7(> A VOYAGE TO SPITZBEBGEN. 
which flows between the rugged rocks on either 
hand, made this part of the journey most enjoyable; 
at times we passed from a comparatively calm water 
into a turbulent sea, whose waves broke upon the 
jagged faces of the cliff with a fury not to be de¬ 
scribed. The swell caused by all this commotion 
gave additional anxiety to such of us as were unused 
to it, and it was not until we had again escaped from 
a spot where the least shift of wind would, in spite of 
all our efforts, have driven us upon a lee-shore, that we 
began to breathe in security. One of the Shetlanders, 
who hailed from some place close by, informed us of 
the wreck of a steamer he had witnessed; she was 
coming here in very thick weather, and suddenly 
struck these high cliffs ; all on board were lost, except 
two men who happened to be aloft in the rigging, and 
who stepped on to the rocks as the vessel went down 
*—reminding us of the story we had heard of the 
“ Carmelan,” of Amsterdam, a rich vessel bound for 
the East Indies, laden with three millions of guilders, 
and many chests of coined gold, lost here in 1664, 
but more to the north-east, at the rocks known as 
the Outskerries. The wreck of this costly cargo hap¬ 
pened on a dark night; the look-out men failed to 
discover their danger until too late to warn their 
companions; in this case, also, the mast coming down 
