A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 315 



in order to do so, lashed the camera to a stanchion for an 

 hour. However, the swing of the ship to the ebbing 

 tide was not taken into consideration, and on develop- 

 ment the famous arc lights of Hammerfest were 

 presented in a cloud of streaks and bars like a photo- 

 graph of fireworks. 



It was at Hammerfest that we first heard the famous 

 rumour of the scheme for shipping Russian troops from 

 Archangel to the coast of France via Great Britain. 

 Of course we had seen nothing of any such movement, 

 for our course lay to the north of the coastwise 

 shipping. Moreover, the idea sounds so fantastic that 

 we were surprised to find out later what excitement it 

 created in England. The harbour of Archangel, kept 

 open artificially, could play an important part in reliev- 

 ing the congestion in Russian export trade caused by 

 the closing of the Baltic and Black Sea ports ; but it is 

 another matter to convey transports across the mine- 

 spangled North Sea, especially at a time when Russia 

 herself needed every man upon her western frontiers. 

 Nevertheless, when once started, the hare ran a long 

 way, and I know of one dear old lady who believes in it 

 to this day, for did she not once give a tract to a soldier 

 at a railway station and hear him reply : " Thankyou- 

 vitch." Which proves conclusively that he 7nust have 

 been a Russian ! 



We took a pilot on board at Hammerfest, and 

 reached Tromsoe at midday on 1st October. Blizzards 

 drove across the fiord at intervals, and the mountains 

 were already ribbed and wealed with snow. Four or 

 five German ships were moored in the harbour. They 



