298 SPITSBERGEN chap, xxi 



landed and explored it. Mount Sir Thomas might have been 

 ascended from the col, but what was the use when, save 

 for a few moments, it was buried in clouds almost to the 

 base, and so remained as long as we were in Wijde Bay ? 

 The water in all this inner part of the fjord, as at the head 

 of Dickson Bay, is of a reddish mud colour, stained by 

 dust of Devonian rock. We lay still awhile at our turning 

 point, and the sun again shone forth, casting an island-mantle 

 of radiance into the midst of the solemn region. Hither it 

 was well to have come. Nature doubtless in many places 

 builds her secret and almost impregnable fortresses on a 

 bigger scale. Many such were known to me in other parts 

 of the world. Memory now recalled them in order — her 

 most precious possessions ; but I was obliged to admit that 

 among them was none in which all the parts worked more 

 admirably together to produce an effect of grandeur than 

 in this remote and secluded fjord, with its bare red and 

 purple hills, its snow slopes and bulging glaciers, its 

 roof of uneven grey and white cloud, its calm dark 

 waters, its stony shores, and the broad beam of sunshine 

 striking low. 



We returned and gathered up the others, then ran across 

 to Cape Petermann, and, taking our departure thence, made 

 a straight run down the midst of the bay. The engineer 

 undertook to keep his machine going at a uniform velocity ; 

 thus, by noting the times and taking a succession of bearings, 

 I was able to make a rough sketch survey of the hills along 

 both sides. A lace-like curtain of mist drooped over Peter- 

 mann Hill as we ran away from it and into the freezing 

 wind. For five hours 1 stood at the head of the companion 

 taking observations with fingers deadly cold. The scenery 

 was as lovely as before, but I had eyes only for topographical 

 facts and must be blind to effects of beauty, collecting 



