342 Canon A. M. Norman — Notes on the 



The following is the itinerary of my excursion : — 



June 17. — Left Newcastle by steamer. 



19. — Arrived at Bergen, and left by steamer for north 

 the same evening. 



25. — Arrived at Troniso. 



28. — Left Tromso. 

 July 2. — Arrived at Vadso. 



10. — Crossed Varanger Fiord to Kirchenes in Sydva- 

 ranger. 



28. — Returned to Vadso. 



31.— Left Vadso. 

 Aug. 6. — Arrived at Svolvser in Lofoten. 



11. — Left Svolva3r. 



18.— Home. 



I dredged a little whilst waiting at Tromso, and on the 

 homeward journey worked for a few days at Svolvajr in the 

 Loi'oten Island?. 



At Trom.-o 1 was joined by Herr J. Sparre Schneider, the 

 friend wlio was to be my companion and wlio added so raucii to 

 the interest and pleasure of my trip. Herr (Schneider is the 

 Curator of the Tromso Museum, and his knowledge of the 

 fauna of arctic Norway, on which he has written so many 

 papers, is unequalled. It was indeed surprising to find at 

 TromsOj far within the Arctic Circle, a museum in whicii all 

 d(partments of the arctic fauna were so fully illustrated and 

 SO admirably arranged. At my request Herr Schneider had 

 engaged as my head dredger a young farmer wlio had a taste 

 for natural history and had sometimes accompanied him in 

 his work at Tromso. Herr Bersvend Bjerking was a very 

 tine fellow physically, and his invariable good humour, his 

 energy and heartiness in his woik, and his never-ceasing 

 attention to myself remain as most pleasant reminiscences. 



We left Tiomso, and Herr Schneider thought it well to 

 carry with us in the steamer his small boat fitted for shallow- 

 water work over the 500 (?) miles we had to go, in case there 

 should be any difHculty about boats at our destination. We 

 fortunately, however, had no dilficulty in hiring a larger boat 

 at Vadso and in Sydvaranger. At the latter place our crew was 

 certainly a curiously mixed one, consisting of one Englishman 

 (mysell), two Norwegians (Schneider and Bjerking), a Lapp, 

 a Finn, and a Russian. 



In the voyage between the North Cape and Vadso we 

 passed two very famous breeding-places of sea-birds — Svser- 



