NORWEGIAN DEEP-SEA EXPEDITION OF 1878. 279 



fjord, where we had made up our minds to lie still for a few days and 

 make the necessary examination of the ship's engine, which now liad 

 been in almost constant use ever since we left Hammerfest. 



The following morning we had already reached the inlet of the Ice- 

 fjord. The north side of the fjord still shows the grand scenery charac- 

 teristic of Spitzbergen ; from the northwestern point, where the Dead 

 Man and the Auk Horn lift their heads, there are, as far as eye can see 

 toward the interior, splendid mountain views separated from the mighty 

 masses of ice and snow. On the other hand, the south side has a totally 

 different appearance ; the mountains are here less high, and their sum- 

 mits usually form plateaus, while the sides slope gradually and show a 

 regular arrangement both of the horizontal layers and of the glacial 

 rivers that are dug out in the vertical clefts. There is nothing pictur- 

 esque in the general effect. About in the middle of the fjord we sent 

 the trawl down, but it brought up nothing of interest excepting a young 

 specimen of a peculiar spiny Arctic fish {Cydopterus spinosns). At 

 noon we directed our course toward Advent Bay, which was intended 

 for our station, and outside of which a couple of fishing- vessels lay at 

 anchor. A long flat strip of land which extends into the sea from the 

 western shore forms here a natural mole, within which there is an 

 excellent harbor, in which the largest fleet might be able to find a 

 convenient anchorage and abundant protection against the storms. 

 Here we let our anchor drop. AVe were now at our goal, where we 

 were to spend at least three or four days. But nature in this locality 

 has nothing of the grand and imposing features that characterize Spitz- 

 bergen. The mountains around the bay have the same monotonous 

 character and dismal grayish hue as those we had seen on the entire 

 south side of the fjord. The splendid glaciers which so beautifully 

 diversified the landscape are here wholly wanting, and in lieu of these 

 the valley ascends gTadually from the sea, forming a slope, with the 

 same grayish-brown tiresome color that characterizes the mountains. So 

 far we were not a little disappointed in our expectations, but still we 

 had a few nice evenings when the mountains and glaciers on the north 

 side of the fjord blazed in the evening sunlight, casting a beautiful reflec- 

 tion athwart the fjord to our anchoring place. Meanwhile our time 

 was spent in the most profitable manner possible. While our captain, 

 was engaged upon the hydrography and chart of the bay, we zool- 

 ogists industriously examined the sea-bed with our dredges and made 

 excursions on land for collecting plants and whatever else of interest 

 we might find. Xor was the noble art of hunting neglected, and a 

 party was organized of the best and most skillful marksmen to under- 

 take a reindeer chase. But the reindeer is, at this season of the year, 

 very shy, and usually keeps itself farther from the coast than at other 

 times ; and not until we had made several and repeated efforts and 

 accomplished miles of fatiguing marching did we succeed in killing a 



