A EEINDEER RIDE THROUGH LAPLAND. 55 



15,000, being the net gain accruing from the capture 

 of ninety-four whales only. With results like these, 

 it is very curious that only one company should have 

 engaged as yet in the undertaking, along the whole 

 extent of that barren but yet rich coast. 



After leaving Vadsoe the interest of the trip ceases, 

 and we fairly enter into the beaten track of tourists 

 and commercial travellers. 



Vardoe, though but a little town of 1200 inhabit- 

 ants, can boast of being the most northerly fortress 

 in the world. It is defended by about twenty pretty 

 modern cannon, and has a garrison of one lieutenant, 

 one sergeant, a corporal, and ten men. Being the 

 centre of the great fisheries, just then in full swing, 

 the place swarmed with Eussians, who protruded their 

 ugly visages everywhere, jostled everybody in the 

 streets, and, in short, made themselves as disagreeable 

 as they possibly could. 



Our progress from Vardoe onwards was but slow. 

 Every fjord, every creek, every inhabited islet, de- 

 manded a call, which, though extremely tiresome to 

 through passengers, is a great blessing to the poor 

 fishers, who would otherwise be entirely cut off from 

 communication with the outer world. Some of the 

 scenery is very grand, especially at the mouth of the 

 Tana Fjord, where the Tana Horn, a high cone-shaped 

 mountain, rises majestically from the sea. 



Precisely at midnight we doubled Nord Kyn the 

 most northerly point on the mainland of Europe. It 



