58 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



good luck they had fallen in with a small schooner 

 belonging to the same owners as the wrecked sloop, 

 and that this schooner, having her cargo nearly com- 

 pleted, had taken the six men over to Hammer- 

 fest ; and I afterward ascertained, upon our return 

 to Norway, that the poor captain's life had been 

 saved, but by the terrible alternative of amputating 

 the greater part of both his feet. 



It is a terribly hard and dangerous life these 

 Spitzbergen walrus-hunters live, and I observe that 

 they all have a restless, weary look about the eyes 

 — a look as if contracted by being perpetually in 

 the presence of danger. They are a wild, rough, 

 reckless lot of fellows ; bold, hardy, and enduring 

 of cold, hunger, and fatigue ; active and energetic 

 while at sea., and nearly always drunk while at 

 home. So many bad accidents have been caused 

 by their having brandy on board, that of late the 

 owners have supplied them with tea and coffee in- 

 stead, and it is found that men work quite as well, 

 and stand the climate quite as well, upon these as 

 upon spirits ; but this enforced temperance seems 

 to cause a sort of reaction whenever they get .the 

 opportunity of indulging to excess. 



Of late years the merchants of Tromsoe and 

 Hammerfest, who fit out these vessels, have adopt- 

 ed the sagacious system of paying their crews by a 

 share of the proceeds in lieu of money wages, and 

 this, of course, is a very great stimulus to the men 

 to work hard and to lose no opportunity of killing 



