202 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



were then good enough to procure a pardon for 

 the men. 



This story reminds me of a conversation which 

 I once heard some of my yacht's crew holding to- 

 gether. They were discussing the respective merits 

 of hot and cold countries — the West Indies versus 

 Spitzbergen ; and one fellow was urging that, al- 

 though " neither rum nor tobacco grew in Spitz- 

 bergen, 1 ' still, the continual "blow-out 11 of fat rein- 

 deer which it seemed to afford might be considered 

 as a point in its favor. To him the other : " Well, 

 Bob, all I can say is, that I would a deuced sight 

 rather go to the West Indies and be hanged there, 



than die a natural death in this here coun- 



try! 11 



Soon after the failure of the criminal plan, the 

 experiment of wintering in Spitzbergen was invol- 

 untarily tried by four Russian sailors, whose vessel 

 was lost or driven away by ice while they were 

 ashore on a desolate part of the east division of the 

 island. These poor fellows had nothing but what 

 they stood up in, with one gun and a few charges 

 of ammunition ; but they appear to have been men 

 of a very different stamp from the London jail- 

 birds, and they at once set to work to make the 

 best of things. They built a hut, and killed some 

 reindeer with their gun, and then, their ammunition 

 being exhausted, they manufactured bows and ar- 

 rows, spears and harpoons, of drift-wood. They 

 pointed their weapons with bones and pieces of 



