292 SPITSBERGEN chap, xxi 



in the ice close under North-East-Land. Both followed us 

 up the Strait. 



A strong current with us and a strong wind behind made 

 our passage quick. At four A.M. (Aug. 9), I awoke to find 

 Treurenburg Bay close at hand, and the sea to Verlegen 

 Hook open, with no ice-blink over it. The water was calm 

 under the lee of the land and everything was grey, but not 

 so dark as before, nor was the cloud-roof so low or so heavy. 

 Otherwise the character of the scenery was the same. There 

 was no sign that even a partial eclipse of the sun was taking 

 place ; the normal gloom reigned. Again ice-masses dotted 

 the steely sea, and an ice-blink shone across the north, where 

 marshalled storm-squadrons, rolling along like the smoke of 

 guns, magnified by their complexity the aspect of the cloud- 

 roof, which here was broken by a "lead" of light, there 

 dropped a tender veil of grey upon the level sea, or mimicked 

 the forms of mystic beasts with the flying offspring of an 

 errant fancy. 



We were passing Verlegen Hook without mishap, keeping 

 as close to the shore as the shallow water would permit, for 

 now our destination was the secluded Wijde Bay, whose 

 recesses, rarely ice-free, have seldom been penetrated by 

 explorers. The faint low line of North-East-Land was being 

 hidden behind the near and dark low spit of the Hook. The 

 bolder front of North Spitsbergen was ahead, and close at hand 

 were the craggy shapes of the mountains ending in Grey 

 Hook. A cloud-roof rested on them, and they were white to 

 the base with a heavy covering of new-fallen snow. Fog, 

 trailing skirts upon the water, crawled out of Wijde Bay and 

 Hinloopen Strait. A brighter pallor glimmered in the southern 

 sky. Cold steely gleams came and went in this place and that. 

 Seals, rising and diving again, made rings upon the calm water. 

 Hurrying bird-flocks skimmed the surface, guillemots with 

 fish in their mouths for the young ones at home, little auks, 



