2 9 o SPITSBERGEN chap, xxi 



lay upon the ice, but they were far off and seemed mere 

 dots of black to the naked eye. We had no time to attempt 

 a stalk, for now, though sea and air were still, it was evident 

 that the wind was coming up from the south, and would 

 probably soon set the pack in motion and plug the entrance 

 to Hinloopen Strait. Farther east we might still find a south- 

 ward lead, so on we ran, following the pack's edge, which 

 kept trending more and more to the east. Barents Land 

 and Edge Land receded and sank ; North-East Land was 

 all but gone — only a white line of gentlest undulation still 

 marked the position of the inland ice. The sky was 

 dark overhead, and the calm water mirrored the gloom, 

 in which the floating ice-castles seemed to hang suspended ; 

 but at a short distance they also melted into the general 



gi-ey. 



Now, away to the eastward, a new land rose above the 

 horizon and riveted our gaze. It was Wiche Land, or 

 King Karl Islands. Walrus and whale hunters have known 

 of its existence from early times, but few travellers have 

 ever beheld its rugged crest, most of them only from high 

 points of view on Barents and Edge Islands. In 1872 the 

 crews of three walrus sloops actually landed on one of the 

 islands and brought home a rude description of it, whilst in 

 1884 Bottolfsen, likewise in a sloop, sailing from the Ryk 

 Yse Islands with a fair wind, came to Wiche Land in three 

 watches, and sailed all round it. Such chances are rare. 

 Eagerly, therefore, I watched the clear-cut white outline of 

 snowy hills, buttressed with rock-walls, coming nearer and 

 growing more clearly defined. Following the pack's edge we 

 were heading almost directly towards it. We might perhaps 

 have actually steamed to it through open sea, but still our 

 main desire was to find a gap in the ice-barrier, and extricate 

 our boat by passing south before the ice closed in again upon 

 Hinloopen Strait. 



