HOPE iSLAND, 151 



-gons, and commodioiisly placed for walking on. On 

 the middle of the island, they found vegetation 

 abundant. Two rein-deer were seen feeding ; and 

 one of them they killed. It was found to be fat, 

 and of a high flavour. Several large fir-trees, at 

 this time, lay on the shore, sixteen or eighteen feet 

 above the level of the sea. Some of them were se- 

 venty feet long, and had been torn up by the roots ; 

 others had been cut down by the axe, and notched 

 for twelve feet lengths. This timber was not in 

 the least decayed ; the marks of the axe indeed, 

 were still fresh. There were likewise some pipe- 

 staves, and wood fashioned for use. The beach 

 consisted of old timber, sand, and whalebones *. 



Hope Island, on the south-east coast of Spitz- 

 bergen, lies in latitude TG'^SO', longitude about 20° E. 

 It was discovered in the year 1613, by one of the 

 English Russia Company's vessels, which accom- 

 panied their whale-fishing expedition. It is nine 

 leagues long, but scarcely a mile broad, and lies 

 N. E. by E. and S. W. by W. It consists of five 

 mountains ; the northernmost one is the highest ; 

 and those succeeding, diminish progressively in size. 

 On the north side is good anchorage in twenty fa- 

 thoms water. About half a league from each ex- 

 tremity of the island, the water is very shallow ; on 

 the south side the bottom is rocky, and unfit for an- 

 chorage ; Ijiit the coast is there pretty bold. 



* Phipps' Voyage, p. 58. 



