222 A Cruise on the S.Y. Vectis. 



They were not at all shy and the old birds looked very hand- 

 some. In the evenini4" we reached Tromso and spent the whole 

 day there. A visit to a i.ap encampment proved most interesting'. 

 It had been arrani^ed that they should drive up their herd of 

 Reindeer for our inspection, and this they endeavoured to do. 

 They appeared to have several hundred of these animals, and it 

 took a small army of Laps and dogs to round them up and drive 

 them towards us. When they were within half a mile of the 

 camp, the deer refused to face the music and stampeded. Dozens 

 of the little Laps were overturned in their rush, causing great 

 amusement amongst the spectators and themselves. The only 

 vegetation we noticed in this part of Lapland was some scrub 

 willows, amongst which the Redwings were nesting, and we saw 

 several young birds not yet strong on the wing. In the afternoon 

 the yacht was boarded by yet another Royalty; this time the 

 Due d' Orleans, the heir to the French throne, whose yacht we 

 had seen in the harbour. We were not at all impressed by either 

 his appearance or his manner. 



Later in the day, as we were leaving for Hammerfest, the 

 S.S. Ophir steamed in. She was about 2,000 tons larger than the 

 " Vectis," but did not look nearly as smart and yachtlike. After 

 leaving Tronso we were soon once again in the open sea, which 

 we were extremely glad to find was reasonably calm. We 

 arrived at Hammerfest, the most northerly town in the world, 

 early the next morning, and found that the " ( )phir " had also 

 come in. This town owes its existence to the whale and cod 

 fisheries. The whole place is saturated with fish oil. \ have seen 

 many queer and undesirable towns, but this one is the limit, and 

 it is one of the few places in Norway that I have no wish to re- 

 visit. Whilst walking back to the quay, my friend met one of the 

 passengers on the " Ophir " with whom he was acquainted, and 

 we were invited to visit the ship, so in the afternoon we hired p. 

 b'jat and rowed across to her. The " Ophir " was the vessel in 

 which our King when Prince of Wales visited India with his 

 staff, so we naturally expected to see a well appointed yacht, and 

 in this we were not disappointed. The principal feature on the 

 " ( )i)hir " was its dining saloon, a large and lofty room with 

 beautifully decorated walls and ceiling. The other accommoda- 

 tion was, in our perhaps biassed opinion, not so good as that on 

 the " \^ectis," but what interested us most was the passengers. 



