58 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



sporting expedition to the northern seas a Norwegian 

 who, as events will show, was a much better sports- 

 man than himself. Arrived at one of these breeding 

 haunts, the great man found it fine practice to 

 shoot the little Auks and Brunnich's Guillemots 

 as they flew from their eggs on the cliffs, and when, 

 after a bit, the poor creatures seemed disinclined 

 to move, he sent the Norwegian up the rocks with a 

 stick to assist their flight. After about twenty 

 had been shot he continued to call for more, but 

 the Norwegian came down and positively refused 

 to lend himself any further to such wholesale 

 slaughter. In telling the story he made his English 

 hearers laugh by concluding with the words, " But 

 what could you expect from a poor uneducated 

 foreigner ? " 



Leaving the North Cape, it suddenly became 

 bitterly cold, and the Captain said ice was very near, 

 but that we should probably get along all right, as 

 the early summer had been warm. This was the 

 first northern trip of the season, and there was 

 always the possibility that the ship would be unable 

 to round the Cape, as had happened to our Captain 

 in the previous year. He got blocked for fourteen 

 days in the ice, and even then had to return to 

 Reykavick without having effected a passage round 

 the island. We were more fortunate, however, 

 and reached Akureyri, our destination, on June 

 the 22nd, after a very pleasant voyage. 



The Captain kindly put us ashore in his boat. 

 Jansen's Hotel, to which we went, was a strange 

 place, consisting principally of a billiard-room 

 where no one had ever played, and a few bedrooms 

 of a primitive character. The host was an old 



