¥ARDO TO KOLGUEYV re 
than made up for by beauty of scenery in other ways—in 
splendour of glacier or strength of the bastion cliffs across 
which the sea-birds go in myriads like driven snow. 
Here we had not this. 
We had only a long low line of level monotony; of 
snow that hung in festoons from the edge of a cliff which 
seemed not more than some thirty feet high ; or again of 
snow that formed tracks down the cliff’s sides and across 
the beach to meet the ice-fringe of the sea, or opened at 
intervals to show a wall of sand or clay, washed into 
darker streaks by meltings and slippings from above. 
Such was Kolguev as we saw it first. 
Now you will remember, from the earlier part of this 
story, that we had but few data to guide us in our attempt 
to find a harbour for the Savon. But before leaving 
England we had quite settled that the Waskina river 
must be our first objective, and so far had had no 
reason to change our views. It must either be the 
Waskina, we thought, or Stanavoi Scharok, z.e. Scharok 
harbour, on the eastern side of the island. 
You may very naturally wonder why we should have 
pitched upon this particular point. 
Well, in the first place, in the only days of which we 
had any accounts, traffic with Kolguev was from Mezen 
and Indiga. The point at which these traders would 
naturally touch would be the Waskina, and if there were 
an entry there much used, one might expect to find it 
marked in some way by beacons. And the fact that the 
Cc 
