CHAPTER IIL! 
TROMSO TO VARDO 
June 1oth.—We did not run into Hammerfest, but saw 
it in the distance as we passed ; for we went close by the 
islands Hielmen and Haaien which are its gates. We 
determined on taking the outside passage as the weather 
was calm. 
Thousands of razor-bills, kittiwakes, and puffins filled 
the air as we blew our steam whistle off Hielsostauren, 
and at half-past five in the evening we passed North 
Cape, and the Nord Kyn at half-past ten. The North 
Cape, by the way, is actually not quite the ‘most northerly 
point of Europe,’ as the books say, for its position is barely 
over 71° 10 N., while Knifscher near it is 71° 11’ N. 
No doubt it can be very nasty round about this point ; 
but on two former passages I had found it quiet, and this 
day the sea was almost as still as a duck pond. 
June 11th.—At three in the morning we passed a 
whaling vessel towing a big finner alongside, and six 
hours later entered the Os¢ Vaagen, as the south harbour 
of Vardé is wrongly called. 
We were all struck by the life and activity of this 
B 
