52 THE TRUCK SYSTEM. 



them a certain sum per walrus and per seal 

 whenever they arrive, and as the poor ignorant 

 men know nothing of the price-current of seal- 

 oil, &c. in the markets of Hamburg or Bremen, 

 and are naturally anxious to " realise " at once, 

 I am afraid they are generally induced or in- 

 timidated into parting with their share of the 

 hard-earned spoil at far below its market value. 

 In fact the " truck system " in all its iniquity 

 prevails. 



Our own crew, having been engaged so late 

 in the summer as to render it unlikely that we 

 should be able to get a full cargo, and also 

 with the view of rendering them more entirely 

 dependent on our wishes, were not engaged 

 on this system, but got instead money wages 

 at double the rate usual in Norway. This 

 double pay was about equal in amount to that 

 of the English sailors in my yacht. 



I shot a large seal in the evening. 



10^^, Sunday. — Thick, cold, raw fog all day; 

 ropes all encrusted with ice, which falls down 

 clattering on the deck every time anything 

 shakes. I begin to suffer a good deal from 

 chilblains on the feet, an ailment I have not 

 been addicted to since I was a schoolboy, cetat, 

 eleven. This is perhaps not altogether to be 



