IBl 



Rev. Jourdain, who were oii Bearisle then, I was to meet m 

 Spitsbergen. 



We started from Tromsö on June 21. It was a pity that our 

 steamer did not pass the isle of Fuglö, on which one of the biggest 

 breeding colonies of Northern Europe is to be found; we took a 

 somewhat shorter way to the Arctic Ocean. The numerous troops 

 of Guillemots, Razorbills and Puffins proved our being in the neigh- 

 bourhood of this large colony, however. 



In the Arctic Ocean the avifauna changes at once. Blackbacked, 

 Herring- and Common Gulls are not seen anymore: numerous 

 Fulmar Petrels, mostly dark-coloured, have taken their place. Kit- 

 tiwakes are common here, as well as in the North Sea and two 

 species of birds, not previously seen, are the Little Auk, found in 

 numerous flocks, and some Glaucus Gulls. 



Bearisle, on the south cape of which the largest loomery of the 

 Arctic is found, was seen only in dim outline from the distance. 

 It again appeared from the large quantities of Bkünnich's Guille- 

 mots, Little Auks, Kittiwakes, and their troublesome persecutors, 

 the Skua's (white-bellied parasiticus) that we were near it. 



In the night of June 24, we reached the mouth of Icefjord, the 

 weather being splendid. 



Spitsbergen, consisting of five large and a great many small 

 islands, situated between lat. 76°30'N. and 80° 30' N., has a very 

 favourable climate, notwithstanding its high latitude. This is chiefly 

 due to the fact that the Gulfstream extends its influence as far as 

 this archipelago. For four months the sun does not set (from the 

 end of April till the end of August). Very soon after the snow is 

 melted, the plants begin to blossom, and in the short time of one 

 month and a half or two months they grow, flower and produce 

 seeds. Some remain entirely sterile, however, others make fruits 

 only in „hot" summers, like the one of 1921, one of the most 

 favourable summers recorded. 



In summer Icefjoixl, the largest fjord of West-Spitsbergen, is 

 nearly always accessible. Only when in Stor-fjord (at the east coast) 

 large icefields drift S. W. with the cold Arctic stream and are again 

 carried N. by the Gulfstream, they can block the west coast for 

 some time. For the small wooden ships of the Arctic Ocean they 

 form no great obstacle, however. 



In Spitsbergen, it never freezes in June and July and very seldom 

 in August. As soon as the sun again disappears under the horizon, 



