A Cruise on the S.Y. " Vectis." 273 



A Cruise on the S.Y. "Vectis." 



By W. Shore Baily. 

 (Concluded from page 224) 



The next morning we found that we were again out of 

 sight of land. During the day two more whales were seen, and 

 two or three of the passengers had a good view of a walrus that 

 showed its ugly head witnin easy rifle shot of the vessel. At din- 

 ner the same evening our steward told us that the ice pack was 

 in sight, and shortly afterwards the yacht stopped, within about 

 two miles of a solid barrier of ice. Here and there on detached 

 fragments little flocks of Black Guillemots looked like black 

 spots against the white surface, but except for a few Gulls these 

 were the only living things to be seen. It was a dreary outlook 

 and many of us wondered how any one could find any attraction 

 in Polar explorations. We didn't tarry here long, and few of 

 us regretted that we were once more bound for warmer climes. 

 Much of our time on the return journey to Norway was spent 

 in the smoking room and saloon, and nothing of interest oc- 

 curred until we reached Bird Island. Here a gun was fired and 

 myriads of sea fowl at once took flight, and were soon all around 

 the " A^'ectis." Besides many hundreds of the birds already 

 noticed in this paper, we saw several of the Greater Black- 

 backed Gulls, and a little flock of Brunick's Guillemots. These 

 differ from the conmion Guillemot by having a white eyebrow- 

 streak, but in all other respects look exactly similar. We were 

 soon once more within the fringe of rocky islands that are 

 found nearly the entire length of the Norwegian coast line, and, 

 little as had been the motion in the Arctic Ocean, it was a com- 

 fort to some of us to be in dead smooth water again. 



Our course was now shaped for Molde, and for two days 

 we steamed steadily along between the Islands and the mainland. 

 f)assing similar scenery to that which 1 have already tried to 

 describe. All Norwegian scenery is beautiful, but it is not easy 

 to convey an adequate idea of it on paper. Birds of one kind 

 and another were continually in view. In the shelter of one 

 low-lying island I spotted a large flock of Wildfowl. With the 

 glasses I could make out Long-tailed Ducks, Pintail, Mallard and 



