260 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



were whales that were gormandizing on the abundant fauna of the Polar 

 waters, and which as we drew nearer exhibited their broad, black backs 

 above the surface of the water, after having emptied their lungs with a 

 rumbling noise and whirled the water up in the form of a higli column 

 of smoke. A glittering illumination spread itself over the sea filled with 

 floating blocks of ice. Late in the evening a shout came that land was 

 in sight ahead. It was our experienced jjilot, whose keen eye first had 

 discovered Bceren Isle through the fog. The rest of us in vain strained 

 our eyes 5 all we could see was fog and the sea. Tired of looking, and 

 knowing from the chart that we still were a considerable distance from 

 land, the majority of us resolved to retire to our berths in order to 

 enjoy with quickened energies on the following morning the sight of 

 Beeren Isle and if possible undertake to land. 



Our waking the following morning gave us the agreeable sensation of 

 a perfectly smooth sea. We had not known the ship to lie so quietly 

 for a long time, and as the screw only now and then throbbed, we soon 

 understood that we were near the shore. We were therefore not slow 

 in donning our clothes and springing upon deck in order to get a more 

 perfect idea of the situation. At about the distance of a quarter of 

 a mile from the ship lay the barren rocks of Beeren Island before us, 

 parfly shrouded in fog. We were in the lee of the laud, east of its most 

 southern point, doubtless the most i)icturesque part of the island. A 

 high promontory, with sharp weather-beaten crests, extends precipi- 

 tously into the sea, and in front of it rises again, in the form of a beau- 

 tiful obelisk, a high, wonderfully shaped, isolated rock, called the Stappe. 

 When the fog rose a little from the land in the rear of these rocks, 

 extensive connected masses of snow were seen, interchanging with steep 

 precipices and barren, gravelly flats. Further toward the north lifted 

 itself out of the fog Mount Misery, which is 1,700 feet high, and around 

 the summit of which winds a peculiar precipice, looking hke an artificial 

 breastwork. Between this highest mountain on Beeren Island and the 

 south point Ues the so-called South Harbor, where we intended to land, 

 m order to iDut ashore the mail entrusted to us for the Dutch expedition, 

 which, on its passage to the east, had determined to touch the same 

 point somewhat later. According to our instructions the place was sit- 

 uated near the so-caUed Mayor's Gate (Borgermesterport), a wide gate- 

 way in the rock, through which in calm weather one can row a large 

 yawl. By the aid of our glass we soon discovered the portal, minutely 

 described and represented by an illustration in the Eeport of ISTorden- 

 skjold's Ex]3edition, in 18G3, and therefore, when we had approached as 

 near to it as we dared with the steamship, we dropped our anchor, where- 

 upon two yawls were put into the sea and furnished with men. 



We rowed without accident through the famous and grand Mayor's 

 Gate, which was guarded by a multitude of noisy gulls, and landed on 

 a gently sloping, sandy beach, where we, without the shghtest difficulty, 

 and perfectly dry-shod, planted our feet on the ground of Beeren Island. 



