SUMMER BEVERAGES. 
155 
us, and there were symptoms of a change for the worse 
in this respectbut there is much fortitude required 
when the game abounds and the chase exciting, to draw 
off when it seems at its best. Nevertheless we have to 
return again to the somewhat dry demands of scientific 
inquiry. Many a cup of coffee did we sip that night 
as we sat over our pipe without the least sense of 
weariness or fatigue, in the fine bracing air of the far 
north. Coffee is a far more acceptable beverage than 
wine or brandy of any kind in these regions. In the 
warm latitudes spirits seem essential at such a time, 
but here the system seems to reject the stimulant, 
and tea or cocoa are more highly prized. 
Our ambition is to reach some point to the north of 
Spitzbergen, as the ice is about to open, where we may 
complete our work commenced last year. Besides 
there is the ground-seal to be found on the coast of 
Spitzbergen, and the prospect of other game to console 
us for the seeming loss we are about to endure as we 
leave these teeming hunting-grounds. 
Getting away to the eastward is by no means easy 
work, and another scrape on our false keel signals us 
from below that the shocks we occasionally encounter 
in our course have not been without effect upon the 
tough schooner’s sides. Next day we take it easy, 
and the 29th is a perfect day of rest on board; 
