TRAPPERS 17 



they had concluded that our vessel was a 

 sealer from Tromso sent to their relief. Great 

 joy, easily conceivable by any who have learnt 

 the real meaning of complete and total isolation 

 amid snow and ice, had seized them. They had 

 even gone so far as to commence to pack for 

 their departure before they had recognised 

 their error. That we should have been greeted 

 sulkily, therefore, was not surprising. 



Our guide conducted us into the station. 

 The five surviving trappers occupied one room 

 only. It was spacious, lofty, and well warmed 

 by a Tromso stove. Comfortable beds were 

 ranged along a thick timber partition. On the 

 walls were old engravings from many lands, 

 as well as souvenirs left behind by the ships 

 which had visited Jan Mayen. Among others 

 was one commemorating the visit of the Manche, 

 which made a cruise to Jan Mayen and Spitz- 

 bergen in 1892. I discovered, also, the name 

 of Dr. Charcot, who visited the island in 1904 

 in his yacht J cane-Marie. At the moment 

 of writing, he is wintering in the Antarctic at 

 the head of the ' Pourquoi-Pas ' expedition ; 

 my heartiest wishes went out to him when I 

 beheld evidence of his visit to this lonely spot. 



A kind of tunnel connected this chamber 

 with the others, uninhabited now, but which 



