10 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 
could not have passed at once. And here, in spite of a 
racing tide, three great timber hulks were being towed, 
each by a boat with four men for crew. These boats— 
keks they are called—look, with their high sterns and 
sternpieces, like little Viking ships. Possibly their shape 
is a survival ; at any rate I liked to think of it as such. 
June 7th.—And now we crossed the Arctic Circle, and 
yet recorded our highest temperature, for it was 70° F. in 
the sun at 3 P.M. 
All day long we were off Norrland, sighting the 
Lofotens about two o'clock, with puffins on the wing 
by thousands, and wheeling in the air like rooks. Also 
twice to-day we saw the great northern diver and several 
glaucous gulls. We met a large school of grampus, and 
saw one whale. The men declared it a bottle-nose. 
June 8th.—When I came on deck this morning the 
Vaag’s Fjord (68° 40’ N.) was all like glass, and the 
sunlight was quite dazzling. A great northern diver 
was flying backwards and forwards from the middle of 
the fjord to the shore. I saw it do this four times, 
but could not make out why, for I have never seen 
a diver catch any fish that it could not eat easily in the 
water. The bird by its movements should have been 
nesting, but divers do not nest so early in the year. 
There was also a large herd of some kind of dolphin 
feeding round the fjord. Over them hung very many 
