NOEWEGIAN DEEP-SEA EXPEDITION OF 1878. 277 



sail, and they who were not bold enough to record on paper what they 

 saw, will, at least, long preserve in their memories a vivid and lasting 

 impression of the imx^osing and solemn scenery that here, for the first 

 time, met our eyes. 



Through the so-called South Gate we once more directed our course 

 to the sea, where we again met the dense threatening bank of fog, ac- 

 companied by a fresh breeze from the southwest. As the weather looked 

 anything but promising to the seaward we agreed to run into Magda- 

 lene Bay, a bay entering Spitzbergen's plateau south of Smeerenberg, 

 and likewise renowned for its imposing scenery. It was then quite late 

 in the evening, and the fog partially concealed the surrounding mount- 

 ains. But between these show forth distinctly tlie mighty glaciers, 

 the number of which is really extraordinary. In the innermost part of 

 the bay, in the lee of a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a flat isth- 

 mus, and surrounded on all sides by majestic mountains and glaciers, 

 we cast anchor, and it being already late in the night the most of us 

 sought our berths in order to be able on the following morning to study 

 with refreshed strength the grand scenery of Spitzbergen, and to make 

 some i>hysical and biological observations at this interesting point. 



The morning brought calm weather, but the fog still enveloped to a 

 great extent the mighty mountains which here on all sides lift their 

 jagged peaks to the skies. The sea was everywhere filled with blocks 

 of ice of all sizes and forms, fi^om quite small fragments to respectable 

 icebergs, and presented a peculiar greenish color on account of the con- 

 stant melting of glacial ice. Enormous numbers of the Arctic pteropod • 

 (Limacina) w^ere seen moving about on the surface of the water, and 

 among them were also a few specimens of the crystal-clear whale-food 

 (CUoiie), and at some distance from the ship a pair of seals were seen 

 inquisitively lifting their heads up to look at the ship. At this last sight 

 our hunters grew lively. Eifles and ammunition were quickly brought 

 out, and three specimens, two ringed seals and one young large cub, had 

 to give their lives as a penalty for their curiosity. Later in the day some 

 of the members of the expedition made a trip ashore to the peninsula 

 lying before us, which seemed for ages to have been used as a burying- 

 ground. iJ^Tumerous graves bore ample testimony of the sufferings of 

 men who, impelled by love of knowledge or by greed of gain, had been 

 obliged to leave their bones here. But the graves did not reaUy deserve 

 the name. The soil consists chiefly of stone, so that it had been only 

 possible to cover the rudely timbered coffins as well as circumstances 

 would permit with stones. Now the most of them lay exposed to the 

 air, open and broken asunder by the ice, possibly also interfered with by 

 the polar bear and by other beasts, and in the coffins were found only 

 scattered portions of the skeletons. As if the beasts of prey really had 

 shown respect to the noblest part of the human body, the skulls were 

 still, we found to our astonishment, in the most of these graves lying in 

 their places. From the greatly varied forms of the craniums it could be 



