NORWEGIAN DEEP-SEA EXPEDITION OF 1878. 267 



tliat we were obliged to scud under bare poles on account of a real gale, 

 and although the ship frequently careened and i)itched badly, making 

 boxes and other things tumble about in wild confusion, we still had 

 abundant occasion to praise the excellent qualities of the Voriug and 

 pronounce her an excellent sea-going vessel. In spite of the fact that 

 the sea was exceedingly chopping and the surges very bad, the latter 

 rushing against the ship from all quarters, the vessel acted si)lendidly 

 and did not ship a single sea. 



We hastened southward w' ith impetuous speed, and at the exjiiration of 

 less than twenty-four hours we had made the four hundred miles from 

 Beeren Island to ISTorway. The first landfall was Ing Island, one of the 

 outmost of the islands of Finmark. A large point of it was seen 

 through the fog and was immediately recognized by our experienced 

 pilot. 



Thenceforth we had the clearly marked steamship route before us, and 

 we anchored in the Hammerfest Harbor all safe and sound early in the 

 morning of the 25th of July. 



III. 



On Board the Voring, September 1, 1878. 



Mr. Editor : The scientific w^ork of the expedition is at length com- 

 pleted, and with the consciousness of having improved the time to the 

 best of our ability, and completely carried out the plan arranged for the 

 expedition, we are now taking a good rest after our exertions, while the 

 Voring is leisurely carrying us southward along the usual steamship 

 route. It is now something more than a month since my last letter, 

 and during this time we have seen so much and had such varied expe- 

 riences, that I dare not at this time undertake to give you an exhaustive 

 account of our whole cruise. For the present you will therefore have 

 to content yourself with only a part. The continuation will follow as 

 soon as opportunity offers itself. 



After a sojourn of four days at Hammerfest, which was necessary for 

 completing our supply of coal and water and of other provisions, we 

 weighed anchor on Monday, the 29th of July, at 6^ o'clock in the afternoon, 

 and after having fired four guns as a farewell salute to the city, we 

 steamed northward along the usual route, out the Soro Sound past the 

 Ship's Holm out into the ocean. The weather was calm and warm, and the 

 sea was so smooth that scarcely any motion of the ship was discernible. 

 But the atmosphere toward the north was quite hazy, so that the sun, 

 which, during the whole day, had been shining from a perfectly pure and 

 clear sky, later in the evening hid itself behind a heavy bank of fog, and so 

 did not afford us an opportunity of observing the partial eclipse which 

 was just then taking place. The following morning we had already 

 advanced a considerable distance into the ocean, and the fog, so com- 



