AN AUTUMN VISIT TO SPITZBERGEN. 435 



(female, 45| in.), which in the hurry of a running shot I took to 

 be a good beast, and two does (63g- in. and 6l£ in.). Arnesen 

 shot a calf (female, 48|in.), a doe (59| in.), and a doe with buck 

 calf (53 in. and 5lg-in. respectively)- It froze hard all day, which 

 made the snow dry and hard, and helped to render the dragging — 

 though it had to be done in double shifts — not nearly such hard 

 work as on the previous day. I saw several Glaucous Gulls, both 

 adults and young, up the valley to-day. Somewhere about 11.35 

 p.m., on our way down to the coast, I was looking at the Aurora, 

 which was showing to the S.E., but not very bright, when I saw 

 the most curious meteor I have ever seen. It was violet and 

 green, oval, and without a tail, and went from about S.S.E. to 

 N.N.W., or between those points and S. to N., in a horizontal 

 direction, with a slight " trajectory" — i. e. it did not come down- 

 wards, like a falling star, but had a slight rise and dip, like the 

 course of a rifle-bullet. It appeared to be travelling not much 

 above the level of the Fjelds on each side of the valley. When 

 I first caught sight of it, it appeared to be rather more than half- 

 way across the valley, from south to north, and it travelled slowly 

 across nearly to the north side. On reaching the boat with the 

 first shift of deer, at 11.45, we found three bottles of beer, to 

 which we had been looking forward for some time, frozen solid, 

 the corks being forced out of two of them. Arnesen put one 

 bottle in his pocket inside his jacket, which he buttoned over it, 

 and by the time we were ready to start, after dragging the second 

 shift of deer the last stage to the shore (12.30 midnight), we got 

 about half a bottle of liquid out of it — " beer" it could no longer 

 be called, except by a stretch of imagination : and even a bottle 

 which I thawed completely after my return on board was very 

 little better. We started in a half- gale of wind from about south. 

 Only two men can row in a " Hex" boat, and I thought it better, 

 in such bad weather, to allow the sailors to have charge, though it 

 was intensely cold sitting still, especially after previous exertion. 

 The wind being nearly on our beam, and the small Hex-boat 

 deeply laden with the seven Reindeer, the waves constantly rolled 

 in and broke over us, but the men were ready with a dodge 

 new to me ; whenever a wave was about to roll on board, opposite 

 where they were rowing, it received such a smack with the flat 

 of an oar as to break and stop it. However, there were plenty 

 that could not be so stopped, and everyone that broke over us 



