TROMSO TO VARDO 23 
top of the uplands, and in the marigold bog, side by side 
with the herring gulls. 
For many herring gulls had taken to a bog of marsh 
marigold, making their nests sometimes on tussocks of 
grass, sometimes in the middle of a marigold plant. 
The lesser black-backs, on the other hand, kept almost 
entirely to the upland grass. 
I saw on René four Alpine hares, one of them all but 
white. Also I saw a raven most unmercifully mobbed 
by the gulls. 
The snow lay in deep drifts in all the sudden hollows, 
and some small mammal had been driving its burrows 
into the snow. 
I wished I had had many hours more to spend upon 
this charming little island, and I look forward greatly 
to the day when | can visit René again. Not Rend, 
however, but Kolguev was our destination, and, with the 
nesting season already advanced, Kolguev would not 
wait. So this evening, at 10.15 exactly, we weighed 
anchor and steamed away for the Land of Hope. 
