LAY-TO IN A FOG. 55 



iceberg, and instantly sank to appear no more. The 

 two young ones came up again and again, as if look- 

 ing for their dam, but would not allow us to ap- 

 proach them. 



The people say that the walruses about this part 

 must have been very much hunted, as they are so 

 shy ; but they encourage us by saying that, when 

 we get farther to the northeast, we shall find plenty 

 of more unsophisticated individuals, who will allow 

 themselves to be harpooned. 



On the morning of the 8th we got past the end 

 of the pack, and got a glimpse through the thick 

 fog of " Black Point," a gloomy promontory, form- 

 ing the southeast corner of Edge's Land, as this di- 

 vision of Spitzbergen is called. Nothing was visi- 

 ble ashore but snow, with desolate-looking patches 

 of bare brown earth peeping through it here and 

 there, or the bare rocks on some "wind-loved 11 peak 

 from which the snow had been blown. 



About midday the fog got thicker, and we found 

 ourselves running in among some heavy icebergs ; 

 so, as we did not know what the ice ahead might 

 be like, our prudent skyppar judged it advisable to 

 lay-to and wait for clearer weather. 



The greater part of the eastern coast of Spitz- 

 bergen is covered with a succession of enormous 

 glaciers, descending down to the water's edge, and 

 even protruding far into it. I imagine that these 

 prodigious masses of ice generate the fogs, which it 

 is notorious are much more prevalent here than on 

 the west side of the country. 



