AND SHIFT OUR FLAG INTO HER. 29 



On the 6tli we found the ice getting too 

 thick for the " Ginevra," so we agreed to 

 abandon her altogether, and to shift our flag 

 into the " Anna Louisa " for good ; we occu- 

 pied about one half the day in transferring our 

 guns, bedding, provisions, ammunition, &c., 

 from the yacht to the sloop ; we also took with 

 us the yacht's cook and Lord David's servant 

 James, which made up a total of sixteen souls 

 for the sloop, leaving ten in the yacht ; we took 

 the two new walrus boats with us, and trans- 

 ferred the small old one to the yacht; we 

 further gave them a large cask, in which to 

 stow the blubber of any seals they might get. 

 I gave the sailing-master of the yacht instruc- 

 tions in writing, " to proceed to Bell Sound, 

 and there to kill as many reindeer as possible ; 

 if no reindeer were procurable, to cross again 

 to Hammerfest for provisions, and in either 

 case to be back without fail at the Eussian 

 huts on or before the 6th of August." I also 

 instructed him to employ his personal leisure 

 in collecting and carefully labelling fossils and 

 shells, and also small bags of gravel from 

 different elevations, as well as some specimens 

 of whales' bones and drift-wood from the 

 highest elevations he could find them on. 



