THE TRAM'S' SECOND WINTER HARBOUR. 217 



put a rope-end round his carcase, and hoisted him aboard with the 

 steam- winch. 



In the course of the afternoon we at last broke through the 

 belt of ice which had been keeping us fast for several days, and 

 reached open water in the outer part of the fjord. We lowered 

 the sealing-boat, and shot a couple of walrus and a bearded seal 

 from it, and sounded our way inwards until the fog became so thick 

 that we could only just discern land in the narrow sound which 

 forms the entrance to ' Havnefjord,' or ' Harbour Fjord.' 



The greatest caution was necessary here, and we steamed up 

 mid-channel with the engines at slow speed. Suddenly we heard 

 a great noise on the west side of the sound, and such a crashing 

 and rumbling, that we thought the mountains were coming down 

 on us, while at the same time the din was increased by the echoes 

 which were thundered back from the steep crags on the other side. 

 It was as if Nature herself meant to shut the way against us ; we 

 had hardly overcome the ice before the very mountains sent a 

 shower of rock to dam up the waters ; but, in spite of all, through 

 we meant to go. 



Later on, we saw that all this noise came from an island which 

 we afterwards named ' Skreia ' (Landslip), and honestly it earned 

 its name, for we heard the rumbling and saw the dust of falling 

 stones and rock all through the winter. 



When we had got through the sound, a bay opened out to view 

 on the east side of the fjord. Although we had sounded our way 

 as near to land as possible, we were obliged, after all, to anchor in 

 thirty fathoms of water. In order to make things doubly secure, 

 we also moored the ship by the stern, to a rock a little way up 

 on land. 



Our new place of anchorage, however, was not very satisfactory ; 

 it was rather open, and there was a strongish current in the bay. 

 I did not think it quite the place for a winter harbour, and, there- 

 fore, the next morning at four o'clock, I went up the fjord with 

 Isachsen, Fosheim, and Peder to reconnoitre. 



We could not find any better place of anchorage, but, on the 

 other hand, we made the important discovery that there were a 

 great many seals in the fjord. We shot three bearded seals, and saw 



