LAND AT LAST 355 



" Saturday, August 17th. Yesterday was a good day. 

 We are in open water on the west coast of Franz 

 Josef Land, as far as I can make out, and may again 

 hope to get home this year. About noon yesterday we 

 walked across the ice from our moraine-islet to the high- 

 er island west of us. As I was ready before Johansen, I 

 went on first to examine the island a little. As he was 

 following me he caught sight of a bear on the level ice 

 to leeward. It came jogging up against the wind straight 

 towards him. He had his gun ready, but when a little 

 nearer the bear stopped, reconsidered the situation, sud- 

 denly turned tail, and was soon out of sight. 



" This island* we came to seemed to me to be one of 

 the most lovely spots on the face of the earth. A beauti- 

 ful flat beach, an old strand-line with shells strewn about, 

 a narrow belt of clear water along the shore, where snails 

 and sea-urchins [Echinus) were visible at the bottom and 

 amphipoda were swimming about. In the cliffs over- 

 head were hundreds of screaming little auks, and beside 

 us the snow-buntings fluttered from stone to stone with 

 their cheerful twitter. Suddenly the sun burst forth 

 through the light fleecy clouds, and the day seemed to 

 be all sunshine. Here were life and bare land ; we were 

 no lonorer on the eternal drift-ice I At the bottom of 



O 



the sea just beyond the beach I could see whole forests 

 of seaweed {Laminaria and Fncus). Under the cliffs 



* " Torup's Island." 



