150 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 
has, it seems, himself determined to come to Jan 
Mayen, and he is kind enough to say that if I can 
get ready for a start by six o’clock to-morrow morning, 
the “Heine Hortense ” shall take me in tow. To profit 
by this proposal would of course entail the giving up 
my plan of riding across the interior of Iceland, which 
I should be very loth to do; at the same time, the 
season is so far advanced, the mischances of our first 
start from England have thrown us so far behind in 
our programme, that it would seem almost a pity to 
neglect such an opportunity of overrunning the time 
that has been lost; and, after all, these Polar islands, 
which so few have visited, are what I am chiefly bent 
on seeing. Before I close this letter the thing will 
have been settled one way or another; for I am to have 
the honour of dining with the Prince this evening, 
and between this and then I shall have made up my 
mind. After dinner there is to be a ball on board the 
frigate, to which all the rank, fashion, and beauty of 
Reykjavik have been invited. 
3 A. M. 
I give up seeing the rest of Iceland, and go north 
at once. It has cost me a struggle to come to this 
