170 MEET THE " GINEVRA." 



lition of tlie Consul's bull, the last of which 

 tough but otherwise praiseworthy little animal, 

 appeared in the form of a curry to-clay. All 

 our other supplies are also running short, and 

 the bowels of all on board are yearning for fat 

 reindeer venison ; so I resolved to take advan- 

 tage of a north-west wind which was blowing, to 

 pay a visit to the rendezvous at Hvalfiske Point. 

 The yacht was not due at the rendezvous 

 before the 6th, but by good luck Ave saw her 

 also making her way there as we were about 

 halfway between Black Point and Hvalfiske 

 Point. Upon signalling to her she bore up, 

 and came Avithin haD. about one a.m. on the 

 4th, when I immediately manned a boat and 

 went on board to take possession of as much 

 venison as might happen to be still uneaten. 

 I was however grievously disappointed at 

 finding that they had only shot eight reindeer 

 during the Ayhole four weeks in which they 

 had had nothing else to do, although they 

 had been lying in Bell Sound, which is con- 

 sidered the best place in all Spitzbergen for 

 geese and reindeer ! They had also carefully 

 eaten all the hind-qiiarters of the deer them- 

 selves, and had left nothing but ten lean fore- 

 quarters for us ! Geese had they none, but 



