2 FIRST TRIP TO SPITZBERGEN IN 1858. 



the season before we got there, our stay was 

 very short, and our sport was limited to killing 

 a few reindeer, seals, and Brent geese, and to 

 assisting in the harpooning of one or two 

 walruses, in the boats of a sealing brig, which 

 we fell in with amongst the ice. I however 

 saw enough of Spitzbergen to convince me that 

 wonderful sport, and of a most original descrip 

 tion, was to be obtained there by anyone who 

 would go at the proper season, with a suitably 

 equipped vessel and proper boats, manned by 

 a crew of men accustomed to the ice and to 

 the pursuit of the walrus and the seal. 



Although I have the honour to append the 

 letters P.G.S. to my name, I make no preten 

 sions to the character of a scientific geologist, 

 but I was also very much impressed with the 

 interesting field Spitzbergen affords to a votary 

 of that noble science, and particularly with 

 the strong evidence to be met with in support 

 of the theory of the gradual upheaval of the 

 land in that remote part of the world, and I 

 was anxious to investigate further this interest 

 ing phenomenon. 



I perceived on this occasion that nothing 

 could be more utterly inapplicable for ice- 

 navigation than a long fore-and-aft rigged 



