CHAPTER I I I 



TROMSO TO VARDO 



June loth. — We did not run into Hammerfest, but saw 

 it in the distance as we passed ; for we went close by the 

 islands Hielmen and Haaien which are its gates. We 

 determined on taking- the outside passage as the weather 

 was calm. 



Thousands of razor-bills, kittiwakes, and puffins filled 

 the air as we blew our steam whistle off Hielsostauren, 

 and at half-past five in the evening we passed North 

 Cape, and the Nord Kyn at half-past ten. The North 

 Cape, by the way, is actually not quite the ' most northerly 

 point of Europe,' as the books say, for its position is barely 

 over 7] 10' N., while Knifscher near it is 71 11' N. 



No doubt it can be very nasty round about this point ; 

 but on two former passages I had found it quiet, and this 

 day the sea was almost as still as a duck pond. 



June 1 \th. — At three in the morning we passed a 

 whaling vessel towing a big finner alongside, and six 

 hours later entered the Ost Vaagen, as the south harbour 

 of Vardo is wrongly called. 



We were all struck by the life and activity of this 



B 



