SPITZBERGEN— BEAR ISLAND— JAN MEYEN. 



139 



BUltl \.L IN UPITZBLIil.EN 



hardened earth — still bear witness to those busy times, and also to tlie great 

 mortality among the fishermen, caused doubtless by their intemperate habits. 

 They are particularly abundant at Smeerenberg, where Admiral Beechey saw 

 upwards of one thousand of them ; boards with English inscriptions were 

 erected over a few, but the greater number were Dutch, and had been deposited 

 in the eighteenth century. Some coffins having been opened, the corpses were 

 found in a state of perfect preservation, and even the woollen caps and stock- 

 ings of the mariners, who might perhaps have rested for more than a century 

 on this cold earth, were still apparently as new as if they had been but recently 

 put on. 



In the seventeenth century the English and the Dutch made several at- 

 tempts to establish permanent settlements in Spitzbergen. The Russia Com- 

 pany tried to engage volunteers by the promise of a liberal pay, and as none 

 came forward, a free pardon was offered to criminals who would undertake to 

 winter in Bell Sound. A few wretches, tired of confinement, accepted the pro- 

 posal, but when the fleet was about to depart, and they saw the gloomy hills, 

 and felt the howling north-eastern gales, their hearts failed them, and they en- 

 treated the captain who had charge of them to take them back to London and 

 let them be hanged. Their request to be taken back was complied with, but 

 the company generously interceded for them, and obtained their pardon. 



Some time after, in the year 1630, an. English whaler landed eight men m 

 Bell Sound to hunt reindeer. They remained on shore during the night, but 

 meanwhile a storm had arisen, and on the following morning their ship had 



