293 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. CHAP, xxn 



to frighten away all fair winds. When we were within 

 eighty rniles of Cherie Isle, our search for it was vain ; it 

 lay shrouded in impenetrable fogs. At last we left the ill- 

 starred land behind us. We passed the wild peaks of the 

 Lofodens; we left the storm-tossed waves beating at their 

 feet, and hailed the mountains behind Christiansand in 

 genial weather. During those weeks we saw almost daily 

 kittiwakes and Fulmar petrels ; now and then there passed 

 a skua or a puffin or two, but no bird on migration. 



After another week of fair winds, head winds, calms, and 

 gales, we reached Elsinore on the thirty-fifth day. All this 

 time we had roughish fare on board. The Triad had no 

 provision for passengers. The first week exhausted our 

 stock of grog and fresh provisions, and the remainder of 

 the journey we had to put up with hard captains' biscuits, 

 Australian tinned meat, and coffee with no milk and short 

 rations of sugar. When we landed at Elsinore, our first care 

 was to order a good dinner, which we all agreed was the 

 most superb entertainment we had ever sat down to. For 

 the last fortnight we had dreamed of dining, but always 

 woke before the happy moment arrived. Our dinner at 

 Elsinore was enjoyed with an appetite which we never hope 

 to experience again. Taking the night train to Copenhagen, 

 we arrived there on the morning of Monday the 6th of 

 September. We were disappointed in our efforts to find a 

 steamer for England, so proceeded at once to Hamburg, 

 where my companion found a boat for Leith ; and I lost 

 no time in putting myself and, not my " sieben Sachen," but 

 my "siebzehn Sachen " on board a steamer for Hull. 



