48 WHALE-FISHERY. 



terror with which the enterprise Avas viewed, that 

 certain criminals preferred to sacrifice their lives to 

 the laws, rather than pass a year in Spitzbergen. 

 The Kiissia Company, it is said, procured the re- 

 prieve of some culprits who were convicted of capital 

 offences, to whom they not only promised pardon, 

 but likewise a pecuniary remuneration, on the con- 

 dition that they v/ould remain during a single year 

 in Spitzbergen. The fear of immediate death in- 

 duced them to comply ; but when they v/ere carried 

 out and shown the desolate, frozen, and frightful 

 country they were to inhabit, they slirunk back 

 with horror, and solicited to be returned home to 

 suffer death, in preference to encountering such ap- 

 palling dangers. To this request, the captain who 

 had them in charge humanely complied ; and on 

 their return to England, the company interceded 

 on their behalf and procured their pardon *. 



Probably it was about the same time, that nine 

 men, who were by accident separated from one of 

 the London fishing ships, were left behind in Spitz- 

 bergen : all of tliem perished in the course of the 

 winter, and their bodies were found on the ensu- 

 ing summer, shockingly mangled by beasts of prey. 

 The same master who abandoned these poor wretches 

 to so miserable a fate, was obliged, by the drifting 



* Pelham's Narrative. 



