VI.] 



THE SPITZBERGEX HUNTING. 



223 



the South Polar Sea, or in the sea on both sides of Behring's 

 Straits. 



Spitzbergen, when the whale-fishing ceased in its neighbour- 

 hood, was mostly abandoned, until the Russians began to settle 

 there, principally for the hunting of the mountain fox and the 

 reindeer. Of their hunting voyages we know very little, but 

 that they had been widely prosecuted is shown by the remains 



NORWEOtAN HUNTING SLOOP. 



The Procven, emploj-cd by the Swedish Expedition to the Yenisei in 1875. 



of their dwellings or huts on nearly all the fjords of Spitzbergen, 

 They seem to have often wintered, probably because the 

 defective build of their vessels only permitted them to sail to 

 and from Spitzbergen during the height of summer, and they 

 could not thus take part without wintering in the autumn 

 hunting, during which the fattest reindeer are got ; nor could 

 the thick and valuable fur of the winter-fox be obtained without 



