chap, xxi WIJDE BAY 287 



holding them, as we did, is so rare that it may be long 

 before the opportunity occurs again. 



We passed between Cape Torell and the low black island 

 of Walberg. In contrast of form William I. Island appeared 

 in the south, high and with a round snow top. Its east 

 bluff is named Thumb Point — a name foolishly common in 

 these parts, and in this case inapt. Over against Cape Torell, 

 a big white nameless valley, floored with a glacier flowing 

 between bluff-fronted plateaus, debouches on a wide name- 

 less bay. This valley would afford a good avenue of approach 

 to the interior. 



Beyond Cape Torell came the wider sea, which was called 

 Olga Strait, when Wiche's Land was believed to be larger 

 than it actually is, and the water between it and Spitsbergen 

 might be thought of as a narrow sea. Now began ex- 

 citement as to the position of the ice-pack. Was the way 

 open to the south, or was it blocked ? At present there were 

 but few pieces of floating ice, and those small. Only over 

 the land on either side was there any ice-blink. Right 

 and left the broad cold blare of light lay along the lower 

 heavens, but south and north it faded away into yellow, 

 proving that for some distance the sea was clear before us. 

 The low white south coast of North-East-Land trended away 

 under clouds with the inland ice-sheet drooping down to 

 it. The coast was fringed with loose ice closely packed 

 together. Presently larger pieces of floating ice than we 

 had before seen began to dot the water. They were true 

 icebergs — small no doubt in comparison with Greenland 

 icebergs, but much the largest we saw in Spitsbergen waters. 

 They came from the south-east coast of North-East-Land, 

 where the ice-sheet ends in the sea along a front over sixty 

 miles in breadth. Wind, tides, and currents had brought 

 them round Cape Mohn, and scattered them in our path. 

 They were of infinitely varied form, broken into towers, 



