94 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBEEGEJSf. 
uneven surface, that we were soon compelled to relin¬ 
quish our attempt, so there was nothing for it but to 
retrace our steps and endeavour by some short cut to 
join the others on the sandy beach below. Getting 
down again we struck across a kind of lagoon, rough 
with frozen snow, called by arctic travellers “ bay ice ; ” 
for three miles our way lay across this flat, which lies 
at the base of the mountains, and is fringed by the 
sea-shore. 
"We found our friends at length, and enjoyed with 
them the prospect they were contemplating. A pyra¬ 
midal rock shot up into the air about 1,200 feet above 
us; its otherwise bleak and wall-like face was cut up 
by stratification into a series of narrow ledges inacces¬ 
sible to all save the winged denizens of the air, who 
here found a secure resting-place and a nursery where 
they might bring up their callow brood, safe from the 
approach of the cunning foxes, evidences of whose pre¬ 
sence on the island were to be observed everywhere. 
We found no difficulty in spreading alarm amongst 
these airy colonists by throwing stones at the cliff, and 
when we succeeded in setting on the wing a myriad of 
sea-fowl, the flocks circling round and passing over 
our heads really darkened the air above us, and, as they 
swept along like a thick cloud, wheeling suddenly in 
their flight, produced a curious effect,—the dull-looking 
