago that studs the south Waygat, over against 

 Cape Torell. The snow again ceased to fall and the clouds 

 withdrew somewhat aloft, and multiplied into varied forms, 

 soft and grey. Calm water, in grey and green undulations, 

 with a line of dark beyond, led to the low glacier fronts of 

 North-East-Land, beyond which the large ice-sheet delicately 

 sloped up into tender mist and blanched ice-blink, with a 

 dark cloud-dragon lying above all. The view broadened 

 down the low-sided strait. There were black islands in front, 

 sharply edged, but all else, near or far away, was utterly soft 

 and vague. 



The slow changes and developments of scenery that 

 matched our movement were to me of infinite fascination. 

 Each hour brought some new effect, some fresh delight. 

 The charm lay not in any one view, but in the succession 

 of slight variations on one theme. But the attempt to 

 suggest by mere words the aspect of these effects and 

 mutations, even to a careful reader, without calling upon 

 him for too sustained an attention, or requiring of his fancy 

 too large an exercise, seems almost foredoomed to failure. 

 The attempt, however, must be made, for these scenes 

 have never before been described, and the chance of be- 



