238 EEINDEER-STALKING. 



of accidents, we ran about to warm ourselves, 

 and then, taking different sides of a large wide 

 valley, we proceeded to seek for deer. Lord 

 David unluckily got amongst ground which 

 had been hunted a few days previously (as we 

 afterwards ascertained) by a boat's crew from 

 Ericson's brig, and he consequently saw nothing, 

 and returned to the yacht about mid-day. 



I walked five or six miles, when I reached a 

 high glen amongst the hills, and close to the 

 line of perpetual snow and ice. It also snowed 

 hard as we walked up, and it was frightfully 

 cold as the wind whistled down over the 

 glaciers to the eastward of us. The walking, 

 however, was excellent, as the intense frost had 

 frozen the beastly, splashy, muddy, mossy 

 compound, which in Spitzbergen represents 

 soil, to the consistency of iron. 



I first found three indiiferent young deer on 

 an open place where I could not approach 

 nearer than 250 yards ; but I managed to break 

 the shoulder of the best one, and I finished 

 him off with another shot. The other two ran 

 up the glen, and I did not foUow them — 

 in the meantime, as I now observed two much 

 finer stags on a hill a mile off. I stalked up 

 a little gully, which allowed me to approach 



