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SI 
 
■, 
 
 ' 
 
 A YACHT VOYAGE 
 
 OF 
 
 SIX THOUSAND MILES. 
 
1 
 
 — "It 
 
 isaslrangc thing tlu.t in sea voyage., where there is 
 
 > nothing to 
 
 ;;e seen hnt s.y ..c. se:., n,en sho.h, n.^UrDiari. h^ ;, J^r 
 l.cre,n .<, ,nuch .s to be observed, for the n^.ost part they on,,,- it "if 
 chance were fitter to l,e registered than ob.ervat.on.'-lUcoN. ' 
 
 S 
 
A YACHT VOYAGE. 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes ; 
 
 iiKiNc; soMi'. .\i\nrsr t<i 
 
 V 
 
 A VOYACE IN THE SCHOONER YACHT 
 "FOAM," 85 O. M.. I'O 
 
 ICELAND, JAN MAYEN. AND SPITZBERGEN, 
 
 IN 1336. 
 
 11 V THK 
 
 EARL OF DUFFKRIN, K.P.. &c., 
 
 (r<>Ti'r/iiir-(ii-;ir)-it/ 0/ thr noiiiiiiioii ,'/' Ciiiliuiii. 
 
 \^1 
 
 i?i.iitbnrizRr1 «nrl I'npiirifflif Krtiiiim. 
 
 TORONTO : 
 AdXm, STEVENSON & CO, 
 
 1872. 
 
/^ CS :S o 
 
 s 
 
 1951 
 
 § 1(3 > 
 
 Entered ;»ccordini» to the Arf ^,f fK n ■• .' ' ' '" 
 
 year ,87.. by A^AM Stkv ,vs v'^ '" '^^ 
 
 h ■ ■•■ 
 
 Toronto : Printed by Be,.,. & Co., City Steam pl^. 
 
a, in the 
 
 ice of the 
 
 I HAD INTENDED TO DEDICATE THESE PAGES 
 
 TO 
 
 TRANXIS EGERTON, EARL OF ELLESMERE 
 
 I NOW INSCRIBE THEM 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS MEMORY. 
 
 1 :.! 
 
 \v 
 
 'iie^'&ilimiihS'?3^icit:M'i T'.-^ 
 
/ 
 
 But since it pfcascd a vaiiish"J eye, 
 I go to plant it on his tomb, 
 'J'liat if it can, it there may bloom„ 
 
 Ordying-thcre at least m.ty die." 
 
 " Ho, 
 
 lo whom a thousand memon.;s call, 
 Not being less, but more fhan all 
 The gentleness he seemed lo be, 
 
 So wore his outward best, and join'd 
 Kach ofTice of the social hour, 
 'Jo nol ic manners, as the flower 
 
 And native giowth of no! le mind." 
 
DRAMATIS l'KRSON/1' 
 
 SicTRDR, Son ^y Jonas, Icilamicr ; I.tra' Stittitnt. 
 Chari.rs I:. Firzc.i'.KAi.i), .S'/znyof/ . Photoi:,yapher 
 
 Botanist. 
 Lord Duikkrin, A'^i'v/Vt//*^/-,- Sa>^iintaii ; Artist. 
 \Vil,LlAM Wilson, Valet ; Gardciwy ; Cape Colonist. 
 Al.iJr.RT C,\Kh'i^\\Steivard : Watchmaker ; Bird StuJJer. 
 John IWais, First Cook ; afterxuards Pucroiu. 
 Wll.MA.M Wkhsif.r, Second Cook; Carpenter; late of 
 
 Jfer A/aJestys Foot Guards ; a/ter-wards Maid 
 
 Mar' in. 
 KiU':nI'./f:r Wysk, Master ; Cali/ornian Cold-dii^ger. 
 William Lkvf:rett, Mate. 
 William Taylor, Butcher. 
 Char IKS Parnf,, \ 
 Thomas Scarlltl, I 
 Thomas IMlchlr, \ Seamen. 
 Henry Lkvkrett, 
 John Lock, 
 William Wynhall, Ship-boy 
 Voice of a French Captain. 
 A German Gnat-catcher. 
 An early Village Cock. 
 A Goat. 
 
 An Icelandic J'O.v. 
 A White Bear. 
 Ladies and Cavaliers of the Icelandic, Norse, Lappish^, 
 
 and French tongues. 
 
 SCENE. — Sometimes on board The Foam, sometimes in 
 Iceland, Spitzbercen, and Norway. 
 
 God save the Oueen ! 
 
 v; 
 
 f 
 
) 
 
 
 ai^%^ 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 \' 
 
 LETTKR I. 
 Protcsilcuis Stumbles on the Threshold 
 
 LETTER II. 
 The Icelander— A Modern Sir Patrick Spcns 
 
 LETTER III. 
 Loch Goil.— The Saj^a of Clan Campbell . . 
 
 I'AliK. 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 . . 18 
 
 24 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 Through the Sounds—Stornaway- The Setting up of 
 the Figure-head— Fitz's Foray-" Oh weel may the 
 Boatie Row, that wins the Bairns's Bread"— Sir 
 Patrick Spens joins— Up Anchor 
 
 LETTER V. 
 The North Atlantic— Spanish Waves— Our Cabin in 
 a Gale— Sea-sickness from a Scientific Point of 
 View—Wilson— A Passenger Commits Suicide— 
 First Sight of Iceland— Floki of the Ravens— The 
 Norse Mayflower— Faxa Fiord— We Land in Thule 31 
 
X. 
 
 Contents. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 
 J-ACH. 
 
 ^.i 
 
 Reykjavik — Latin Conversation — I become the Pro- 
 prietor of Twenty-six Horses — Eider Ducks — 
 liessestad — Snorro Sturleson — The Old Greenland 
 Colony — Finland— A Geneose Skipper in the Fif- 
 teenth Century— An Icelandic Dinner — Skoal — An 
 After-dinner Speech in Latin — Winged Rabbits — 
 Ducrow — Start of the Baggage-train 43 
 
 LETTER VH. 
 
 Kisses — Wilson on Horseback — A Lava Plateau — 
 Thin!' valla— Allmannagia — Rabnagia — Our Tent — 
 The Shivered Plain — Witch-drowning — A Parlia- 
 mentary Debate, A.i). 1000 — Thangbrand the Mis- 
 sonary — A German Gnat-Catcher — The Mystical 
 Mountains — Sir Olaf — Hecla Skapta Jokul— The 
 Fire Deluge of 1783 — We reach the Geyser — Strokr 
 — Fitz's Bonne Fortune — More Kisses — An Erup- 
 tion — Prince Napoleon — Return — Trade — Popula- 
 tion — A Mutiny — The Rcine Hortcnse — The Seven 
 Dutchmen — A Ball -Low Dresses — Northward Ho I 79 
 
 TETTER VIII. 
 
 Start from Reykjavik — Snaefcll — The Lady of Froda 
 — A Berserk Tragedy— The Champion of Breidavik — 
 Onunder Fiord — The Last Night — Crossmg the 
 Arctic Circle — Fete on Board The Reine Hortense — 
 Le Pere Arcticiue — We fall in with the Ice — 
 The Saxon disappears — Mist — A Parting in a 
 
Contents. 
 
 XL 
 
 lAGE. 
 
 Lonely Spot— J:in Maycn — Mount Ik'crcnlxMg — 
 An Unpleasant Position -Shift of Wind and Kxtri- 
 cation — "To Norroway over the Faem " — A Nasty 
 Coast— Hammcrfest \lo 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 Extract from the " Monitcur " of the 31st July . . . 205 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Bucolics — The Goat— Maid Marian — A Lapp Lady — 
 Lapp Love-making — The Sea Horseman— The Gulf 
 Stream — Arctic Currents — A Dingy Expedition— A 
 School of Peripatetic Fishes — Alten — The Chate- 
 laine of Kaafiord— Still Northward Ho ! . . . .217 
 
 LETTER XL 
 We vSail for Bear Island and Spitzbergen — Cherie 
 Island — Barcntz — Sir Hugh Willoughby— Parry's 
 Attempt to Reach the North Pole — Again amongst 
 the Ice — Ice -blink — First sight of Spitzbergen— 
 Wilson — Decay of our Hopes— Constant Struggle 
 with the Ice— We Reach the 80^ N. Lat.— A Freer 
 Sea — We Land in Spitzbergen— English Bay — Lady 
 Edith'sGlacier— A Midnight Photograph— No Rein- 
 deer to be seen — Et Ego in Arctis — Winter in Spitz- 
 bergen — Ptarmigan — The Bcarsage— The Foam 
 Monument— Southwards— Sight the Greenland Ice 
 — A Gale — Wilson on the Maalstrom— Breakers 
 Ahead— Roost— Taking a Sight— Throndhjem . .241 
 
xii. Contents. 
 
 LETTER XH. 
 
 I'AUB. 
 
 Thronclhjcin— Harald Haarfagcr — King Hacon's Last 
 Battle — Olaf Tryggvesson — The " Long Serpent " — 
 St. Olave — Thormod the Scald — The Jarl of Ladd — 
 The Cathedral — Harald Hardrada — The Battle of 
 Stanford Bridge— A Norse Ball— Odin and his Pala- 
 dins 297 
 
 LETTER XIIL 
 
 Copenhagen— Bergen — The Black Death — Sigurdr — 
 Homewards 335 
 
 Appendix 347 
 
 To the Figure Head of The Foam 357 
 
t t 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM HIGH LATITUDES' 
 
 LETIER I. 
 
 PR0TF:S1LAUS stumbles on TIIK JURKSHOrj). 
 
 Glasgow, Monday, June 2, 1856."- 
 OUR start has not been prosperous. Yesterday 
 evening, on passing Carlisle, a telegraphic message 
 was put into my hand, announcing tlie fact of 
 T/ie Foam having been obliged to put into Holy- 
 head, in consequence of the sudden illness of my 
 Master. As the success of our expedition entirely 
 depends on our getting off before the season is 
 further advanced, you can understand how disa- 
 greeable it is to have received this check at its 
 very outset. As yet, of course, I know nothing of 
 the nature of the illness with which he has been 
 
sf4 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 seized. However, I have ordered the scliooner 
 to ^-roceed at once to Oban, and I have sent back 
 the doctor to Holyhead to overhaul the sick rnan. 
 It is rather early in the day for him to enter upon 
 the exercise of his functions. 
 
II V 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 THE ICELANDER--A MODERN SIR PATRICK SPENS. 
 
 Greenock, Tuesday, June 3, 1856. 
 
 I FOUND the Icelander awaiting my arrival 
 here, — pacing up and down the coffee-room like 
 a polar bear. 
 
 At first he was a little shy, and not having 
 yet had much opportunity of practising his Eng- 
 lish, it v/as some time before I could set him ' 
 perfectly at his ease. He has something so franlv 
 and honest in his face and bearing, that I am 
 certain he will turn out a pleasant companion. 
 There beincr no hatred so intense as that which 
 you feel towards a disagreeable shipmate, this 
 assurance has relieved me of a great anxiety, and 
 I already feel I sh 1 hereafter reckon Sigurd r, 
 (pronounced Segurthur,) the son of Jonas, among 
 the number of my best friends. 
 
 As most educated English people firmly be- 
 lieve the Icelanders to be a " Squawmuck," 
 
i6 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes, 
 
 blubbcr-catini^, scal-skin-chid race, I tliink it right 
 to tell you that Si<.^urdr is api)arcllcd in good 
 broadcloth, and all the inconveniences of civili- 
 zation, his costume culminating in the orthodox 
 chimney-pot of the nineteenth century. He is 
 about twenty-seveti, very intelligent-looking, and 
 — all women would think — lovely to behold, A 
 high forehead, straight, delicate features, dark 
 blu'j eyes, auburn hair and beard, and the com- 
 plexion of — Lady S d ! Mis early life was 
 
 phased in Ij^land; but he is now residing at 
 Copenhagen as a law student. Through the 
 introdur-tion of a mutual friend, he has been 
 iiiduc2d to come with me, and do us the honours 
 of his native land. 
 
 " O whar will I get a skcoly s'cippcr, 
 To sail this gude ship o' in'.n.^ ?" 
 
 Such, alas! has been the burden of my song for 
 Ihjsc Li^t four-and-twenty hou:'.;, a} 1 l\avc sat in 
 thj Tontine Tower, drinking the bi ■ port wine; 
 fo;-, afur spending a fortune i'l tclegiaphlc mes- 
 sigcs to Holyhead, it has been declued that 
 
 \\ cannot come on, and I have been forced 
 
 to rig up a Glasgow merchant skipper into a jury 
 siilinr-mas^jr. 
 
 Any such arrangement is, at the best, unsatis- 
 factory ; but to abandon the cruise is the only 
 alternative. However, considering I had but a 
 few hoars to look about me, I have been more 
 fortunate than might have been expected. I have 
 
Sir Patrick. 
 
 ^7 
 
 had the kick to stumble on a yoiiiK^ fellow, very 
 highly recommended by the Captain of the Port. 
 He returned just a fortnight ago from a trip to 
 Australia, and, havin<^ since married a wife, is 
 naturally anxious not to lose this opportunity of 
 going to sea again for a few months. 
 
 I start to-morrow for Oban, via Inverary, which 
 I wish to show to my Icelander. At Oban I join 
 the schooner, and proceed to Stornaway, in the 
 Hebrides ; whither the undomestic Mr. Kbenezer 
 Wyse (a descendant, probably, of some Vvestland 
 Covenanter) is to follow me by the steamer. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 LOCH GOIL— THE SAGA OF CLAN CAMPBELL. 
 
 0I5AN, June 5, 1856. 
 
 I HAVE seldom enjoyed any thing so much as 
 our journey yesterday. Getting clear at last of 
 the smells, smoke, noise, and squalor of Greenock, 
 to plunge into the very heart of the Highland 
 hills, robed as they were in the sunshine of a 
 beautiful summer day, was enough to make one 
 beside one's self with delight ; and the Icelander 
 enjoyed it as much as I did. Having crossed the 
 Clyde, alive with innumerable vessels, its waves 
 dancing and sparkling in the sunlight, we sud- 
 denly shot into the still and solemn Loch Goil, 
 whose waters, dark with mountain shadows, 
 seemed almost to belong to a different element 
 from that of the yellow, rushing, ship-laden river 
 we had left. In fact, in the space of ten minutes, 
 we had got into another world, centuries remote 
 from the steaming, weaving, delving Britain, south 
 of Clyde. 
 
 After a sail of about three hours, we reached 
 the head of the loch, and then took coach along 
 
Invcrary 
 
 19 
 
 the worst mountain road in Europe, towards the 
 •country of the world-invadin^^ Campbells. A 
 steady pull of three hours more, up a wild, bare 
 glen, brouj^ht us to the top of the mica-slate 
 ridge, which pens up Loch Fyne, on its western 
 side, and disclosed what I have always thought 
 the loveliest scene in Scotland. 
 
 Far below at our feet, and stretching away on 
 either hand among the mountains, lay the blue 
 waters of the lake. 
 
 On its either side, encompassed by a level belt 
 of pasture-land and corn-fields, the white little 
 town of Inverary glittered like a gem on the sea- 
 shore ; while, to the right, amid lawns and gar- 
 dens, and gleaming banks of wood, that hung 
 down into the water, rose the dark towers of the 
 Castle ; the whole environed by an amphitheatre 
 of tumbled porphyry hills, beyond whose fir- 
 crowned crags rose the bare blue mountain tops 
 of Lorn. 
 
 It was a perfect picture of peace and seclusion, 
 and I confess I had great pride in being able to 
 show my companion so fair a specimen of one of 
 our lordly island homes — the birthplace of a race 
 of nobles whose names sparkle down the page of 
 their country's history, as conspicuously as the 
 golden letters in an illuminated missal. 
 
 While descending towards the strand, I tried 
 to amuse Sigurdr with a sketch of the fortunes of 
 the great house of Argyll. 
 
 * ". r^^S^I^T'S^^rrT^^:' ":n^;^^ 
 

 20 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes, 
 
 I told him liow in ancient days three warriors 
 came from green lerne, to dwell in the wild glens 
 of Cowal and Lochow, — how one of them, the 
 swart Ikeachdan, all for the love of blue-eyed 
 Eila, swam the Gulf, once with a clew of thread, 
 then with a hempen rope, last with an iron chain ; 
 but this time, alas ! the returning tide sucks down 
 the over-tasked hero into its swirling vortex ; — 
 how Diarmid O'Duin, i.e. son of "the Brown,"" 
 slew with his own hand the mighty boar, whose 
 head still scowls over the escutcheon of the 
 Campbells ; — how, in later times, while tlie mur- 
 dered Duncan's son, afterwards the great Malcolm 
 Canmore, was yet an exile at the C' urt of his 
 Northumbrian uncle, ere Birnam Wood had 
 marched to Dunsinane, the first Campbell, i.e.y 
 Campus-bellus, Beau-champ, a Norman knight, 
 and nephew of the Conqueror, having won the 
 hand of the Lady Eva, sole heiress of the race 
 of Diarmid, became master of the lands and 
 lordships of Argyll ; — how, six generations later 
 each of them notable in their day — the valiant 
 Sir Colin created for his posterity a title prouder 
 than any within a sovereign's power to bestow^ 
 which no forfeiture could attaint, no act of parlia- 
 ment recall ; for though he ceased to be Duke or 
 Earl, the head of the Clan Campbell will still 
 remain Mac Calan More, — and how at last the 
 same Sir Colin fell at the String of Cowal, beneath 
 the sword of that fierce lord, whose granddaughter 
 
A LordlY House. 
 
 tl 
 
 %vas destined to bind tlic honours of his own heir- 
 less house round the coronet of his slain foenian's 
 descendant; — how Sir Neill at lluinockljurn 
 fought side by side with the Ihuce, whose sister 
 he liad married ; — how Colin, the first ICarl, wooed 
 and won the Lady Isabel, sprung from the race 
 of Somerled, Lord of the I^.les, thus adding the 
 galle}'s of Lorn to the blazonry of Argyll ; — 
 how the next Earl died at Flodden, and his 
 successor fought not less disastrously at I'inkie ; 
 — how Archibald, fifth l^arl, whose wife was at 
 supper with the Queen, her half-sister, when 
 Rizzio was murdered, fell on the field of Lang- 
 side, smitten not by the hand of the enemy, but 
 by the finger of God ; — how Colin, Earl and 
 boy-General at fifteen, was dragged away by 
 force, with tears in his eyes, from the unhappy 
 skirmish at Glenlivet, where his brave Highlanders 
 were being swept down by the artillery of Huntley 
 and ImtoI, — destined to regild his spurs in future 
 years on the soil of Spain. 
 
 Then I told him of the Great Rebellion, and 
 how, amid the tumult of the next fifty years, the 
 Grim Marquis — Gillespie Grumach, as his squint 
 •caused him to be called — Montrose's fatal foe, 
 staked life and fortunes in the deadly game en- 
 gaged in by the fierce spirits of that generation, 
 and, losing, paid the forfeit with his head, as 
 •calmly as became a brave and noble gentleman, 
 leaving an example, which his son — already twice 
 
 ^U.^iv^.T'V^ifeii^,;.-: 
 
 . • .-.■^V^l^^,^^ 
 
 .^ _;— ^ j^-. ! ^ ^X-r" -^;>P^?' f-^i'**'''^"-^'' '•^'^i^^'i^" 
 
22 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 rescued from tlic scafibld, once by a daughter of 
 the ever-gallant house of Lindsay, again a pri- 
 soner, and a rebel, because four years too soon 
 to be a patriot — as nobly imitated ; — how, at last, 
 the clouds of misfortune cleared away, and hon- 
 ours clustered where only merit liad been before ; 
 the martyr's aureole, almost become hereditary, 
 being replaced in the next generation by a ducal 
 coronet, itself to be rcgilt in its turn with a less; 
 sinister lustre by him — 
 
 " The State's whole thunder born to wield, 
 And shake alike the Senate and the field ;" 
 
 who bafrtcd Walpolc in the cabinet, and con- 
 quered with Marlborough at Ramilies, Oude- 
 narde, and Malplaquet ; — and, last, — how at that 
 present moment, even while we were speaking, 
 the heir to all these noble reminiscences, the- 
 young chief of this princely line, had already 
 won, at the age of twenty-nine, by the manly- 
 vigour of his intellect and his hereditary inde- 
 pendence of character, the confidence of his fel- 
 low countrymen, and a seat at the council board 
 of his sovereign. 
 
 Having thus d^ly indoctrinated Sigurdr with 
 the Sagas of the family, as soon as we had 
 crossed the lake I took him up to the Castle, and 
 acted cicerone to its pictures and heirlooms, — 
 the gleaming stands of muskets, whose fire 
 wrought such fatal ruin at CulLoden ; — the por- 
 trait of the beautiful Irish girl, twice a Duchess,. 
 
Kcirlooms. 
 
 23 
 
 whom the cunning artist has painted with a sun- 
 flower that turns from the sun to look at her ; — 
 Gillespie Gruniach himself, as grim .nul sinister- 
 lookinfj as in life ; — the trumpets to carry the 
 voice from the hall-door to l)unna([uaich ; — the 
 fair beech avenues, planted by the old Marquis, 
 now looking with their smooth gray boljs, and 
 overhanging branches, like the cloisters of an 
 abbey ; — the vale of Esecliasan, to which, on the 
 evening before his execution, the ICarl wrote such 
 touching verses ; — the quaint old kitchen-garden ; 
 — the ruins of the ancient Castle, where worthy 
 Major Dalgetty is said to have passed such un- 
 comfortable moments ; — the Celtic cross from 
 lone lona ; — all and every thing I showed off 
 with as much pride and pleasure, I think, as if 
 they hill hjja my own possessions ; and the 
 more so as the Icelander himself evidently sym- 
 pathized with such Scald-like gossip. 
 
 Having thoroughly overrun the woods and 
 lawns of Inverary, we had a game of chess, and 
 went to bed pretty well tired. 
 
 The next morning, before breakfast, I went off 
 in a boat to Ardkinglass to see my little cousins'; 
 and then returning about twelve, we got a post- 
 chaise, and crossing the boastful Loch Awe in a 
 ferry-boat, reached Oban at nightfall. Here I 
 had the satisfaction of finding the schooner 
 already arrived, and of being joined by the 
 Doctor, just returned from his fruitless expedition 
 to Holyhead. 
 
Lin^ri'.R IV. 
 
 THROUGH IHr: SOUNDS— STORNAWAY— THE SEITINO UP 
 OF THE EIGURE-HEAD— FITZ'S FORAY — OH WEEL MAY 
 THE 130AT1E ROW, 'J"HAT WINS THE lUIRNS'S BREAD— 
 SHi PATRICK SPENS JOINS— UP ANCHOR. 
 
 Stornaway, Island of Lewis, Hebrides, 
 June 9, 1856, 
 
 We reached these Islands of the West the day 
 before yesterday, after a fine run from Oban. 
 
 I had intended taking Staffa and lona on my 
 way, but it came on so thick with heav)- weather 
 from the southwest, that to have landed on cither 
 iskuid would have been out of the question. So 
 we bore up under Mull at one in the morning, 
 tore through the Sound at daylight, rounded 
 Ardnamurchan under a double-reefed mainsail at 
 two P.M., and shot into the sound of Skye the 
 same evening, leaving the hills of Moidart (one 
 of whose " seven men'' was an ancestor of your 
 own), and the jaws of the hospitable Loch Hourn, 
 reddening in the stormy sunset. 
 
 At Kylakin we were obliged to bring up for 
 the night ; but getting under weigh again at 
 
The Setting Up of the Fignrc-hcad. 25 
 
 <iaylic;l\t, \vc took a fair wind with us alon^ the 
 cast coast of Sk) l, passed Raasa and Rona, and 
 so across the Miiich to Stornawa)'. 
 
 Stornaway is a little fishini^-town, with a beau- 
 tiful harbour, from out of which was sailinj^, as 
 we entered a fleet of herrinj^-Vjoats, their brown 
 sails gU:amin<,^ like c;"old against the dark angry 
 Avater, as they fluttered out to sea, unmindful of 
 the leaf' :n clouds banked up along the west, and 
 all the symptoms of an approaching gale. The 
 next morning it was upon us ; but, brought up 
 as we were under the lea of a high rock, the 
 tempest tore harmlessly over cur heads, and left 
 us at liberty to make the fmal preparations for 
 departure. 
 
 Fitz, whose talents for discerning where the 
 vegetables, fowls, and pretty ladies of a place 
 were to be found — I had already had occasion to 
 admire, went ashore to forage ; while I remained 
 on board to superinterd the fixing of our sacred 
 figure-head — executed in bronze by Marochetti — 
 and brought along with me by rail, still warm from 
 the furnace. 
 
 For the performance of this solemnity, I luckily 
 possessed a functionary equal to the occasion, 
 in the shape of the second cook. Originally a 
 guardsman, he had beaten his sword into a chisel, 
 and become carpenter ; subsequently, conceiving 
 a passion for the sea, he turned his attention to 
 the mysteries of the kitchen, and now sails with 
 
26 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 me in the alternate exercise of his last two pro- 
 fessions. This individual, thus happily combin- 
 ing the chivalry inherent in the profession of 
 arms, with the skill of the craftsman and the re- 
 finement of the artist — to whose person, more- 
 over, a paper cap, white vestments, and the 
 sacrificial knife at his girdle, gave something of 
 a sacerdotal character — I did not consider unfit 
 to raise the ship's guardian image to its ap- 
 pointed place ; and after two hours' reverential 
 handiwork, 1 had the satisfaction of seeing the 
 well-known lovely face, with its golden hair, and 
 smile that might charm all malice from the ele- 
 ments, beaming like a happy omen above our 
 bows. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, Fitz came alongside, after 
 a most successful foray among the fish-wives. 
 He was sitting in the stern-sheets, up to his knees 
 in vegetables, with seven elderly hens beside him^ 
 and a dissipated looking cock under his arm, with 
 regard to whose qualifications its late proprietor 
 had volunteered the most satisfactory assurances. 
 I am also bound to mention, that protruding from 
 his coat-pocket were certain sheets of music, with 
 the name of Alice, Louisa, written therein in a 
 remarkably pretty hand, which led me to believe 
 that the Doctor had not entirely confined his 
 energies to the acquisition of hens and vegeta- 
 bles. The rest of the day was spent in packing 
 away our ncv/ly purchased stores,, and making. 
 
Sir Patrick's Gold Chain. 
 
 27 
 
 ng. 
 
 the ship as tidy as circumstances would admit., 
 I am afraid, however, many a smart yachtsman 
 would have been scandalized at our decks, lum- 
 bered up with hen-coops, sacks of coal, and other 
 necessaries, which, like the Queen of Spain's 
 legs, not only ought never to be seen, but must 
 not be supposed even to exist, on board a tip-top 
 craft. 
 
 By the evening, the gale, which had been blow- 
 ing all day, had increased to a perfect hurricane. 
 At nine o'clock we let go a second anchor ; and I 
 confess as we sat comfortably round the fire in 
 the bright cheerful little cabin, and listened to the- 
 wind whistling and shrieking through the cord- 
 age, that none of us were sorry to find ourselves 
 in port on such a night, instead of tossing on the 
 wild Atlantic, — though we little knew that even 
 then, the destroying angel was busy with the fleet 
 of fishing-boats which had put to sea so gallantly 
 on the evening of our arrival. By morning the 
 neck of the gale was broken, and the sun shone 
 brightly on the white rollers as they chased each, 
 other to the shore ; but a Queen's ship was steam-- 
 ing into the bay, with sad news of ruin out to 
 seaward, — towing behind her boats, water-logged, 
 or bottom upward, — while a silent crowd of 
 women on the quay were waiting to learn on 
 what homes among them the bolt had fallen. 
 
 About twelve o'clock the Glasgow packet came- 
 in, and a few minutes afterwards I had the hon- 
 
 I 
 
tr" 
 
 28 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 
 our of rcccivinj^ on my quarter-deck a gcntl' 'iian 
 wlio seemed a cross between the German student, 
 and swell commercial j.jent. On his head he 
 wore a queer kind of smoking-cap, with tlie peak 
 cocked over his left ear ; then came a [^reen shoot- 
 ing jack'et and flashy silk tartan waistcoat, set 
 off by a gold chain, hung about in innumerable 
 festoons, — while light trousers and natty Wel- 
 lington boots completed his CDstume, and made 
 the wearer look as little like a seaman as need 
 be. It appeared, nevertheless, that the individual 
 in question, was Mr. Ebenezer Wyse, my new 
 sailing master ; so I accepted Captain C.'s strong 
 recommendation as a set-off against the silk tar- 
 tan ; explained to the new comer the position he 
 was to occupy on board, and gave orders for sail- 
 ing in an hour. The multitudinous chain, more- 
 over, so lavishly displayed, turned out to be an 
 ornament of which Mr. Wyse, might well be 
 proud ; and the following history of its acquisi- 
 tion reconciled me more than any thing else to 
 my Master's unnautical appearance. 
 
 Some time ago there was a great demand in 
 Australia for small river steamers, which certain 
 Scotch companies undertook to supply. The 
 difficulty, however, was to get such fragile tea- 
 kettles across the ocean ; five started one after 
 another in murderous succession, and each came 
 to grief before it got half-way to the equator ; 
 ithe sixth alone remained with which to try a last 
 
S/i\7 luboat Speculations. 
 
 29 
 
 experiment ; should she arrive, her price would 
 more than compensate the pecuniary loss already- 
 sustained, thoucdi it co4.ild not hrinc^ to life the 
 hands sacrificed in the mad speculation ; by this 
 time, however, even the proverbial recklessness 
 of the seamen of the port was daunted, and the 
 hearts of two crews had already failed them at 
 the last moment of startinfj;', when mv friend of 
 the chain volunteered to take the command. At 
 the outset of his voyage everything went Avell — 
 a fair wind (her machinery was stored away, 
 and she sailed under canvas) carried the little 
 craft in an incredibly short time a thousand miles 
 to the southward of the Cape, when one day, as 
 she was running before the gale, the man at the 
 wheel — startled at a sea, which he thought was 
 going to poop her, let go the helm, — the vessel 
 broached to — and tons of water tumbled in on 
 the top of the deck. As soon as the confusion 
 of the moment had subsided, it became evident 
 that the shock had broken some of the iron plates 
 and that the ship was in a fair way of founder- 
 ing. So frightened were the crew, that after con- 
 sultation with each other, they determined to take 
 to the boats, and all hands came aft to know 
 whether there was anything the skipper would 
 wish to carry off with him. Comprehending the 
 madness of attempting to reach land in open 
 boats at a distance of a thousand miles from any 
 shore, Wyse pretended to go into the cabin to 
 
^ ' ^ w 
 
 30 
 
 Letters fvoui High Latitudes. 
 
 •get his compass, chronometer, &c. but returning 
 immediately with a revolver in each hand, swore 
 he would shoot the first man who attempted to 
 touch the boats. This timely exhibition of spirit 
 saved their lives ; soon after the weather moder- 
 ated ; by undergoing the ship with chains, St. 
 Paul fashion, the leaks were partially stopped, the 
 steamer reached her destination, and was sold for 
 7,000/. a few days after her arrival. In token of 
 their gratitude for the good service he had done 
 them, the Company presented Mr. Wyse on his 
 return wath a gold watch and the chain he wears 
 -SO gloriously outside the silk tartan waistcoat. 
 
 And now good-bye. I hear the click, click of 
 the chain, as they heave the anchor ; I am rather 
 tired and exhausted with all the worry of the last 
 two months, and shall be heartily glad to get to 
 sea, where fresh air will set me up again, I hope, 
 in a few days. My next letter will be from Ice- 
 land ; and, please God, before I see English land 
 again, I hope to have many a story to tell you of 
 the islands that are washed by the chill waters of 
 the Arctic Sea. 
 
^ 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 THE NORTH ATLANTIC— SPANISH WAVKS OUR CAHIN IN 
 A GALE— SEA-SICKNESS FROM A SCIENTIFIC POINT OF 
 VIEW— WILSON — A PASSENGER COMMITS SUICIDE- 
 FIRST SIGHT OF ICELAND— FLOKI OF THE RAVENS — 
 THE NORSE MAYFLOWER— FTXA FIORD— WE LAND IN 
 THULE. 
 
 Reykjavik, Iceland, June 21, 1856. 
 
 We have landed in Thule ! When, at parting, 
 you moaned so at the thoughts of not being able 
 to hear of our safe arrival, I knew there would be 
 an opportunity of writing to you almost imme- 
 diately after reaching Iceland ; but I said nothing 
 about it at the time, lest something should delay 
 this letter, and you be left to imagine all kinds 
 of doleful reasons for its non-appearance. We 
 anchored in Reykjavik harbour this afternoon 
 (Saturday). H. M. S. Coquette sails for Eng- 
 land on Monday ; so that within a week j'ou will 
 get this. 
 
 For the last ten days we have been leading 
 the life of the " Flying Dutchman." Never do 
 I remember to have had such a dusting ; foul 
 winds, gales, and calms — or rather breathing 
 
 ■ ■'M^iriJ/!LAVki-^J.W< ! Hi.ly.-i. 
 
32 
 
 Lcticrs fyo}n High Latitudes. 
 
 spaces, which the ^^alc took occasionally to mus- 
 ter up fresh cnerj^ics for a blow — with a heavy 
 head sea, that prevented our sailinj.^ even when 
 wc got a slant. On the afternoon of the day we 
 quitted Stornaway, I 'got a notion how it was 
 going to be ; the sun went angrily down behind 
 a bank of solid gray cloud, and by the time we 
 were up with the Ikitt of Lewis, the whole sky 
 was in tatters, and the mercury nowhere, with a 
 heavy swell from the northwest. 
 
 As, two years before, I had spent a week in 
 trying to beat through the Roost of Sumburgh 
 under double-reefed trysails, I was at home in 
 the weather ; and guessing wc were in for it, sent 
 down the topmasts, stowed the boats on board, 
 handed the foresail, rove the ridge-ropes, and 
 reefed all down. By midnight it blew a gale, 
 which continued without intermission until the 
 day we sighted Iceland ; sometimes increasing to 
 a hurricane, but broken now and then by sudden 
 lulls, which used to leave us for a couple of hours 
 at a time tumbling about on the top of the great 
 Atlantic rollers — or Spanish waves, as they are 
 called — until I thought the ship would roll the 
 masts out of her. Why they should be called 
 Spanish waves, no one seems to know ; but I 
 had always heard the seas were heavier here than 
 in any other part of the world, and certainly they 
 did not belie their character. The little ship 
 behaved beautifully, and many a vessel twice her 
 
A Yacht's Ciibin in a Gale. 
 
 33 
 
 Lirgh 
 
 size would have been less comfortable. Indeed, 
 few people can have any notion of the coziness 
 of a yacht's cabin under such circumstances. 
 After having remained for several hours on deck, 
 in the presence of the tempest, — peering through 
 the darkness at those black liquid walls of water, 
 mounting above you in ceaseless agitation, or 
 tumbling over in cataracts of gleaming foam, — 
 the wind roaring through the rigging, — timbers 
 creaking as if the ship would break its heart, — 
 the spray and rain beating in your face, — every 
 thing around in tumult, — suddenly to descend 
 into the quiet of a snug, well-lighted, little cabin, 
 with the firelight dancing on the white rosebud 
 chintz, the well-furnished bookshelves, and all 
 the innumerable knick-knacks that decorate its 
 walls, — little Edith's portrait looking so serene, — 
 every thing about you as bright and fresh as a 
 lady's boudoir in May Fair, — the certainty of 
 being a good three hundred miles from any 
 troublesome shore, — all combine to inspire a 
 feeling of comfort and security difficult to de- 
 scribe. 
 
 These pleasures, indeed, for the first days of 
 our voyage, the Icelander had pretty much to 
 himself. I was laid up with a severe bout of 
 illness I had long felt coming on, and Fitz was 
 sea-sick. I must say, however, I never saw any 
 one behave with more pluck and resolution ; and 
 when we return, the first thing you do must be 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 to thank him for his kindness to mc on that 
 occasion. Though himself ahnost prostrate, he 
 looked after me as indefatigabiy as if he had 
 already found his sea legs ; and, sitting down on 
 the cabin floor, with a basin on one side of him, 
 and a pestle and mortar on the other, used to 
 manufacture my pills, between the paroxysms 
 of his malady, with a decorous pertinacity that 
 could not be too much admired. 
 
 Strangely enough, too, his state of unhappiness 
 lasted a few days longer than the eight-and-forty 
 hours which are generally sufficient to set people 
 on their feet again. I tried to console him by 
 representing what an occasion it was for observ- 
 ing the phenomena of sea-sickness from a scien- 
 tific point of view ; and I must say he set to work 
 most conscientiously to discover some remedy- 
 Brandy, prussic-acid, opium, champagne, ginger, 
 mutton-chops, and tumblers of salt water, were 
 successively exhibited ; but, I regret to say, after 
 a few minutes, each in turn r^-exhibited itself 
 with monotonous punctuality. Indeed, at one 
 time we thought he would never get over it ; and 
 the following conversation, which I overheard 
 one morning between him and my servant, did 
 not brighten his hopes of recovery. 
 
 This person's name is Wilson, and of all men 
 I ever met he is the most desponding. Whatever 
 is to be done, he is sure to see a lion in the path. 
 Life, in his eyes, is a perpetual filling oi leaky 
 
Wilson and the Doctor. 
 
 n 
 
 iNickcts, and a rolling of stones up hill. He is 
 amazed when the bucket holds water, or the 
 stone perches on the summit. He professes but 
 a limited belief in his star, — and success with 
 him is almost a disappointment. His counten- 
 ance corresponds with the prevailing character 
 of his thoughts ; always hopelessly chapfallen, his 
 voice is as of the tomb. He brushes my clothes, 
 lays the cloth, opens the champagne, with the air 
 of one advancing to his execution. I have never 
 seen him smile but once, when he came to report 
 to me that a sea had nearly swept his colleague, 
 the steward, overboard. The son of a gardener 
 at Chiswick, he first took to horticulture ; then 
 emigrated as a settler to the Cape, where he 
 acquired his present complexion, which is of a 
 grass-green ; and finally served as a steward on 
 board an Australian steam-packet. 
 
 Thinking to draw consolation from his pro- 
 fessional experiences, 1 heard Fitz's voice, now 
 very weak, say in a tone of coaxing cheerful- 
 i2ess : — 
 
 **Well, Wilson, I suppose this kind of thing 
 does not last long ?" 
 
 The Voice, as of the tomb. — " I don't know. Sir." 
 Fitz. — " But you must have often seen passen- 
 gers sick," 
 
 Tfie Voice. — " Often, Sir ; very sick." 
 Fitz. — " Well, and on an average, how soott 
 <did they recover ?" 
 
3« 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes » 
 
 The Voice. — "Some of them didn't recover^ 
 Sir." 
 
 Fitz.—'' Well, but those that did ?" 
 
 The Voice. — " 1 know'd a clerj^yman and his 
 wife as were ill all the voyage ; five months, Sir." 
 
 Fitz. — (Quite silent.) 
 
 The Voice ; noiv bccouie sepulchral. — " They 
 sometimes dies, Sir." < 
 
 /.V/^._"Ugh!" 
 
 Before the end of the voyage, however, this 
 Job's comforter himself fell ill, and the doctor 
 amply revenged himself by prescribing for him. 
 
 Shortly after this, a very melancholy occur- 
 rence took place. I had observed, for some days 
 past, as we proceeded north, and the nights be- 
 came shorter, that the cock we shipped at Stor- 
 naway had become quite bewildered on the 
 subject of that meteorological phenomenon called 
 the Dawn of Day. In fact, I doubt whether he 
 ever slept for more than five minutes at a stretch, 
 without waki ^ up in a state of nervous agita- 
 tion, lest it should be cock-crow. At last, when 
 night ceased altogether, his constitution could no 
 longer stand the shock. He crowed once or twice 
 sarcastically, then went melancholy mad ; finally, 
 taking a calenture, he cackled lowly, (probably 
 of green fields,) and, leaping overboard, drowned 
 himself. The mysterious manner in which every 
 day a fresh number of his harem used to dis- 
 appear, may also have preyed upon his spirits. 
 
First Sight of Iceland. 
 
 sr 
 
 At last, on the morninj; of the eighth clay, wc 
 began to look out for land. Tiie weather had 
 greatly improved durini; tiie nij^ht ; and, for the 
 first time since leaving the Hebrides, the sun had 
 got the better of the clouds, and driven them in 
 confusion before his face. The sea, losing its 
 dead leaden colour, had become quite crisp and 
 burnished, darkling into a deep sapphire blue 
 against the horizon ; beyond which, at about 
 nine o'clock, there suddenly shot up towards the 
 zenith, a pale, gold aureole, such as precedes the 
 appearance of the good fairy at a pantomime 
 farce ; then, gradually lifting its huge back above 
 the water, rose a silver pyramid of snow, which I 
 knew must be the cone of an ice mountain, miles 
 away in the interior of the island. From the 
 moment we got hold of the land, our cruise, as 
 you may suppose, doubled in interest. Unfor- 
 tunately, however, the fair morning did not keep 
 its promise ; .about one o'clock, the glittering 
 mountain vanished in mist ; the sky again be- 
 came like an inverted pewter cup, and we had to 
 return for two more days to our old practice of 
 threshing to windward. So provoked was I at 
 this relapse of the weather, that, perceiving a 
 whale blowing convenimt, I could not help sug- 
 gesting to Sigurdr, son of Jonas, that it was an 
 occasion for observing the traditions of his fam- 
 ily ; but he excused himself on the plea of their 
 having become obsolete. 
 
38 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes, 
 
 The mountain wc had seen in the morning 
 was the southeast extremity of the island, the 
 very landfall made by one of its first discoverers.* 
 This gentleman, not having a compass, (he lived 
 about A. D. 864,) nor knowing exactly where the 
 land lay, took on board with him, at starting^ 
 three consecrated ravens — as an M. P. would take 
 three well-trained pointers to his moor. Having 
 sailed a certain distance, he let loose one, which 
 flew back, — by this he judged he had not got 
 half-way. Proceeding onwards, he loosed the 
 second, which, after circling in the air for some 
 minutes in apparent uncertainty, also made oflF 
 home, as though it still remained a nice point 
 which were the shorter course toward terra firma. 
 But the third, on obtaining his liberty a few dayx 
 later, flew forward, and by following tne (Hrectiom 
 in which he had disappeared, Rabna Floki» or 
 
 ''*' There is in Strabo, an account of a voyage made by a. 
 citizen of the Greek colony of Marseilles, in the time <»f 
 Alexander the Great, through the Pillars of Hercules, along 
 the coasts of France and Spain, up the English Channel, and 
 so across the North Sea, past an island he calls Thule ; his 
 further progress, he asserted, was hindered by a barrif) of a. 
 peculiar nature, — neither earth, air, nor sky, but a compound 
 of all three, forming a thick viscid substance which it was> 
 impossible to penetrate. Now, whether this same Thule 
 was one of the Shetland Islands, and the impassible sub- 
 stance merely a fog, — or Iceland, and the barricade beyond^ 
 a wall of ice, it is impossible to say. Probably Pythias did:. 
 not get beyond the Shetlands. 
 
The Norse Mayflower. 
 
 39 
 
 Floki of the Ravens, as he came to be called, 
 triumphantly made the land. 
 
 The real colonists did not arrive till some 
 years later, for I do not much believe a story 
 they tell of Christian relics, supposed to have 
 been left by Irish fishermen, found on the Wcst- 
 mann islands. A Scandinavian king, named 
 Harold Haarfager, (a contemporary of our own 
 King Alfred's,) having murdered, burnt, and 
 otherwise exterminated all his brother kings who» 
 at that time, grew as thick as blackberries in 
 Norway, first consolidated their dominions into 
 one realm, as Edgar did the Heptarchy, and then 
 proceeded to invade the Udal rights of the land- 
 holders. Some of them, animated with that love 
 of liberty innate in the race of the noble North- 
 men, rather than submit to his oppressions, 
 determined to look for a new home amid the deso- 
 late regions of the icy sea. Freighting a dragon- 
 shaped galley — the Mayflower of the period — 
 with their wives and children, and all the house- 
 hold monuments that were dear to them, they 
 saw the blue peaks of their dear Norway hills sink 
 down into the sea behind, and manfully set their 
 faces towards the west, where — some vague re- 
 port had whispered — a new land might be found. 
 Arrived in sight of Iceland, the leader of the ex- 
 pedition threw the sacred pillars belonging to his 
 former dwelling into the water, in order that the 
 gods might determine the site of his new home ; 
 
40 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 carried by the tide, no one could say in what 
 direction, they were at last discovered, at the end 
 of three years, in a sheltered bay on the west 
 side of the island, and Ingolf* came and abode 
 there, and the place became, in the course oi 
 years, Reykjavik, the capital of the country. 
 
 Sigurdr having scouted the idea of acting Iphi- 
 genia, there was nothing for it but steadily to 
 beat over the remaining hundred and fifty miles, 
 which still separated us from Cape Reikianess. 
 After going for two days hard at it, and sighting 
 the Westmann Islands, we ran plump into a fog> 
 and lay to. In a few hours, however, it cleared 
 up into a lovely sunny day, with a warm sum- 
 mer breeze just rippling up the water. Before 
 us lay the long wished for Cape, with the Meal- 
 sack, — a queer stump 6f basalt, that flops up 
 out of the sea, fifteen miles southwest of Cape 
 Reikianess, its flat top white with guano, like the 
 mouth of a bag of flour — five miles on our port 
 bow ; and seldom have I remembered a pleas^ 
 anter four-and-twenty hours than those spent 
 stealing up along the gnarled and crumpled lava 
 flat that forms the western coast of Guldbrand 
 Syssel. Such fishing, shooting, looking through 
 telescopes, and talking of what was to be done 
 on our arrival ! Like Antaeus, Sigurd seemed 
 
 * It was in consequence of a domestic feud that Ingolf 
 himself was forced to emigrate. 
 
Faxa Fiord. 
 
 41 
 
 llf 
 
 twice the man he was before, at si^jht dF his 
 native land ; and the Doctor grew nearly lunatic 
 when, after stalking a solen goose asleep on the 
 water, the bird flew away at the moment the 
 schooner hove within shot. 
 
 The panorama of the bay of Faxa Fiord is 
 mas^nificent, — with a width of fifty miles from 
 horn to horn, the one running down into a rocky 
 ridge of pumice, the other towering to the height 
 of five thousand feet in a pyramid of eternal 
 snow, while round the intervening semicircle 
 crowd the peaks of a hundred noble mountains. 
 As you approach the shore, you are very much 
 reminded of the west coast of Scotland, except 
 that everything is more intense, the atmosphere 
 ■clearer, the light more vivid, the air more bracing, 
 the hills steeper, loftier, more tormented, as the 
 French say, and more gaunt ; while, between 
 their base and the sea, stretches a dirty greenish 
 slope, patched with houses which themselves, 
 both roof and walls, are of a mouldy-green, as 
 if some long-since inhabited country had been 
 fished up out of the bottom of the sea. 
 
 The effects of light and shadow are the purest 
 I ever saw, the contrasts of colour most aston- 
 ishing, — one square front of a mountain jutting 
 out in a blaze of gold against the flank of 
 another, dyed of the darkest purple, while up 
 against the azure sky beyond, rise peaks of glit- 
 tering snow and ice. The snow, however, be- 
 

 42 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 
 yond serving as an ornamental fringe to the 
 distance, plays but a very poor part at this sea- 
 son of the year in Iceland. While I write, the 
 thermometer is above 70''. Last night we re- 
 mained playing at chess on deck till bedtime, 
 without thinking of calling for coats, and my 
 
 people live in their shirt sleeves, and — astonish- 
 ment at the climate. 
 
 And now, good-bye, I cannot tell you how I 
 am enjoying myself, body and soul. Already I 
 feel much stronger, and before I return I trust to 
 have laid in a stock of health sufficient to last 
 the family for several generations. 
 
 Remember me to , and tell her she looks 
 
 too lovely ; her face has become of a beautiful 
 bright green — a complexion which her golden 
 crown sets off to the greatest advantage. I wish 
 she could have seen, as we sped across, how 
 passionately the waves of the Atlantic flung their 
 liquid arms about her neck, and how proudly 
 she broke through their embraces, leaving them 
 far behind, moaning and lamenting. 
 
 i 
 
LETTER VI. 
 
 REYKJAVIK— LATIN CONVERSATION— I P.ECOME THE PRO- 
 PRIETOR OF TWENTY-SIX HORSES— EIDER DUCKS— BES- 
 SESTAD— SNORRO STURLESON— THE OLD GREENLAND 
 COLONY— FINLAND— A GENOESE SKIPPER IN THE FIF- 
 TEENTH CENTURY— AN ICELANDIC DINNER— SKOAL — 
 AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH IN LATIN— WINC.ED RAB- 
 BITS— DUCROW— START OF THE BAGGAGE-TRAIN. 
 
 Reykjavik, June 28, 1856. 
 
 Notwithstanding that its site, as I mentioned 
 in my last letter, was determined by auspices not 
 less divine than those of Rome or Athens, Reyk- 
 javik is not so fine a city as either, though its 
 pnblic buildings may be thought to be in better 
 repair. In fact, the town consists of a collection 
 of wooden sheds, one story high — rising here and 
 there into a gable end of greater pretentions — 
 built along the lava beech, and flanked at either 
 end by a suburb of turf huts, 
 
 On every side of it extends a desolate plain of 
 lava, that once jnust have boiled np red-hot from 
 some distant gateway of hell, and fallen hissing 
 into the sea. No tree or bush relieves the dreari- 
 ness of the landscape, and the mountains are 
 too distant to serve as a background to the build- 
 
44 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 'I 
 in I 
 
 ings ; but before the door of each merchant's 
 house facing the sea, there flies a gay Httle pen- 
 non; and as you walk along the silent streets, 
 whose dust no carriage wheel has ever dese- 
 crated, the rows of flower-pots that peep out of 
 the windows, between curtains of white muslin, 
 at once convince you that notwithstanding their 
 ' unpretending appearance, within each dwelling 
 . reign the elegance and comfort of a woman- 
 tended home. . - 
 
 Thanks to Sigurd r's popularity among his 
 countrymen, by the second day after our arrival 
 we found ourselves no longer in a strange land. 
 With a frank, energetic cordiality that quite took 
 one by surprise, the gentlemen of the place at 
 •once welcomed us to their firesides, and made us 
 feel that we could give them no greater pleasure 
 than by claiming their hospitality. As, however, 
 it is necessary, if we are* to reach Jan Mayen 
 and Spitzbergen this summer, that our stay in 
 Iceland should not be prolonged above a certain 
 date, I determined ct once to make preparations 
 for our expedition to the Geysers and the interior 
 of the country. Our plan at present, after visit- 
 ing the hot springs, is to return to Reykjavik, 
 and stretch right across the middle of the island 
 to the north coast, — scarcely ever visited by 
 :strangers. Thence we shall sail straight away 
 to Jan Mayen. 
 
 In pursuance to this arrangement, the first 
 
 f 
 
 w 
 
Latin Conversation. 
 
 45 
 
 thing to do was to buy some horses. Away, 
 accordingly, we went in the gig to the little pier 
 leading up to the merchant's house who had 
 kindly promised Sigurdr to provide them. Every 
 thing in the country that is not made of wood is 
 made of lava. The pier was constructed out of 
 huge boulders of lava, the shingle is lava, the 
 sea-sand is pounded lava, the mud on the roads 
 is lava paste, the foundations of the houses are 
 lava blocks, and in dry weather you are blinded 
 with lava dust. Immediately upon landing I 
 was presented to a fine, burly gentleman, who, I 
 was informed, could let me have a steppe-full of 
 horses if I desired, and a few minutes afterwards 
 I picked myself up in the middle of a Latin 
 oration on the subject of the weather. Having 
 suddenly lost my nominative case, 1 concluded 
 abruptly w^ith the figure syncope, and a bow to 
 which my interlocutor politely replied " Ita." 
 Many of the inhabitants speak English, and one 
 or two French, but in default of either of these, 
 your only chance is Latin. At first I found great 
 difficulty in brushing up any thing sufficiently con- 
 versational, more especially as it was necessary 
 to broaden out the vowels in the high Roman 
 fashion ; but a little practice soon made me more 
 fluent, and I got at last to brandish my " Pergra- 
 tum est," &c. in the face of a new acquaintance, 
 without any misgivings. On this occasion I 
 thought it more prudent to let Sigurdr make the 
 
46 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 4 
 
 i, 
 
 necessary arrangements for our journey, and in 
 a few minutes I had the satisfaction of learning 
 that I had become tlic proprietor of twenty-six 
 horses, as many bridles and pack-saddles, and 
 three guides. 
 
 There being no roads in Iceland, all the traffic 
 of the country is conducted by means of horses, 
 along the bridle-tracks which centiiries of travel 
 have worn in the lava plains. As but little hay 
 is to be had, the winter is a season of fasting 
 for all cattle, and it is not until spring is well 
 advanced, and the horses have had time to grow 
 a little fat on the young grass, that you can go a 
 journey. I was a good deal taken aback when 
 the number of my stud was announced to me ; 
 but it appears that what with the photographic 
 apparatus, which 1 am anxious to take, and our 
 tent, it would be impossible to do with fewer 
 animals. The price of each pony is very moder- 
 ate, and I am told I shall have no difficulty in 
 disposing of all of them at the conclusion of our 
 expedition. 
 
 These preliminaries happily concluded, Mr. 
 
 J invited us into his house, where his wife 
 
 and daughter — a sunshiny young lady of eighteen 
 — were waitimx to receive us. As Latin here 
 was quite useless, we had to entrust Sigurd r with 
 all the pretty things we desired to convey to our 
 entertainers; but it is my firm opinion that that 
 gentleman took a dirty advantage of us, and in- 
 
Drink-Runes. 
 
 47 
 
 tercepting the choicest flowers of our eloquence, 
 appropriated them to the advancement of his 
 own interests. However, such expressions of re- 
 spectful admiration as he suffered to reach their 
 destination were received very graciously, and re- 
 warded with a shower of smiles. 
 
 The next few days were spent in making short 
 •expeditions in the neighbourhood, in preparing 
 our baggage train, and in paying visits. It would 
 be too long for me to enumerate all the marks of 
 kindness and hospitality I received during this 
 short period. Suffice it to say, that I had the 
 satisfaction of making many very interesting ac- 
 quaintances, of beholding a great number of very 
 pretty faces, and of partaking of an innumerable 
 quantity of luncheons. In fact, to break bread, 
 or, more correctly speaking, to crack a bottle 
 with the master of the house, is as essential an 
 element of a morning call as the making a bow 
 or shaking hands, and to refuse to take off your 
 glass would be as great an incivility as to decline 
 taking off your hat. From earliest times, as the 
 grand old ballad of the King of Thule tells us, a 
 beaker was considered the fittest token a lady 
 could present to her true-love — 
 
 |>ent 9ter6enb seinr '^uOr« 
 
 And in one of the most ancient Eddaic songs it 
 is written, " Drink, Runes, must thou know, if 
 
48 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 thou wilt maintain thy power over the maiden 
 thou lovcst. Thou shalt score them on the drink- 
 ing-horn, Oil the back of thy hand, and the word 
 naud" {need — necessity) "on thy nail." More- 
 over, when it is remembered, that the ladies of 
 the house themselves minister on these occasions, 
 it will be easily understood that all flinching is 
 out of the question. What is a man to do, when 
 a wicked little golden-haired maiden insists on 
 pouring him out a bumper, and dumb show is his 
 only means of remonstrance ? Why, of course, 
 if death were in the cup, he must make her a leg, 
 and drain it to the bottom, as I did. In ponclu- 
 sion, I am bound to add that, notwithstanding 
 the bacchanalian character prevailing in these 
 visits, I derived from them much interesting and 
 useful information ; and I have invariably found 
 the gentlemen, to whom I have been presented, 
 persons of education and refinement, combined 
 with a happy, healthy, jovial temperament, that 
 invests their conversation with a peculiar charm. 
 
 At this moment people are in a great state of 
 excitement at the expected arrival of H. I. H. 
 Prince Napoleon, and two days ago a large full- 
 rigged ship came in laden with coal for his use. 
 The day after we left Stornaway, we had seen 
 her scudding away before the gale on a due west 
 course, and guessed she was bound for Iceland, 
 and running down the longitude ; but as we 
 arrived here four days before her, our course 
 
Reykjavik. 
 
 49 
 
 seems to have been a better one. The only other 
 ship here is the French frigate " Artemisc," Com- 
 modore Dumas, by whom I have been treated 
 with the greatest kindness and civiUty. 
 
 On Saturday we went to Vedey, a beautiful 
 little green island where the cider ducks breed 
 and build nests with the soft under-down plucked 
 from their own bosoms. After the little ones are 
 hatched and their birth-places deserted, the nests 
 are gathered, cleaned, and stuffed into pillow- 
 cases for pretty ladies in Europe to lay their soft, 
 warm cheeks upon and sleep the sleep of the 
 innocent ; while long-legged, broad-shouldered 
 Englishmen protrude from between them at Ger- 
 man inns, like the ham from a sandwich, and 
 cannot sleep, however innocent. 
 
 The next day, being Sunday, I read pra)'ers 
 on board, and then went for a short time to the 
 Cathedral church, — the only stone building in 
 Reykjavik. It is a moderate-sized, unpretending 
 place, capable of holding three or four hundred 
 persons, erected in very ancient times, but lately 
 restored, The Icelanders are of the Lutheran 
 religion ; and a Lutheran clergyman, in a black 
 gown, i&c, with a ruff round his neck, such as 
 our bishops are painted in about the time of 
 James the First, was preaching a sermon. It 
 was the first time I had heard Icelandic spoken 
 continuously, and it struck me as a singularly 
 sweet carressing language, although I disliked the 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 particular cadence, amounting almost to a chanty 
 with which each sentence ended. 
 
 As in every church where prayers have been 
 offered up since the world began, the majority of 
 the congregation were women, some few dressed 
 in bonnets, and the rest in the national black silk 
 skull-cap, set jauntily on one side of the head, 
 with a long black tassel hanging down to the 
 shoulder, or else in a quaint mitre of white linen, 
 of which a drawing alone could give you an 
 idea ; the remainder of an Icelandic lady's cos- 
 tume, when not superseded by Paris fashions, 
 consists of a black boddicc fastened in front with 
 silver clasps, over which is drawn a cloth jacket, 
 ornamented with a multitude of silver buttons ; 
 round the neck goes a stiff ruff of velvet, figured 
 with silver lace, and a silver belt, often beauti- 
 fully chased, binds the long dark wadmal petti- 
 coat round the waist. Sometimes the ornaments 
 are of gold instea ' "'f silver, and very costly. 
 
 Before dism«" ais people, the preacher de- 
 
 scended fro pulpit, and putting on a splen- 
 
 did cope of L..inson velvet (in which some bishop 
 had in ages past been murdered), turned his back 
 to the congregation and chanted some Latin 
 sentences, in good round Roman style. Though 
 still retaining in their ceremonies a few vestiges 
 of the old religion, though altars, candles, pic- 
 tures, and crucifixes yet remain in many of their 
 churches, the Icelanders are staunch Protestants, 
 
A Fartn-Steadiug. 
 
 ji 
 
 and, by all accounts, the most devout, innocent, 
 pure-hearted people in the world. Crime, theft, 
 debauchery, cruelty, are unknown amonga, them; 
 they have neither prison, gallows, soldiers, nor 
 police ; and in the manner of the lives they lead 
 among their secluded valleys, there is something 
 of a patriarchal simplicity, that reminds one of 
 the Old World princes, of whom it has been said, 
 that they were " upright and perfect, eschewing 
 evil, and in their hearts no guile." 
 
 The law with regard to marriage, however, is 
 sufficiently peculiar, Whc!i, from some unhappy 
 incompatibility of temper, a married couple live 
 so miserably together as to render life insupport- 
 able, it is competent for them to apply to the 
 Danish Governor of the island for a divorce. If, 
 after the lapse of three years from the date of the 
 application, both are still of the same mind, and 
 equally eager to be free, the divorce is granted, 
 and each is at liberty to marry again. 
 
 The next day it had been arranged that we 
 were to take an experimental trip on our new 
 ponies, under the guidance of the learned and 
 jovial Rector of the College. Unfortunately the 
 weather was dull and rainy, but we were deter- 
 mined to enjoy ourselves in spite of every thing, 
 and a pleasanterride I have seldom had. The 
 steed Segurdr had purchased for me was a long- 
 tailed, hog-maned, shaggy, cow-houghed creature, 
 thirteen hands high, of a bright yellow colour, 
 
52 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 with admirable action, and sure-footed enough to 
 walk downstairs backwards. The Doctor was 
 not less well mounted ; in fact, the Icelandic 
 pony is quite a peculiar race, much stronger, 
 faster, and better bred than the Highland shelty, 
 and descended probably from pure-blooded sires 
 that scoured the steppes of Asia, long before 
 Odin and his paladins had peopled the valleys of 
 Scandinavia. 
 
 The first few miles of our ride lay across an 
 undulating plain of dolorite, to a farm situated 
 at the head of an inlet of the sea. At a distance, 
 the farm-steading looked like a little oasis of 
 green, amid the gray stony slopes that sur- 
 rounded it, and on a nearer approach, — not un- 
 like the vestiges of a Celtic earthwork, with the 
 tumulus of a hero or two in the centre, — but the 
 mounds turned out to be nothing more than the 
 grass roofs of the houses and offices, and the 
 banks and dykes, but circumvalhitions round the 
 plot of most carefully cleaned meadow, called the 
 "tun," v.-hich always surrounds every Icelandic 
 farm. This word "t;in" is evidently identical 
 with our own Irish *' toivn-land^' the Cornish 
 '* toivn'y' and the Scotch " toon',' terms which, in 
 their local signification, do not mean a congre- 
 gation of streets and buildings, but the yard, and 
 spaces of grass immediately adjoining a single 
 house; just as in German we have ^^ tzaiinl' and 
 in the Dutch " tuynl' a garden. 
 
in 
 
 irc- 
 
 Ind 
 
 rle 
 
 ind 
 
 Bcsscstad. 
 
 53 
 
 H 
 
 Turnin;^ to the right, round the head of a little 
 bay, we passed within forty yards of an enor- 
 m 3US eagle, seated on a crag ; but wc had no 
 riile, and all he did was to rise heavily into the 
 air, flap his wings like a barn-'loor fowl, and 
 plump lazily down twenty yards farther off. 
 Soon after, the district we travcr became 
 
 more igneous, wrinkled, cracked ant y than 
 
 anything we had yet seen, and \ r two 
 
 hours' scamper over such a track — a then I 
 
 would not have believed horses coul /e trav- 
 
 ersed, even at a foot's pace — brcugiit us to the 
 solitary farm-house of Bessestad. Fresh from 
 the neat homesteads of England that we had left 
 sparkling in t'^e bright spring-weather, and shel- 
 tered by immemorial elms, — the scene before us 
 looked inexpressibly desolate. In front rose a 
 cluster of weather-beaten wooden buildings and 
 huts like ice-houses, surrounded by a scanty plot 
 of grass, reclaimed from the craggy plain of 
 broken lava that stretched — the home of ravens 
 and foxes — on either side to the horizon. Be- 
 yond, lay a lew black breadth of moorland, inter- 
 sected by patches of what was neither land nor 
 water, and last, — the sullen sea, while above our 
 heads a wind, saturated with the damps of the 
 Atlantic, went moaning over the landscape. Yet 
 this was Bessestad, the ancient home of Snorro 
 Sturleson ! 
 
 On dismounting from our horses and entering 
 
54 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 the house things began to look more cheery ; 
 a dear old lady, to whom we were successively 
 presented by the Rector, received us with the air 
 of a princess, ushered us into her best room, 
 made us sit down on the sofa — the place of 
 honour — and assisted y her niece, a pale lily-like 
 maiden, named after Jarl Hakon's Thora, pro- 
 ceeded to serve us with hot coffee, rusks, and 
 sweetmeats. At first it used to give me a very 
 disagreeable feeling to be waited upon by the 
 woman-kind of the household, and I was always 
 starting up, and attempting to take the dishes 
 out of their hands, to their infinite surprise ; but 
 now I have succeeded in learning to accept their 
 ministrations with the same unembarrassed dig- 
 nity as my neighbours. In the end, indeed, I 
 have rather got to like it, especially when they 
 are as pretty as Miss Thora. To add, moreover, 
 to our content, it appeared that that young lady 
 spoke a little French ; so that we had no longer 
 any need to pay our court by proxy, which many 
 persons besides ourselves have found to be un- 
 satisfactory. Our hostess lives quite alone. Her 
 son, whom I have the pleasure of knowing, is far 
 away, pursuing a career of honour and useful- 
 ness at Copenhagen, and it seems quite enough 
 for his mother to know that he is holding his 
 head high among the princes of literature and 
 the statesmen of Europe, provided only news of 
 his sue cess and advancing reputation shall occa- 
 sionally reach her across the ocean. 
 
 I" 
 
Domestic Economy. 
 
 55 
 
 far 
 ful- 
 
 ind 
 of 
 
 :ca- 
 
 . 
 
 Of the rooms and the interior arrangement of 
 the house, I do not know that I have anything 
 particular to tell you ; they seemed to me like 
 those of a good old-fashioned farm-house, the 
 walls wainscoted with deal and the doors and 
 staircase of the same material. A few prints, a 
 photograph, some book-shelves, one or two little 
 pictures, decorated the parlour, and a neat iron 
 s'.ove, and massive chests of drawers, served to 
 furnish it very completely. But you must not, I 
 fear, take the drawing-room of Bessestad as an 
 average specimen of the comfort of an Icelandic 
 intericur. The greater proportion of the inhabi- 
 tants of the island live much more rudely. The 
 walls of only the more substantial farmsteads 
 are wainscoted with deal, or even partially 
 screened with driftwood. In most houses the 
 bare blocks of lava, pointed with moss, are left in 
 all their natural ruggcdncss. Instead of wood, 
 the rafters are made of the ribs of whales. The 
 same room but too often serves as the dining, 
 sitting and sleeping place for the whole family ; 
 a hole in the roof is the only chimney, and a 
 horse's skull the most luxurious faiiteuil into 
 which it is possible for them to induct a stranger. 
 ^\iQ. parquet \?, that originally laid down by Na- 
 ture, — the beds are merely boxes filled with 
 feathers or sea-weed, — and by all accounts the 
 nightly packing is pretty close, and very indis- 
 criminate. 
 
S<5 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 After drinking several cups of coffee, and con- 
 suming at least a barrel of rusks, we rose to go, 
 in spite of Miss Thora's intimation that a fresh 
 jorum of coffee was being brewed. The horses 
 were re-saddled ; and with an eloquent cxchange- 
 of bows, curtseys and kindly smiles, wc took leave 
 of our courteous entertainers and sallied forth 
 into the wind and rain. It was a regular race 
 home, single file, the Rector leading; but as we 
 sped along in silence, amid the unchangeable fea- 
 tures of this strange land, I could not help think- 
 ing of him whose shrewd observing eyes must 
 have rested, six hundred and fifty years ago, on 
 the selfsame crags and tarns and distant moun- 
 tain-tops; perhaps on the very day he rode out in 
 the pride of his wealth, talent and political influ- 
 ence, to meet his murderers at Reikholt. And 
 mingling with his memory would rise the pale 
 face of Thora, — not the little lady of the coffee 
 and biscuits we had just left, but that other 
 Thora, so tender and true, who turned back King 
 Olai's hell-hounds from the hiding-place of the 
 great Jarl of Lade. 
 
 In order that you may understand why the for- 
 lorn barrack we had just left, and its solitary 
 inmates, should have set me thinking of the men 
 and women " of a thousand summers back," it is 
 necessary I should tell you a little about this same 
 Snorro Sturleson, whose memory so haunted me. 
 
 Colonized as Iceland had been, — not as is gen- 
 
Ancient Liter aUivt 
 
 57 
 
 erally the case when a new hind is brought into 
 occupation, by the poverty-stricken dregs of a re- 
 dundant population, nor by a gang of outcasts 
 and ruffians, expelled from the bosom of a society 
 which they contaminated, — but by men who in 
 their own land had been both rich and noble, — 
 with possessions to be taxed and a spirit too 
 haughty to endure taxation, — already acquainted 
 with whatever of refinement and learning the age 
 they lived in was capable of supplying, — it is not 
 surprising, that we should find it'- inhabitants, 
 even from the first infancy of the republic, en- 
 dowed with an amount -f intellectual energy 
 hardly to be expected in so secluded a commun- 
 
 ity. ■ 
 
 Perhaps it was this very seclusion which stim- 
 ulated into almost miraculous exuberance the 
 mental powers already innate in the people. Un- 
 distracted during several successive centuries by 
 the bloody wars and still more bloody political 
 convulsions, which for too long a period rendered 
 the sword of the warrior so much more important 
 to European society than the pen of the scholar, 
 the Icelandic settlers, devoting the long leisure of 
 their winter nights to intellectual occupations, 
 became the first of any European nation to cre- 
 ate for themselves a native literature. Indeed, so 
 much more accustomed did they get to use their 
 heads than their hands, that if an Icelander were 
 injured he often avenged himself, not by cutting 
 
 f 
 
S8 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 the throat of his antagonist, but by ridicuHng 
 him in some pasquinade, — sometimes, indeed, he 
 did botli ; and when the King of Denmark mal- 
 treats tlie crew of an Icelandic vessel shipwrecked 
 on his coast, their indignant countrymen send the 
 barbarous monarch word, that by way of reprisal, 
 they intend making as many lampoons on him as 
 there are promontories in his dominions. Almost 
 all the ancient Scandinavian manuscr' lS are 
 Icelandic; the negotiations between the Courts 
 of the North were conducted by Icelandic diplo- 
 matists ; the earliest topographical survey with 
 which we are acquainted was Icelandic; the cos- 
 mogany of the Odin religion was formulated and 
 its doctrinal traditions and ritual reduced to a 
 system, by Icelandic archctologists : and the first 
 historical composition ever written by any Euro- 
 pean in the vernacular, was the product of Ice- 
 landic genius. The title of this important work 
 is " The Heimskringla',' or ivorld-circle* and its 
 author was — Snorro Sturleson ! It consists of an 
 account of the reigns of the Norwegian kings 
 from mythic times down to about A.D. 1150, that 
 is to say, a few years before the death of our own 
 Henry II. ; but detailed by the old Sagaman with 
 so much art and cleverness as almost to combine 
 the dramatic power of Macaulay with Claren- 
 
 * So called because Hemiskringla (world-circle) is the 
 first word in the opening sentence of the manuscript which 
 catches the eye 
 
 I ijHiLjaw 
 
The Heimskringla. 
 
 59 
 
 don's delicate delineation of character, and the 
 charming loquacity of Mr. Pepys. His stirring 
 sea-fights, his tender love-stories, and delightful 
 bits of domestic gossip, are really inimitable ; — 
 you actually live with the people he brings upon 
 the stage, as intimately as you do with Falstaff, 
 Percy, or Prince Hal; and there is something in 
 the bearing of those old heroic figures who form 
 his draviatis pcrsoncc, so grand and noble, that it 
 is impossible to read the story of their earnest 
 stirring lives without a feeling of almost passibn- 
 ate interest — an effect which no tale frozen up in 
 the monkish Latin of the Saxon annalists has 
 ever produced upon me. 
 
 As for Snorro's own life, it was eventful and 
 tragic enough. Unscrupulous, turbulant, greedy 
 of money, — he married two heiresses, — the one, 
 however, becoming the colleague, not the succes- 
 sor of the other. This arrangement naturally led 
 to embarrassment. His wealth created envy, his 
 excessive haughtiness disgusted his sturdy fellow- 
 countrymen. He was suspected of desiring to 
 make the republic an appanage of the Norwegian 
 crown, in the hope of himself becoming viceroy ; 
 and at last, on a dark September night, of the 
 year 1 241, he was murdered in his house at Reik- 
 holt by his three sons-in-law. 
 
 The same century which produced the Hero- 
 dotean w^ork of Sturleson also gave birth to a 
 whole body of miscellaneous Icelandic literature, 
 
6o 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 — though in Britain and elsewhere bookmaking 
 was entirely confined to the monks and merely 
 consisted in the compilation of a series of bald 
 annals locked up in bad Latin. It is true> 
 Thomas of Ercildoune was a contemporary of 
 Snorro's; but he is known to us more as a magi- 
 cian than as a man of letters; whereas histories, 
 memoirs, romances, biographies, poetry, statistics, 
 novels, calendars, specimens of almost every kind 
 of composition, arc to be found even among the 
 meagre relics which have survived the literary de- 
 cadence that supervened on the extinction of the 
 republic. 
 
 It is to these same spirited chroniclers that we 
 are indebted for the preservation of two of the 
 most remarkable facts in the history of the world. 
 The colonization of Greenland by Europeans in 
 the loth century and the discovery of America 
 by the Icelanders at the commencement of the 
 nth. 
 
 The storv is rather curious. 
 
 Shortly after the arrival of the first settlers in 
 Iceland, a mariner of the name Eric the Red 
 discovers a country away to the west, which, in 
 consequence of its fruitful appearance, he calls 
 Greenland. In the course of a few years the 
 new land has become so thickly inhabited that it 
 is necessary to erect the district into an episcopal 
 see ; and at last, in 1448, we have a brief of 
 Pope Nicholas " granting to his beloved children 
 
Colonization of Greenland. 
 
 6i 
 
 of Greenland, in consideration of their having 
 erected many sacred buildings and a splendid 
 cathedral," — a new bishop and a fresh supply of 
 priests. At the commencement, however, of the 
 next century, this colony of Greenland, with its 
 bishops, priests and people, its one hundred and 
 ninety townships, its cathedral, its churches, its 
 monasteries, suddenly fades into oblivion, like the 
 fabric of a dream. The memory of its existence 
 perishes and the allusions made to it in the old 
 Scandinavian Sagas gradually come to be con- 
 sidered poetical inventions or pious frauds. At last 
 after a lapse of four hundred years, some Danish 
 missionaries set out to convert the Esquimaux ; 
 and there, far within Davis's Straits, are discov- 
 ered vestiges of the ancient settlement, — remains 
 of houses, paths, walls, churches, tombstones, and 
 inscriptions.* 
 
 * On one tombstone there was written in Runic, " Vigclis 
 IM D. Hvilir Her; Glwde Cudc Sal Honnar." " \'igdessa 
 rests here,; God gladden her soul." But the most interest- 
 ing of these inscriptions is one discovered, in 1824, in an 
 island in Balihvs Bay, in latitude 72"' 55', as it si o.vs how 
 boldly those Northmen nnist have penetrated into regions 
 supposed to have been unvisitcd by man before the voya<;cs 
 of our modern navigators ; '* Krling Sighvatson and Ti!omo 
 Thordarson and Eindrid Oddson, on Saturday before As- 
 cension-v/eek, raised these marks and cleared ground, 1 135." 
 This date of Ascension-week implies that these three men 
 wintered here, which must lead us to imagine that at that 
 time, seven hundred years ago, the climate was' less incle- 
 ment than it is now. 
 
62 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 What could have been the calamity which 
 suddenly annihilated this Christian people, it is 
 impossible to say ; whether they were massacred 
 by some warlike tribe of natives, or swept off to 
 the last man by the terrible pestilence of 1349, 
 called •' The Black Death," or, — most horrible 
 conjecture of all, — beleaguered by vast masses of 
 ice setting down from the Polar Sea along the 
 eastern coast of Greenland, and thus miserably 
 frozen, — we are never likely to know — so utterly 
 did they perish, so mysterious has been their 
 doom. 
 
 On the other hand, certain traditions, with 
 regard to the discovery of a vast continent by 
 their forefathers, away in the south-west, seem 
 never entirely to have died out of the memory 
 of the Icelanders; and in the month of February, 
 1477, there arrives at Reykjavik, in a barque 
 belonging to the port of Bristol, a certain long-, 
 visaged, gray-eyed Genoese mariner, who was ob- 
 served to take an amazing interest in hunting 
 up whatever was known on the subject. Whether 
 Columbus — for it was no less a personage than 
 he — really learned anything to confirm him in 
 his noble resolutions, is uncertain ; but we have 
 still extant an historical manuscript, written at all 
 events before the year 1395, that is to say, one 
 hundred years prior to Columbus's voyage, which 
 contains a minute account of how a certain per- 
 son named Lief, while sailing over to Greenland, 
 
 \\- 
 
Expeditions to Icdand. 
 
 63 
 
 was driven out of his course by contrary winds, 
 until he found himself off an extensive and un- 
 known coast, which increased in beauty and 
 fertility as he descended south, and how in con- 
 sequence of the representation Lief made on his 
 return, successive expeditions were undertaken in 
 the same direction. On two occasions their wives 
 seem to have accompanied the adventurers ; of 
 one ship's company, the skipper was a lady ; 
 while two parties even wintered in the new land, 
 built houses, and prepared to colonize. For some 
 reason, however, the intention was abandoned ; 
 and in process of time these early voyages came 
 to be considered as apocryphal as the Pcenician 
 circumnavigation of Africa in the time of Pharaoh 
 Necho. 
 
 It is quite uncertain how low a latitude in 
 America the Northmen ever reached ; but from 
 the description given of the scenery, products, 
 and inhabitants, — from the mildness of the 
 weather, — and from the length of the day on the 
 2 1st of December, — it is conjectured they could 
 not have descended much further than New- 
 foundland, Nova Scotia, or, at most, the coast of 
 Massachusetts.* , 
 
 * There is a certain piece of rock on the Taunton River, 
 in Massachusetts, called the Deighton Stone, on which are 
 to be seen rude configurations, for a long time supposed to 
 be a Runic inscription executed by these Scandinavian 
 voyagers ; but there can be now no longer any doubt of this, 
 inscription, such as it is, being of Indian execution. 
 
64 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 But to return to more material matters. 
 
 Yesterday — no — the clay before — in fact I for- 
 get the date of the day — I don't believe it had 
 one — all I know is, I have not been in bed since, 
 — we dined at the Governor's ; — though dinner is 
 too modest a term to apply to the entertainment. 
 
 The invitation was for four o'clock, and at half- 
 past three we pulled ashore in the gig; I, inno- 
 cent that I was, in a well-fitting white waistcoat. 
 
 The Government Mouse, like all the others, is 
 built of \Vood, on the top of a hillock; the only 
 accession of dignity it can boast being a little bit 
 ot mangy kitchen-garden that hangs down in 
 front to the road, like a soiled apron. There was 
 no lock, handle, bell or knocker to the door, but 
 immediately on um .ipproach, a servant present- 
 ed himself, and ushered us into the room where 
 Count Trampc was waiting to welcome us. 
 After having been presented to his wife, we pro- 
 ceeded to shake hands with the other guests, most 
 of whom I already knew ; and I was glad to find 
 that, at all events in Iceland, people did not con- 
 sider it necessary to pass the ten minutes which 
 precede the announcement of dinner as if they 
 had assembled to assist at the opening of their 
 entertainer's will, instead of his oysters. The 
 company consisted of the chief dignitaries of the 
 island, including the Bishop, the Chief Justice, 
 &c.. &c., some of them in uniform, and all with 
 holiday faces. As soon as the door was opened, 
 
 P- 
 T 
 
An hclandic Dinner. 
 
 65 
 
 'Tount Trampo tucked nic under his arm — two 
 u her ^'entlcmen did the same to my two com- 
 p.uiions — antl we streamed into the dininj^-room. 
 The table was very prettily arrai\L(ed w"h flowers, 
 plate and a forest of glasses. ' itzgerald and I 
 were placed on either side of our host, the other 
 guests, in due order, beyond. On my left sat the 
 Rector and opposite, next to I'itz, the chief phy- 
 sician of the island. Then began a series of 
 transactions of which I have no distinct recollec- 
 tion; in fact the events of the next five hours 
 recur to me in as great disarray as reappear the 
 vestiges of a country that has been disfigured by 
 some deluge. If I give you an}thing like a con- 
 nected account of what passed, you must thank 
 Sigurdr's more solid temperament ; for the Doc- 
 tor looked quite foolish when I asked him — tried 
 to feel my pulse — could not find it — and then 
 wrote the following prescription, which I believe 
 to be nothing more tlian an invoice of the num- 
 ber of bottles he himself disposed of.* 
 
 * Copy of Dr. F.'s prescription : — 
 l\ 
 
 \\n : claret : iii btls. 
 
 vin : champ : iv btls. 
 
 vin : sherr : }i btl. 
 
 vin : Rheni : ii btls. 
 
 aqua vitas viii gals, 
 
 trigent : poc : a;grot : cap : quotid 
 
 Reik : die Martis, 
 
 Junii 27. 
 5 
 
 C E. F. 
 
66 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I gather, then, from evidence — internal and 
 otherwise, that the dinner was excellent and. 
 that we were helped in Benjamite proportions ; 
 but as before the soup was finished 1 was already- 
 hard at work hobnobbing with my two neigh- 
 bours, it is not to be expected I should remember 
 the bill of fare. 
 
 With the peculiar manners used in Scandi- 
 navian skoal-drinking I was already well ac- 
 quainted. In the nice conduct of a wine-glass. 
 I knew that I excelled, and having an heredi- 
 tary horror of heel-taps, I prepared with a firm 
 heart to respond to the friendly provoca*-ions of 
 my host. I only wish you could have seen 
 how his kind face beamed with approval when I 
 chinked my first bumper against his and having, 
 emptied it at a draught, turned it towards him 
 bottom upwards, with the orthodox twist. Soon, 
 however, things began to look more serious even 
 than I had expected. I knew well that to refuse 
 a toast, or to half empty your glass, was consid- 
 ered churlish. I had come determined to accept 
 my host's hospitality as cordially as it was offered. 
 I was willing, at a pinch, to payer- de ma per- 
 sotine ; should he not be content with seeing me 
 at his table, I was ready, if need were, to remain; 
 tmder it ; but at the rate we were then going it 
 seemed probable this consummation would take 
 place before the second course ; so, after having 
 exchanged a dozen rounds of sherry and cham- 
 
take 
 
 
 Ah Icelandic Dinner. 
 
 67 
 
 pagne with my two neighbours, I pretended not 
 to observe that my glass had been rc-filled ; and, 
 like the sea-captain, who shpping from between 
 his two opponents, left them to blaze away at 
 each other the long night through, — withdrew 
 from the combat. But it would not do : with 
 untasted bumpers and dejected faces, they 
 politely waited until I should give the signal for 
 a renewal of /r^j/ilities, as they well deserved to 
 be called. Then there came over me a horrid 
 wicked feeling. What if I should endeavour to 
 floor the Governor and so literally turn the 
 tables on him ! It is true I had lived for fivc- 
 and-twenty years without touching wine — but 
 was not I my great-grandfather's great-grandson» 
 and an Irish peer to boot ? Were there not 
 traditions, too, on the other side of the house, of 
 casks of claret brought up into the dining-room, 
 the door locked, and the key thrown out of the 
 window .'' With such antecedents to sustain 
 me, I ought to be able to hold my own against 
 the staunchest toper in Iceland ! So, with a 
 devil glittering in my left eye, I winked defiance 
 right and left, and away we went at it again for 
 another five-and-forty minutes. At last their 
 fire slackened ; I had partially quelled both the 
 Governor and the Rector and still survived. It 
 is true I did not feel comfortable ; but it was in 
 the neighbourhood of my waistcoat, iiot my head, 
 I suffered. " I am not well, but I will not out,'* 
 
68 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I soliloquized, with Lcpidus.* Still the neck 
 of the banquet was broken — Fitzgerald's chair 
 was not yet empty — could we hold out perhaps 
 a quarter of an hour longer, our reputation was 
 established ; guess then my horror, when the 
 Icelandic Doctor, shouting his favourite dogma, 
 by way of battle-cry, " Si trigintis guttis, mor- 
 bum curare velis, erras," gave the signal for an 
 unexpected onslaught, and the twenty guests 
 poured down on me in succession. I really 
 thought I should have run away from the house ; 
 but the true family blood, I suppose, began to 
 show itself, and v/ith a calmness almost fright- 
 ful, I received them one by one. 
 After this began the public toasts. 
 Although up to this time I had kept a certain 
 portion of my wits about me, the subsequent 
 hours of the entertainment became thenceforth 
 . enveloped in a dreamy mystery. I can perfectly 
 recall the look of the sheaf of glasses that stood 
 before me, six in number . I could draw the pat- 
 tern of each ; I remember feeling a lazy wonder 
 they should always be full, though I did nothing 
 ■ but empty them, — and at last solved the phc- 
 . nomenon by concluding I had become a kind of 
 Danaid, whose punishment, not whose sentence, 
 had been reversed ; then suddenly I felt as if I 
 were -disembodied, — a distant spectator of my 
 , own performances, and of the feast at which my 
 
 * Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
Au Icelandic Dinner. 
 
 69 
 
 l>crson remained seated. The voices of my host, 
 of the Rector, of the Chief Justice, became thin 
 and low, as though they reached me through a 
 whispering tube ; and when I rose to speak, it 
 iwas as to an audience in another sphere and in 
 !a language of another state of heing ; yet, how- 
 ever unintelligible to myself, I must have been in 
 some sort understood, for at the end of each sen- 
 tence, cheers, faint as the roar of waters on a 
 far-off strand, floated towards me ; and if I am 
 to believe a report of the proceedings subse- 
 quently shown us, I must have become polyglot 
 in my cups. According to that report it seems 
 [the Governor threw off, (I wonder he did not do 
 [something else,) with the Queen's health in 
 [French ; to which I responded in the same lan- 
 fg'iage. Then tlie Rector, in English, proposed 
 [my hea'...h, — under the circumstances a cruel 
 [mockci-y, — but to which, ill as I was, I responded 
 [very gallantly by drinking to the beaux ycux of 
 the Countess. Then somebody else drank suc- 
 ;ess to Great Britain and I see it was followed 
 )y really a very learned discourse by Lord D., in 
 lonour of the ancient Icelanders ; during which 
 Ihe alluded to their discovery of America, and 
 [Columbus's visit. Then came a couple of speeches 
 [in Icelandic, after which the Bishop, in a mag- 
 lificent Latin oration of some twenty minutes,' 
 second time proposes my health ; to which, 
 itterly at my wits' end, I had the audacity to 
 
^Q 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 reply in the same language. As it is fit so great 
 an effort of oratory should not perish, I send you 
 some of its choicest specimens : — 
 
 " Viri illustres," I began, ** insolitus ut sum at 
 publicum loquendum ego propero respondere ad 
 complimcntum quod recte reverendus prelaticatus 
 mihi fecit, in proponendo meam salutem : et sup- 
 plico vos credere quod multum gratificatus et 
 flattificatus sum honore tam distincto. 
 
 " Bibere, viri illustres, res est, qua^ in omnibus 
 tcrris, * domum venit ad hominum negotia et 
 pectora:'* *f- requirit 'haustum longum, haustum 
 fortem, et haustum omnes simul :' J ut canit 
 Poeta, * uncm tactum Naturae totum orbem facit 
 consanguincum,' ij et hominis Natura est — bi- 
 bere. || ' ■ 
 
 *' Viri illustres, alterum est sentimentum equal- 
 iter universale ; terra communis super quam sep- 
 tentrionales et meridionales, eadem cnthusiasma 
 convcnire possunt ; est necesse quod id nomi- 
 narem ? Ad pulchrum sexum devotio ! 
 
 "* As the happiness of these quotations seemed to produce 
 a very pleasing effect on my auditors, I subjoin a transla- 
 tion of them for the benefit of the unlearned : — 
 
 t "Comes home to men's business and bosoms." — Pater- 
 familias , Times. 
 
 ;}: "A long pull, a strong pull and a pull altogether." — 
 Nelson at the Nile. 
 
 §"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." — 
 Jeremy Bentham. 
 
 ill Apophthegm by the late Lord Mountcofteehouse. 
 
 of 
 
tW 
 
 Speechifying. 
 
 71 
 
 "Amor regit palatium, castra, luciim :* Dubito 
 sub quo capite vcstram jucuiidani civitateni nu- 
 merarc debcam. Palatium ? non regem ! Cas- 
 tra ? non militcs ! lucum ? non uUam arborem 
 .habctis ! Tamcn Cupido \os dominat baud ali- 
 tor quam alios, — et vcrginum Lslandarum pulchri- 
 tudo, per omnes rcgioncs cognita est. 
 
 '* Bibamus salutem earum, et confusionem ad 
 •omnes bacularios ; spcramus quod ea:^ carai et 
 benedicta^ creatune invenient tot maritos quot 
 vclint, — quod gcminos quotanis habeant, et quod 
 carum filia;, maternum exemplum sequentes, ^Q\\- 
 tern Islandicam pcrpctuent in sa^cula Sctculo- 
 runi." 
 
 The last words mechanically rolled out in the 
 same " ore rotundo " with which the poor old 
 Dean of Christ-church used to finish his Gloria, 
 ^c, in the cathedral. 
 
 Then followed more speeches, — a great chink- 
 ing of glasses, — a Babel of conversation, — a kind 
 of dance round the table, where we successively 
 gave each alternate hand, as in the last figure of 
 the Lancers, — a hearty embrace from the Gov- 
 ernor, — and finally,— silence, daylight and fresh 
 air, as we stumbled forth into the street. 
 
 -Now what was to be done "^ To go to bed 
 ^vas impossible. It was eleven o'clock by our 
 watches, and as bright as noon. Fitz said it 
 
 ■^^" Love rules the court, the camp, the growQ.' — Venerable 
 Bedc. 
 
72 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I 
 
 was twenty-two o'clock ; but by this time he had 
 reached that point of enlar^^cment of the mind 
 and development of the visual organs, which is 
 expressed by the term " seeing double," — though 
 he now pretends he was only reckoning time in 
 the Venetian manner. We were in the position 
 of three fast young men about Reykjavik, deter- 
 mined to make a night of it, but without the 
 wherewithal. There were neither knockers to 
 steal, nor watchmen to bonnet. At last we re- 
 membered that the apothecary's wife had a con- 
 versazione, to which she had kindly invited us ; 
 and accordingly off we went to her house. Here 
 we found a number of French officers, a piano, 
 and a young lady ; in consequence of which the 
 drum soon became a ball, Finally, it was pro- 
 posed we should dance a reel ; the second lieu- 
 tenant of " The Artemise" had once seen one 
 when his ship was riding out a gale in the 
 Clyde ; — the little lady had frequently studied a 
 picture of the Highland fling on the outside of- 
 a copy of Scotch music; — I could dance a jig — 
 the set was complete, all we wanted was the 
 music. Luckily the lady of the house knew the 
 song of " Annie Laurie," — played fast it made 
 an excellent reel tune. As you may suppose, all 
 succeeded admirably; we nearly died of laugh- 
 ing, and I only wish Lord Breadalbane had been^ 
 by to see. 
 
 At one in the morning, our dauseuse retiring 
 
 K^^H 1 W 
 
 9 
 
 Wm ^ 
 
 fl ti 
 
 1 
 
 1' ^ 
 
 1 
 
 9 n 
 
 mm h 
 
 ^^^■^ 
 
 fl' ^ 
 
 ^^^H 
 
Witigcd Rabbits. 
 
 "7 "> 
 
 to rest, the ball necessarily terminated ; but the 
 Governor's dinner still forbidding bed, we deter- 
 mined on a sail in the cutter to some islands 
 about three-quarters of a mile out to see; and 1 
 do not think I shall ev^r forget the delicious sen- 
 sation of lying down lazily in the stern-sheets 
 and listening to the rippling of the water against 
 the bows of the boat, as she glided away towards 
 them. 1 he dreamy, misty landscape — each head- 
 land silently sleeping in the unearthly light, — 
 Sncefell, from whose far-off peaks the midnight 
 sun, though lost to us, had never faded, — the 
 Plutonic crags that stood around, so gaunt and 
 weird, — the quaint fresh life I had been lately 
 leading, — all combined to promise such an exist- 
 ence of novelty and excitement in that strange 
 Arctic region on the threshold of which we were 
 now pausing, that I could not sufficiently con- 
 gratulate myself on our good fortune, Soon,, 
 however, the grating of our keel upon t)ie strand' 
 disturbed my reflections, and by the time I had 
 unaccountably stepped up to my knees in the 
 water, I was thoroughly awake and in a condi- 
 tion to explore the island. It seemed to be about 
 three-quarters of a mile long, not very broad, and 
 a complete rabbit v/arren ; in fact I could not 
 walk a dozen yards without tripping up in the 
 numerous burrows by which the ground was 
 honeycombed ; at last, on turning a corner, we 
 suddenly came on a dozen rabbits, gravely sitting 
 
.74 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 at the mouths of their holes. They were quite 
 white, without ears, and with scarlet noses. I 
 made several desperate attempts to catch some 
 of these singular animals, but though one or 
 two allowed me to come prett)- near, just as I 
 thought my prize was secure, in some unac- 
 countable manner — it made unto itself wings 
 and literally flew away! Moreover, if my eye- 
 sight did not share the peculiar development 
 which affected that of the Doctor's, I should 
 say that these rabits flew in pairs. Red-nosed, 
 winged rabbits ! I had never heard or read of 
 the species ; and I naturally grew enthusiastic in 
 the chase, hoping to bring home a choice speci- 
 men to astonish our English naturalists. With 
 some difficulty we managed to catch one or two 
 which had run into their holes instead of flying 
 away. They bit and scratched like tiger-cats 
 and screamed like parrots; indeed, on a nearer 
 inspection, I am obliged to confess that they 
 assumed the appearance of birds,* which may 
 perhaps account for their powers of flight. A 
 slight confusion still remains in my mind as to 
 the real nature of the creatures. 
 
 At about nine o'clock we returned to break- 
 ifast; and the rest of the day was spent in taking 
 leave of our friends and organizing the baggage- 
 train, which was to start at midnight, under the 
 
 * The Puffi'-' \Alca Arctica.)' In Icelandic Soe-papagoie ; 
 in Scotland, Priest ; and in Cornwall, Pope. 
 
Start of the Bag^agc-train. 
 
 75 
 
 command of the cook. The cavalcade consisted 
 of eighteen horses, but of these only one half 
 were laden, two animals being told off to each 
 burden, which is shifted from the back of the 
 one to that of the other every four hours. The 
 pack-saddles were rude but serviceable articles, 
 with hooks on either side, on which a pair of 
 oblong little chests were slung; strips of turf 
 being stuffed beneath to prevent the creature's 
 back being galled. Such of our goods as could 
 not be conveniently stowed away in the chests 
 were fitted on to the top, in whatever manner 
 their size and weight admitted, each pony carry- 
 ing about 140 lbs. The photographic apparatus 
 caused us the greatest trouble, and had to be 
 distributed between two beasts. As was to be 
 expected, the guides who assisted us packed the 
 nitrate of silver bath upside down ; an outrage 
 the nature of which you cannot appreciate. At 
 last every thing was pretty well arranged, — guns, 
 powder, shot, tea-kettles, rice, tents, beds, port- 
 able soups, &c., all stowed away, — when the de- 
 sponding Wilson came to me, his chin sweeping 
 the ground, to say — that he very much feared the 
 cook would die of the ride, — that he had never 
 been on horseback in his life, — that as an experi- 
 ment he had hired a pony that very morning at 
 his own charges, — had been run away with, — 
 but having been caught and brought home by 
 an honest Icelander, w^as now lying down — that 
 
76 
 
 Letters from Ilij^k Latitudes. 
 
 position beincT the one he found most conven- 
 ient. 
 
 As the first day's journey was two-and-thirty 
 miles and would probably necessitate liis bein^ 
 twelve or thirteen hours in the sadd' v I began to 
 be really alarmed for my poor elt mt finding 
 on inquiry, that these gloomy pr ■gnostics were 
 entirely voluntarily on the part of Mr. Wilson, that 
 the officer in question was full of zciil, and only 
 too anxious to add horsemanship to his other 
 accomplishments, I did not interfe.o. As for 
 Wilson himself, it is not a marvel if he should 
 see things a little askeiv ; for some unaccountable 
 reason, he chose to sleep last night in the open 
 air, on the top of a hen-coop and naturally awoke 
 this morning with a crick in his neck and his. 
 face so immovably fixed over his left shoulder 
 that the efforts of all the ship's company have 
 not been able to twist it back ; with the help of 
 a tackle, however, I think we shall eventually • 
 brace it square again. 
 
 At two we went to lunch Vv'ith the Rector.. 
 The entertainment bore a strong family likeness; 
 to our last night's dinner ; but as I wanted after- 
 wards to exhibit my magic lantern to his little 
 daught<:r Raghnildcr and a select party of her 
 young friends, we contrived to elude doing full 
 justice to it. During the remainder of the even- 
 ing, like Job's children, we went about feasting 
 from house to house, taking leave of friends who 
 
Start of the Uagi^agc-train. 
 
 77 
 
 could not have been kinder had tliey known us 
 all our lives, and intcrchan<;in;^ little ^ifts and 
 souvenirs. With the Governor I have left a print, 
 from the Princess Royal's drawing;, of the dead 
 soldier in the Crimea. From the Kector of the 
 cathedral church I have received some very curi- 
 ous books, — almost the first printed in the island. 
 I had been very anxious to obtain some speci- 
 mens of ancient Icelandic manuscripts, but the 
 island has lon^- since been ransacked of its liter- 
 ary treasures ; and to the kindness of the French 
 consul I am indebted for a charming little white 
 fox, the drollest and prettiest little beast I ever 
 saw. 
 
 Having dined on board The Artcmisc, we ad- 
 journed at eleven o'clock to the beach to witness 
 the departure of the baggage. The ponies were 
 all drawn up in one long file, the head of each 
 being tied to the tail of the one immediately be- 
 fore him. Additional articles were stowed away 
 here and there among the boxes. The last in- 
 structions were given by Sigurdr to the guides, 
 and everything was declared ready for a start. 
 With the air of an equestrian star, descending 
 into the arena of Astley's Ampithcatrc, the cook 
 then stepped forward, made me a superb bow, 
 and was assisted into the saddle. My little 
 cabin-boy accompanied him as aide-de-camp. 
 
 The jovial Wilson rides with us to-morrow. 
 Unless we get his head round during the night, 
 
;8 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 he will have to sit facing his horses tail, in order 
 to see before him. . 
 
 We do not seem to run any danger of falling 
 short of provisions, as by all accounts there are 
 birds enough in the interior of the country to feed 
 an Israelitish emigration. 
 
LETTER VII. 
 
 KISSES— WILSON ON |H0RSKHACK— A LAVA PLATEAU— 
 THINGVALLA— ALMANNAGJA— RABNAGIA— OUR TENT — 
 THE SHIVERED PLAIN— WITCH-DROWNING— A PARLIA- 
 MENTARY DEBATE, A.D. lOOO— THANGBRAND THE MIS- 
 SIONARY—A GERMAN GNAT-CATCHER— THE MYSTICAL 
 MOUNTAINS— SIROLAF—HECKLA—SKAPTAJOKUL— THE 
 FIRE DELUGE OF 1 783— WE REACH THE GEYSER— 
 STROKR— FITZ'S BONNE FORTUNE— MORE KISSES— AN 
 ERUPTION — PRINCE NAPOLEON — RETURN— TRADE — 
 POPULATION— A MUTINY— THE REINE HORTENSE— THE 
 SEVEN DUTCHMEN— A BALL— LOW DRESSES— NORTH- 
 WARD HO ! 
 
 Reykjavik, July 7, 1856. 
 
 At last I liave seen the famous Geysers, of 
 which every one has heard so much, but I have 
 also seen Thingvalla, of which no one has heard 
 anything. The Geysers are certainly wonderful 
 marvels of nature, but more wonderful, more 
 marvellous is Thingvalla ; and if the one repay 
 you for crossing the Spanish Sea, it would be 
 worth while to go round the world to reach the 
 other. 
 
 Of the boiling fountains I think I can give you 
 a good idea, but whether I can contrive to draw 
 
So 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 ill 
 
 for you anything I'kc a comprehensible picture 
 of the shape and nature of the Ahnannagja, the 
 Mrafnagja, and the lava vale, called Thingvalla, 
 that iies between them, I am doubtful. Before 
 coming to Iceland I had read every account that 
 had been written of Thingvalla by any former 
 traveller, and when I saw it, it appeared to me a 
 place of which I had never heard ; so I suppose I 
 shall come to grief in as melancholy a manner as 
 my predecessors, whose ineffectual pages whiten 
 the entrance to the valley they have failed to 
 describe. 
 
 Having superintended — as I think I mentioned 
 ,to you in my last letter — the midnight departure 
 of the cook, guides and luggage, we returned 
 on board for a good night's rest, which we all 
 needed. The start was settled for the next morn- 
 ing at eleven o'clock and you may suppose we 
 were not sorry to find, on waking, the bright joy- 
 ous sunshine pouring down through the cabin 
 skylight and illuminating the white-robed, well- 
 furnished breakfast-table with more than usual 
 •splendour. At the appointed hour we rowed 
 ashore to where our eight ponies — two being 
 assigned to each of us, to be ridden alternately — 
 were standing ready bridled and saddled, at the 
 house of one of our kindest friends. Of course, 
 though but just risen from breakfast, the inevita- 
 ble invitation to eat and drink awaited us ; and 
 another half-hour was spent in sipping cups of 
 
Kisses. 
 
 8i 
 
 coffee poured out for us with much laughter by 
 our hostess and her pretty daughter. At last, the 
 necessary libations accomplished, we rose to go. 
 Turning round to Fitz, I whispered, how I had 
 always understood it was the proper thing in 
 Iceland for travellers departing on u journey to 
 kiss the ladies who had been good enough to 
 entertain them, — little imagining he would takx 
 me at my word. Guess then my horror, when I 
 suddenly saw him, with an intrepidity I envied 
 but dare not imitate, first embrace the mamma, 
 by way of prelude, and then proceed, in the most 
 natural manner possible, to make the same tender 
 advances to the daughter. I confess I remained 
 dumb with consternation ; the room swam round 
 before me ; I expected the next minute we should 
 be packed neck and crop into the street and that 
 the young lady would have gone off into hy.s- 
 tcrics. It turned out, however, that such was the 
 very last thing she was thinking of doing. Witli 
 a simple frankness that became her more than all 
 the boarding-school graces in the world, her eyes 
 dancing with mischief and -jood humour, she met 
 him half-way and pouting out two rosy lips, gave 
 him as hearty a kiss as it might ever be the good 
 fortune of one of us he-creatures to receive. From 
 that moment I determined to conform for the 
 future to the customs of the inhabitants. 
 
 Fresh from favours such : > these, it was not 
 surprising we should start in the highest spirits. 
 
82 
 
 Letters froin High Latitudes. 
 
 With a courtesy peculiar to Iceland, Dr. Hjalte- 
 lin — the most jovial of doctors, — and another gen- 
 tleman, insisted on convoying us the first dozen 
 miles of our journey ; and as we clattered away 
 through the wooden streets, I think a merrier 
 party never set out from Reykjavik. In front 
 scampered the three spare ponies, without bri- 
 dles, saddles or any sense of moral responsibility, 
 flinging up their heels, biting and neighing like 
 mad things ; then came Sigurdr, now become 
 our chief, surrounded by the rest of the caval- 
 cade ; and hnally, at a little distance, plunged in 
 profound melancholy, rode Wilson. Never shall 
 I forget his appearance. During the night his 
 head had come partially straight, but by way of 
 precaution, I suppose, he had conceived the idea 
 of burying it down to the chin in a huge seal- 
 skin helmet I had given him against the inclem- 
 encies of the Polar Sea. As on this occasion the 
 thermometer was at Si"^, and a coiip-de-soleil was 
 the chief thing to be feared, a ton of fur round 
 his skull was scarcely necessary. Seamen's trou- 
 sers, a bright scarlet jersey, and jack-boots fringed 
 with catskin, completed his costume ; and as he 
 proceeded along in his usual state of chronic 
 consternation, with my rifle slung at his back 
 and a couple of telescopes over his snoulder, he 
 looked the image of Robinson Crusoe, fresh from 
 having][seen the footprint. 
 §i A couple of hours' ride across the lava plain 
 
A Lava Plateau. 
 
 83 
 
 we had previously traversed brought us to a river, 
 where our Reykja\ik friends, after showing us a 
 salmon weir, finalls' took their leave, with many 
 kind wishes for our prosperity. On looking 
 through the clear water that hissed and bub- 
 bled through the wooden sluice, the Doctor had 
 caught sight of an apparently dead salmon, 
 jammed up against its wooden bars ; but on 
 pulling him out, he proved to be still breathing, 
 though his tail was immovably twisted into his 
 mouth. A consultation taking place, the Doctors 
 both agreed that it was a case of pleurostho- 
 tonos, brought on by mechanical injury to the 
 spine, (we had just been talking of Palmer's 
 trial,) and that he was perfectly fit for food. In 
 accordance with this verdict, he was knocked on 
 the head, and slung at Wilson's saddle-bow. 
 Left to ourselves, we now pushed on as rapidly 
 as we could, though the track across the lava 
 was so uneven, that every moment I expected 
 Snorro (for thus have I christened my pony) 
 would be on his nose. In another hour we were 
 among the hills. The scenery of this part of the 
 journey was not very beautiful, the mountains 
 not being remarkable either for their size or 
 shape ; but here and there we came upon pretty 
 bits, not unlike some of the barren parts of Scot- 
 land with quiet blue lakes sleeping in the solitude. 
 After wandering along for some time in a 
 broad open valley, that gradually narrowed to a 
 
84 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 glen, we reached a j^rassy patch. As it was past 
 three o'clock, Sigurd r proposed a halt. 
 
 Unbridling and unsaddling our steeds, we 
 turned them loose upon the pasture and sat our- 
 selves down on a sunny knoll to lunch. For the 
 first time since landing in Iceland I felt hungry ; 
 as for the first time, four successive hours had 
 elapsed without our having been compelled to 
 take a snack. The appetites of the ponies 
 seemed equally good, though probably with them 
 hunger was no such novelty. Wilson looked 
 sad. He confided to me privately that he feared 
 his trousers would not last such jolting many- 
 days ; but his dolefulness, like a bit of minor in 
 a sparkling melody, only made our jollity more 
 radiant. In about half-an-hour Sigurdr gave the 
 signal for a start ; and having caught, saddled, 
 and bridled the three unriddcn ponies, we drove 
 Snorro and his companions to the front and pro- 
 ceeded on our way rejoicing. After an hour's 
 gradual ascent through a picturesque ravine, we 
 emerged upon an immense desolate plateau of 
 lava that stretched away for miles and miles like 
 a great stony sea. A more barren desert you 
 cannot conceive. Innumerable boulders, relics 
 of the glacial period, encumbered the track. We 
 could only go at a foot-pace. Not a blade of 
 grass, not a strip of green enlivened the pros- 
 pect, and the only sound we heard was tiic croak 
 of the curlew and the wail of the plover. Hour 
 
Alvianna Gja. 
 
 85 
 
 after hour \vc plodded on, but the gray waste 
 seemed interminable, boundless ; and the only- 
 consolation Sigurdi would vouchsafe was that 
 our journey's end lay on this side of some purple 
 mountains that peeped like the tents of a demon 
 leaguer above the stony horizon. 
 
 As it was already eight o'clock and we had 
 been told the entire distance from Reykjavik to 
 Thingvalla was only five-and-thirty miles, I could 
 not comprehend how so great a space should 
 still separate us from our destination. Conclud- 
 ing more time had been lost in shooting, lunch- 
 ing, I'^'c, by the way than we had supposed, I put 
 my pony into a canter and determined to make 
 short work of the dozen miles which seemed still 
 to lie between us and the hills, on this side of 
 which I understood from Sigurdr our encamp- 
 ment for the night was to be pitched. 
 
 Judge then of my astonishment when, a few 
 minutes afterwards, I was arrested in full career 
 by a tremendous precipice, or rather chasm, 
 which suddenly gaped beneath my feet and 
 completely separated the barren plateau we had 
 been so painfull}- traversing from a lovely, gay, 
 sunlit flat, ten miles broad, that lay, — sunk at a 
 level lower by a hundred fcf^t, — between us and 
 the opposite mountains. I was never so com- 
 pletely taken by surprise ; Sigurdr's purposely 
 vague description of our halting-place was ac- 
 counted for. 
 
S6 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 We had reached the famous Almanna Gja. 
 Lake a black rampart in the distance, the cor- 
 responding chasm of the Hrafna Gja cut across 
 the lower slope of the distant hills, and between 
 them now slept in beauty and sunshine the broad 
 verdant* plain of Thingvalla. 
 
 Ages ago, — who shall say how long, — some 
 vast commotion shook the foundations of the 
 island and bubbling up from sources far away 
 amid the inland hills, a fiery deluge must have 
 rushed down between their ridges, until, escaping 
 from the narrower gorges, it found space to 
 spread itself into one broad sheet of molten 
 stone over an entire district of country, reducing 
 its varied surface to one vast blackened level. 
 
 One of two things then occurred : either the 
 vitrified mass contracting as it cooled, — the cen- 
 tre area of fifty square miles burst asunder at 
 either side from the adjoining plateau, and sink- 
 ing down to its present level, left the two parallel 
 Gjas or chasms, which form its lateral bounda- 
 ries, to mark the limits of the disruption ; or else» 
 while the pith or marrow of the lava was still in 
 a fluid state, its upper surface became solid, and 
 formed a roof beneath which the molten stream 
 flowed on to lower levels, leaving a vast cavern 
 
 * The plain of Thingvalla is in a great measure clothed 
 with birch biT:h\vood. 
 
 W 
 
Thing^i'aUa. 
 
 87 
 
 Gja. 
 
 into which the upper crust subsequently plumped 
 down.* 
 
 But to return to where I left myself, on the 
 edge of the cliff, gazing down with astonished 
 eyes over the panorama of land and water im- 
 bedded at my feet. I could scarcely speak for 
 pleasure and surprise ; Fitz was equally taken 
 aback and as for Wilson, he looked as if he 
 thought we had arrived at the end of the world. 
 After having allowed us sufficient time to admire 
 the prospect, Sigurdr turned to the left, along the 
 edge of the precipice, until we reached a narrow 
 pathway accidentally formed down a longitudinal 
 niche in the splintered face of the cliff which led 
 across the bottom and up the opposite side of 
 the Gja, into the plain of Thingvalla. By rights 
 our tents ought to have arrived before us, but 
 when v.e reached the little glebe where we ex- 
 pected to find them pitched, no signs of servants, 
 guides or horses were to be seen. 
 
 As we had not overtaken them ourselves, their 
 non-appearance was inexplicable. Wilson sug- 
 
 * I feel it is very presumptuous in me to hazard a conjec- 
 ture on a subject with which my want of geological know- 
 ledge renders me quite incompetent to deal ; but however 
 incorrect either ot the above suppositions may be justly 
 considered by the philosophers, they will perhaps serve to 
 convey to the unLarncd reader, for whose amusement (not 
 instruction) these letters are intended, the impression con- 
 veyed to my mind by what I saw, and so help out the 
 picture I am trying to fill in for him. 
 
88 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 
 gcstcd that, the cook having died on the road, the 
 rest of the party must have turned aside to bury 
 him : and that we had passed unperceived during 
 the interesting ceremony. Be the cause what it 
 might, the result was not agreeable. We were 
 very tired, very hungry, and it had just begun to 
 rain. • 
 
 It is true there was a clergyman's house and a 
 church, both built of stones covered with turf 
 sods, close by ; at the one, perhaps, we could get 
 milk, and in the other we could sleep, as our 
 betters — including Madame Pfeififer — had done 
 before us ; but its inside looked so dark and 
 damp and cold, and charnel-like, that one really 
 doubted whether the lying in the churchyard 
 would not be snu^^ger. You may guess, then, 
 how great was my relief when our belated bag- 
 gage-train was descried against the sky-line, as it 
 slowly wended its way along the purple edge of 
 the precipice toward the staircase b)' which we 
 had already descended. 
 
 Half an hour afterwards the little plot of grass 
 selected for the site of our encampment was cov- 
 cred over with poles, boxes, cauldrons, tea-kettles 
 and all the paraphernalia of a gipsy settlement. 
 Wilson's Kaffir experience came at once into 
 play, and under his solemn but effective super- 
 intendence, in less than twenty minutes the horn- 
 headed tent rose dry and taut upon the sward. 
 Having carpeted the floor with oil-skin rugs, and 
 
Our Tint. 
 
 89 
 
 arranged our three beds with their clean crisp 
 sheets, blankets and coverlets complete, at tlie 
 back, he proceeded to lay out the dinner table at 
 the tent door, with as much decorum as if we 
 were expecting the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 All this time the cook, who looked a little pale, 
 and moved, I observed, with difficulty, was mys- 
 teriously closeted with a spirit-lamp inside a 
 diminutive tent of his own, through the door of 
 which the most delicious whiffs occasionally 
 permeated. Olaf and his comrades had driven 
 off the horses to their pastures ; and Sigurdr and 
 I were deep in a game of chess. Luckily, the 
 shower which threatened us a moment, had 
 blown over. Though now almost nine o'clock 
 P.M., it wa.s as bright as mid-day; the sky burned 
 like a dome of gold and silence and deep peace 
 brooded over the fair grass-robed plain, that once 
 had been so fearfully convailsed. 
 
 You may be quite sure our dinner went off 
 merrily ; the tetanus-afflicted salmon proved ex- 
 cellent, the plover and ptarmigan were done to 
 a turn, the mulligatawny beyond all prajse ; 
 but, alas 1 I regret to add, that he — the artist, by 
 whose skill these triumphs had been achieved — 
 his task accomplished, — no longer sustained by the 
 factitious energy resulting from his professional 
 enthusiasm, — at last succumbed, and retiring to 
 the recesses of his tent, like Psyche in the "Prin- 
 cess," lay down, " and neither spoke nor stirred." 
 
 % 
 
90 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes . 
 
 After another ^amc or two of chess, a pleasant 
 chat, a gentle stroll, we also turned in ; and for 
 the next eight hours perfect silence reigned 
 throughout our little encampment, except when 
 Wilson's sob-like snores shook to their founda- 
 tion the canvas walls that sheltered him. 
 
 When I awoke — I do not know at what hour, 
 for from this time we kept no account of day or 
 night — the white sunlight was streaming into the 
 tent and the whole landscape was gleaming and 
 glowing in the beauty of one of the hottest sum- 
 mer days I ever remember. W^c b. oak fasted in 
 our shirt-sleeves, and I was forced to wrap my 
 head in a white handkerchief, for fear of the sun. 
 As we were all a little stiff after our ride, I could 
 not resist the temptation of spenr'-ng the day 
 where we were and examining more leisurely the 
 wonderful features of the neighbourhood. Inde- 
 pendently of its natural curiosities, Thingvalla 
 was most interesting to me on account of the 
 historical associations connected with it. Here 
 long ago, at a period when feudal despotism was 
 the only government known throughout Europe, 
 free Parliaments used to sit in peace and regu- 
 late the affairs of the young Republic ; and to 
 this hour the precincts of its Commons House of 
 Parliament are as distinct and unchanged as on 
 the day when the high-hearted fathers of the 
 emigration first consecrated them to the service 
 of a free nation. )^Y a freak of nature, as the 
 
 ilt^ 
 
The Shivered Plain, 
 
 91 
 
 subsidinj^ plain cracked and shivered into twenty 
 thousand fissures, an irregular oval area, of about 
 two hundred feet by fifty, was left almost entirely 
 surrounded by a crevice so deep and broad as to 
 be utterly impassable ; — at one extremity alone a 
 scanty causeway connected it with the adjoining 
 level and allowed of access to its interior. It is 
 true, just at one point the encircling chasm grows 
 so narrow- as to be within the [jossibility of a 
 jump ; and an ancient worthy, named Flosi, pur- 
 sued by his enemies, did actually take it at a fly : 
 but as leaping an inch short would have entailed 
 certain drowning in the bright green waters that 
 sleep forty feet below, you can conceive there 
 was never much danger of this entrance becom- 
 ing a thoroughfare. 1 confess that for one mo- 
 ment, while contemplating the scene of Flosi's 
 exploit, J felt, — like a true Briton, — an idiotic 
 desire to be able to say that I had done the 
 same ; — that I survive to write this letter is a 
 proof of my having come subsequently to my 
 senses. 
 
 This spot then, erected by nature almost into 
 a fortress, the founders of the Icelandic constitu- 
 tion chose for the meetings of their Thing,* or 
 Parliament • armed guards defended the entrance^ 
 while the grave bonders deliberated in security 
 within : to this day, at the upper end of the place 
 
 ♦ From thing, to speak. We have a vestige of the same 
 word in Dingwall, a town of Ross-shire. 
 
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92 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 of meeting, may be seen the three hummocks, 
 where sat in state the chiefs and judges of the 
 land. 
 
 But those grand old times have long since 
 passed away. Along the banks of the Oxeraa 
 no longer glisten the tents and booths of the 
 assembled lieges ; no longer stalwart beserks 
 guard the narrow entrance to the Althing ; ra- 
 vens alone sit on the sacred Logberg ; and the 
 floor of the old Icelandic House of Commons is 
 ignominiously cropped by the sheep of the par- 
 son. For three hundred yeass did the gallant 
 little Republic maintain its independence — three 
 hundred years of unequalled literary and political 
 vigour. At last its day of doom drew near 
 Like the Scotch nobles in the time of Elizabeth, 
 their own chieftains intrigued against the liber- 
 ties of the Icelandic people; and in 1261, the 
 island became an appendage of the Norwegian 
 crown. Yet even then the deed embodying the 
 concession of their independence was drawn up 
 in such haughty terms as to resemble rather the 
 offer of an equal alliance than the renunciation 
 of imperial rights. Soon, however, the apathy 
 which invariably benumbs the faculties of a 
 people too entirely relieved from the discipline 
 and obligation of self-government, lapped in 
 complete inactivity, moral, political, and intel- 
 lectual, — these once stirring islanders. On the 
 amalgamation of the three Scandinavian mon- 
 
A Parliamentary Debate, A.D. looo. 93 
 
 archies, at the union of Cahiiar, the allegiance of 
 the people of Iceland was passively transferred 
 to the Danish crown. Ever since that time, Dan- 
 ish pro-consuls have administered their govern- 
 ment and Danish restrictions have regulated 
 their trade. The traditions of their ancient au- 
 tonomy have become as unsubstantial and obso- 
 lete as those which record the vanished fame of 
 their poets and historians, and the exploits of 
 their mariners. It is true, the adoption of the 
 Lutheran religion galvanized for a moment into 
 the semblance of activity the old literary spirit. 
 A printing-press was introduced as early as 1530, 
 and ever since the sixteenth century many works 
 of merit have been produced, from time to time, 
 by Icelandic genius. Shakspeare, Milton and 
 Pope have been translated into the native tongue; 
 one of the best printed newspapers I have ever 
 seen is now published at Reykjavik ; and the 
 Colleges of Copenhagen are adorned by many 
 an illustrious Icelandic scholar : but the glory of 
 the old days is departed, and it is across a wide, 
 desolate flat of ignoble annals, as dull and arid 
 as their own lava plains, that the student has to 
 look back upon the glorious drama of Iceland's 
 early history. As I gazed around on the silent, 
 deserted plain, and paced to and fro along the 
 untrodden grass that now clothed the Althing, I 
 could scarcely believe it had ever been the battle- 
 field where such keen and energetic wits encoun- 
 
nm 
 
 94 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 tercd, — that the fire-scathed rocks I saw before 
 me were the very same that had once inspired 
 one of the most successful rhetorical appeals ever 
 hazarded in a public assembly. 
 
 As an account of the debate to which I allude 
 has been carefully preserved, I may as well give 
 you an abstract of it. A more characteristic leaf 
 out of the Parliamentary Annals of Iceland you 
 could scarcely have. 
 
 In the summer of the year looo, when Ethel- 
 red the Unready ruled in England and fourteen 
 years after Hugh Capet had succeeded the last 
 Carlovingian on the throne of France, — the Ice- 
 landic legislature was convened for the consider- 
 ation of a ver}^ important subject — no less im- 
 portant, indeed, than an inquiry into the merits 
 of a new religion lately brought into the country 
 by certain emissaries of Olaf Tryggveson, — the 
 first Christian king of Norway, — and the same 
 who pulled down London bridge. 
 
 The assembly met. The Norse missionaries 
 were called upon to enunciate to the house the 
 tenets of the faith they were commissioned to 
 disclose; and the debate began. Great and fierce 
 was the difference of opinion. The good old 
 Tory party, supported by all the authority of the 
 Odin establishment, were violent in opposition. 
 The Whigs advocated the new arrangement, 
 and, as the king supported their own views, 
 insisted -strongly on the Divine right. Several 
 
Thaughrand the Missionary. 
 
 95 
 
 liberal members permitted themselves to speak 
 sarcastically of the Valhalla tap and the ankles 
 of Freya. The discussion was at its height, 
 when suddenly a fearful peal of subterranean 
 thunder roared around the Althing. " Listen ! " 
 cried an orator of the Pagan party ; "how angry 
 is Odin that we should even consider the subject 
 of a new religion. His fires will consume us." 
 To which a ready debater on the other side re- 
 plied, by " begging leave to ask the honourable 
 gentleman, — with wliom were the gods angry 
 when these rocks were melted.'" — pointing to 
 the dcvasted plain around him. Taking ad- 
 vantage of so good a hit, the Treasury " whips " 
 immediately called for a division ; and the Chris- 
 tian religion v/as adopted by a large majorit}-. 
 
 The first Christian missionaries who came to 
 Iceland seem to have liad a rather peculiar man- 
 ner of enforcing the truths of the Gospel. Their 
 leader was a person of the name of Thangbrand. 
 Like the Protestant clergymen Queen Elizabeth 
 despatched to convert Ireland, he was bundled 
 over to Iceland principally because he was too 
 disreputable to be allowed to live in Norv/ay. 
 The old Chronicler gives a very quaint descrip- 
 tion of him. " Thangbrand," he says, " was a 
 passionate, ungovernable person and a great 
 man-slayer ; but a good scholar and clever. 
 Thorvald aiid Veterlid the Scald, composed a 
 lampoon against him, but he killed them both 
 
96 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I \m 
 
 outright. Thangbrand was two years in Ice- 
 land, and was tiic death of three men before he 
 left it." 
 
 From the Althing we strolled over to the AI- 
 manna Gja, visiting the Pool of Execution on our 
 way. As I have already mentioned, a river from 
 the plateau above leaps over the precipice into 
 the bottom of the Gja and flows for a certain 
 distance between its walls. At the foot of the 
 fall the waters linger for a moment, in a dark, 
 deep, brimming pool, hemmed in by a circle of 
 ruined rocks; to this pool, in ancient times, all 
 women convicted of capital crimes were imme- 
 diately taken and drowned. Witchcraft seems 
 to have been the principal weakness of the ladies 
 in those days throughout the Scandinavian 
 countries. For a long period no disgrace was 
 attached to its profession. Odin himself, we are 
 expressly told, was a great adept, and always 
 found himself very much exhausted at the end of 
 his performance^ which leads me to think that, 
 perhaps, he dabbled in electro-biology. At last, 
 the advent of Christianity threw discredit on the 
 practice; severe punishments were denounced 
 against all who indulged in it; and, in the end, 
 its mysteries became the monopoly of the Lap- 
 landers. 
 
 All criminals, men and women, were tried by 
 juries; and that the accused had the power of 
 challenging the jury empanelled to try them. 
 
The Mystical Mountains. 
 
 97 
 
 appears from the following extract from the Hook 
 of Laws: "The judj^cs shall go out on Wash- 
 day, /. e. Saturday, and continue out for chal- 
 ienjjes until the sun comes on Thini^^valla on the 
 Lord's day." And again, " The power of chal- 
 lenging shall cease as soon as the sun can no 
 longer be seen above the western brink of the 
 •chasm, from the Logbcrg." 
 
 Turning aside from what, I dare say, was the 
 scene of many an unrecorded tragedy, we de- 
 scended the gorge of the Almanna Gja, towards 
 the lake; and I took advantage of the oppor- 
 tunity again to examine its marvellous construc- 
 tion. The perpendicular walls of rock rose on 
 either hand from the flat green sward that car- 
 peted its bottom, pretty much as the waters ol 
 the Red Sea must have risen on each side of 
 the fugitive Israelites. A blaze of light smote 
 the face of one cliff, while the other lay in the 
 deepest shadow; and on the rugged surface of 
 each might still be traced corresponding articu- 
 lations, that once had dovetailed into each other, 
 ere the igneous mass was rent asunder. So un- 
 changed, so recent seemed the vestiges of this 
 convulsion, that I felt as if I had been admitted 
 to witness one of Nature's grandest and most 
 violent operations, almost in the very act of its 
 execution. A walk of about twenty minutes 
 brought us to the borders of the lake — a glorious 
 expanse of water, fifteen miles long by eight 
 
 7 
 
 Hi 
 
98 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 miles broad, occupyin;j a basin formed by the 
 same hills, which must also, 1 imagine, have 
 arrested the further progress of the lava torrent. 
 A lovelier scene I have seldom witnessed. In 
 the foreground lay huge masses of rock and lava» 
 tossed about like the ruins of a world, and 
 washed by waters as bright and green as pol- 
 ished malachite. Beyond, a bevy of distant 
 mountains, robed by the transparent atmosphere 
 in tints unknown to Europe, peeped over each 
 other's shoulders into the silver mirror at their 
 feet, while here and there from among their pur- 
 ple ridges columns of white vapour rose like altar 
 smoke towards the tranquil heaven. 
 
 On returning home we found dinner waiting 
 for us. I have invited the clergyman, and a Ger- 
 man gentleman who was lodging with him, to 
 give us the pleasure of their company; and in 
 ten minutes we had all become the best of 
 friends. It is true the conversation was carried 
 on in rather a wild jargon, made up of six dif- 
 ferent languages — Icelandic, English, German, 
 Latin, Danish, French — but in spite of the diffi- 
 culty with which he expressed himself, it was 
 impossible not to be struck with the simple ear- 
 nest character of my German cotivive. He was 
 about five-and-twenty, a ''doctor philosopJdcB'/ 
 and had come to Iceland to catch gnats. After 
 having caught gnats in Iceland, he intended, he 
 said, to spend some years in catching gnats in 
 
A German Gnat-catcher. 
 
 99 
 
 Spain — the privacy of Spanish gnats, as it ap- 
 pears, not having been hitherto invaded. The 
 truth is, my guest was an entomologist, and in 
 the pursuit of the objects of his study was evi- 
 dently prepared to approach hardships and dan- 
 ger with a serenity that would not have been 
 unworthy of the apostle of a new religion. It 
 was almost touching to hear him describe the 
 intensity of his joy when perhaps days and nights 
 of fruitless labours were at last rewarded by the 
 discovery of some hitherto unknown little fly ; 
 and it was with my whole lieart that, at parting. 
 I wished him success in his career and the fame 
 that so much concientious labour merited. 
 From my allusion to this last reward, however, 
 he seemed almost to shrink, and, with a sincerity 
 it was impossible to doubt, disclaimed as ignoble 
 so poor a motive as a thirst for fame. He w^as 
 one of those calm laborious minds seldom found 
 but among the Teutonic race, that — pursuing 
 day by day with single-minded energy some sjx:- 
 cial object — live in a noble obscurity and die at 
 last content with the consciousness of having 
 added one other stone to that tower of know- 
 ledge men are building up toward heaven, even 
 though the world should never learn what strong 
 and patient hands have placed it there. 
 
 The next morning we started for the Geysers; 
 this time dividing the baggage-tn^'n and sending 
 on the cook in light marching k. der, with the 
 
100 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 materials for dinner. The weather still remained 
 unclouded, and each mile we advanced disclosed 
 some new wonder in the unearthly landscape. 
 A three hours' ride brou<^ht us to the Rabna 
 Gja. the eastern boundary of Thin^valla, and, 
 winding up its rugged face, we took our last look 
 over the lovely plain beneath us and then man- 
 fully set forward across the same kind of arid 
 lava plateau as that which we had already trav- 
 ersed before arriving at the Almanna Gja. Ikit 
 instead of the boundless immensity which had 
 then so much disheartened us, the present pros- 
 pect was terminated by a range of quaint parti- 
 coloured hills, which rose before us in such fan- 
 tastic shapes that I could not take my eyes off 
 them. I do not know whether it was the stron:: 
 coffee or the invigorating air that stimulated my 
 imagination ; but 1 certainly felt convinced I was 
 coming to some mystical spot- -out of space, out 
 of time — where T should suddenly light upon a 
 green-scaled grjffin or golden-haired princess, or 
 other bonne fortune of the olden days. Certainly 
 a more appropriate scene for such an encounter 
 could not be conceived, than that which displayed 
 itself, when we wheeled at last round the flank 
 of the scorched ridge we had been approaching. 
 A perfectly smooth grassy plain, about a league 
 square, and shaped like a horseshoe, opened be- 
 fore us, encompassed by bare cinder-like hills, 
 that rose round — red, black and yellow — in a 
 
Mount J/akla. 
 
 101 
 
 hundred uncouth peaks of ash and slag. Not a 
 vestige of vegetation reheved the aridity cf their 
 vitrified sides, while the verdant carpet at their 
 feet only made the fire-moulded circle seem more 
 weird and impassable. Had I had a trumpet 
 and a lance, I should have blown a blast of defi- 
 ance on the one and having shaken the other 
 towards the four corners of the world, would have 
 calmly waited to see what next might betide. 
 Three arrows shot bravely forward would have 
 probably resulted in the discovery of a trap-door 
 with an iron ring ; but having neither trumpet, 
 lance nor arrow, we simply alighted and lunched; 
 yet even then I could not help thinking how 
 lucky it was that, not eating dates, we could not 
 inadvertently fling their stones into the eye of 
 any inqu! iitive genie who might be in the neigh- 
 bourhood. 
 
 After the usual hour's rest and change of 
 horses, we galloped away to the other side of 
 the plain, and, doubling the further horn of the 
 semicircle, suddenly found ourselves in a district 
 as unlike the cinder mountains we had quitted 
 as they had differed from the volcanic scenery of 
 the day before. On the left lay a long rampart 
 of green hills, opening up every now and then 
 into Scottish glens and gorges, while from their 
 roots to the horizon stretched a vast breadth of 
 meadow-land, watered by two or three rivers, 
 that wound and twisted, and coiled about, like 
 
102 
 
 Letters fiom High Latitudes. 
 
 blue serpents. Here and there, white vokinics 
 of vapour that rose in endless wreaths from the 
 ground, told of mighty cauldrons at work beneath 
 that moist cool verdant carpet ; while large sil- 
 very lakes and flat-topped isolated hills, relieved 
 the eye to where the three snowy peaks of Mount 
 Hecla shone cold and clear against the sky. 
 
 Of course it was rather tantalizing to pass so 
 near this famous b ning mountain without hav- 
 ing an opportunity of ascending it ; but the ex- 
 pedition would have taken up too much time. 
 In appearance Ilccla differs very little from the 
 innumerable other volcanic hills with which the 
 island is studded. Its cone consists of a pyra- 
 mid of stone and scoriae, rising to the height of 
 about five thousand feet and welded together 
 by bands of molten matter which have issued 
 from its sides. From A.D. 1004 to 1766 there 
 have been twenty-three eruptions, occurring at 
 intervals which have varied in duration from six 
 to seventy-six years. The one of 1766 was re- 
 markably violent. It commenced on the 5th of 
 April by the appearance of a huge pillar of black 
 sand, mounting slowly into the heavens, accom- 
 panied by subterranean thunders and all the 
 other symptoms which precede volcanic disturb- 
 ances. Then a coronet of flame encircled the 
 crater, masses of red rock, pumice and magnetic 
 stones were flung out with tremendous violence 
 to an incredible distance and in such continuous 
 
Skapia JohiiL 
 
 »03 
 
 multitudes as to resemble a swann of bees clus- 
 tering over the mountain. One boulder of pum- 
 ice, six feet in circumference, was pitched twenty 
 miles away ; another of magnetic iron fell at a 
 distance of fifteen. The surface of the earth was 
 covered for a circuit of one hundred and fifty 
 miles with a layer of sand four inches deep ; the 
 air was so darkened by it that at a place one 
 hundred and forty miles off, white paper, held up 
 at a little distance, could not be distinguished 
 from black. The fishermen could not put to sea 
 on account of the darkness and the inhabitants 
 of the Orkney islands were frightened out of their 
 senses by showers of what they thought must be 
 black snow. On the 9th of April, the lava began 
 to overflow and ran for five miles in a south- 
 westerly direction, whilst, some days later, — in 
 order that no element might be wanting to min- 
 gle in this devil's charivari — a vast column of 
 water, like Robin Hood's second arrow, split up 
 through the cinder pillar to the height of several 
 hundred feet ; the horror of the spectacle being 
 further enhanced by an accompaniment of sub- 
 terranean cannonading and dire reports, heard at 
 a distance of fifty miles. 
 
 Striking as all this must have been, it sinks 
 into comparative tameness and insignificance 
 beside the infinitely more terrible phenomena 
 which attended the eruption of another volcano, 
 «called Skapta Jokul. 
 
-^ 
 
 104 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I 
 
 Of all countries in Europe, Iceland is the one 
 which has been the most minutely mapped, not 
 even excepting the Ordnance survey of Ireland. 
 The Danish Government seem to have had a 
 hobby about it, and the result has been a chart 
 so beautifully executed, that every little crevice, 
 each mountain torrent, each flood of lava, is laid 
 down with an accuracy perfectly astonishing. 
 One huge blank, however, in the southwest cor- 
 ner of this map of Iceland mars the integrity of 
 its almost microscopic delineations. To every 
 other part of the island the engineer has suc- 
 ceeded in penetrating; one vast space alone of 
 about four hundred square miles has defied his 
 investigation. Over the area occupied by the 
 Skapta Jokul, amidst its mountain-cradled fields 
 of snow and icy ridges, no human foot has ever 
 wandered. Yet it is from the bosom of this 
 desert district that has descended the most fright- 
 ful visitation ever known to have desolated the 
 island. 
 
 This event occurred in the year 1783. The 
 preceding winter and spring had been unusually 
 milci. Towards the end of May, a light bluish 
 fog began to float along the confines of the un- 
 trodden tracts of Skapta, accompanied in the 
 beginning of June by a great trembling of the 
 earth. On the 8th of that month, immense pil- 
 lars of smoke collected over the hill country 
 towards the north, and coming down against 
 
Calamity. 
 
 105 
 
 the wind in a southerly direction, enveloped the 
 whole district of Sida in darkness. A whirlwind 
 of ashes then swept over the face of the country, 
 and on the loth, innumerable fire spouts were 
 seen leaping and flaring amid the icy hollows of 
 the mountain, while the river Skapta, one of the 
 largest in the island, having first rolled down to 
 the plain a vast volume of fetid waters mixed 
 with sand, suddenly disappeared. 
 
 Two days afterwards a stream of lava, issuing 
 from sources to which no one has ever been able 
 to penetrate, came sliding down the bed of the 
 dried up river, and in a little time, — though the 
 channel was six hundred feet deep and two hun- 
 dred broad, — the glowing deluge overflowed its 
 banks, crossed the low country of Medalland rip- 
 ping the turf up before it like a tablecloth and 
 poured into a great lake, whose affrighted waters 
 flew hissing and screaming into the air at the 
 approach of the fiery intruder. Within a few 
 more days the basin of the lake itself was com- 
 pletely filled and having separated into two 
 streams, the unexhausted torrent again recom^ 
 menced its march; in one direction overflowing 
 some ancient lava fields, — in the other, re-entering 
 the channel of the Skapta and leaping down the 
 lofty cataract of Stapafoss. But this was not all ; 
 while one lava flood had chosen the Skapta for 
 its bed, another, descending in a different direc- 
 tion, was working like ruin within and on either 
 
r 
 
 1 06 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
 alii;;. 
 
 side the banks of the Hverfisfliot, rushing into 
 the plain, by all accounts, with even greater fury 
 and velocity. Whether the two issued from the 
 same crater it is impossible to say, as the sources 
 of both were far away within the heart of the 
 unapproachable desert, and even the extent of the 
 lava flow can only be measured from the spot 
 where it entered the inhabited districts. The 
 stream which flowed down Skapta is calculated 
 to be about fifty miles in length by twelve or 
 fifteen at its greatest breadth; that which rolled 
 down the Hverfisfliot, at forty miles in length by 
 seven in breadth. Where it was imprisoned, 
 between the high banks of Skapta, the lava is 
 five or six hundred feet thick ; but as soon as it 
 spread out into the plain its depth never exceeded 
 one hundred feet. The eruption of sand, ashes, 
 pumice and lava, continued till the end of Au- 
 gust, when the Plutonic drama concluded with a 
 violent earthquake. 
 
 For a whole year a canopy of cinder-laden 
 cloud hung over the island. Sand and ashes 
 irretrievably overwhelmed thousands of acres of 
 fertile pasturage. The Faroe islands, the Shet- 
 lands and the Orkneys were deluged with vol- 
 canic dust, which perceptibly contaminated even 
 the pure skies of England and Holland. Me- 
 phitic vapours tainted the atmosphere of the 
 entire island; — even the grass, which no cinder 
 rain had stifled, completely withered up; — the 
 
The Geysers. 
 
 107 
 
 fish perished in the poisoned sea. A murrain 
 broke out among the cattle and a disease resem- 
 bling scurvy attacked the inhabitants themselves. 
 Stephenson has calculated that 9,000 men, 2'^,- 
 000 horses, 1 1,000 cattle, 190,000 sheep, died from 
 the effects of this one eruption. The most 
 moderate calculation puts the number of human 
 deaths at upwards of 1,300; and of cattle, &c., at 
 about 156,000. 
 
 The whole of this century had proved most 
 fatal to the unfortunate people of Iceland. At 
 its commencement small-pox destroyed more than 
 16,000 persons; nearly 10,000 more perished by 
 a famine consequent on a succession of inclement 
 seasons; while from time to time the southern 
 coasts were considerably depopulated by the in- 
 cursions of English and even Algcrine pirates. 
 
 The rest of our day's journey lay through a 
 country less interesting than the district we had 
 traversed before luncheon. For the most part we 
 kept on along the foot of the hills, stopping now 
 and then for a drink of milk at the occasional 
 farms perched upon their slopes. Sometimes 
 turning up a green and even bushy glen, (there 
 are no trees in Iceland, the nearest approach to 
 anything of the kind being a low dwarf birch, 
 hardly worthy of being called a shrub,) we would 
 cut across the shoulder of some projecting spur 
 and obtain a wider prospect of the level land upon 
 our right; or else keeping more down in the flat, 
 
io8 
 
 Letters from Higli Latitudes. 
 
 wc had to flounder for half an hour up to the 
 horse's shoulders in an Irish bog. After about 
 five hours of this work we reached the banks of a 
 broad and rather singular river, called the Briiara. 
 Half-v»ay across it was perfectly fordablc; but 
 exactly in the middle was a deep cleft, into which 
 the waters from either side split themselves, and 
 then in a collected volume roared over a precipice 
 a little lower down. Across this cleft some wooden 
 planks were thrown, giving the traveller an oppor- 
 tunity of boasting that he had crossed a river on 
 a bridge which itself was under water. By this 
 time we had all begun to be very tired, and very 
 hungry; it was eleven o'clock, P.M. We had been 
 twelve or thirteen hours on horseback, not to men- 
 tion occasional half hours of pretty severe walking 
 after the ptarmigan and plover. Many were 
 the questions we addressed to Sigurdr on the dis- 
 tance yet remaining, and many the conjectures 
 we hazarded as to whether the cook would have 
 arrived in time to get dinner ready for us. At 
 last, after another two hours' weary jogging, we 
 descried, straight in front, a low steep brown 
 rugged hill, standing entirely detached from the 
 range at the foot of which we had been riding; 
 and in a few minutes more, wheeling round its 
 outer end, we found ourselves in the presence of 
 the steaming Geysers. 
 
 I do not know that I can give you a better 
 notion of the appearance of the place than by 
 
The Geysers, 
 
 109 
 
 saying that it looked as if — for about a quarter of 
 a mile — the ground had been honey-combed by 
 disease into numerous sores and orifices ; not a 
 blade of grass grew on its hot, inflamed surface, 
 which consisted of unwholesome looking red 
 livid clay or crumpled shreds and shards of 
 slough-like incrustations. Naturally enough, our 
 first impulse on dismounting was to scamper oflf 
 at once to the Great Geyser. As it lay at the 
 furthest end of the congeries of hot springs, in 
 order to reach it we had to run the gauntlet of 
 all the pools of boiling water and scalding quag- 
 mires of soft clay that intervened and conse- 
 quently arrived on the spot with our ancles nicely 
 poulticed. But the occasion justified our eager- 
 ness. A smooth silicious basin, seventy-two feet 
 in diameter, and four feet deep, with a hole at 
 the bottom as in a washin^j-basin on board a 
 steamer, stood before us brimful of water just 
 upon the simmer; while up into the air above 
 our heads rose a great column of vapour, looking 
 as if it was going to turn into the Fisherman's 
 Genie. The ground about the brim was com- 
 posed of layers of incrusted silica, like the out- 
 side of an oyster, sloping gently down on all 
 sides from the edge of the basin. 
 
 Having satisfied our curiosity with this cursory 
 inspection of what we had come so far to see, 
 hunger compelled us to look about with great 
 anxiety for the cook; and you may fancy our 
 
no 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 Ill 
 
 delight at seeing that functionary in the very act 
 of dishing up dinner on a neighbouring hillock. 
 Sent forward at an early hour, under the chap- 
 eronage of a guide, he had arrived about twa 
 hours before us and seizing with a general's eye 
 the key of the position, at once turned an idle 
 babbling little Geyser into a camp-kettle, dug \ 
 bake-house in the hot soft clay, and improvising 
 a kitchen-rcnge at a neighbouring vent, had made 
 himself completely master of the situation. It 
 was about one o'clock in the morning when we 
 sat down to dinner and as light as day. 
 
 As the baggage-train with our tents and beds 
 had not yet arrived, we fully appreciated our luck 
 in being treated to so dry a night; and having 
 eaten everything v/c could lay hands on, were 
 set quietly down to chess and coffee brewed in 
 Geyser water ; when suddenly it seemed as if 
 beneath our very feet a quantity of subterraneous 
 cannon were going off; t^^e whole earth shook, 
 and Sigurdr, starting to his feet, upset the chess- 
 board (I was just beginning to get the best of 
 the game,) and flung off full speed toward the 
 great basin. By the time we reached its brim, 
 however, the noise had ceased and all we could 
 see was a slight movement in the centre, as if an 
 angel had passed by and troubled the water. 
 Irritated at this false alarm, we determined to 
 revenge ourselves by going and tormenting the 
 Strokr. Strokr — or the cimrn — you must know, is 
 
An Irri tabic Hot-Spriug. 
 
 II I 
 
 an unfortunate Geyser, with so little command 
 over his temper and his stomach that you can get 
 a rise out of him whenever you like. All that is 
 necessary is to collect a quantity of sods and 
 threw them down his funnel. As he has no basin 
 to protect him from these liberties, you can ap- 
 proach to the very edge of the pipe, about five 
 feet in diameter, and look down at the boiling 
 water which is perpetually seething at the bottom. 
 In a few minutes the dose of turf you have just 
 administered begins to disagree with him ; he 
 works himself up into an awful passion — tor- 
 mented by the qualms of incipient sickness he 
 groans and hisses and boils up and spits at you 
 with malicious vehemence, until at last, with a 
 roar of mingled pain and rage, he throws up into 
 the air a column of water forty feet high, which 
 carries with it all the sods that have been chucked 
 in and scatters them scalded and half digested at 
 your feet. So irritated has the poor thing's stom- 
 ach become by the discipline it has undergone, 
 that even long after all foreign matter has been 
 thrown off, it goes on retching and sputtering 
 until at last nature is exhausted, when sobbing 
 and sighing to itself, it sinks back into the 
 bottom of its den. 
 
 Put into the highest spirits by the success of 
 this performance, we turned away to examine the 
 remaining springs. I do not know, however, that 
 any of the rest are worthy of particular mention. 
 
112 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 f!' 
 
 [| 
 
 They all resemble in character the two I have 
 described, the only difference being that they are 
 infinitely smaller, and of much less povvei and 
 importance. One other remarkable formation in 
 the neighbourhood must not be passed unno- 
 ticed. Imagine a large, irregular opening in the 
 surface of the soft, white clay, filled to the very 
 brim with scalding water, perfectly still, and of 
 as bright a blue as that of the Grotto Azzuro at 
 Capri, through whose transparent depths you can 
 see down into the mouth of a vast subaqueous 
 cavern, which runs, heaven knows how far, in a 
 horizontal direction beneath your feet. Its walls 
 .and varied cavities really look as if they were 
 built of the purest lapis lazuli — and so thin 
 seemed the crust that roofed it in, we almost 
 fancied it might break through and tumble us all 
 into the fearful, beautiful bath. 
 
 Having, by this time, taken a pretty good look 
 at the principal features of our new domain, I 
 wrapped myself up in a cloak and went to sleep; 
 leaving orders that I should not be called until 
 after the tent had arrived and our beds were 
 ready. Sigurdr followed my example, but the 
 Doctor went out shooting. 
 
 As our principal object in coming so far was 
 to see an eruption of the great Geyser, it was, of 
 course necessary we should wait his pleasure ; in 
 fact, our movements entirely depended upon his. 
 For the next two or three days, therefore, like 
 
Life '' Al Frcscor 
 
 113 
 
 pilgrims round some ancient siirine, we patiently 
 Jcept watch; but he scarcely deigned to vouch- 
 safe us the slightest manifestation ot" his latent 
 energies. Two or three times the cannonading 
 we had heard immediately after our arrival, re- 
 commenced, — and once an eruption to the height 
 of about ten feet occurred ; but so brief was its 
 duration, that by the time we were on the spot, 
 although the tent was not eighty yards distant, 
 all was over. As after every effort of the foun- 
 tain, the water in the basin mysteriously ebbs 
 back into the funnel, this performance, thou^^h 
 unsatisfactory in itself, gave us an opportunity of 
 approaching the mouth of the pipe, and looking 
 down into its scalded gullet. In an hour after- 
 wards the basin was brimful as ever. 
 
 Tethered down by our curiosity to a particular 
 spot for an indefinite period, we had to while 
 away the hours as best we could. We played 
 chess, collected specimens, photographed the en- 
 campment, the guides, the ponies, and one or 
 two astonished natives. Every now and then 
 we went out shooting over the neighbouring 
 flats and once I ventured on a longer expedition 
 among the mountains to our left. The views I 
 got were beautiful, — ridge rising beyond ridge in 
 eternal silence, like gigantic ocean waves, whose 
 tumult has been suddenly frozen into stone ; — 
 but the dread of the Geyser going off during my 
 absence made me almost too fidgety to enjoy 
 8 
 
114 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 \ 
 
 la.., 
 
 them. The weather, hickily, remained beautiful, 
 with the exception of one little spell of rain, 
 which came to make us all the more grateful for 
 the sunshine, — and we fed like princes. Inde- 
 pendently of the game, duck, plover, ptarmigan 
 and bittern, with which our own guns supplied 
 us, a young lamb was always in the larder, — not 
 to mention reindeer tongues, skier, — a kind of 
 sour curds, excellent when well made, — milk, 
 cheese, whose taste and nature baffles description^ 
 biscuit and bread, sent us as a free gift by the 
 lady of a neighbouring farm. In fact, so noble 
 is Icelandic hospitality, that I really believe there 
 was nothing within fifty miles round we might 
 not have obtained for the asking, had we desired 
 it. As for Fitz, he became quite the enfant gate 
 of a neighbouring family. 
 
 Having unluckily caught cold, instead of sleep- 
 ing in the tent, he determined to seek shelter 
 under a solid roof-tree, and, conducted by our 
 guide Olaf, set off on his pon^ at bedtime ia 
 search of an habitation. The next morning he 
 reappeared so unusually radiant, that I could 
 not help inquiring what good fortune had in the 
 meantime befallen him ; upon which he gave me 
 such an account of his last night's reception at 
 the farm that I was almost tempted to bundle 
 tent and beds down the throat of our irritable 
 friend Strokr, and throw myself for the future 
 upon the hospitality of the inhabitants. It is 
 
 ■|:! \ 
 
TJ:e Doctor s Adventure. 
 
 115 
 
 true, I had read in Van Troil of something of 
 the kind, but until now I never fully beHeved it. 
 The Doctor shall tell his own history. 
 
 '• No sooner," said he, '* had I presented my- 
 self at the door, and made known my errand, 
 than I was immediately welcomed by the whole 
 family and triumphantly inducted into the guest 
 quarters; everythins^ the house could produce 
 \w^s set before me, and the whole society stood 
 by to sec that I enjoyed myself As I had but 
 just dined, an additional repast was no longer 
 essential to my happiness; but all explanation 
 was useless and I did my best to give them satis- 
 faction. Immediately on rising from the table, 
 the young lady of the house — (old Van Troil says 
 it is either the mother or daughter of the house, if 
 she be grown up, who performs this office) — pro- 
 posed, by signs, to conduct me to my apartment; 
 taking in one hand a large plate of skier, and in 
 the other a bottle of brandy, she led the way 
 through a passage built of turf and stones, to the 
 place where I was to sleep. Having watched her 
 deposit — not without misgivings, for I knew it was 
 expected both should be disposed of before morn- 
 ing — the skier by my bedside and the brandy- 
 bottle under the pillow, I was preparing to make 
 her a polite bow, and to wish her a very good 
 night, when she advanced towards me, and with a 
 winning grace difficult to resist, insisted upon help- 
 ing me off with my coat, and then, — proceeding to 
 
ii6 
 
 Letters from Higli Latitudes. 
 
 
 'liiii 
 
 ■,ji i 
 
 extremities, — with my shoLvs aiul stockiiv^s. At 
 this most critical part of thi; procccdin^.i, I natur- 
 ally imai^nncd her sliare of the performance would 
 conclude and that I should at last bj restored to 
 that privacy which at such seasons is generally 
 considered appropriate. Not a bit of it. Ikfore 
 I knew where I was, I found myself sitting on a 
 chair, in my shirt, trouserlcss, while my fair tire- 
 woman was engaged in neatly folding up the 
 ravished garments on a neighbouring chair. She 
 then, in the most simple manner in the world, 
 helped me into bed, tucked me up and having 
 said a quantity of pretty things in Icelandic, gave 
 mc a hearty kiss and departed. "If," he added, 
 you see anything remarkable in my appearance, it 
 is, probably, because — 
 
 * This very morn I've felt the sweet surprise 
 Of unexpected lips on sealed eyes ;'" 
 
 by which he poetically intimated the pleasing 
 ceremony which had awaked him to the duties of 
 the day. I think it needless to subjoin that the 
 Doctor's cold did not get better as long as we re- 
 mained in the neighbourhood, and that had it not 
 been for the daily increasing fire of his looks, I 
 should have begun to be alarmed at so protracted 
 an indisposition. 
 
 We had now been keeping watch for three 
 days over the Geyser in languid expectation of 
 che eruption which was to set us free. All the 
 morning of the fourth day I had been playing 
 
yhi Eritptiou. 
 
 n; 
 
 chess with Si{^urclr; Fit/.j^^craKl was photograph- 
 ing, Wilson was in the act of announcing hnich- 
 eon, when a cry from tlic guides made us start 
 to our feet, and with one common impulse rush 
 towards the basin. The usual subterranean thun- 
 ders had already commenced. A violent agitation 
 was dist"rbing the centre of the pool. Suddenly 
 a dome o^ water lifted itself up to the height of 
 eight or tjn feet, — then bur.st and fell ; imme- 
 diately after which a shining li([uid column or 
 rather a sheaf of columns wreathed in robes of 
 vapour sprung into the air, and in a succession 
 of jerking leaps, 'lacli higher than the last, flung 
 their silver crests against the sky. For a few 
 minutes the fountain held its own, then all at 
 once appeared to lose its ascending energy. The 
 unstable waters faltered, — drooped, — fell, ** like 
 a broken purpose," back upon themselves, and 
 were immediately sucked down into the recesses 
 of their pipe. 
 
 The spectacle was certainly magnificent ; but 
 no descrigtion can give any idea of its most 
 striking features. The enormous wealth of 
 water, its vitality, its hidden power, — the illim- 
 itable breadth of sunlit vapour, rolling out in 
 exhaustless profusion, — all combined to make 
 one feel the stupendous energy of nature's 
 slightest movements. 
 
 And yet I do not believe the exhibition was 
 so fine as some that have been seen ; from the 
 
Ii8 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 tm 
 
 It! 
 
 first burst upwards, to the moment the last jet 
 retreated into the pipe, was no more than a space 
 of seven or eight minutes, and at no moment did 
 the crown of the column reach higher than sixty 
 or seventy feet above the surface of thr basin. 
 Now, early travellers talk of three hundred feet, 
 which must, of course, be fabulous ; but many 
 trustworthy persons have judged the eruptions 
 at two hundred feet, while well-authenticated 
 accounts — when the elevation of the jet has 
 been actually measured — make it to have at- 
 tained a height of upwards of one hundred feet. 
 With regard to the internal machinery by 
 which these, waterworks are set in motion, I will 
 only say that the most received theory seems to 
 be that which supposes the existence of a cham- 
 ber in the heated earth, almost, but not quite, 
 filled with water, and communicating with the 
 upper air by means of a pipe, whose lower orifice, 
 instead of being in the roof, is at the side of the 
 cavern, and below the surface of the subterranean 
 pond. The water kept by the surrounding fur- 
 naces at boiling point, generates of course a 
 continuous supply of steam, for which some vent 
 must be obtained : as it cannot escape by the 
 funnel, — the lower mouth of which is under 
 water, — it squeezes itself up within the arching 
 roof, — until at last, compressed beyond all en- 
 durance, it strains against the rock, and pushing 
 down the intervening waters with its broad, 
 
 m 
 
Prince Napoleon. 
 
 119 
 
 strong back, forces them below the level of the 
 funnel and dispersing part, and driving part 
 before it, lu^hes forth in triumph to the upper 
 air. The fountains, therefore, that we see mount- 
 ing to the sky during an eruption, are nothing 
 but the superincumbent mass of waters in the 
 pipe driven up in confusion before the steam at 
 the moment it obtains its liberation.* 
 
 The last gulp of water has disappeared down 
 thr funnel. We were standing at the bottom of 
 the now empty basin, gazing into each other's 
 faces with joyous astonishment, when suddenly 
 •we perceived a horseman come franticly galloping 
 round the base of the neighbouring hill towards 
 us. The state of the case was only too evident. 
 
 * Professor Bunsen lias lately announced a chemical the- 
 ory, which, I believe, has been received with favour by the 
 scientific world. He points to the fact that water, after Leing 
 long subjected to heat, loses much of the air contained in it, 
 has the cohesion of its molecules much increased, and re- 
 quires a higher temperature to bring it to the boil ; at which 
 moment the production of vapour becomes so great and so 
 instantaneous, as to cause explosion. The bursting of fur- 
 nace boilers is often attributable to this cause. Now, the 
 'Water at the bottom of the well of the Great Geyser is found 
 .to be of constantly increasing temperature up to the mo- 
 ment of an eruption, when on one occasion it was as high 
 as 261" Fahrenheit. Professor Bunsen's idea is, that on 
 reaching some unknown point above that temperature, 
 ebullition takes place, vapour is suddenly generated in 
 enormous quantity, and an eruption of the superior column 
 of water is the consequence. 
 
120 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 w 
 
 ?!"(: 
 
 He had seen the masses of vapour rising round 
 the fountain, and guessing "what was ;//," had 
 strained every nerve to arrive in time. As there 
 was no mutual friend present to introduce us to 
 each other, — of course under ordinary circum- 
 stances I should have wrapped myself in that 
 reserve which is the "birthright of every Britorr 
 and pretended never even to have noticed his. 
 arrival ; but the sight we had just seen had quite 
 upset my nerves, — and I confess, with shame^ 
 that I so far compromised myself as to inau- 
 gurate a conversation with the stranger. In ex- 
 tenuation of my conduct, 1 must be allowed td 
 add, that the new-comer was not a fellow-coun- 
 tryman, but of the French tongue, and of the 
 naval profession. 
 
 Occupying then the door of my tent — by way 
 of vantage ground, as soon as the stranger was. 
 come within earshot, I lifted up my voice, and 
 cried in a style of Arabian familiarity, " O thou 
 that ridest so furiously, — weary and disappointed 
 one, — turn in, I pray thee, into the tent of thy 
 servant, and eat bread, and drink wine, that thy 
 soul may be comforted." To which he answered 
 and said, — " Man, — dweller in sulphureous places,. 
 — I will not eat bread, nor drink wine, neither 
 will I enter into thy tent, until I have measured! 
 out a resting-place for my Lord the Prince." 
 
 At this interesting moment our acquaintance 
 was interrupted by the appearance of two other 
 
Prince Napoleon. 
 
 121 
 
 horsemen — the one a painter, the other a geolo- 
 gist attached to the expedition of Prince Napo- 
 leon. They informed us that his Imperial High- 
 ness had reached Reykjc.vik two days after we 
 had left, that he had encamped last night at 
 Thingvalla, and might be expected here in about 
 four hours ; they themselves having come on in 
 advance to prepare for his arrival. My first care 
 was to order coffee for the tired Frenchmen ; and 
 then — feeling that long residence having given 
 us a kind of proprietorship in the Geysers, we 
 were bound to do the honours of the place to the 
 approaching band of travellers — I summoned the 
 cook, and enlarging in a long speech on the grav- 
 ity of the occasion, gave orders that he should 
 make a holocaust of all the remaining game, 
 and get under way a plum-pudding, whose di- 
 mensions should do himself and England credit- 
 A long table having been erected within the tent, 
 Sigurdr started on a plundering expedition to the 
 neighbouring farm, Fitzgerald undertook the or- 
 dering of the feast, while I rode on my pony 
 across the morass, in hopes of being able to shoot 
 a few additional plover. In a couple of hours 
 afterwards, just as I was stalking a duck that lay 
 innocently basking on the bosom of the river, a 
 cloud of horsemen swept round the base of the 
 distant mountain and returning home, I found 
 the encampment I had left so deserted — alive and 
 populous with as merry a group of Frenchniea. 
 
 i 
 
122 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 as it might ever be one's fortune to fall in with. 
 Of course they were dressed in evcrv variety of 
 costumes, long boots, picturesque brigand-looking 
 hats, with here and there a sprinkling of Scotch 
 caps from Aberdeen ; but — whatever might be 
 the head-dress, underneath you might be sure to 
 find a kindly, cheery face. My old friend Count 
 Trampe, who had accompanied the expedition^ 
 at once presented me to the Prince, who was 
 engaged in sounding the depth of the pipe of the 
 Great Geyser, — and encouraged by the gracious 
 reception which His Imperial Highness accorded 
 me, I ventured to inform him that '* there was a 
 poor banquet forward," of which I trusted he — 
 and as many of his officers as his table could 
 hold, would condescend to partake. After a lit- 
 tle hesitation, caused, I presume, by fear of our 
 being put to inconvenience, — he was kind enough 
 to signify his acceptance of my proposal, and in 
 a few minutes afterwards, with a cordial frank- 
 ness I fully appreciated, allowed me to have the 
 satisfaction of receiving him as a guest within 
 my tent. 
 
 Although I never had the pleasure of seeing 
 Prince Napoleon before, I should have known 
 him among a thousand, from his remarkable like- 
 ness to his uncle, the first Emperor. I stronger 
 resemblance, I conceive, could scarcely exist be- 
 tween two persons. The same delicate, sharply 
 •cut features, thin refined mouth and firm deter- 
 
 33;; ..;i 
 
m 
 
 Banquet to the Prince. 
 
 123 
 
 mined jaw. The Prince's frame, however, is built 
 altogether on a larger scale, and his eyes — in- 
 stead of being of a cold piercing blue — are soft 
 and brown, with quite a different expression. 
 
 Though of course a little Barmicidal, the din- 
 ner went off very well, as every dinner must 
 do where such merry companions are the con- 
 vives. We had some difficulty about stowing 
 away the legs of a tall philosopher, and to each 
 knife — three individuals were told off; but the 
 birds were not badly cooked, and the plum-pud- 
 ding arrived in time to convert a questionable 
 success into an undoubted triumph. 
 
 On rising from table, cash one strolled away in 
 whatever direction his particular taste suggested. 
 The painter to sketch ; the geologist to break 
 stones ; the philosopher to moralize, I presume, — 
 at least, he lighted a cigar, — and the rest to 
 superintend the erecticn of the tents which had 
 just arrived. 
 
 In an hour afterwards, sleep — though not al- 
 together silence — for loud and strong rose the 
 choral service, intoned to Morpheus from every 
 side — reigned supreme over th§ encampment, 
 whose canvas habitations, huddled together on the 
 desolate plateau, looked almost Crimean. This 
 last notion, I suppose, must have mingled with 
 my dreams, for not long afterwards I found my- 
 self in full swing towards a Russian battery, that 
 banged and bellowed ard cannonaded about my 
 
124 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 
 ears in a fashion frightful to hear. Apparently I 
 was serving in the French attack, for clear and 
 shrill above the tempest rose the cry, " Alerte I 
 alerte ! aiix armes, Monseigneiir ! aux amies ! '* 
 The ground shook, volumes of smoke rose before 
 my eyes and completely hid the defences of Se- 
 bastopol ; which fact, on reflection, I perceived 
 to be the less extraordinary, as I was standing in 
 my shirt at the door of a tent in Iceland. The 
 premonitory symptoms of an eruption, which I 
 had taken for a Russian cannonading, had awak- 
 ened tne French sleepers, — a universal cry was 
 pervading the encampment, — and the entire set- 
 tlement had turned out — chiefly in bare legs — to 
 witness the event which the reverberating earth 
 and steaming water seemed to prognosticate. Old 
 Geyser, however, proved less courteous than we 
 had begun to hope, for after labouring uneasily ia 
 his basin for a few minutes, he roused himself oa 
 his hind legs — fell — made one more effort, — and 
 then giving it up as a bad job, sank back into his. 
 accustomed inaction, and left the disappointed 
 assembly to disperse to their respective dormito- 
 ries. 
 
 The next morning, the whole encampment was- 
 stirring at an early hour with preparations for 
 departure; for unsatisfactory as it had been, the 
 French considered themselves absolved by the- 
 partial performance they had witnessed, from any 
 longer "making antechamber," as they said, to 
 
 m 
 
Our Rctitni. 
 
 125 
 
 to 
 
 so capricious a functionary. Bcinjj very anxious 
 to have one more trial at photograpliing Strukr, I 
 ventured to suggest that the necessary bolus of 
 sods should be administered to him. In a few 
 minutes two or three cart-loads of turf were 
 seethinr^' and wallowinc^ within him. In the 
 mean time, Fitz seized the opportunity of the 
 Prince being at breakfast, to do a picture of him 
 seated on a chair, with his staff standing around 
 him, and looking the image of Napoleon before 
 the battle of Austerlitz. A good twenty min- 
 utes had now elapsed since the emetic had been 
 given, — no symptoms of any result had as yet 
 appeared, — and the French began to get impa- 
 tient; innuendoes were hazarded to the disad- 
 vantage of Strokr's reputation for consistency, — 
 innuendoes which I confess touched me nearly, 
 and made me feel like a showman w^hose dog- 
 has misbehaved. At last the whole party rode 
 off; but the rear horseman had not disappeared 
 round the neighbouring hill, before — splash! bang! 
 — fifty feet up into the air drove the dilatory 
 fountain, with a fury which amply avenged the 
 affront put upon it, and more than vindicated my 
 good opinion. All our endeavours, however, to 
 photograph the eruption proved abortive. We 
 had already attempted both Strokr and the Great 
 •Geyser, but in the case of the latter the exhibi- 
 tion v/as always concluded before the plate could 
 •be got ready; and although, as^far as Strokr is 
 
126 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 %' 
 
 
 .,.U 
 
 concerned, you can tell within a certain period 
 when the performance will take place, yet the 
 interval occurring between the dasc and the ex- 
 plosion varies so capriciously, that unless you are 
 content to spend many days upon the spot, it 
 would be almost impossible to hit it off exactly. 
 On this last occasion, — although we did not pre- 
 pare the plate until a good twenty minutes after 
 the turf was thrown in, — the spring remained 
 inactive so much longer than is usual, that the 
 collodion became quite insensitive, and the erup- 
 tion left no impression whatever upon it. 
 
 Of our return journey to Reykjavik, I think I 
 have no very interesting particulars to give you. 
 During the early part of the morning there had 
 been a slight threatening of rain ; but by twelve 
 o'clock it had settled down into one of those still 
 dark days, which wrap even the most familiar 
 landscape in a mantle of mystery. A heavy, low- 
 hung, steel-coloured pall was stretched almost 
 entirely across the heavens, except where along 
 the flat horizon a broad stripe of opal atmosphere 
 let the eye wander into space, in search of the 
 pearly gateways of Paradise. On the other side 
 rose the contorted lava mountains, their bleak 
 heads knocking against the solid sky and stained 
 of an inky blackness, which changed into a still 
 more lurid tint where the local reds struggled up 
 through the shadow that lay brooding over the 
 desolate scene. If within the domain of nature 
 
Our Return. 
 
 127 
 
 it 
 
 such another region is to be found, it can only be 
 in the heart of those awful solitudes which science 
 has unveiled to us amid the untrodden fastnesses 
 of the lunar mountains. An hour before reach- 
 ing our old camping-ground at Thingvalla, as if 
 summoned by enchantment — a dull gray mist 
 closed around us, and suddenly confounded in 
 undistinguishabic ruin the glory and the terror of 
 the panorama we had traversed : sky, mountains, 
 horizon, all had disappeared; and as we strained 
 our eyes from the edge of thcRabna Gja across 
 the monotonous gray level at our feet, it was 
 almost difllcult to believe that there lay the same 
 magical plain, the first sight of which had be- 
 come almost an epoch in our lives. 
 
 I had sent on cook, baggage and guides, some 
 hours before we ourselves started, so that on our 
 arrival we found a dry, cosy tent, and a warm 
 dinner awaiting us. The rapid transformation 
 of the aspect of the country, which I had just 
 witnessed, made me quite understand how com- 
 pletely the success of an expedition in Ice- 
 land mnst depend on the weather, and fully ac- 
 counted for the difference I had observed in the 
 amount of enjoyment different travellers seemed 
 to have derived from it. It is one thing to ride 
 forty miles a day through the most singular 
 scenery in the world, when a radiant sun brings- 
 but every feature of the country into startling 
 distinctness, transmuting the dull, tormented earth 
 
128 
 
 T.ctters from High Latitudes, 
 
 . . 1- 
 
 \\ > 
 
 M 
 
 into towers, domes and piniuiclcs of ^deaming 
 metal, — and weaves for every distant summit a 
 robe of variegated li^^^iit, such as the "Delectable 
 Mountains," must have worn for the rapt j^aze of 
 weary "Ciiristian;" — and another to plod over 
 the same forty miles, drenched to the skin, seeing 
 nothinf^ but the dim, J^ray roots of hills, that rise 
 you know not how, and you care not where, — 
 with no better employment than to look at your 
 watch, and wonder when you shall reach your 
 journey's end. If, in addition to this, you have to 
 wait, as very often must be the case, for many 
 hours after your own arrival, wet, tired, hungry, 
 until the baggage-train, with the tents and food, 
 shall have come up, with no alternative in the 
 mean time but to lie shivering inside a grass- 
 roofed church, or to share the quarters of some 
 farmer's family, whose domestic arrangements 
 resemble in every particular those which Macau - 
 lay describes as prevailing among the Scottish 
 Highlanders a hundred years ago ; and if, finally 
 — after vainly waiting for some days to see an 
 eruption which never takes place — you journey 
 back to Reykjavik under the same melancholy 
 conditions, — it will not be unnatural that on 
 returning to your native land, you should pro- 
 claim Iceland, with her Geysers, to be a sham, 
 a delusion and a snare 1 
 
 Fortune, however, seemed determined that of 
 these bitternesses we should not taste; for the 
 
 P 
 ill 
 
Our Return. 
 
 129 
 
 next morninfj, bright and joyous overhead bent 
 the blue unclouded heaven, while the plain lay 
 gleaming at our feet in all the brilliancy of 
 enamel. I was sorely tempted to linger another 
 day in the neighbourhood; but we have already 
 spent more time upon the Geysers than I had 
 counted upon, and it will not do to remain in 
 Iceland longer than the 15th, or winter will have 
 begun to barricade the passes into his Arctic 
 dominions. My plan, on returning to Reykjavik, 
 is to send the schooner round to wait for us in a 
 harbour on the north coast of the island, while 
 we ourselves strike straight across the interior on 
 horseback. 
 
 The scenery, I am told, is magnificent. On 
 the way we shall pass many a little nook, shut 
 up among the hills, that has been consecrated by- 
 some touching old-world story; and the manner 
 of life among the northern inhabitants is — I be- 
 lieve, more unchanged and characteristic than 
 that of any other of the islanders. Moreover, 
 scarcely any stranger has ever penetrated to any 
 distance in this direction; and we shall have an 
 opportunity of traversing a slice of that tremen- 
 dous desert — piled up for thirty thousand square 
 miles in disordered pyramids of ice and lava 
 over the centre of the country, and periodically- 
 devastated by deluges of molten stone and boil- 
 ing mud, or overwhelmed with whirlwinds of 
 intermingled snow and cinders, — an unfinished 
 
130 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes, 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 corner of the universe, where the elements of 
 chaos are still allowed to raj^e with unbridled 
 fury. 
 
 Our last stage from Thltii^valla back to Reyk- 
 javik was got over very cjuickly and seemed an 
 infinitely shorter distance than when we first per- 
 formed it. We met a number of farmers return- 
 ing to their homes from a kind of fair that is 
 annually held in the little metropolis ; and as I 
 watched the long caravan-like line of pack-horses 
 and horsemenwearily plodding over the stony 
 waste in single file, I found it less difficult ta 
 believe that these remote islanders should be 
 descended from Oriental forefathers. In fact^ 
 one is constantly reminded of the East in Ice- 
 land. From the earliest ages the Icelanders 
 have been a people dwelling in tents. In the 
 time of the ancient Parliament, the legislators,, 
 during the entire session, lay encamped in mov- 
 able booths around the place of meeting. Their 
 domestic polity is naturally patriarchal, and the 
 flight of their ancestors from Norway was a pro- 
 test Lgainst the antagonistic principle of feudal- 
 ism. No Arab could be prouder of his courser 
 than they are of their little ponies, or reverence 
 more deeply the sacred rights of hospitality ; 
 while the solemn salutation exchanged between 
 two companies of travellers, passing each other 
 in the desert — as they invariably call the unin- 
 habited part of the country — would not have 
 
Trath — Population. 
 
 13' 
 
 misbecome the stately courtesy of the most an- 
 cient worshipers of the sun. 
 
 Anything more multifarious than the lading 
 of these caravans we met returning to the inland 
 districts cannot well be conceived: deal boards, 
 rope, kegs of brandy, sacks of rye or wheaten 
 flour, salt, soap, sugar, snuff, tobaccr, coffee ; 
 everything, in fact, which was necessary to their 
 domestic consumption during the ensuing winter. 
 In exchange for these commodities, which of 
 course they are obliged to get from Europe, the 
 Icelanders export raw wool, knitted stockings, 
 mittens, cured cod and fish oil, whale blubber, 
 fox skins, eider-down, feathers and Icelandic 
 moss. During the last few years the exports of 
 the island have amounted to about i,2CX),0C)0 lbs. 
 of wool and 500,000 pairs of stockings and mit- 
 tens. Although Iceland is one-fifth larger than 
 Ireland, its population consists of only about 
 60,000 persons scactered along the habitable ring 
 which runs round between the central desert and 
 the sea; of the whole area of 38,000 square 
 miles, it is calculated that not more than one- 
 eighth part is occupied, the remaining 33,000 
 square miles consisting of naked mountains of 
 ice, or valleys desolated by lava or volcanic ashes. 
 Even Reykjavik itself cannot boast of more than 
 700 or 800 inhabitants. 
 
 During the winter time the men are chiefly em- 
 ployed in tending cattle, picking wool, manufac- 
 
133 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 •3 
 
 
 turing ropes, bridles, saddles and building boats. 
 The fishing season commences in spring ; in 1853 
 there were as mauy as 3,500 boats engaged upon 
 the water. As summer advances — turf-cutting 
 and hay-making begins ; while the autumn 
 months are principally devoted to the repairing 
 of their houses, manuring the grass lands, and 
 killing and curing of sheep for exportation, as 
 well as for their own use during the winter. 
 The woman-kind of a family occupy themselves 
 throughout the year in washing, carding and 
 spinning wool, in knitting gloves and stockings, 
 and in weavinr; freizc and flannel for their own 
 wear. 
 
 The ordinary food of a well-to-do Icelandic 
 family consists of dried fish, butter, sour whey 
 kept till fermentation takes place, curds, and 
 skier — a Vf^ry peculiar cheese unlike any I ever 
 tasted, a little mutton, and rye bread. As might 
 be expected, this meagre fare is not very condu* 
 cive to health ; scurvy, leprosy, elephantiasis, and 
 all cutaneous disorders are very common, while 
 the practice of mothers to leave off nursing their 
 children at the end of three days, feeding them 
 with cows' milk instead, results in a frightful 
 mortality among the babies. 
 
 Land is held either in fee simple, or let by the 
 Crown to tenants on what may almost be con- 
 sidered perpetual leases. The rent is calculated 
 partly on the number of acres occupied, partly 
 
A Strike among the Ponies, 
 
 ni 
 
 on the head of cattle the farm is fit to support, 
 and is paid in kind, either in fish or farm pro- 
 duce. Tenants in easy circumstances generally 
 employ two or three labourers, who, in addition 
 to their board and lodging — receive from ten to 
 twelve dollars a year of wages. No property 
 can be entailed, and if any one dies intestate, 
 what he leaves is distributed among his children 
 — in equal shares to the sons, in half shares to 
 the daughters. 
 
 The public revenue arising from Crown lands, 
 commercial charges, and a small tax on the trans- 
 ference of property, amounts to about /i"3,C)00; the 
 expenditure for education, officers' salaries (the 
 Governor has about ^400 a year), ecclesiastical 
 establishments, &c., exceeds ;^6,ooo a year ; so 
 that the island is certainly not a self-supporting 
 institution. 
 
 The clergy are paid by tithes ; their stipends 
 are exceedingly small, generally not averaging 
 more than six or seven pounds sterling per an- 
 num ; their chief dependence being upon their 
 farms. Like St. Dunstan, they are invariably 
 excellent blacksmiths. 
 
 As we approached Reykjavik, for the first time 
 during the whole journey we began to have some 
 little trouble with the relay of ponies in front. 
 Whether it was that they were tired, or that they 
 had arrived in a district where they had been ac- 
 customed to roam at large, I cannot tell ; but 
 
 
134 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I If; 
 
 every ten minutes, during the last six or seven 
 miles, one or other of them kept starting aside 
 into the rocky plain, across which the narrow 
 bridle-road was carried, and cost us many a 
 weary chase before we could drive them into the 
 track again. At last, though not till I had V^^en 
 violently hugged, kissed, and nearly pulled off my 
 horse by an enthusiastic and rather tipsy farmer, 
 who mistook me for the prince, we galloped, 
 about five o'clock, triumphantly into the town, 
 without an accident having occurred to man or 
 horse during the whole course of the expedition 
 — always excepting one tremendous fall sus- 
 tained by Wilson. It was on the evening of the 
 day we left the Geysers. We were all galloping 
 in single file down the lava pathway, when sud- 
 denly I heard a cry behind me, and then the 
 noise as of a descending avalanche. On turning 
 round, behold ! both Wilson and his pony lay 
 stretched upon the ground^ the first some yards 
 in advance of the other. The poor fellow evi- 
 dently thought he was killed ; for. he neither 
 spoke nor stirred, but lay looking up at me with 
 blank, beady eyes as I approached to his assist- 
 ance. On further investigation, neither of the 
 sufferers proved to be a bit the worse. 
 
 The cook, and the rest of the party, did not 
 arrive till about midnight ; but I made no doubt 
 that when that able and spirited individual did 
 at length reascend the side of the schooner, his 
 
A Mntifiy. 
 
 135 
 
 cheek must have burned witli pride at the reflec- 
 tion that, during the short period of his absence 
 on shore he had added to his othef accomplish- 
 jTients that of becoming a most finished cavalier. 
 I do not mean by that to imply that he was at 
 all dojie. Although we had enjoyed our trip so 
 ■much, I was not sorry to find myself on board. 
 The descent again, after our gipsy life, into the 
 coquettisl" little cabin, with its books and dear 
 home faces, quite penetrated me with that feel- 
 ing of snug content of which I believe English- 
 men alone are susceptible. 
 
 ^ I have now to relate to you a most painful 
 occurrence which has taken place during my 
 absence at the Geysers ; — no less a catastrophe, 
 in fact, than a mutiny among my hitherto most 
 exemplary ship's company. I suppose they, too, 
 had occasion to bear witness to the proverbial 
 Jiospitality of Iceland ; salt junk, and the innoc- 
 uous cates which generally compose ship-board 
 rations, could never have produced such an emer- 
 gency. Suffice it to say, that " Dyspepsia and 
 her fatal train" having taken hold of them, in a 
 desperate hour they determined on a desperate 
 •deed, — and rushing aft in a body, demanded of 
 my faithful steward, not only access to the pene- 
 tralia of the absent Doctor's cupboard, but that 
 .he himself should administer to them whatever 
 medicaments he could come by. In vain Mr. 
 .Grant threw -himself across the cabin-door. Re- 
 
136 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 ii ! 
 
 monstrance was useless; my horny-handed lambs, 
 were inexorable — unless he acceded to their de- 
 mands, they threatened to report him when I 
 returned ! the Doctor's sanctuary was thrown 
 open, and all its sweets — if such they may be 
 called — were rifled. A huge box of pills, the first 
 that came to hand — they happening to be calomel 
 — were served out, share and share alike, with 
 concomitant vials of wrath, of rhubarb and 
 senna ; and it was not until the last drop of 
 castor oil had been carefully licked up, that the 
 marauders suffered their unwilling accomplice tO' 
 retire to the fastnesses of his pantry. 
 
 An avenging Nemesis, however, hovered over 
 the violated shrine of Esculapius. By the time 
 I returned, the exigencies of justice had been 
 more than satisfied, and the outrage already 
 atoned for. The rebellious hands were become 
 most penitent stomachs ; and fresh from the 
 Oriental associations suggested by our last day's 
 ride, I involuntarily dismissed the disconsolate 
 culprits, with the Asiatic form of condonation :: 
 " Mashallah, you have made your faces white \ 
 Go in peace ! " 
 
 During our expedition to the interior, the har~ 
 
 bour of Reykjavik had become populous with 
 
 new arrivals. First of all, there was my old 
 
 friend, La Reine Hortense the Emperor's yachts 
 
 a magnifi cent screw corvette of 1,100 tons. I 
 
 had last parted with her three years ago in the 
 
The Rcine Hortense. 
 
 ^^7 
 
 Baltic, after she had towed me for 80 miles on 
 our way from Homarsund to Stockholm. Then 
 there were two English screw steamers, of about 
 700 tons each, taken up by the French Govern- 
 ment as tenders to the yacht ; not to mention a 
 Spanish brig and one or two other foreigners, 
 which, together with the frigate, the barque, and 
 the vessels we had found here on our first arrival, 
 made the usually deserted bay look quite lively 
 Until this year, no steamers had ever cockneyfied 
 its secluded waters. 
 
 This morning, directly after breakfast, I went 
 on board the Rcine Hortense to pay my respects 
 to Prince Napoleon ; and H. I. H. had just done 
 me the honour of coming to inspect The Foam, 
 When I was first presented to him at the Gey- 
 sers, he asked me what my plans might be ; and 
 on my mentioning my resolution of sailing to 
 the North, he most kindly proposed that I should 
 corrle with him to West Greenland instead. My 
 anxiety, however, to reach, if it were possible, 
 Jan Mayen and Spitzbergen, prevented my ac- 
 cepting this most tempting offer; but in the mean- 
 time, H. I. H. has, it seems, himself determined 
 to come to Jan Mayen, and he is kind enough to 
 say that if I get ready for a start by six 
 o'clock to-morrow morning, the Reine 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 
 
i 
 
 ii'f! 
 
 
 i 
 
 138 
 
 Letters fivm High Latitudes. 
 
 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 T 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 conclusion, but on the whole I think it 
 will be better. Ten or fifteen days of summer- 
 lime become very precious in these latitudes, and 
 are worth a sacrifice. At this moment we have 
 just brought up astern of the Rcine Hortense 
 and are getting our hawsers bent, ready for a 
 start in half an hour's time. My next letter, 
 please God, will be dated from Hammerfest. I 
 'Suppose I shall be about fifteen or twenty days 
 getting there, but this will depend on the state of 
 the ice about Jan Mayen. If the anchorage is 
 jclear, I shall spend a few days in examining the 
 
Jan Maycu. 
 
 139 
 
 I 
 
 island, which by all accounts would appear to 
 be most curious. 
 
 I happened first to hear of its existence from 
 a very intelligent whaling Captain I fell in with 
 among the Shetlands four years ago. He was 
 sailing home to Hull, after fishing the Spitzber- 
 gen waters, and had sighted the huge moun- 
 tain which forms the northern extremity of Jan 
 Mayen, on his way south. Luckily, the weather 
 was fine while he was passing, and the sketch he 
 made of it at the time so filled me with amaze- 
 ment, that I then determined, if ever I got the 
 chance, to go and see with my own eyes so great 
 a marvel. Imagine a spike of igneous rock (the 
 whole island is volcanic), shooting straight up 
 out of the sea to the height of 6,870 feet, not 
 broad-based like a pyramid, nor round-topped 
 like a sugar-loaf, but needle-shaped, pointed like 
 the spire of a church. If only my Hull skipper 
 were as good a draughtsman as he seemed to be 
 a seaman, we should now be on our way to 
 one of the wonders of the world. Most peo- 
 ple here hold out rather a doleful prospect, and 
 say that, in the first place, it is probable the whole 
 island will be imprisoned within the eternal fields 
 of ice that lie out for upwards of a hundred and 
 fifty miles along the eastern coast of Greenland ; 
 and next, that if even the sea should be clear in 
 its vicinity, the fogs up there are so dense and 
 constant that the chances are very much against 
 
140 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 
 
 
 our hitting the land. But the fact of the last 
 French man-of-war which sailed in that direction 
 never having returned, has made those seas need- 
 lessly unpopular at Reykjavik. 
 
 It was during one of these fogs that Captain 
 Fotherby, the original discoverer of Jan Mayen, 
 stumbled upon it in 1614. While sailing south- 
 wards in a mist too thick to see a ship's length 
 off, he suddenly heard the noise of waters break- 
 ing on a great shore, and when the gigantic bases 
 of Mount Beerenberg gradually disclosed them- 
 selves, he thought he had discovered some new 
 continent. Since then it has been often sighted 
 by homeward-bound whalers, but rarely landed 
 upon. About the year 1633 the Dutch Govern- 
 ment, wishing to establish a settlement in the 
 actual neighbourhood of the fishing-grounds, 
 where the blubber might be boiled down and 
 the spoils of each season transported home in the 
 smallest bulk, — actually induced seven seamen 
 to volunteer remaining the whole winter on the 
 island.* Huts were built for them, and having 
 
 * The names of the seven Dutch seamen who attempted 
 to winter in Jan Mayen's Island were : — 
 
 Outgert Jacobson, of Grootenbrook, their commander. 
 Adrian Martin Carman, of Schiedam, clerk. 
 Thauniss Thaunissen, of Schermehem, cook.. 
 Dick Peterson, of Veenhuyse. 
 Peter Peterson, of Harlem. 
 Sebastian Gyse, of Defts- Haven- 
 Gerard Beautin^ of Bruges.. 
 
 beei 
 
 visi( 
 
 to w 
 
 scvei 
 
 these 
 
 sink 
 
 sun 
 
 from 
 
 touch 
 
 land \ 
 
 sea, w 
 
 the wi 
 
 we the 
 
 us, wh] 
 
 Towan 
 
 whethe 
 
 observa 
 
 for mar 
 
 OntJ 
 
 cned b 
 
 ground, 
 
 A mont 
 
 after a 
 
 frozen lil 
 
 *Thec 
 then so in( 
 A similar 
 bergen anc 
 we have ui 
 
 f* Wi''"' 
 
The Sez'ai Dutchmcu. 
 
 141 
 
 been furnished with an ample supply of salt pro- 
 visions, they were left to resolve the problem, as 
 to whether or no human beings could support the 
 severities of the climate. Standing on the shore, 
 these seven men saw their comrades' parting sails 
 sink down beneath the sun, — then watched the 
 sun sink, as had sunk the sails ; — but extracts 
 from their own simple narrative are the most 
 touching record I can give you of their fate : — 
 
 ^'The 26th of August, our fleet set sail for Hol- 
 land with a strong northeast wind, and a hollow 
 sea, which continued all that night. The 28th, 
 the wind the same ; it began to snow very hard ; 
 we then shared half a pound of tobacco betwixt 
 us, which was to be our allowance for a week. 
 Towards evening we went about together, to see 
 whether we could discover anything worth our 
 observation ; but met with nothing." And so on 
 for many weary a day of sleet and storm. 
 
 On the 8th of September they "were fright- 
 ened by a noise of something fallen to the 
 ground," — probably some volcanic disturbance. 
 A month later it becomes so cold that their linen, 
 after a moment's exposure to the air, becomes 
 frozen like a board.* Huge fleets of ice beleaguered 
 
 "* The climate, however, does not appear to have been 
 then so inclement in these latitudes as it has since become. 
 A similar deterioration in the temperature, both of Spitz- 
 bergen and Greenland, has also been observed. In Iceland 
 we have undoubted evidence of corn having been formerly 
 
142 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 In 
 
 
 ■!|t 
 
 the island, the sun disappears, and they spend 
 most of their time in "rehearsing to one another 
 the adventures that had befallen them both by- 
 sea and land." On the I2th of December they 
 kill a bear, having already begun to feel the 
 effects of a salt diet. At last comes New Year's 
 Day, 1636. '* After having wished each other a 
 happy new year and success in our enterprise, 
 we went to prayers, to disburden our hearts 
 before God." On the 25th of February, (the very 
 day on which Wallcnstein was murdered,) the 
 sun reappeared. By the 22nd of March scurvy 
 had already declared itself: " For want of re- 
 freshments we began to be very* heartless, and so 
 afflicted that our legs are scarce able to bear us." 
 On the 3rd of April, "there being no more than 
 two of us in health, we killed for them the only 
 two pullets we had left; and they fed pretty 
 heartily upon them, in hopes it might prove a 
 means to recover part of their strength, We 
 were sorry we had not a dozen more for their 
 sake." On Easter day, Adrian Carman, of Schie- 
 dam, their clerk, dies. "The Lord have mercy 
 upon his soul, and upon us all, we being very 
 
 WmI 
 
 grown, as well as of the existence of timber of considerable 
 size, though now it can scarce produce a cabbage, or a 
 stunted shrub of birch. M. Babinet, of the French Insti- 
 tute, goes a little too far when he says, in the Journal des 
 Debats oi the 30th December, 1856, that for many years 
 Jan Mayenhas been inaccessible. 
 
Record of their Fate. 
 
 143 
 
 Irable 
 
 or a 
 
 [nsti- 
 
 \l des 
 
 ■years 
 
 sick." Durinj^ the next few days they seem all 
 to have got rapidly worse; one only is strong 
 enough to move about. lie has learnt writing 
 from his comrades since coming to the island; 
 and it is he who concludes the melancholy story. 
 "The 23d (April,) the wind blew from the same 
 corner, with small rain. We were by this time 
 reduced to a very deplorable state, there being 
 none of them all, except myself, that were able 
 to help themselves, much less one another, so 
 that the whole burden lay upon my shoulders, — 
 and I perform my duty as well as I am able, as 
 long as God pleases to give me strength. I am 
 just now a-going to help our commander out of 
 his cabin, at his request, because he imagined by 
 this change to ease his pain, — he then struggling 
 with death." For seven days this gallant fellow 
 goes on "striving to do his duty ;" that is to say, 
 making entries in the journal as to the state of 
 the weather, that being the principal object their 
 employers had in view when they left them on 
 the island ; but on the 30th of April his strength 
 too gave way, and his failing hand could do no 
 more than trace an incompleted sentence on the 
 
 page, 
 
 Meanwhile succour and reward are on their 
 way toward the forlorn garrison. On the 4th of 
 June, up again above the horison rise the sails, 
 of the Zealand fleet ; but no glad faces come 
 forth to greet the boats as they pull towards the. 
 
m 
 
 144 
 
 Letters froui High Latitudes. 
 
 m 
 
 shore ; and when their comrades search for those 
 they had hoped to find aUve and well, — lo ! each 
 Ucs dead in his own hut,-- -'one vvitli an open 
 Prayer-book by his side ; another with his hand 
 stretched out towards the ointment he had used 
 for his stiffened joints ; and the last survivor, 
 with the unfinished journal still lying by his 
 side. 
 
 The most recent recorded landing on the island 
 was effected twenty-two years ago, by the brave 
 and pious Captain, now Dr. Scorcsby,* on his 
 return from a whaling cruise. He had seen the 
 mountain of Beerenberg one hundred miles off, 
 and, on approaching, found the coast quite clear 
 of ice. According to his survey and observa- 
 tions, Jan Mayen is about sixteen miles long, by 
 four wide ; but I hope soon, on my own author- 
 ity, to be able to tell you more about it. 
 
 Certainly, this our last evening spent in Ice- 
 land will not have been the least joyous of our 
 stay. The dinner on board the Rcinc Hortense 
 was very ant. I renewed acquaintance with 
 
 some jld Baltic friends, and was presented 
 
 to t ji three of the Prince's staff, who did 
 iiot accompany the expedition to the Geysers ; 
 among others, to the Due d'Abrantes, Marshal 
 Junot's son. On sitting down to table, I found 
 myself between H. I. H. and Monsieur de Saulcy, 
 
 * I regret to be obliged to subjoin that Dr. Scoresby has 
 died since the above was written. 
 
 
Low Dresses. 
 
 145 
 
 member of the French institute, who made that 
 famous expedition to the Dead Sea, and is one 
 of the gayest, pleasantest persons I liave ever 
 met. Of course there was a great deal of laugh- 
 ing and talking, as well as much speculation with 
 regard to the costume of the Icelandic ladies 
 we were to see at the ball. It appears that ^hc 
 dove-cots of Reykjavik have been a good deal 
 fluttered by an announcement emanating from 
 the gallant Captain of the Artmiise, that his 
 fair guests would be expected to come in low 
 dresses ; for it would seem that the practice of 
 showing their ivory shoulders is, as yet, an idea 
 as shocking to the pretty ladies of this country 
 as waltzes were to our grandmothers. Nay, there 
 was not even to be found a native milliner equal 
 to the task of marking out that mysterious line 
 which divides the prudish from the improper ; 
 so that the collct-vionte faction have been in 
 despair. As it turned out, their anxiety on this 
 head was unnecessary; for we found, on entering 
 the ball-room, that, with the natural refinement 
 which characterizes this noble people, our bright- 
 eyed partners, as if by inspiration, had hit off the 
 exact sweep from shoulder to shoulder, at which 
 — after those many oscillations, up and down, 
 which the female corsage has undergone since 
 the time of the first director — good taste has 
 finally arrested it. 
 
 I happened to be particularly interested in the 
 10 
 
146 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes, 
 
 «ibovc important question ; for up to that mo- 
 ment I had always been haunted by a horrid 
 paragraph 1 had met with somewhere in an Ice- 
 landic book of travels, to the effect that it was 
 the practice of Icelandic women, from early 
 childhood, to flatten down their bosoms as much 
 as possible. Th.s fact, for the honour of the 
 island, I am now in a position to deny ; and I 
 here declare that, as far as I had the indiscretion 
 to observe, those maligned ladies appear to me 
 as buxom in form as any rosy English girl I 
 have ever seen. 
 
 It was nearly nine o'clock before wo adjourned 
 from La Rcine Llortcnsc to tive ball. Already,, 
 for some time past, boats full of gay dresses had 
 been passing under the corvette's stern on their 
 way to the Artcniise, looking like flower-beds 
 that had put to sea, — though they certainly could 
 no longer be called a parterre ; — and by the time 
 we ourselves mounted her lofty sides, a mingled 
 stream of music, light and silver laughter, was 
 pouring out of every port-hole. The ball-room 
 was very prettily arranged. The upper-deck had 
 been closed in with a lofty roof of canvas, from 
 which hung suspended glittering lustres, formed 
 by bayonets with their points collected into an 
 inverted pyramid, and the but-ends serving as 
 sockets for the tapers. Every wall was gay with 
 flags, — the frigate's frowning armament all hid or 
 turned to ladies* uses ; 82-pounders became sofas. 
 
A Ball on Board. 
 
 i4r 
 
 — boarding-pikes, balustrades — pistols, candle- 
 sticks — the brass carronades set on end, pillar- 
 wise, their brawling mouths stopped with nose- 
 gays ; while portraits of the Emperor and the ICm- 
 press, busts, colours, draped with Parisian cunning, 
 gave to the scene an appearance of festivity that 
 looked quite fairy-like in so sombre a region. As 
 for our gallant host I never saw such spirits ; he 
 is a fine old gray-headed blow-hard of fifty odd, 
 talking English like a native, and combining the 
 frank, open-hearted cordiality of a sailor with 
 that graceful, winning gaiety peculiar to Erench- 
 men. I never saw anything more perfect than 
 the kind, almost fatherly courtesy with which he 
 welcomed each blooming bevy of maidens that 
 trooped up his ship's side. About two o'clock, 
 we had supper on the main-deck. I had the 
 honour of taking down Miss Thora, of Basses- 
 tad ; and somehow, this time, I no longer found 
 myself wandering back in search of the pale face 
 of the old world Thora, being, I suppose, suflfici- 
 ently occupied by the soft, gentle eyes of tne one 
 beside me. With the other young ladies I did 
 not make much acquaintance, as I experienced a 
 difficulty in finding befitting remarks on the 
 occasion of being presented to them. Once or 
 twice, indeed, I hazarded, through their fathers, 
 some little complimentary observations in Latin ; 
 but I cannot say that I found that language lend 
 itself readily to the gallantries of the ball-room. 
 
 i 
 
148 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 After supper, dancing recommenced, and the 
 hilarity of the evening reached its highest pitch, 
 when half a dozen sailors, dressed in turbans 
 made of flags, (one of them a lady with the face 
 of the tragic muse,) came forward and danced 
 the can-car with a gravity and decorum that 
 would have greatly edified what Garvini calls 
 *' la pudeur municipalcr 
 
 At three o'clock a.m. I returned on board the 
 schooner, and we were all now very busy in 
 making final preparations for departure. Fitz 
 is re-arranging his apothecary's shop. Sigurdr is 
 writing letters. The last strains of music have 
 ceased on board the Arteinisc ; the sun is 
 already high in the heavens ; the flower-beds 
 are returning on shore, — a little draggled, per- 
 haps, as if just pelted by a thunder-storm ; The 
 Reine Hortense has got her steam up and the 
 real, serious part of our voyage is about to 
 begin. 
 
 I feel that my description has not hclf done 
 justice to the wonders of this interesting island ; 
 but I can refer you to your friend Sir Henry 
 Holland for further details ; he paid a visit to 
 Iceland in 18 10, with Sir G. Mackenzie, and 
 made himself thoroughly acquainted with its 
 historical and scientific associations. 
 
 Sci 
 
 Lo 
 
 W 
 
 Do 
 
 m 
 
 Doi 
 
 m 
 
 to the 
 
 seen t 
 
 they 
 
 {Pause 
 
 me the 
 
 feet of 
 
 two inc 
 
 Voici 
 
 —"Are 
 
 Lord 
 
 
Fearful Suggestious. 
 
 149 
 
 CONCLUDING ACT. 
 
 Scene. R. Y. S. Foam : astern of The Reine Horteiise 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONyE. 
 
 Voice of French Captain, Commander R. H. 
 
 Lord D. 
 
 Doctor. 
 
 Wilson. 
 
 to 
 
 me 
 
 iry 
 to 
 
 Lnd 
 its 
 
 Voice of French Captain. — " Nous partons.'* 
 
 Lord D . " All ready, Sir." 
 
 Wilson to Doctor (sotto voce). — " Sir ! " 
 
 Doctor.— ''Yhr 
 
 Wilson. — Do you know. Sir .-' *' 
 
 Doctor.—'' What >. " 
 
 Wilson. — " Oh, nothing, Sir ; — only we're going 
 to the hicy regions. Sir, aint we } Well, 'I've just 
 seen that ere brig as is come from there, Sir, and 
 they say there's a precious lot of ice this year t 
 {Pause.) Do you know, Sir, the skipper showed 
 me the bows of his vessel, Sir. She's got seven 
 feet of solid timber in her for'ard ; weve only 
 two inches. Sir ! " {Dives beloiv) 
 
 Voice of French Captain, (zvith a slight accent.) 
 — " Are you ready .'' " 
 
 Lord D . " Ay, ay, Sir ! Up anchor ! " 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 START FRON REYKJAVIK — SNAEFELL — THE LADY OF 
 FRODA— A BERSERK TRAGEDY— THE CHAMPION OF 
 BREIDVIK — ONUNDER FIORD — THE LAST NIGHT — 
 CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE— FETE ON BOARD THE 
 
 -LE PERE ARCTIQUE— WE FALL 
 
 HE SAXON" DISAPPEARS — MIST 
 
 — A PARTING IN A LONELY SPOT — JAN MAYEN — MOUNT 
 
 BEERENBERG— AN UNPLEASANT POSITION— SHIFT OF 
 
 " REINE HORTENSE 
 IN WITH THE ICE- 
 
 WIND AND EXTRICATION- 
 
 FAEM 
 
 (( 
 
 TO NORROWAY OVER THE 
 HAMMERFEST. 
 
 -A NASTY COAST 
 
 HAMMERFEST, July. 
 
 Back in Europe again, — within reach of posts 
 The glad sun shining, the soft wind blowing, and 
 roses on the cabin table, — as if the region of fog 
 and ice we have just fled forth from were indeed 
 the dream-land these summer sights would make 
 it seem. I cannot tell you how gay and joyous 
 it all appears to us, fresh from a climate that 
 would not have been unworthy of Dante's In- 
 ferno. And yet — had it been twice as bad, what 
 we have seen would have more than repaid us, 
 though it has been no child's play to get to see it. 
 
 But I must begin where I left off in my last 
 letter, — ^just, I think, as we were getting under 
 
nrntii' 
 
 BMM 
 
 Curious Geological Formations. 
 
 iSi 
 
 Is 
 
 It 
 
 It 
 
 way to be towed by the Reinc Hortcnse out 
 of Reykjavik Harbour. Having been up all 
 night, as soon as we were well clear of the land, 
 and it was evident the towing business was 
 doing well, I turned in for a few hours. When 
 I came on deck again we had crossed the Faxe 
 Fiord on our way north and were sweeping 
 round the base of Snaefell — an extinct volcano 
 which rises from the sea in an icy cone to the 
 height of 5,000 feet, and grimh' looks across to 
 Greenland. The day was beautiful ; the moun- 
 tain's summit beame/. down upon us in un- 
 clouded splendour, and every thing seemed to 
 promise an uninterrupted view of the west coast 
 of Iceland, along whose rugged cliffs few mari- 
 ners have ever sailed. Indeed, until within these 
 last few years, the passage, I believe, was alto- 
 gether impracticable, in consequence of the con- 
 tinuous fields of ice which used to drift down 
 the narrow channel between the frozen continent 
 and the northern extremity of the island. Lately 
 some great change seems to have taken place in 
 the lie of the Greenland ice ; and during the 
 summer-time you can pass through, though later 
 in the year a solid belt binds the two shores 
 together. 
 
 Both in an historical and scientific point of 
 view, the whole country lying about the basanite 
 roots of Snaefell is most interesting. At the 
 feet of its southern slopes are to be seen wonder- 
 
 ;■ 
 
 i 
 
152 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes, 
 
 11' 
 
 ful ranges of columnar basalt, prismatic caverns,, 
 ancient craters, and specimens of almost every 
 formation that can result from the agency of 
 subterranean fires ; while each glen and bay,, 
 and headland, in the neighbourhood, teems with 
 traditionary lore. On the northwestern side of 
 the mountain stretches the famous ^-yrbiggja 
 district, the most classic ground ''n Iceland, with 
 the towns, or rather farmsteads, uf Froda, Helga- 
 fell, and Biarnarhaf. 
 
 This last place was the scene of one of the 
 most curious and characteristic Sagas to be 
 found in the whole catalogue of Icelandic chron- 
 icles. 
 
 In the days when the same Jarl Hakon I have 
 already mentioned lorded it over Norway, an 
 Icelander of the name of Vermund, who had 
 come to pay his court to the lord of Lade, took 
 a violent wish to engage in his own service a 
 couple of gigantic Berserks,* named Halli and 
 Leikner, whom the Jarl had retained about his 
 person, — fancying that two champions of such 
 
 * Berserk, /. ^., bare sark. The berserks seem to have- 
 been a description of athletes, who were ini the habit of 
 stimulating their nervous energies by the use of some in- 
 toxicating drug, which rendered them capable of feats of 
 extraordinary strength and daring. The Berserker gang 
 must have been something very hke the Malay custom ofT 
 running a muck. Their moments of excitement were foK 
 lowed by periods of great exhaustion. 
 
A Berserk Tragedy. 
 
 155 
 
 great strength and prowess would much add to 
 his consequence on returning home. In vain the 
 Jarl warned him that personages of that descrip- 
 tion were wont to give trouble and become 
 unruly, — nothing would serve but he must needs 
 carry them away with him ; nay, if they would 
 but come, they might ask as wages any boon 
 which might be in his power to grant. The 
 bargain accordingly was made ; but, on arriving 
 in Iceland, the first thing Halli took it into his 
 head to require was a wife, who should be rich> 
 nobly born, and beautiful. As such a rcque 
 was difficult to comply with, Vermund, who was 
 noted for being a man of gentle disposition, de- 
 termined to turn his troublesome retainers over 
 to his brother, Arngrim Styr, /. e. the Stirring or 
 Tumultuous One, as being a likelier man than 
 himself to know how to keep them in order. 
 
 Arngrim happened to have a beautiful daugh- 
 ter, named Asdisa, with whom the inflammable 
 Berserk of course fell in love. Not daring openly 
 to refuse him, Arngrim told his would-be son-in- 
 law, that before complying with his suit, he must 
 consult his friends, and posted off to Helgafell, 
 where dwelt the pagan Pontiff Snorre. The 
 result of this conference was an agreement oiv 
 the part of Styr to give his daughter to the Ber- 
 serk, provided he and his brother would cut a 
 road through the lava rocks of Biarnarhaf. Halli 
 and Leikner immediately set about executing 
 
154 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 •i. 
 
 this prodigious task ; while the scornful Asdisa, 
 arrayed in her most splendid attire, came sweep- 
 ing past in silence, as if to mock their toil. The 
 poetical reproaches addressed to the young lady 
 on this occasion by her sturdy admirer and his 
 mate are still extant. In the mean time, the 
 other servants of the crafty Arngrim had con- 
 structed a subterranean bath, so contrived that 
 at a moment's notice it could be flooded with 
 boiling water. Their task at last concluded, the 
 two Berserks returned home to claim their re- 
 cward ; but Arngrim Styr, as if in the exuberance 
 of his affection, proposed that they should first 
 refresh themselves in the new bath. No sooner 
 had they descended into it, than Arngrim shut 
 down the trap-door, and having ordered a newly- 
 stripped bullock's hide to be stretched before the 
 entrance, gave the signal for the boiling water to 
 be turned on. Fearful were the struggles of the 
 scalded giants : Halli, indeed, succeeded in burst- 
 ing up the door ; but his foot slipped on the 
 bloody bull's hide, and Arngrim stabbed him to 
 the heart. His brother was then easily forced 
 back into the seething water. 
 
 The effusion composed by the Tumultuous 
 One on the occasion of this exploit is also 
 extant, and does not yield in poetical merit to 
 those which I have already mentioned as having 
 ■emanated from his victims. 
 
 As soon as the Pontiff Snorre heard of the 
 
t 
 
 ■i 
 
 T/ic Champion of Breidavik. 
 
 155 
 
 result of Arngrim Stir's stratagem, he came over 
 and married the I^dy Asdisa. Traces of the 
 road made by the unhappy champions can yet be 
 detected at Biarnarhaf, and tradition still identi- 
 fies the grave of the Berserks. 
 
 Connected with this same Pontiff Snorre is 
 another of those mysterious notices of a great 
 land in the western ocean which we find in the 
 ancient chronicles, so interwoven with narrative 
 ■we know to be true, as to make it impossible not 
 to attach a certain amount of credit to them. 
 This particular story is the more interesting as 
 its denoiianent^ abruptly left in the blankest mys- 
 tery by one Saga, is incidentally revealed to us in 
 the course of another, relating to events with 
 which the first had no connection.* 
 
 It seems that Snorre had a beautiful sister, 
 named Thured of Froda, with whom a certain 
 gallant gentleman — called Bjorn, the son of As- 
 trand — fell head and ears in love. Unfortunate' ■ 
 a richer rival appears in the field; and the ^u 
 she had given her heart to Bjorn, Snorre — who, 
 we have already seen, was a prudent man — 
 insisted upon her giving her hand to his rival 
 Disgusted by such treatment, Bjorn sails away 
 to the coasts of the Baltic, and joins a famous 
 company of sea-rovers, called the Jomsburg Vi- 
 
 * From internal evidence it is certain that the chronicle 
 which contains these Sagas must have been written about 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century. 
 
156 
 
 Letters- from High Latitudes. 
 
 kings. In this worthy society he so distinguishes 
 himself by his valour and daring that he obtains 
 the title of the Champion of Breidavik. After 
 many doughty deeds, done by sea and land, he 
 at last returns, loaded with wealth and honours^ 
 to his native country. 
 
 In the summer-time of the year 999, soon after 
 his arrival, was held a great fair at Froda, whither 
 all the merchants, " clad in coloured garments," 
 congregated from the adjacent country. Thither 
 came also Bjorn's old love, the Lacly of Froda; 
 "and lijorn went up and spoke to her, and it was 
 thought likely their talk would last long, .since 
 they for such a length of time had not seen each 
 other." But to this renewal of old acquaintance 
 both the lady's husband and her brother very 
 much objected ; and " it seemed to Snorre that 
 it would be a good plan to kill Bjorn." So, about 
 the time of hay-making, off he rides, with some 
 retainers, to his victim's home, having carefully- 
 instructed one of them how to deal the first blow. 
 Bjorn was in the home-field (tiin), mending his 
 sledge, when the cavalcade appeared in sight; 
 and, guessing what motive had inspired the visit, 
 went straight up to Snorre, who rode in front 
 " in a blue cloak," and held the knife with which 
 he had been working in such a position as to be 
 able to stab the Pontiff to the heart, should his 
 followers attempt to lift their hands against 
 himself. Comprehending the position of affairs,, 
 
Tlic Chmnpion of Brctdavik. 
 
 157 
 
 5norrc'.s friends kept quiet. "IJjorn then asked 
 the news." Snorre confessed that he had in- 
 tended to kill him; but adds "Thou tookest such 
 a lucky grip of me at our mcctieg, that tiiou 
 must have peace this time, however it may 
 have been determined before." The conversation 
 is concluded by an agreement on the part of 
 Bjorn to leave the country, as he feels it impos- 
 sible to abstain from paying visits to Thured as 
 long as he remains in the neighbourhood. Hav- 
 ing manned a ship, Bjorn put to sea in the sum- 
 mer time. "When they sailed away, a northeast 
 wind was blowing, which wind lasted long during 
 that summer; but of this ship was nothing heard 
 since this lung time." And so we conclude it is 
 all over with the poor Champion of Breidavik! 
 Not a bit of it. He turns up, thirty ^/ears after- 
 wards, safe and sound, in the uttermost parts of 
 the earth. 
 
 In the year 1029, a certain Icelander, named 
 •Gudlief, undertakes a voyage to Limerick, in 
 Ireland. On his return home, he is driven out 
 of his course by northeast winds, heaven knows 
 where. After drifting for many days to the 
 westward, he at last falls in with land. On 
 approaching the beach, a great crowd of people 
 came down to meet the strangers, apparently 
 with no very friendly intentions. Shortly after- 
 wards, a tall and venerable chieftain makes his 
 appearance, and, to Gudliefs ^reat astonishment, 
 
158 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 addresses him in Icelandic. Having entertained 
 the weary mariners very honourably, and supplied 
 them with provisions^ the old man bids them 
 speed back to Iceland, as it would be unsafe for 
 them to remain where they were. His own name 
 he refused to tell; but having learnt that Gudlicf 
 comes from the neighbourhood of Snaefell, he 
 puts into his hands a sword and a ring. The ring 
 is to be given to Thurcd of Froda; the sword to 
 her son Kjartan. When Gudlicf asks by whom 
 he is to say the gifts arc sent, the ancient chief- 
 tain answers, " Say they come from one who was 
 a better friend of the lady of Froda than of her 
 brother Snorre of Helgafel." Wherefore it is 
 conjectured that this man was Bjorn, the son of 
 Astrand, Champion of Brcidavik. 
 
 After this, madam, I hope I shall never hear 
 you depreciate the constancy of men. Thured 
 had better have married Bjorn after allf 
 
 I forgot to mention that when Gudlief landed 
 on the strange coast, it seemed to him that the 
 inhabitants spoke Irish. Now, there are many 
 antiquaries inclined to believe in the former ex- 
 istance of an Irish Colony to the southward of 
 the Vinland of the Northmen. Scattered through 
 the Sagas are several notices of a distant coun- 
 try in the west, which is called Ireland ed Mekia 
 ^Great Ireland, or the White Man's land. When 
 Pizarro penetrated into the heart of Mexico, a 
 tradition already existed of the previous arrival 
 
Crossing the A re tic CireU. 
 
 159 
 
 of white men from the east. Amonj^ the Shaw- 
 nasee Indians a story is still preserved of l''lonida 
 having been once inhabited by white men who- 
 usrd iron instruments. In 1658, Sir Erland the 
 Priest had in his possession a chart, even then 
 thought ancient, of ''The Land of the White 
 Men, or Hibcrna Major, situated opposite Vin- 
 land the Good; and (iaelic j)hilologists pretend 
 to trace a remarkable affinity between many of 
 the American-Indian dialects and the ancient 
 Celtic. 
 
 But to return to TJic Foam. After passing the 
 cape, away we went across the spacious Hrieda 
 Fiord, at the rate of nine or ten knots an hour 
 reeling and bounding at the heels of the steamer 
 which seemed scarcely to feel how uneven was 
 the surface across which we were speeding. 
 Down dropped Snaefell beneath the sea, and dim 
 before us, clad in evening haze, rose the shadowy 
 steeps of Bardestrand. The northwest division 
 of Iceland consists of one huge peninsula, spread 
 out upon the sea like a human hand, the fingers 
 just reaching over the Arctic circle; while up be- 
 tween them run the gloomy fiords, sometimes to- 
 the length of twenty, thirty, and even forty miles. 
 Anything more grand and mysterious than the 
 appearance of their solemn portals, as we passed 
 across from bluff to bluff, it is impossible to con- 
 ceive. Each might have served as a separate 
 entrance to some poet's hell — so drfear and fatal 
 
i6o 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 seemed the vista one's eye just caught receeding 
 between the endless ranks of precipice and 
 pyramid. 
 
 There is something, moreover, particularly mys- 
 tical in the efi'ect of the gray, dreamy atmosphere 
 of an arctic niHit, tliroucrh whose uncertain me- 
 dium mountain and headland loom as impalpable 
 as the frontiers of a demon world ; and as I kept 
 gazing at the glimmering peaks and monstrous 
 crags, and shattered stratifications, heaped up 
 along the coast in Cyclopian disorder, I under- 
 stood how natural it was that the Scindinavian 
 mythology, of whose mysteries the Icelanders 
 were ever the natural guardians and interpreters, 
 should have assumed that broad, massive sim- 
 plicity which is its most beautiful characteristic. 
 Amid the rugged features of such a country, 
 the refinements of Paganism would have been 
 .dwarfed to insignificance. How out of place 
 would seem a Jove, with his beard in ringlets — 
 a trim Apollo — a sleek Bacchus — an ambrosial 
 Venus — a slim Diana, and all their attendant 
 groups of Oreads and Cupids — amid the ocean 
 mists, and ice-bound torrents, the flame-scarred 
 mountains, and four months' night — of a land 
 which the opposing forces of heat and cold have 
 :selected for a battle-field ! 
 
 The undeveloped reasoning faculty is prone to 
 attach an undue value and meaning to the forms 
 spf things, sftid the infancy of a nation's mind is 
 
Mythology 
 
 i6\ 
 
 
 always more ready to worship the manifestations 
 of a power than to look beyond them for a cause, 
 Was it not natural then that these northerns, 
 dwelling in daily communion with this grand Na- 
 ture, should fancy they could perceive a mysterious 
 and independent energy in her operations ; and 
 at last come to confound the moral contest man 
 feels within him, with the physical strife he finds 
 around him ; to see in the returning sun — foster- 
 ing into renewed existence the winter-stifled 
 world — even more than a type of that spiritual 
 consciousness which alone can make the dead 
 heart stir ; to discover even more than an analogy 
 between the reign of cold, darkness, and desola- 
 tion, and the still blanker ruin of a sin-perverted 
 soul ? But in that iron clime, amid such awful 
 associations, the conflict going on was too ter- 
 rible — the contending powers too visibly in pres- 
 ence of each other, for the practical, conscientious 
 Norse mind to be content with the puny godships 
 of a Roman Olympus. Nectar, Sensuality, and 
 Inextinguishable Laughter were elements of felic- 
 ity too mean for the nobL-r atmosphere of their 
 Walhalla ; and to those active temperaments and 
 healthy minds, — invigorated and solemnized by 
 the massive mould of the scenery around them, — 
 Strength, Courage, En«^"-ance, and, above all, 
 Self-sacrifice — naturally seemed more essential 
 attributes of divinity than mere elegance and 
 beauty. And we must remember, that whilst the 
 II 
 
 I 
 
1 62 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 vigorous imagination of the north was delighting 
 itself in creating a stately dream-land, where it 
 strove to blend, in a grand world-picture — always 
 harmonious, though not always consistent — the 
 influences which sustained both the physical and 
 moral system of its universe, an under-current of 
 sober Gothic common sense, induced it — as a 
 kind of protest against the too material interpre- 
 tation of the symbolism it had employed — to 
 wind up its religious scheme by sweeping into 
 the chaos of oblivion all the glorious fabric it had 
 evoked, and proclaiming — in the place of the 
 transient gods and perishable heaven of its As- 
 gaard — that One undivided Deity, at whose ap- 
 proach the pillars of Walhalla were to fall, and 
 Odin and his peers to perish, with all the subtle 
 machinery of their existence ; while man — him- 
 self immortal — was summoned to receive, at the 
 hands of the Eternal All-Father, the sentence 
 that waited upon his deeds. It is true, this purer 
 system belonged only to the early ages. As in 
 the case of every false religion, the symbolism of 
 the Scandinavian mythology lost with each suc- 
 ceeding generation something of its transparency, 
 and at last degenerated into a gross superstition. 
 But traces still remained, even down to the times 
 of Christian ascendency, of the deep, philosophi- 
 cal spirit in which it had been originally con- 
 ceived ; and through its holy imagery, there ran a 
 vein of tender humour, such as still characterizes 
 
Thors Journey to Jotun/tchn. 
 
 163 
 
 the warm-hearted, laughter-loving northern races. 
 Of this mixture of philosopy and fun, the follow- 
 ing story is no bad specimen,* 
 
 Once on a time, the two Qisir, Thor. the Thun- 
 der god, and his brother Lopt, attended by a ser- 
 vant, determined to go eastward to Jotunheim, 
 the land of the giants, in search of adventures. 
 Crossing over a great water, they came to a deso- 
 late plain, at whose further end, tossing and wav- 
 ing in the wind, rose the tree-tops of a great 
 forest. After journeying for many hours along 
 the dusky labyrinths, they began to be anxious 
 about a resting-place for the night. *' At last, 
 Lopt perceived a very spacious house, on one 
 side of which was an entrance as wide as the 
 house itself; and there they took up their night- 
 quarters. At midnight they were startled by a 
 great earthquake ; the ground reeled under them 
 and the house shook. 
 
 " Then up rose Thor and called to his com- 
 panions. They sought about, and found a side 
 building to the right, into which they went. 
 Thor placed himself at the door ; the rest went 
 and sat down further in, and were very much 
 afraid. 
 
 " Thor kept his hammer in his hand, ready to 
 iiefend them. Then they heard a terrible noise 
 
 * The story of Thor's journey has been translated from 
 the Edda, both by the Howitts and Mr. Thorpe. 
 
164 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 and roarin^^ As it began to dawn, Thor went 
 out, and saw a man lying in the wood not far 
 from them ; he was by ho means small, and he 
 slept and snored loudly. Then Thor understood 
 what the noise was which they heard in the night. 
 He buckled on his belt of power, by which he 
 increased his divine strength. At the same in- 
 stant the man awoke, and rose up. It is said 
 that Thor was so much astonished that he did 
 not dare to slay him with his hammer, but in- 
 quired his name. He called himself Skrymer. 
 * Thy name,' said he, ' I need not ask, for I know 
 that thou art Asar-Thor. But what hast thou 
 done with my glove.' 
 
 " Skrymer stooped and took up his glove, and 
 Thor saw that it was the house in which they 
 had passed the night, and that the out-building 
 was the thumb." 
 
 Here follow incidents which do not differ 
 widely from certain passages in the history of 
 Jack the Giant Killer. Thor makes three several 
 attempts to knock out the easy-going giant's 
 brains during a slumber, in which he is repre- 
 sented as " snoring outrageously," — and after 
 each blow of the Thunder god's hammer, Skry- 
 mer merely wakes up — strokes his beard — and 
 complains of feeling some trifling inconvenience,, 
 such as a dropped acorn on his head, a fallen 
 leaf, or a little moss shaken from the boughs. 
 Finally, he takes leave of them, — points out the 
 
■I 
 
 ) I 
 
 T/tors Journey to JotiDiJtcim. 
 
 165 
 
 Avay to Utgard Loke's palace, advises them not 
 to give themselves airs at his court, — as unbe- 
 coming " such little fellows " as they were, and 
 disappears in the wood ; " and " — as the old 
 chronicler slyly adds — " it is not said whether the 
 CEsir wished ever to see him again." 
 
 They then journey on till noon ; till they come 
 to a vast palace, where a multitude of men, of 
 whom the greater number were immensely large, 
 sat on two benches. " After this they advanced 
 into the presence of the king, Utgard Loke, and 
 saluted him. He scarcely deigned to give them 
 a look, and said smiling : * It is late to inquire 
 after true tidings from a great distance ; but is it 
 not Thor that I see .'* Yet you are really bigger 
 than I imagined. What are the exploits that 
 you can perform } For no one is tolerated 
 amongst us who cannot distinguish himself by 
 some art or accomplishment." 
 
 " * Then,' said Lopt, ' I understand an art of 
 which I am prepared to give proof ; and that is, 
 that no one here can dispose of his food as I 
 can.' Then answered Utgard Loke : * Truly this 
 is an art, if thou canst achieve it ; which we will 
 now see.' He called from the bench a man 
 named Loge to contend with Lopt. They set a 
 trough in the middle of the hall, filled with meat. 
 Lopt placed himself at one end and Loge at the 
 other. Both ate the best they could, and they 
 met in the middle of the trough. Lopt had 
 
i66 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 
 picked the meat from the bones, but Loge had 
 eaten meat, bones, and trough altogether. All 
 agreed Lopt was beaten. Then asked Utgard 
 Loke what art the young man (Thor's attendant) 
 understood } Thjalfe answered, that he would 
 run a race with any one that Utgard Loke would 
 appoint. There was a very good race-ground on 
 a level field. Utgard Loke called a young man 
 named Huge, and bade him run with Thjalfe. 
 Thjalfe runs his best, at three several attempts — 
 according to received Saga customs, — but is of 
 course beaten in the race. 
 
 *' Then asked Utgard Loke of Thor what were 
 the feats that he would attempt corresponding to 
 the fame that went abroad of him } Thor an- 
 swered that he thought he could beat any one at 
 drinking. Utgard Loke said, 'Very good;' and 
 bade his cup-bearer bring out the horn from 
 which his courtiers were accustomed to drink. 
 Immediately appeared the cup-bearer, and placed 
 the horn in Thor's hand. Utgard Loke then 
 said, ' that to empty that horn at one pull was 
 well done ; some drained it at twice ; but that 
 he was a wretched drinker who could not finish 
 it at the third draught. Thor looked at the 
 horn, and thought that it was not large, though 
 it was tolerably long. He was very thirsty, 
 lifted it to his mouth, and was very happy at the 
 thought of so good a draught. When he could 
 drink no more, he took the horn from his mouthy 
 
■1>I 
 
 Thor's Journey to Jotunhcim. 
 
 167 
 
 and saw, to his astonishment, that ^hcrc was 
 little less in it than before. Utgard Loke said : 
 
 * Well hast thou drunk, yet not much. I should 
 never have believed but that Asar-Thor could 
 have drunk more ; however, of this I am con- 
 fident, thou wilt empty it at the second time.' 
 He drank again ; but when he took away the 
 horn from his mouth it seemed to him that it 
 had sunk less this time than the first ; yet the 
 horn might now be carried without spilling. 
 
 '* Then said Utgard Loke ; ' How is this, 
 Thor } If thou dost not reserve thyself pur- 
 posely for the third draught, thine honour must 
 be lost ; how canst thou be regarded as a great 
 man, as the CEsir look upon thee, if thou dost 
 not distinguish thyself in other ways more than 
 thou hast done in this .'' " 
 
 " Then was Thor angry, put the horn to his 
 mouth, drank with all his might, and strained 
 himself to the utmost ; and when he looked into 
 the horn it was now somewhat lessened. He 
 gave up the horn, and would not drink any more. 
 
 * Now,' said Utgard Loke, * now is it clear that 
 thy strength is not so great as we supposed. 
 Wilt thou try some other game, for we see that 
 thou canst not succeed in this } ' Thor an- 
 swered : * I will now try something else ; but I 
 wonder who, amongst the CEsir, would call that 
 a little drink ! What play will you propose } ' 
 
 " Utgard Loke answered : * Young men think 
 
1 68 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 it mere play to lift my cat from the ground ; and 
 I would never have proposed this to CEsir Thor, 
 if I did not perceive that thou art a much less 
 man than I had thought thee.' Thereupon 
 sprang an uncommonly great gray cat upon the 
 floor. Thor advanced, took the cat round the 
 body, and lifted it up. The cat bent its back in 
 the same degree as Thor lifted ; and when Thor 
 had lifted one of its feet from the ground, and 
 was not able to lift it any higher, said Utgard 
 Loke : ' The game has terminated just as I ex- 
 pected. The cat is very great, and Thor is low 
 and small, compared with the great men who are 
 here with us.' 
 
 " Then said Thor : ' Little as you call me, I 
 challenge any one to wrestle with me, for now 
 I am angry.' Utgard Loke answered, looking 
 round upon the benches : * I see no one here who 
 would not deem it play to wrestle with thee ; but 
 let us call hither the old Ella, my nurse ; with her 
 shall Thor prove his strength, if he will. She 
 has given many one a fall who appeared far 
 stronger thon Thor is.' On this there entered the 
 hall an old woman ; and Utgard Loke said she 
 would wrestle with Thor. In short, the contest 
 went so, that the more Thor exerted himself, the 
 firmer she stood ; and now began the old woman 
 to exert herself, and Thor to give way, and severe 
 struggles followed. It was not long before Thor 
 was brought down on one knee. Then Utgard 
 
Thors jfonnicy to J )tHithciin. 
 
 169 
 
 Loke stepped forward, bade them cease the strug- 
 gle, and said that Thor sliould attempt nothing 
 more at his court. It was now drawing towards 
 night ; Utgard Loke showed Thor and his com- 
 panions their lodging, where they were well ac- 
 commodated. 
 
 '* As soon as it was light the next morning, up 
 rose Thor and his companions, dressed them- 
 selves, and prepared to set out. Then came Ut- 
 gard Loke, and ordered the table to be set, where 
 there wanted no good provisions, either meat or 
 drink. When they had breakfasted, they set out 
 on their way. Utgard Loke accompanied them 
 out of the castle ; but at parting he asked Thor 
 how the journey had come off; whether he had 
 found any man more mightier than himself .'' 
 Thor answered, that the enterprise had brought 
 him much dishonour, it was not to be denied, 
 and that he must esteem himself a man of no 
 account, which much mortified him. 
 
 " Utgard Loke replied : * Now will I tell thee 
 the truth, since thou art out of my castle, where, 
 so long as I live and reign, thou shalt never re- 
 enter; and whither, believe me, thou hadst never 
 come if I had known before what might thou 
 possessest, and that thou wouldst so nearly 
 plunge us into great trouble. False appearances 
 have I created for thee, so that the first time 
 when thou mettest the man in the wood it was 
 I; and when thou wouldst open the provision- 
 
I70 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 sack, I had laced it torrcther with an iron band, 
 so that thou couldst not find the means to undo 
 it. After tliat, thou struckest at me three times 
 with the hammer. The first stroke was the 
 weakest, and it had been 7 death had it hit me. 
 Thou sawest by my c a rock, with three 
 
 deep square holes, of which one was very deep; 
 those were the marks of thy hammer. The rock 
 I placed in the way of the blow, without thy 
 perceiving; it. 
 
 "'So also in the <,^ames, when thou contend- 
 edst with my courtiers. When Lopt made his 
 essay, the fact was this : he was very hungry, 
 and ate voraciously; but he who was called 
 Loge was fire, which consumed the trough as 
 well as the meat. And Huge (mind) was my 
 thought with which Thjalfe ran a race, and it was 
 impossible for him to match it in speed. When 
 thou drankest from the horn, and thought that 
 its contents grew no less, it was, notwithstanding, 
 a great marvel, such as I never believed could 
 have taken place. The one end of the horn 
 stood in the sea, which thou didst not perceive; 
 and when thou comest to the shore, thou wilt see 
 how much the ocean has diminished by what 
 thou hast drunk. Men will call it the ebb. 
 
 '" Further,' said he, "most remarkable did it 
 seem to me that thou liftedst the cat; and in 
 truth all became terrified when they saw that 
 thou liftedst one of its feet from the ground. For 
 
The Last Night. 
 
 171 
 
 it was no cat, as it seemed unto thee, but the 
 great serpent that lies coiled round the world. 
 Scarcely had he length that his tail and head 
 mifjht reach the earth, and thou liftedst him so 
 high up that it was but a little way to heaven. 
 That was a marvellous wrestling that thou wres- 
 tledst with Ella (old age), for never has there 
 been any one, nor shall there ever be, let him 
 approach what great age he will, that VW-m shall 
 not overcome. 
 
 " ' Now we must part, and it is best for us on 
 both sides that you do not often come to me ; 
 but if it should so happen, I shall defend my 
 castle with such other arts that you shall not be 
 able to effect anything against me.' 
 
 " When Thor heard this discourse, he grasped 
 hammer and lifted it into the air, but as he 
 was about to strike, he saw Utgard Loke no- 
 where. Then he turned back to tlie castle to 
 destroy it, and he saw only a beautiful and wide 
 plain, but no castle." 
 
 So ends the story of Thor's journey to Jotun- 
 hei'm. 
 
 It was now just upon the stroke of midnight. 
 Ever since leaving England, as each four-and- 
 twenty hours we climbed up nearer to the pole, 
 the belt of dusk dividing day from day had been 
 growing narrower and narrower, until having 
 nearly reached the Arctic circle, this, — the last 
 night we were to traverse, — had dwindled to a 
 
.172 
 
 Letters from HigU Latitudes. 
 
 thread of shadow. Only another half-dozen 
 leagues more, and we would stand on the thresh- 
 old of a four months' day! For the few preced- 
 ing hours clouds had completely covered the 
 heavens, except where a clear interval of sky, that 
 lay along the northern horizon, promised a glow- 
 ing stage for the sun's last obsequies, liut like 
 the heroes of old, he had veiled his face to die, 
 and it was not till he dropped down to the sea 
 that the whole hemisphere overflowed with glory 
 and the gilded pageant concerted for his funeral 
 gathered in slow procession round his grave; 
 reminding one of those tardy honours paid to 
 some great prince of song, who — left during life 
 to languish in a garret— is buried by nobles in 
 Westminster Abbey. A few minutes more the last 
 fiery segment had disappeared beneath the purple 
 horizon, and all was over. 
 
 " The king is dead — the king is dead — the king 
 is dead! Long live the king!" And up from 
 the sea that had just entombed his sire, rose the 
 young monarch of a new day; while the courtier 
 clouds, in their ruby robes, turned faces still 
 aglow with the favours of their dead lord, to bor- 
 row brighter blazonry from the smile of a new 
 master. 
 
 A fairer or a stranger spectacle than the last 
 
 Arctic sunset cannot well be conceived. Evening 
 
 and morning — like kinsmen whose hearts some 
 
 baseless feud has kept asunder — clasping hands 
 
 across the shadow of the vanished night. 
 
Onitfuhr Fiord. 
 
 ^n^ 
 
 You must forgive mc if sometimes I become a. 
 Httle m.i^nilcHiuent; for really, amid the j;raiuleur 
 of that fresh pi!, .'val world, it was almost im- 
 possible to preve. : one's imagination from absorb- 
 ing a dash of the local colouring. We seemed to 
 have suddenly waked up among the colossal 
 scenery of Keat's Hyperion. The pulses of young 
 Titans beat within our veins. Time itself, — no 
 longer frittered down into paltry divisions, — had 
 assumed a more majestic aspect. We had the 
 appetite of giants — was it unnatural wc should 
 also adopt "the large utterance of the early 
 gods.?" 
 
 As the Rcinc Ilortcnsc could not carry coals 
 sufficient for the entire voyage we luid set out 
 upon, it had been arranged that the steamer 
 Saxon should accompany her as a tender, and 
 the Onunder Fiord, on the northwest coast of the 
 island, had been appointed as the place of ren- 
 dezvous. Suddenly wheeling round, therefore, to 
 the right, we quitted the open sea, and dived 
 down a long gray line of water that ran on as 
 far as the eye could reach between two lofty 
 ranges of porphyry and amygdloid. The con- 
 formation of these mountains was most curious: 
 it looked as if the whole district was the effect 
 of some prodigious crystalization, so geometrical 
 was the outline of each particular hill, sometimes 
 rising cube-like, or pentagonal, but more gener- 
 ally built up in a perfect pyramid, with stairs. 
 
174 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 mountiny;^ in equal gradations to the summit. 
 Here and there the cone of the pyramid would 
 b shaven off, leaving it flat-topped like a Baby- 
 lonian altar or Mexican teocalli, and as the sun's 
 level rays, — shooting across above our heads in 
 golden rafters from ridge to ridge — smote brighter 
 on some loftier peak behind, you might almost 
 fancy you beheld the blaze of sacrificial fires. 
 The peculiar symmetrical appearance of these 
 rocks arises from the fact of their being built up 
 in layers of trap, alternating with Neptunian 
 beds; the disintegrating action of snow and frost 
 on the more exposed strata having gradually 
 carved their sides into flights of terraces. 
 
 It is in these Neptunian beds that the famous 
 surturbrand is found, a species of bituminous 
 timber, black and shining like pitch-coal, but 
 whether belonging to the common carboniferous 
 system, or formed from ancient drift-wood, is still 
 a point of dispute among the learned. In this 
 neighbourhood considerable quantities both of 
 zerlite and chabasitt are also found, but gener- 
 ally speaking Iceland is less rich in minerals 
 than one would suppose; opal, calcedony, ame- 
 thyst, malachite, obsidian, agate, and feldspar, 
 being the principal. Of sulphur the supply is 
 inexhaustible. 
 
 After steaming down for several hours between 
 these terraced hillt, we at last reached the ex 
 tremity of the fiord, where we found the Saxon 
 
Frtc oil board the " Reine Horteuscy 175 
 
 looking like a black sea-dragon coiled up at the 
 bottom of his den. Up fluttered a signal to the 
 mast-head of the corvette, and blowing off her 
 steam, she wore round upon her heel, to watch 
 the effects of her summons. As if roused by 
 the challenge of an intruder, the sleepy monster 
 seemed suddenly to bestir itself, and then pour- 
 ing out volumes of sulphureous breath, set out 
 with many an angry snort in pursuit of the rash 
 troubler of its solitude. At least, such I am sure 
 might have been the notion of the poor peasant 
 inhabitants of two or three cottages I saw scat- 
 tered here and there along the loch, as — startled 
 from their sleep, they listened to the stertorous 
 breathing of the long snake-like ships, and 
 watched them glide past with magic motion 
 along the glassy surface of the water. Of course 
 the novelty and excitement of all we had been 
 witnessing had put sleep and bedtime quite out 
 of our thoughts ; but it was already six o'clock 
 in the morning ; it would require considerable 
 time to get out of the fiord, and in a few hours 
 after w^ should be wathin the Arctic circle, and 
 that if we were to have any sleep at all — now 
 was the time. Acting on these considerations, 
 we all three turned in ; and for the next half- 
 dozen hours I lay dreaming of a great funeral 
 among barren mountains, where white bears in 
 peers' robes were the pall-bearers, and a sea- 
 dragon chief-mourner. When we came on deck 
 
1/6 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 again, the northern extremity of Iceland lay- 
 leagues away on our starboard quarter, faintly 
 swimming through the haze ; up over head blazed 
 the white sun, and below glittered the level sea, 
 like a pale blue disk netted in silver lace. I 
 seldom remember a brifditer dav ; the thermom- 
 ctcr was at 72^^, and it really felt more as if we 
 were crossing the line than entering the frigid 
 zone. 
 
 Animated by that joyous inspiration which 
 induces them to make a fOte of every thing, the 
 French officers, it appeared, wished to organize 
 a kind of carnival to inaucrurate their arrival in 
 Arctic waters, and by means of a piece of chalk 
 and a huge black board displayed from the hur- 
 ricane-deck of TJie Reine Llortense, an inquiry 
 was made as to what suggestion I might have 
 to offer in furtherance of this laudable object. 
 With that poverty of invention and love of spirits 
 which characterize my nation, I am obliged to 
 confess that, after deep reflection, I was only 
 able to answer, "Grog." But seeing an extra 
 flag or two was being run up at each masthead 
 of the Frenchman, the lucky idea occurred to 
 me to dress The Foam in all her colours. The 
 .schooner's toilette accomplished, I went on board 
 The Reine Hortense, and you cannot imagine 
 anything more fragile, graceful, or coquettish, 
 than her appearance from the deck of the cor- 
 vette, — as she courtesied and swayed herself on 
 
Le Pvre Arctique, 
 
 ^77 
 
 the bosom of the almost imperceptible swell, or 
 flirted up the water with her curving bows. She 
 really looked like a living little lady. , 
 
 But from all such complacent reveries I was 
 soon awakened by the sound of a deep voice, 
 proceeding apparently from the very bottom of 
 the sea, which hailed the ship in the most author- 
 itative manner, and imperiously demanded her 
 name, where she was going, whom she carried, 
 and whence she came ; to all which questions, a 
 young lieutenant, standing with his hat off at 
 the gangway, politely responded. Apparently 
 satisfied on these points, our invisible interlo- 
 cutor then announced his intention of coming 
 on board. All the officers of the ship collected 
 on the poop to receive him. 
 
 In a few seconds more, amid the din of the 
 most unearthly music, and surrounded by a bevy 
 of hideous monsters, a white-bearded, spectacled 
 personage — clad in bear-skin, with a cocked hat 
 over his left ear — presented himself in the gang- 
 way, and handing to the officers of the watch an 
 enormous board on which was written 
 
 "LE PERE ARCTIQUE," 
 
 by way of visiting card, — proceeded to walk aft, 
 and take the sun's altitude with what — as far as 
 I could make out, seemed to be a plumber's 
 wooden triangle. This preliminary operation 
 having been completed, there then began a reg- 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 Letters froui High Latitudes. 
 
 ular riot all over the shi[). The yards were sud- 
 denly manned with red devils, black monkeys, 
 and every kind of grotesque monster, while the 
 whole ship's company, officers and men promis- 
 cuously mingled, danced the cancan upon deck. 
 In order that the warmth of the day should not 
 make us forget that we had arrived in his domin- 
 ions, the Arctic father had stationed certain of 
 his familiars in the tops, who, at stated intervals, 
 flung down showers of hard peas, as typical of 
 Jiail, while the powdering of each other's faces 
 with handfuls of flour, could not fail to remind 
 everybody on board that we had reached the 
 latitude of snoiv. At the commencement of this 
 noisy festival, I found myself standing on the 
 hurricane deck, next to one of the grave savants 
 attached to the expedition, who seemed to con- 
 template the antics that were being played at his 
 feet with that sad smile of indulgence with which 
 Wisdom sometimes deigns to commiserate the 
 gaiety of Folly. Suddenly he disappeared from 
 beside me, and the next that I saw or heard of 
 him — he was hard at work pirouetting on the 
 deck below with a red-tailed demon, and exhibit- 
 ing in his steps a '* verve " and a graceful audac- 
 ity, which at Paris would have certainly ob- 
 tained for him the honours of expulsion at the 
 hands of the municipal authorities. The enter- 
 tainment of the day concluded with a discourse 
 delivered out of a windsail by the chaplain at- 
 
We Fall in icith Ice 
 
 1/9 
 
 tached to the person of tlic Pere Artique, which 
 was afterward waslicd down by a cauldron full of 
 grog, served out in bumpers to the several actors 
 in this unwonted ceremonial. As the Prince had 
 been good enough to invite us to dinner, instead 
 of returning to the schooner, I spent the interme- 
 diate hour in pacing the quarter-deck with l^aron 
 de la Ronciere, — the naval comni.inder entrusted 
 with the charge of the expedition. Like all tlie 
 smartest officers in the l^Vench navy, he speaks 
 English beautifully, and I shall ever remember 
 with gratitude the cordiality with which he wel- 
 comed mc on board his ship, and the thoughtful 
 consideration of his arrangements for the little 
 schooner which he had taken in tow. At Ave 
 o'clock dinner was announced, and I question if 
 so sumptuous a banquet has ever been served up 
 before in that outlandish part of the world, embel- 
 lished as it was by selections from the best operas 
 played by the corps iVorcJiestrc which had accom- 
 panied the Prince from Paris. During the pauses 
 of the music, the conversation naturally turned on 
 the strange lands we were about to visit, and the 
 best mode of spifBicating the white bears who 
 were probably already shaking in their snow- 
 shoes ; but alas ! while we were in the very act 
 of exulting in our supremacy over these new 
 domains, the stiffened finger of the Ice king was 
 tracing in frozen characters a " Mene, mene, tekel 
 wpharsin " on the plate-glass of the cabin win- 
 
i8o 
 
 .i I 
 
 ! 1 
 
 H 
 
 r 
 
 1 
 f 
 
 1 4 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 (lows. During the last half hour, the thermom- 
 eter had been j^radually fallint^ until it was nearly 
 down to 32*^* ; a dense penetrating,^ fog enveloped 
 both the vessels — {The Saxon had long since 
 dropped out of sight,) flakes of snow began float- 
 ing slowly down, and a gelid breeze from the 
 northwest told too plainly that we had reached 
 the frontiers of the solid ice, though we were still 
 a good hundred miles distant from the American 
 shore. Although at any other time the terrible 
 climate we had dived into would liave been very 
 depressing, under present circumstances I think 
 thc change rather tended to raise our spirits, 
 perhaps because the idea of uy^ and ice in the 
 month of June seemed so completely to uncock- 
 neyfy us. At all events, there was no doubt now 
 we had got into les incrs giaciaics, as our French 
 friends called them, and — whatever else might be 
 in store for us, there was sure henceforth to be 
 no lack of novelty and excitement. 
 
 By this time it was already well on in the eve- 
 ning, so — having agreed with Monsieur de la 
 Ronciere on a code of signals in case of fogs^ 
 and that a Jack hoisted at the mizen of The 
 Reine Hortense^ or at the fore of the schooner, 
 should be an intimation of a desire of one or 
 other to cast off, — we got into the boat and 
 were dropped do"/'n alongside our own ship. 
 Ever since leaving Iceland the steamer had been 
 heaumg east-northeast by compass^ but during 
 
Tec. 
 
 i8i 
 
 the whole of the ensuing night she shaped a 
 southeast course; tlie thick mist rendering it 
 unwise to stand on any h:)nger in the direction of 
 the bauqiiisc, as they call the outer edge of the 
 belt that hems in eastern Greenland. About 
 three A.M. it cleared up a little. l^y breakfast- 
 time the sun reappeared, and we could see five 
 or six miles ahead of the vessel. It was shortly 
 after this that as I was standing in the main 
 rigging peering out over the smooth blue surface 
 of the sea, a white twinkling point of light sud- 
 denly caught my eye about a couple of miles off 
 Oil the port bow, which a telescope soon resolved 
 into a .solitary isle of ice, dancing and dipping 
 in the sunlight. As you may suppose, the news 
 brought everybody upon deck ; and when almost 
 immediately afterwards a string of other pieces 
 — glittering like a diamond necklace — hove in 
 sight, the excitement was extreme. 
 
 Here at all events was honest blue salt water 
 frozen solid, and when — as we proceeded — the 
 scattered fragments thickened, and passed like 
 silver argosies on either hand, until at last we 
 found ourselves enveloped in an iiinumerable 
 fleet of bergs, — it seemed as if we could never 
 be weary of admiring a sight so strange and 
 beautiful. It was rather in form and colour than 
 in size that these ice islets were remarkable ; 
 anything approaching to a real iceberg we 
 neither saw, nor are v^'e likely to .see. In fact, 
 
l82 
 
 Letters frovi High Latitudes. 
 
 the lofty ice mountains that wander hke vagrant 
 ishmcls along the coast of America, seldom or 
 never come to the eastward or northward of 
 Cape l'\irewell. They consist of land ice, and 
 are all generated among bays and straits within 
 Baffin's Bay, and first enter the Atlantic a good 
 deal to the southward of Iceland; whereas the 
 Polar ice, among which we have been knocking 
 about, is field ice, and — except when packed one 
 ledge above the other, by great pressure — is com- 
 paratively flat. I do not think I saw any pieces 
 that were piled up higher than thirty or thirty- 
 five feet above the sea-level, although at a little 
 distance through the mist they may have loomed 
 much loftic**. 
 
 In ([uaintness of form, and in brilliancy of 
 colours, these wonderful masses surpassed every 
 thing 1 had imagined; and we found endless 
 amusement in watching their fantastic procession. 
 
 At one time it was a knight on horseback, 
 clad in sapphire mail, a white plume above his 
 casque. Or a cathedral window with shafts of 
 chry.sophras, new powdered by a snow-storm. 
 Or a smooth sheer cliff of lapis lazuli ; or a 
 Banyan tree, with roots descending from its 
 branches, and a foilage as delicate as the efflor- 
 escence of molten metal; or a fairy dragon, that 
 breasted the water in scales of emerald ; or any- 
 thing else that your fancy chose to conjure up. 
 After a little time the mist ac^ain descended 
 
Mist. 
 
 '83 
 
 on the scene and dulled each ^dittcnng form to 
 a shapeless mass of white; while in spite of all 
 our endeavours to keep upon our northerly 
 course, we were constantly compelled to turn 
 and wind about in every direction — sometimes 
 standing on for several hours at a stretch to the 
 southward and eastward. These perpetual em- 
 barrassments became at length very wearying, 
 and in order to relieve the tedium of our progress 
 I requested the Doctor to remove one of my 
 teeth. This he did with the greatest ability — 
 a wrench to starboard, — another to port, — and up 
 it flew through the cabin sky-light. 
 
 During the whole of that afternoon and the 
 following night we made but little Northing at 
 all, and the next day the ice seemed more perti- 
 naciously in our way than ever; neither could we 
 relieve the monotony of the hours by conversing 
 with each other on the black boards, as the mist 
 was too thick for us to distinguish from on board 
 one ship anything that was passing on the deck 
 of the other. Notwithstanding the great care 
 and skill with which the steamer threaded her 
 way among the loose floes, it was impossible 
 sometimes to prevent fragments of ice striking 
 us with considerable violence on the bows; and 
 as we lay in bed at night, I confess that until 
 we got accustomed to the noise, it was by no 
 means a pleasant thing to hear the pieces an- 
 grily scraping along the ship's sides — within two 
 
1 84 
 
 Letters front High Latitudes. 
 
 ii I 
 
 inclics of our cars. On the evening of the fourth 
 chiy it came on to blow pretty liard, and at mid- 
 ni<^ht it had freshened to half a gale; but by dint 
 of standing well away to the eastward we had 
 succeeded in reaching comparatively open water, 
 and I had gone to bed in great hopes that at all 
 events the bree/x* would brush off the fog, and 
 enable us to see our way a little more clearly 
 the next morning. 
 
 At five o'clock A.M. the officer of the watch 
 jumped down into my cabin and awoke me 
 with the news — "That the Frenchman was 
 a-saying summat on his black board ! " Feel- 
 ing by the motion that a very heavy sea must 
 have been knocked up during the night, I began 
 to be afraid that something must have gone 
 wrong with the towing-gear, or that a hawser 
 might have become entangled in the corvette's 
 screw — which was the catastrophe of which I 
 had always been mobt ap})rehcnsivc; so slipping 
 into a pair of fur boots, which I had carefully kept 
 by the bedside in case of an emergency, and 
 throwing a fur cloak over — 
 
 "Le simple appareil 
 D'lnic beaute qu'on vient d'arrachcr an sommcil," 
 
 I caught hold of a telescope and tumbled up on 
 deck. Anything more bitter and disagreeable 
 than the icy blast, which caught me round the 
 waist as I emerged from the companion — I never 
 remember. With both hands occupied in level- 
 
 ! 
 
 11 
 
H'c cast off tin' Rciiic Ilovtcusc. 
 
 185 
 
 ing the telescope, I could not keep the wind 
 from blowing the loose wrap quite off my shoul- 
 ders, and except for the name of the thinj^;, I 
 might just as well have been standing in my 
 shirt. Indeed, I was so 'irresistibly struck with 
 my own resemblance to a coloured print I re- 
 member in youthful days, — representing that 
 celebrated character '• Puss in lioots," with a 
 purple robe of honour streaming far behind him 
 on the wind, to express the velocity of his magi- 
 cal progress that I laughed aloud while I shiv- 
 ered in the blast. What with the spray and 
 mist, moreover, it was a good ten minutes before 
 I could make out the writing, and when at last I 
 did spell out the letters, their meaning was not 
 very inspiriting : *' Nous rctournoiis '"' Reyk- 
 javik ! " So evidently they had given it up as a 
 bad job, and had come to the conclusion that 
 the island was inaccessible. Yet it seemed very 
 hard to have to run back, after coming so far! 
 we had already made upwards of 300 miles since 
 leaving Iceland: it could not be much above 120 
 or 130 more to Jan Mayen; and although things 
 looked unpromising, there still seemed such a 
 chance of success that I could not find it in my 
 heart to give in; so — having run up a jack at 
 the fore — (all writing on our board was out of the 
 question, we were so deluged with spray) I 
 jumped down to wake Fitzgerald and Sigurdr 
 and tell them we were going to cast off, in case 
 
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1 86 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 they had any letters to send honriC. In the mean 
 time I scribbled a line of thanks and good 
 wishes to M. de la Ronciere, and another to you, 
 and guyed it with our mails on board the cor- 
 vette — in a milk-can. 
 
 In the mean time all was bustle on board our 
 decks, and I think every one was heartily pleased 
 at the thoughts of getting the little schooner 
 again under canvas. A couple of reefs were 
 hauled down in the mainsail and staysail, and 
 everything got ready for making sail. 
 
 " Is all clear for'ard for slipping, Mr. Wyse ?" 
 
 " Ay, ay, Sir ; all clear ! " . ^ . . 
 
 '* Let go the tow-ropes ! " 
 
 " All gone, Sir ! " ■' 
 
 And down went the heavy hawsers into the 
 sea, up fluttered the staysail, — then — poising for 
 a moment on the waves with the startled hesita- 
 tion of a bird suddenly set free, — the little crea- 
 ture spread her wings, thrice dipped her ensign 
 in token of adieu — receiving in return a hearty 
 cheer from the French crew — and glided like a 
 phantom into the North, while T/ie Heine Hortense 
 puffed back to Iceland.* 
 
 
 * It subsequently appeared that The Saxon, on the 
 second day after leaving Onunder Fiord, had unfor- 
 tunately knocked a hole in her bottom against the ice, and 
 was obliged to run ashore in a sinking state. In conse- 
 quence of never having been rejoined by her tender. The 
 Reine Hortense found herself short of coals, and as the en- 
 
A Parting in a Lonely Spot. 
 
 187 
 
 Ten minutes more, and we were the only deni- 
 zens of that misty sea. I confess I felt exces- 
 sively sorry to have lost the society of sucli 
 joyous companions ; they had received us al- 
 ways with such merry ^^ood nature ; the Prince 
 had shown himself so gracious and considerate, 
 and he was surrounded by a staff of such clever, 
 well-informed persons, that it was with the deep- 
 est regret I watched the fog close around the 
 magnificent corvette, and bury her — and all 
 whom she contained — within its bosom. Our 
 own situation, too, was not altogether without 
 causing me a little anxiety. We had not seen 
 the sun for two days ; it was very thick, with a 
 heavy sea, and dodging about as we had been 
 among the ice, at the heels of the steamer, our 
 dead reckoning was not very much to be de- ■ 
 pended upon. The best plan I thought would 
 be to stretch away at once clear of the ice, then 
 run up into the latitude of Jan Mayen, and — as 
 soon as we should have reached the parallel of 
 its northern extremity — bear down on the land. 
 If there was any access at all to the island, it 
 was very evident it would be on its northern or 
 eastern side ; and now that we were alone, to 
 
 , 
 
 cumbered state of the sea rendered it already very unlikely 
 that any access would be found open to the island, M. de 
 la Ronciere very properly judged it advisable to turn back. 
 He re-entered the Reykjavik harbour without so much as a 
 shovelful of coals left on board. 
 
1 88 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 > 
 
 keep on knocking up through a hundred miles or 
 so of ice in a thick fog — in our fragile schooner, 
 would have been out of the question. 
 
 The ship's course, therefore, having been shaped 
 in accordance with this view, I stole back into 
 bed and resumed my violated slumbers. Towards 
 mid-day the weather began to moderate, and by 
 four o'clock we were skimming along on a 
 smooth sea, with all sails set. This state of 
 prosperity continued for the next twenty-four 
 hours ; we had made about eighty knots since 
 parting company with the Frenchman, and it 
 was now time to run down West and pick up 
 the land. Luckily the sky was pretty clear, and 
 as we sailed on through open water I really 
 began to think our prospects very brilliant. But 
 about three o'clock on the second day, specks of 
 ice began to flicker here and there on the horizon, 
 then larger bulks came floating by in forms as 
 picturesque as ever — (one, I particularly remem- 
 ber, a human hand thrust up out of the water 
 with outstretched forefinger, as it to warn us 
 against proceeding farther), until at last the 
 whole sea became clouded with hummocks that 
 seemed to gather on our path in magical multi- 
 plicity. 
 
 Up to this time we had seen nothing of the 
 island, yet I knew we must be within a very few 
 miles of it ; and now, to make things quite pleas- 
 ant, there descended upon us a thicker fog than I 
 
Jan May €11, 
 
 189 
 
 should have thought the atmosphere capable of 
 sustainini^ ; it seemed to hanir in solid festoons 
 from the masts and spars. To say that you could 
 not see your hand, ceased almost to be any longer 
 figurative ; even the ice was hid — except those 
 fragments immediately adjacent, \t'hose ghastly 
 brilliancy the mist itself could not quite extin- 
 guish, as they glimmered round the vessel like 
 a circle of luminous phantoms. The perfect still- 
 ness of the sea and sky added very much to the 
 solemnity of the scene ; almost every breath of 
 wind had fallen, scarcely ^ ripple tinkled against 
 the copper sheathing, as the solitary little schooner 
 glided along at the rate of half a knot or so an 
 hour, and the only sound we heard was a distant 
 wash of waters, but whether on a great shore, or 
 along a belt of solid ice, it was impossible to say. 
 In such weather — as the original discoverers of 
 Jan Mayen said under similar circumstances — *'it 
 was easier to hear land than to see it." Thus, 
 hour after hour passed by and brought no change. 
 Fitz and Sigurdr — who had begun quite to disbe- 
 lieve in the existence of the island — went to bed, 
 while I remained pacing up and down the deck, 
 anxiously questioning each quarter of the gray 
 canopy that enveloped us. At last, about four in 
 the morning, I fancied some change was going to 
 take place ; the heavy wreaths of vapour seemed 
 to be imperceptibly separating, and in a few min- 
 utes more the solid roof of gray suddenly split 
 
190 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 asundci', and I beheld through the gap — thou- 
 sands of feet overhead, as if suspended in the 
 crystal sky — a cone of illuminated snow. 
 
 You can imagine ni)- delight. It was really 
 that of an anchorite catching a glimpse of the 
 seventh heav(!*n. There at last was the long- 
 sought-for mountain, actuall)- tumbling down 
 upon our heads. Columbus could not have been 
 more pleased when — after nights of watching — 
 he saw the first fires of a new hemisphere dance 
 upon the water ; nor, indeed, scarcely less disap- 
 pointed at their sudden disappearance than I was, 
 when — after having gone below to wake Sigurdr, 
 and tell him we had seen bona fide terra firma, I 
 found, on returning upon deck, that the roof of 
 mist had closed again, and shut out all trace of 
 the transient vision. However, I had got a clutch 
 of the island, and no slight matter should make 
 me let go my hold. In the meantime, there was 
 nothing for it but to wait patiently until the cur- 
 tain lifted ; and no child ever stared more eagerly 
 at a green drop-scene, in expectation of " the 
 realm of dazzling splendour " promised in the bill, 
 than I did at the motionless gray folds that hung 
 round us. At last the hour of liberation came; 
 a purer light seemed gradually to penetrate the 
 atmosphere, brown turned to gray, and gray to 
 white, and white to transparent blue, until the 
 lost horizon entirely reappeared, except where in 
 one direction a 
 
 impenv 
 
Mount Becrcuherg. 
 
 191 
 
 hung suspended from the zenith to the sea. Be- 
 hind that vale I knew must he Jan Maycn. 
 
 A few minutes more, and slowly, silently, in a 
 manner you could take no count of, its dusky 
 hem first deepened to a violet tinge, then gradu- 
 ally lifting, displayed a long line of coast — in 
 reality but the roots of l^eerenberg — dyed of the 
 darkest purple ; while, obedient to a common im- 
 pulse, the clouds that wrapt its summit gently 
 disengaged themselves, and left the mountain 
 standing in all the magnificence of his 6,870 feet 
 girdled by a single zone of pearly vapour, from 
 underneath whose floating folds seven enormous 
 glaciers rolled down into the sea ! Nature seemed 
 to have turned scene-shifter, so artfully were the 
 phases of this glorious spectacle successively de- 
 veloped. 
 
 Although — by reason of our having hit upon 
 its side, instead of its narrow end — the outline of 
 Mount Beerenberg appeared to us more like a 
 sugar-loaf than a spire — broader at the base and 
 rounder at the top than I had imagined, — in size, 
 colour, and effect, it far surpassed anything I 
 had anticipated. The glaciers were quite an un- 
 expected element of beauty. Imagine a mighty 
 river of as great a volume as the Thames — 
 started down the side of a mountain, — bursting 
 over every impediment, — whirled into a thousand 
 eddies, — tumbling and raging on from ledge to 
 ledge in quivering cataracts of foam, — tliem sud- 
 
192 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 dcnly struck rigid by a power so instantaneous 
 in its action, that even tlic froth and fleeting 
 wreaths of spray have stiffened to the immuta- 
 bihty of sculpture. Unless you have seen it, it 
 "vv^'ild be almost impossible to conceive the 
 strangeness of the contrast between the actual 
 tranquillity of these silent crystal rivers, and the 
 violent descending energy impressed upon their 
 exterior. You must remember, too, all this is 
 upon a scale of such prodigious magnitude, that 
 when we succeeded subsequently in approaching 
 the spot — where v.'ith a leap like that of Niagara 
 one of these glaciers plunges down into the sea — 
 the eye, no longer able to take in its fluvial char- 
 acter, was content to rest in simple astonishment 
 at what then appeared a lucent precipice of gray- 
 green ice, rising to the height of several hundred 
 feet above the masts of the vessel. 
 
 As soon as we had got a little over our first 
 feelings of astonishment at the panorama thus 
 suddenly revealed to us by the lifting of the fog, 
 I began to consider what would be the best way 
 of getting to the anchorage on the west — or 
 Greenlard side of the island. We were still 
 seven or eight miles from the shore, and the 
 northern extremity of the island, round which we 
 should have to pass, lay about five leagues off, 
 bearing West by North, while between us and 
 the land stretched a continuous breadth of float- 
 ing ice. The hummocks, however, seemed to be 
 
A uioNg tlie Bergs. 
 
 193 
 
 pretty loose, with openings here and there, so 
 that with careful sailintj I thought we might pass 
 through, and perhaps on the further side of the 
 island come into a freer sea. Alas ! after having 
 with some difficulty wound along until we were 
 almost abreast of the cape, we were stopped dead 
 short by a solid rampart of fixed ice, which in 
 one direction leant upon the land, and in the 
 other ran away as far as the eye could reach into 
 the dusky North. Thus hopelessly cut off from 
 all access to the western and better anchorage, it 
 only remained to put about, and — running down 
 along the land — attempt to reach a kind of open 
 roadstead on the eastern side, a little to the south 
 of the volcano described by Dr. Scoresby ; but in 
 this endeavour also we were doomed to be disap- 
 pointed ; for after sailing some considerable dis- 
 tance through a field of ice, which kept getting 
 more closely packed as we pushed further into it, 
 we came upon another barrier equally impen- 
 etrable, that stretched away from the island 
 towards the Southward and Eastward. Under 
 these circumstances, the only thing to be done 
 was to get back to where the ice was looser, and 
 attempt a landing wherever a favourable opening 
 presented itself. But even to extricate ourselves 
 from our present position, was now no longer of 
 such easy performance. Within tx . last hour 
 the wind had shifted into the Northwest ; that is 
 to say, it was now blowing right down the path 
 
T^ 
 
 194 
 
 Letters froui High Latitudes. 
 
 alon^ vvliich we had picked our way ; in order to 
 return, therefore, it would be necessary to work 
 the ship to windward tliroui^di a sea as thickly 
 crammed with ice as a lady's boudoir is with fur- 
 niture. Moreover, it had become evident, from 
 the obvious closing of the open spaces, that some 
 considerable pressure was acting upon the out- 
 side of the field ; but whether originating in a 
 current or the change of wind, or another field 
 being driven down upon it, I could not tell. Be 
 that as it might, out we must get, — unless we 
 wanted to be cracked like a walnut shell between 
 the drifting ice and the solid belt to leeward ; so 
 sending a steady hand to the helm, — for these 
 unusual phenomena had begun to make some of 
 my people lose their heads a little, no one on 
 board having ever seen a bit of ice before, — I 
 stationed myself in the bows, while Mr. Wyse 
 conned the vessel from the square yard. Then 
 there began one of the prettiest and most excit- 
 ing pieces of nautical manoeuvring that can be 
 imagined. Every single sduI on board was sum- 
 moned upon deck ; to all, their several stations 
 and duties were assigned — always excepting the 
 cook, who was merely directed to make himself 
 generally useful. As soon as everybody was 
 ready, down went 'the helm, — about came the 
 ship, — and the critical part of the business com- 
 menced. Of course, in order to wind and twist 
 the schooner in and out among the devious chan- 
 
A inong the Bergs. 
 
 195 
 
 nels left between the hummocks, it was necessary 
 she should have consiaerable way on her ; at the 
 same time, so narrow were some of the passages, 
 and so sharp their turnings, that unless she had 
 been the most liandy vessel in the world, she 
 would have had a very narrow squeak for it. I 
 never saw any thing so beautiful as her behaviour. 
 Had she been a living creature, she could not 
 have dodged, and wound, and doubled, with more 
 conscious cunning and dexterity ; and it was 
 quite amusing to hear the endearing way in 
 which the people spoke to her, each time the 
 nimble creature contrived to elude some more 
 than usually threatening tongue of ice. Once or 
 twice, in spite of all our exertions, it was impos- 
 sible to save her from a collision ; all that re- 
 mained to be done, as soon as it became evident 
 •she could not clear some particular floe, or go 
 about in time to avoid it, w^as to haul the stay- 
 sail sheet a-weather in order to deaden her way 
 as much as possible, and, putting the helm down, 
 let her go right at it, so that she should receive 
 the blow on her stem, and not on the bluff of the 
 bow ; while all hands, arnicd with spars and 
 fenders, rushed forward to ease off the shock. 
 And here I feel it just to pay a tribute of admi- 
 ration to the cook, who on these occasions never 
 failed to exhibit an immense amount of misdi- 
 rected energy, breaking, I remember, at the same 
 •moment, both the cabin skylight and an oar, in 
 
Iil 
 
 196 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 \ 
 
 single combat with a lar^c berg, that was doing 
 no particular harm to us, but against whicli he 
 seemed suddenly to have conceived a violent spite.. 
 Luckily a considerable cjuantity of snow overlay 
 the ice, which, acting as a buffer, in some measure 
 mitigated the violence of the concussion ; while 
 the very fragility of her build diminishing the 
 momentum, proved in the end c little schooner's 
 greatest security. Nevertheless, I must confess 
 that more than once, while leaning forward in 
 expectation of the scrnnc'i I knew must come, I 
 have caught myself half murmuring to the fair 
 face that seemed to gaze so serenely at the cold 
 white mass we were approaching : " O Lady, is 
 it not now fit thou shouldst befriend the good 
 ship of which thou art the pride ? " 
 
 At last, after having received two or three 
 pretty severe bumps, — though the loss of a lit- 
 tle copper was the only damage they entailed, — 
 we made our way back to the northern end of the 
 island, where the pack was looser, and we had at 
 all events a little more breathing-room. 
 
 It had become very cold ; — so cold, indeed, that 
 Mr. Wyse — no longer able to keep a clutch of the 
 rigging — had a severe tumble from the yard on 
 which he was standing. The wind was freshen- 
 ing, and the ice was evidently still in motion ; 
 but although very anxious to get back again into 
 open water, we thought it would not do to go- 
 away without landing, even if it were only for an 
 
Clandcboyc Creek. 
 
 197 
 
 I'll 
 
 Ithat 
 
 the 
 
 on 
 
 Ihen- 
 
 ton ; 
 
 into 
 
 go. 
 
 fr ail 
 
 liour. So haviiv^' laid the scliooncr rij^^ht under 
 the cHfif, and puttin^^ into the gv^ our old dis- 
 carded figure-head, a white ensij^n, a fla<^-.stafT, 
 and a tin biscuit-box, containin<; a paper on 
 which I had hastily written the schooner's name, 
 the date of her arrival, and the names of all those 
 who sailed on board, — we pulled ashore. A rib- 
 bon of beach not more than fifteen yards wide, 
 composed of iron-sand, augite, and pyroxene, 
 running along under the basaltic precipice — up- 
 wards of a thousand feet high — which serves as 
 a kind of plinth to the mountain, was the only 
 standing room this part of the coast afforded. 
 With considerable difficult}', and after a good 
 liour's climb, we succeeded in dragging the 
 figure-head we had brought ashore with us, up 
 a sloping patch of snow, which lay in a crevice 
 of the cliff, and thence a little hig' r, to a natural 
 pedestal formed by a broken shaft of rock ; where 
 — after having tied the tin box round her neck, 
 and duly planted the white ensign of St. George 
 beside her, — we left the superseded damsel, some- 
 what grimly smiling across the frozen ocean at her 
 feet, until some Bacchus of a bear should come to 
 relieve t\\c loneliness of my \\ooden Ariadne. 
 
 On descending to the water's edge, w'e walked 
 some little distance along the beach without ob- 
 serving any thing very remarkable, unless it were 
 the net-work of vertical and horizontal dikes of 
 basalt which shot in every direction through the 
 
 i i; 
 
 
198 
 
 Letters f}vm High Latitudes. 
 
 i\ ' 
 
 scoria: and conglomerate of which the cHffs seem- 
 ed to be composed. Innumerable sea-birds sat in 
 the crevices and ledges of the uneven surface, or 
 flew about us with such confiding curiosity, that 
 by reaching out my hand I could touch their 
 wings as they poised themselves in the air aiong^ 
 side. There was one old sober-sides with whom 
 I passed a good ten minutns tete-a-tcte, trying 
 who could stare the other out of countenance. 
 
 It was now high time to be off. As soon then 
 as we had collected some geological specimens, 
 and duly christened the little cove, at the bottom 
 of which we had landed, ** Clandeboye Creek," — 
 we walked back to the gig. But — so rapidly 
 was the ice drifting down upon the island, — we 
 found it had already become doubtful whether 
 we should not have to carry the boat over the 
 patch which — during the couple of hours we had 
 spent on shore — had almost cut her off from ac- 
 cess to the water. If this was the case with the 
 gig, it was very evident the quicker we got the 
 schooner out to sea again the better. So imme- 
 diately we returned on board, having first fired a 
 gun in token of adieu to the desolate land we 
 should never again set foot on, the ship was put 
 about, and our task of working out towards the 
 open water recommenced. As this operation was 
 likely to require some time, directly breakfast 
 was over, (it was now about eleven o'clock A. Mi.,) 
 and after a vain attempt had been made to take 
 
An Unpleasant Position. 
 
 199 
 
 the 
 the 
 me- 
 da 
 we 
 put 
 the 
 was 
 fast 
 Mu,) 
 "lake 
 
 a photograph of the mountain, which the mist 
 was again beginning to envelop, I turned in to 
 take a nap, which I rather needed, fully expecting 
 that by the time I awoke we should be beginning 
 to get pretty clear of the pack. On coming on 
 deck, however, four hours later, although we had 
 reached away a considerable distance from the 
 land, and had even passed the spot where — the 
 day before — the sea was almost free, — the floes 
 seemed closer than ever ; and, what was worse, 
 from the mast-head not a vestige of open water 
 was to be discovered. On every side, as far as 
 the eye could reach, there stretched over the sea 
 one cold white canopy of ice. 
 
 The prospect of being beset, in so slightly 
 built a craft, was — to say the least — unpleasant ; 
 it looked very much as if fresh packs were driv- 
 ing down upon us from the very direction in 
 which we were trying to push out, yet it had 
 become a matter of doubt which course it wou Id 
 be best to steer. To remain stationary was out 
 of the question ; the p?xe at which the fields drift 
 is sometimes very rapid,* and the first nip would 
 
 * Dr. Scoresby states that the invariabletendency of fields 
 of ice is to drift south-westward, and that the strange effects 
 produced by their occasional rapid motions is one of the 
 most striking objects the Polar Seas present, and certainly 
 the most terrific. They frequently acquire arotary motion, 
 whereby their circumference attains a velocity of several 
 miles an hour ; and it is scarcely possible to conceive the 
 consequences produced by a body, exceeding ten thousand 
 
fir 
 
 200 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 settle the poor little schooner's business for ever. 
 At the same time, it was quite possible that any 
 progress we succeeded in making, instead of 
 tending towards her liberation, might perhaps be 
 only getting her deeper into the scrape. One 
 thing was very certain, — Northing or Southing 
 might be an even chance, but whatever Easting 
 we could make must be to the good; so I deter- 
 mined to choose whichever vein seemed to have 
 most easterly direction in it. Two or three 
 openings of this sort from time to time pre- 
 sented themselves; but in every case, after fol- 
 lowing them a certain distance, they proved to 
 be but cul-de-sacs, and we had to return discom- 
 fitted. My great hope was in a change of wind. 
 It was already blowing very fresh from the north- 
 ward and eastward; and if it v/ould but shift a 
 few points, in all probability the ice would loosen 
 as rapidly as it had collected. In the mean time, 
 the only thing to do was to keep a siiarp look- 
 out, sail the vessel carefully, and take advantage 
 of every chance of getting to the eastv/ard. 
 
 million tons in weight, coming in contact with another 
 under such circumstances. The strongest ship is but an in- 
 significant impediment between two fields in motion. 
 Numbers of whale vessels have thus been destroyed ; some 
 have been thrown upon the ice ; some have had their hulls 
 completely torn open, or divided in two, and others have 
 been overrun by the ice, and buried beneath its heaped 
 fragments. 
 
*' To Norroivay over ike faem!' 201 
 
 ills 
 ive 
 
 kd 
 
 It now grew colder tluin ever, — the distant 
 land was almost hid with fog, — tattcrce, dingy 
 ■clouds came crowding over the heavens, — while 
 Wilson moved uneasily about the deck, with the 
 air of Cassandra at the conflagration of Troy. It 
 was Sunday, the 14th of July, and I had a mo- 
 mentary fancy that I could hear the sweet church 
 bells in England peeling across the cold, white 
 flats which surrounded us. At last, about five 
 o'clock, P.M., the wind shifted a point or two, 
 then flew round into the southeast. Not long 
 .after, just as I had expected, the ice evidently 
 began to loosen, — a promising opening was re- 
 ported from the mast-head a mile or so away on 
 the port-bow, and by nine o'clock we were spank- 
 ing along, at the rate of eight knots an hour, 
 under a double-reefed mainsail and staysail — 
 down a continually widening channel, between 
 two wave-lashed ridges of drift ice. Before mid- 
 niglit we had regained the open sea, and were 
 standing away 
 
 " to Norroway, 
 To Norroway, over the facm." 
 
 In the forenoon I had been to busy to have our 
 usual Sunday church; but as soon as we were 
 pretty clear of the ice, I managed to have a short 
 service in the cabin. 
 
 Of our run to Hammerfest, I have nothing 
 particular to say. The distance is eight hundred 
 miles, and we did it in eight days. On the 
 
r 
 
 I 
 
 202 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 whole, the weather was pretty fair, though cold 
 and often foggy. One day, indeed, was perfectly 
 lovely, — the ^^a't before we made the coast of 
 Lapland, — without a cloud to be seen for the 
 space of twenty-four hours; giving me an oppor- 
 tunity of watching the sun performing his com- 
 plete circle overhead, and taking a meridian alti- 
 tude at midnight. We were then in 70° 25' 
 North latitude, /. ^., almost as far north as the 
 North Cape; yet the thermometer had been up 
 to 80° during the afternoon. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, the fog came on again, and 
 next morning it was bio zing very hard from the 
 eastward. This was the more disagreeable, as it 
 is always very difficult, under the most favour- 
 able circumstances, to find one's way into any 
 harbour along this coast, fenced off as it is from 
 the ocean by a complicated outwork of lofty 
 islands, which, in their turn, are hemmed in by 
 nests of sunken rocks, sown as thick as peas, for 
 miles to seaward. There are no pilots until you 
 are within the islands and no longer want them» 
 — no lighthouses or beacons of any sort; and all 
 that you have to go by is the shape of the hill- 
 tops; but as, on the clearest day, the outlines of 
 the mountains have about as much variety as the 
 teeth of a saw, and as, on a cloudy day, which 
 happens about seven times a week, you see no. 
 thing but the line of their dark roots, — the unfor- 
 tunate mariner who goes pokiag about for the 
 
Hammerfest. 
 
 203 
 
 or 
 
 pu 
 
 m» 
 
 lall 
 
 ill- 
 
 of 
 the 
 ich 
 
 10. 
 lor- 
 
 the 
 
 narrow passage which is to lead him between the 
 islands, — at the back of one of which a pilot is 
 waiting for him, — will, in all probability, have 
 already placed his vessel in a position to render 
 thar functionary's further attendance a work of 
 supererogation. At least, I know it was as much 
 surprise as pleasure that I experienced, when — 
 after having with many misgivings ventured to 
 slip through an opening in the monotonous barri- 
 cade of mountains, we found it was the right 
 channel to our port. If the king of all the Goths 
 would only stick up a lighthouse here and there 
 along the edge of his Arctic seaboard, he would 
 save many an honest fellow a heartache. 
 
 I must now finish this long letter. 
 
 Hammerfest is scarcely worthy of my wasting 
 paper on it. When 1 tell you that it is the 
 most northerly town in Europe, I think I have 
 mentioned its only remarkable characteristic. It 
 stands on the edge of an enormous sheet of 
 water, completely landlocked by three islands, 
 and consists of a congregation of wooden houses, 
 plastered up against a steep mountain ; some of 
 which being built on piles, give the notion of the 
 place having slipped down from the hill half-way 
 into the sea. Its population is so and so, — its 
 chief exports this and that ; for all which see Mr.. 
 Murray's "Hand-book," where you will find all 
 such matters much more clearly and correctly 
 set down than I am likely to state them. At 
 
204 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 all events, it produces milk, cream — Jiot butter — 
 salad and bad potatoes; which is what we are 
 most interested in at present. To think that 
 you should be all revelling this very moment in 
 green-peas and cauliflowers ! I hope you don't 
 forget your grace before dinner. 
 
 I will write to you again before setting sail for 
 Spitzbergen. 
 
 : 
 
LETTER IX. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE "MONITEUR" OF THE 31ST JULY. 
 
 I HAVE received a copy of the " Moniteur" of 
 the 31st July, containing so graphic an account 
 of the voyage of the Rc'uic Hortcnsc towards 
 Jan Mayen, and of the catastrophe to her tender 
 the Saxon — in consequence of which the cor- 
 vette was compelled to abandon her voyage to 
 the Northward, — that I must forward it to you. 
 
 *' Exploration de la Baitquisc an Nord de V Islande par la 
 ' Reine Hortense.' * 
 
 " II appartenait h, un officier de la marine frangaise, M. 
 Jules de Blosseville, d'en tenter I'exploration et d'illustrer 
 ces parages e'loignes, autant par ces d(^couvertes que par 
 sa nn tragique et pre'maturee. Au printemps de 1833, h, la 
 suite d'un degel, la Lilloise, que commandait cet intrepide 
 marin, put traverser la Banquise aux environs du 69*^ degrd 
 et relever au sud de cette latitude environ trcnte lieues de 
 cotes. Revenu dans les parages de I'Islande, il repartit en 
 juillet pour une seconde campagne. Depuis cette t^poque 
 la Lilloise n'a plus reparu. Le secret de son naufrage est 
 restd enfoui au fond de la mer, bien que, dans les poetiques 
 et S3Myages Jiords du nord de I'Islande, I'imagination du 
 pecheur se soit obstin^e longtemps h reconnaitre, dans. 
 
 * For TraQslation^ see /.ppend'x. 
 
206 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 ' 
 
 \ 
 
 chaqiie (^pave jct^e sui* la cote, un d<51)ris du navirc du 
 navigatcur fran^-ais. 
 
 " L'annoc suivante, la IJordelaisc, cnvoyt5e h la rcchercne 
 de la Lilloiso, trouva tout Ic nord dc I'lslande cn^ago dans 
 la IJp.nquise, et revint apres avoir e'to arrete'e par les glaces 
 k la hauteur du cap Nord. 
 
 " Le voyage aux colonics danoises de la cote occidcntale 
 (de Groenland) faisant partie du programme de notre 
 navigation arctique, nous savions, u notre depart de Paris, 
 devoir faire une an'ole connaissance avec la partie m^ri- 
 dionale de la Banquise pendant la traverse'e de Reykjavik 
 au cap Farewell. Mais pendant notre relache h. Peterhead, 
 le grand port d'armemcnt des navircs destines a la peche 
 du phoque, le Prince et le commandant de la Roncifere 
 recueillirent des renseignements pre'cieux sur I'e'tat actuel 
 des glaces en interrogeant les pecheurs revenus de leur 
 campagne du printemps. lis apprirent d'eux que cette 
 annde la navigation 4ta.it completement libre autour de 
 rislande ; que la Banquise, s'appuyant sur Jean Mayen et 
 I'entourant d'une ccinture de vingt lieues dMpaisseur des- 
 cendait au sud-ouest le long de la cote du Groenland, mais 
 sans fermer le canal que st^pare cette cote de celle de, 
 rislande. Ces circonstances inesp^r^es ouvraient un 
 champ nouveau h. nos explorations, en nous permettant de 
 relever toute la partie de la Banquise qui s'^tend au nord 
 de rislande, pour faire suite au travail de la Recherche et 
 h celui que nous nous promettions de faire nous-memes 
 pendant notre voyage au Groenland. La tentation dtait 
 trop grande pour que le Prince piit y rdsister, et le com- 
 mandant de la Ronciere n't^tait pas homme h laisser 
 echapper une idde qui s'offrait h lui avec les caracteres de 
 la hardiesse et de la nouveaute. 
 
 " Mais les difficult^s de Tentreprise ^talent s^rieuses et 
 d'une nature telle, qu'il faut avoir quelques habitudes de la 
 navigation pour les appr^cier. La Reine-Hortense est un 
 charmant Mtiment de plaisance. mais qui ne prdsente que 
 
Extract from the •* Monifenry 
 
 207 
 
 de. 
 
 un 
 
 de 
 
 et 
 les 
 
 )m- 
 
 5ser 
 
 de 
 
 et 
 
 la 
 
 un 
 
 Ique 
 
 bien peu des conditions nt?cessaires pour unc longuc navi- 
 gation, et ancunc dcs conditions necessaircs pour une 
 longue navigation dans Ics glaccs. La soutc h, charbon nc 
 pout rcccvoir qu'un approvisionncnient dc six jours, cl la 
 soute h. eau qu'un approvisionnemcnt de trois scniaincs. 
 Quant a la voilurc, on pout dire que la corvette n'est niJltt^c 
 que pour la forme, et que sans la vapour elle est incapable 
 de fournir une marche reguliere et soutenue. Ajoutonsque 
 le batimcnt est en fer, c'est-ii-dire qu'une feuille de tole de 
 deux centimetres d'c^paisseur constitue tout son bordage, 
 et que son pont, pcrc(5 de douze grands panneaux, est 
 tellement faiblc, qu'il a 6\.4 }\.\g6 incapable de porter 
 Tartillcrie que Ic navire dcvait rcccvoir en raison de son 
 onnage. 
 
 " On sait que le Cocyte avait et(^ mis pareillement \ la 
 disposition de S. A. I. le Prince NapoMon. Ce batiment, 
 arriv^ en rade de Reykjavik le meme jour que nous, 30 
 juin, est une corvette 5, vapeur et k roues, tenant bien la 
 mer, portant douze jours de charbon, mais d'une lenteur 
 demarche deplorable. 
 
 " Nous avons trouve', en outre, k Reykjavik, la gabarre 
 de I'Etat la Perdrix et deux vapeurs de commerce anglais, 
 le Tasmania et le Saxon, nolise's par le ministere de la 
 marine pour porter en Islande le charbon necessaire pour 
 notre voyage au Groenland. Ces cinq bA,timents formaient, 
 avec la frigate I'Arth^mise, charg^e du service de la 
 station, la flottille la plus considerable que la capitale de 
 rislande e<it jamais vue rassemblde dans sa rade. 
 
 " Malheureusement, ces dle'ments varies et nombreux ne 
 pr^sentaient aucune homog^ne'ite', et le commandant de la 
 Roncifere reconnut bientot que tout concours e'tranger ne 
 nous apporterait que des embarras certains pour prix d'une 
 surety douteuse ; qu'enfin la Reine-Hortense, obligee de 
 marcher vite, puisque son approvisionnemcnt lui ddfendait 
 de marcher longtemps, n'avait k compter que sur elle- 
 .meme. Cepenant le capitaine du Saxon, montrant un grand 
 
208 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 d^slr d(J visiter les parages du nord et y mettant une sorte 
 d'amour-proprc national, promcttant, d'ailleurs, une marche 
 moycnne de sept nrcuds, il fut dt'cidd qu'a tout hasard ce 
 navirc partirait en meme temps que la Reine-Hortense, 
 dont il pourrait renouvelcr la provision dc charbon, dans 
 I'^ventualite, fort doutcusc il est vrai, d'un atterrissement 
 sur Tile de JCvin Mayen et d'un mouillage convenable. Au 
 reste, la Reinc-Hortense, au moyen d'un chargemcnt sup- 
 pMmentairc sur le pont, avait du charbon pour huit jours, 
 et dt's le dc^part, rt'C[uipage devait otre rationne d'eau, ainsi 
 que Ics passagers. 
 
 " Quclques heurcs avant de lever I'ancre, I'expedition se 
 completa par I'adjonction d'un nouvcau compagnon de 
 voyage tout h, fait inattcndu. Nous avions trouve en rade 
 de Reykjavik un yacht appartcnant a Lord Dufferin. Voy- 
 ant son vif du'sir de visiter les parages ie Jean Mayen, le 
 Prince lui proposa de faire donner la remorque Jisagoelette 
 par la Rcine-Hortense. C'otait une bonne fortune pour un 
 chercheur d'aventurcs maritimes ct une heure apres, la pro- 
 position accept<^e avec cmpresscment, I'Anglais s'amarrait 
 par deux longs cables h, Tarriyre de notre corvette. 
 
 " Le 7 juillet 1S56, h, deux heurcs du matin, apres un bal 
 donne par le commandant de Mas h, bord de I'Artht^mise 
 la Reinc-Hortcnse et sa remorque cjuittant la rade de 
 Reykjavik, sc dirigeant, par la cute ouest de I'lslande, sur 
 Onundarfiord, ou nous dcvons rallier le Saxon, parti 
 quelques heures avant nous. A neuf heurcs, les trois bati- 
 ments, ayant le cap h, I'est-nord-cst, doublent la pointe du 
 cap Nord ; k midi, le releve de la latitude nous place aux 
 environs du 67*= degre ; nons venons de franchir le cercle 
 arctique. En ce moment, la temperature e'tait celle d'une 
 belle journee de printemps, 10 degres centigrades ; I'air 
 t^tait dune transparence et d'une purett^admirables,lesoleiI 
 ^clatant. On eut dit que la nature, comme pour faire 
 parade de son in^puisable ft^condit^, se plaisait h- nous 
 ouvrir I'entr^e des re'gions polaires, ce sombre empire des 
 
Extract from the '* Moiiitcnvy 
 
 209 
 
 de 
 
 t^n^brcs ct dc la mort, par dcs splcndcurs digncs des 
 climats hciircux oil die prodiguc la chalcur, la luinierc et 
 la \ ie. 
 
 "La Rcinc-Hoitcnsc ralcntil sa marchc. Unc ligne 
 file'e lo long d'une dcs ainarrcs pcrmet ii Lord DutVcrin de 
 hiilcr unc de ses cnibarcalions jusqu'a la corvette. II vicnt 
 diner avec nous et assister a la ct'rdmonic du passage du 
 cercle polairc. Ouant au Saxon, Ic commandant de la 
 Ronciure rcconnait en cc moment que le brave Anglais a 
 trop prusumo de ses forces. II est decidemciU incapable 
 de nous suivre. Le commandant lui fait signc de navigucr 
 pour son prope comptc, de tiicher de gagnerjean Mayen, 
 ct, s'il ne peut y reussir, de sc diriger sur Onundarfiord et 
 de nous y attendre. Bientot, en effct, le batiment anglais 
 cesse de naviguer dans nos eaux ; sa coquc disparait 
 d'abord, puis sa voilure ; le soir, la trace de sa fumue s'est 
 •^vanouie i\ I'horizon. 
 
 " Cependant, dans la soiree, la tempi*raturc de I'air s'est 
 abaissee graduellcment ; celle de I'eau a uprouve un change- 
 ment plus rapide et plus significatif encore. A minuit elle 
 n'est plus que dc 3 degres. A ce moment, le navire entre 
 dans une couche de brume dont la permanence du jour, 
 sous cette latitude et ii cette ^poque de I'annde, permet 
 d'appre'cier toute I'intensite. A ces signcs, il n'est pas 
 douteux que nous approchons des glaces fixes. En effet, k 
 "deux heures du matin, lofiicier de quart aper9oit tout 
 aupres du navire un troupeau de phoques, ccs habitants de 
 la Banquise. Quelques minutes plus tard, la brume 
 s'^claircit tout h, coup, un rayon de soleil glisse sur la sur- 
 face de la mer et fait scintiller jusqu'aux derniferes limitcs 
 de I'horizon des myriades de points d'une blancheur 
 ^clatante. Ce sont les glaces detachees qui precedent et 
 annoncent la Banquise. Elles augmentent de nombre et de 
 volume a mesure que nous continuons notrc route. A 
 trois heures de I'apres-midi, nous nous trouvons en presence 
 d'un banc de glaces continu, qui ferme la mer devant nous. 
 
 U 
 
 HjI: 
 
I 
 
 210 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 II nous faiit sortir dc notre route pour nous ddg.igcr dcs 
 glaccs qui nous cntourcnt. Ccst la une mananivrc t|ui dc- 
 niandc de l.i part du comnnjulant une yrando st\rclo dc 
 coup d'cL'il ct une connaisiancc [)arfaitc dc la (lualilu dc sou 
 navirc. La Rcine-IIortcnsc marchant a dcmi-vapcur, tous 
 SOS officicrs ct son t'quipa<;c sur le pont, sc glissc entrc Ics 
 blocs dc glace (lu'clle parait rascr et dont Ic plus petit la 
 ferait coulcr i\ pic si rabordai^^c avait lieu. Un autre dan- 
 ger, qu'il est prcsquc impossible de conjurer, menace le 
 navirc dans ccs moments difficiles. Qu'un fragment de 
 gla^on s'engagc sous I'luilico, elle sera inf.iilliblcmcnt brisde 
 comme verre, ct les suites d'un pareil accident peuvent 
 Stre funestcs. La petite goijlctte anglaise nous sit brave- 
 ment, bondissant dans notre sillaj^e, u'ovitant que par une 
 surveillance continue et de vigourcux coups de barre les 
 glayons que nous avons depasscs. 
 
 "Mais les difficultJs de cctte navigation, lorsque le temps 
 est clair, ne sont rien en comparaison de cclles qu'elle pre- 
 sentc pendant la brume. Alors, malgr<5 le ralentisscment 
 de la marche, il faut presque autant de bonhcur que 
 d'adresse pour <5viter les abordages. C'est ainsi qu'apr«Js 
 ^tro sortis dcs glaccs une premiere fois, ei avoir rcpris notre 
 route II I'est-nord-est, nous nous sommes trouvos tout h* 
 coup, vers les deux heurcs de cctte meme journe'c du 9, k 
 un quart de mille dc la Banquisc, que la brume cachait il 
 nos regards. En g«lneral la Banquise, cotoytle par nous 
 pendant trois jours, et relcvee avec le plus grand soin sur 
 une i^tendue de pi^s de cent lieues, nous a present*^ une cdte 
 irr^guliere courant dc I'ouest-sud-ouest t\ Test-nord-est, et, 
 poussant vers le sud, dcs caps ou promontoires d'une saillie 
 variable, assez bien represcntds par les dents d'une scie. 
 Toutes les ibis que nous faisions notre route a I'est-nord-est, 
 nous ne lardions pas h, nous engager dans un des golfes de 
 glace form«?s par [les dentelures de la Banquise. C'etait 
 en mettant le cap au sud-ouest que nous nous ddgagions des 
 gla9ons flottants, pour reprendre notre premiere directioa 
 aussitot que la mer devenait libre. 
 
Extract from the '' Monitciir' 
 
 211 
 
 " Ccpcndant, i\ mosurc c|uo nous ;ivancions vers Ic nord, 
 la brume dcvcnait plus o'paisso, Ic froid plus intense (2 dc- 
 gr^s ccnti^radcs au-dessouside zero). La neige tour- 
 billonnait au milieu dcs rafales du vent, ct s'abaltait en 
 larges nappes sur le pont. Les <flaccs avaient {)ris un 
 autre aspect et aifectaient ces formes ct ces couleurs fan- 
 tastiques et terri'Mes que la peiniure a rendues populaires. 
 Tantot elles sVlevaient commes des pics converts de neige, 
 creusos de valk'cs vertes ou blcues ; le plus souveut, clles 
 se prosentaient sous la forme de largcs plateaux aussi hauts 
 que le pont du navire, sur lesi|ucls la mer, d«5ferlant avcc 
 fureur, arrondissait des golfes, taillait des falaiscs h, pic, ou 
 crcusait des grottcs profoiules oil elle s'engouffrait en 
 y'cumant. Souvent nous passions ii coti^ d'un troupcau dc 
 pho([ues cjui, couches sur des lies tlottantes, suivaient le 
 navire d'un long regard effare'et stupide. IMus d'une fois il 
 nous est arrive d'etre frappds du contraste que presentait le 
 mondc factice au milieu ducjuel nous vivions k bord du 
 navire avcc la realito' terrible dc la nature qui nous environ- 
 nait. Aisis dans un e'le'gant salon, au coin d'un feu clair 
 et p(^tillant, entoures des miile objects des arts et du luxe 
 de la patrie, il nous etait possible de croire que nous 
 n'avions quitte' ni nos demciires, ni nos habitudes, ni nos 
 plaisirs. Une valse de Strauss, une melodic de Schubert, 
 touche'cs sur le piano "^ar notre chef de musique, comple- 
 taient Tillusion ; et cependant il nous suftisait d'effacer la 
 legere couche do vapeur ciui couvrait nos carreaux pour 
 apercevoir les formes gigantesciues et terribles des giaces 
 s'entre-choqunnt sur une mer noire ct houleuse, et tout le 
 spectacle de la nature polairc, avec ses perils et ses sinistres 
 splendeurs. 
 
 " Cependant nous avancions, mais nous avancions lente- 
 ment. Le lo juillet, Ji midi, nous ^tions encore loin du 
 me'ridien de Jean Mayen, quand, au milieu do la brume, 
 nous nous trouvames tout t\ coup au fond d'un des golfes 
 formds par la Banquise. Nous virons de bord, mais le 
 
 I 
 

 212 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 vent vient d'accumulcr Ics glaces derrierc nous. A dis- 
 tance, la ccinturc qui nous cntourc parait etrc compacte et 
 sans issue. Nous avons nolo co moment comme Ic plus 
 critique de notre navigation ; apres avoir tatu la Banquise 
 sur plusieurs points, nous decouvrons un pasF'age dtroit ct 
 toitueux ; nous nous y cngageons, ct ce n'cst i u'apres une 
 heure plcine d'emotions que nous voyons la mer libre et que 
 nous pouvons la gagner. A partir de ce moment, nous 
 avons cotoyd la Banquise en la relevant sans interruption. 
 " Le II juillct, li six heures du matin, nous etions enfin 
 arrives sous le meridien de Jean Mayen et a i8* lieues de 
 la pointe sud de cette ile. Nous reconnaissions que la 
 Banquise etait devant nous, s'etcndant k pcrte de vue dans 
 la direction est-nord-est. Des lors, il devenait evident cjue 
 Tile de Jean Maycn etait bloquee par les glaces, du moins 
 le long de ses cotes mt^ridionales. Pour s'assurer si elle 
 iJtait encore abordable par le nord, il eut fallu tenter k I'est 
 im detour dont il e'tait impossible de calculer I'e'tendue. 
 D'ailleurs, la moitie de notre charbon etait brule'e, et nous 
 avions perdu tout espoir de rallier le Saxon. Renon9ant k 
 pousser plus loin I'exploration, le commandant de la Ron- 
 ciere, apres avoir fait sortir le navire de la zone des glaces 
 flottantes, fit mettrele cap h. Touest-sud-ouest, pour repren- 
 dre le chemin de Reykjavik. Au moment oil la Reine- 
 Hortense entrait dans sa nouvelle route, un signal te'le- 
 graphique, d'apr^s un systeme convenu, informait Lord 
 Duffcrin Je notre determination. Presque aussitot, le 
 jeune Lord faisait passer h. bord de la corvette une boite en 
 fer-blanc contenant deux lettres. L'une dtait pour sa mere, 
 I'autre pour le commandant. Dans cette derniere, il lui 
 faisait connaitre que la goelette avait beaucoup fatigue par 
 suite de cette remorque rapide et prolongt^e ; que, se trou- 
 vaut hors des glaces ct libre de ses mouvements, il prdferait 
 
 * I tliink there must be some mistal:e here ; when we parted company with 
 "The Reine Hortense, We were still iipwaids of one hundred miles distant from 
 the southern extremity of Jan Maycu 
 
Extract from the '' Moniteurr 
 
 215 
 
 continuer seul son voyage, incertain s'il le pousscrait 
 directement en Norve'ge, oil s'il retournerait en Ecosse.* 
 Aussitot les am^rres qui lient les deux navircs sont lar- 
 gu^es, un hurrah d'adieu sc fait entendre, ct en un cHn 
 d'oeil la goelctte anglaisc disparait dans la brume. 
 
 "Notre retour k Reykjavik n'a donne lieu i\ aucun inci- 
 dent remarquable. La Reine-Horteiise, maintenant sa 
 route '^■n dehors des glaces, n'a eu sa marche e retarde que 
 par des brumes intenses, qui I'ont forct^e, dans I'impossi- 
 bilitit^ oil elle etait de reconnaitrc sa route, de passer une 
 partie de la journt^e et de la nuit du 13 h, la cape et ^ I'ancre. 
 Le 4. au matin, sortant de Dyre-Fiord, ou nous avions 
 relache, nous avons, .\ notre grand etonnement, rencontrd 
 le Cocyte faisant route vers le nord. AppeM ^ bord, le 
 commandant Sonnart nous apprit que, Je 13 au soir, le 
 Saxon ^tait rentr(^ Ji Reykjavik par suite d'une avarie con- 
 bid«^rable. Ce navire, dfes son entree dans les glaces, le 9 
 juillett, a aborde un gla9on ; cinq de ses memlires ont (^td 
 brisds ; u!ie enorme voie d'eau s'est ddclarde. Coulant bas, 
 il s'est echoud une premiere fois h, Onundarfiord, et une 
 second fois dans la rade de Reykjavik, on il n'est arrivd 
 qu'avec la plus grande peine." 
 
 * I was purposely vague as to tny plans, lest you might learn we still 
 intended to go on. 
 
 iipany with 
 iistant from 
 
214 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 llxtracts from '' VoYAGK dans IcsViV.K':^ DU Nord, 
 
 a bord de la corvette La Keine Hortense, par 
 
 M, Charles Edmund (Choie<;ki)." Paris, 
 Oct^ 1 85 7. 
 
 " La corvette file a petite vapeur entre des monceaux de 
 glace. Parfois ua lo-^er grincement se fait entendre ; nous 
 effleurons un bloc enorme a l^abord, afin d't^chapper a 
 I'etreinte d'un autre plus grand h, tribord. Nous pouvons 
 maintenant approcier froidement notre situation ; elle est 
 bien simple. Tant que nous aurons la chance d'eviter nos 
 importuns envahisseurs, nous pouvons dormir sur les deux 
 oreilles ; mais qu'un bourguignon h, pointe aigue se per- 
 mette de pratiquer une ouverture dans la coque de fer de 
 notre navire, nous coulons jX pic. Cela ne nous empeche 
 pas d'avancer vers I'ile, objet de nos esperances." 
 
 " La petite goelette de Lord Dufferin, solidement amarre'e 
 h, I'arri^re de notre corvette, bondit comme une dvaporde 
 dans notre sillage ; elle fait bonne contenance et se donne 
 memc des airs cranes en disproportion avec son exiguitd. 
 Cest bien ; c'est honorable ; ce petit navire promet beau- 
 coup ; il fera son chemin." 
 
 " Le ciel se colore d'un gris uniforme ; la brume le relie 
 bientot h, la mer une meme teinte monotone." 
 
 " A mesure que nous poussons vers le Noi'd, la brume 
 s'dpaissit ; le froid devient plus intense ; la neige tour- 
 billone au milieu des rafales de vent et couvre le pont d'un 
 ^clatant tapis." 
 
 "Nons sommes encore ^loign^s du m^ridien de Jean 
 Mayan, quand, au milieu de la brume, nous p^n^trons dans 
 un des grands golfes de la Banquise. II faut de nouveau 
 rebrousser chemin, manoeuvre que nous ne discontinuous 
 pas de pratiquer. La corvette vire de bord. La brume se 
 

 ? 
 
 Extract from the * ' jl/o/i /A i/r. ' ' 
 
 215 
 
 dissipe un peu, et, malgrJ notrc chan^^'ement de front, nous 
 rencontrons encore devant nous la Banquise. Adroitc ct h 
 gauche, en avant et en arrierc, partout nous n'apcrcevons 
 que des rcuiparts dc glace. Qu'cst-il done arrive I Quel 
 est le mortif de ce de'sagre'able incident ? 
 
 "Tandis que nous entrions au fond du golfe, le vent 
 accumulait derriore nous les blocs congeles. En peu de 
 temps, il s'en est amasse des quantite's inormes. La ccin- 
 ture qui nous etreint parait, h distance, compacte et sans 
 issue. II ne nous reste qu'un soul parti a prendre ; il faut, 
 sans pertc dc temps, briscr le cercle fatal. Chaque minute 
 accroit le piril ; les blocs, disloquJs pour un moment, peu- 
 vent facilement se souder, et si ce maudit vent qui nous 
 vient debout continue, avant que nous soyons parvenus h. 
 gagner le large nous serons pris dans un dtau, serres, 
 ecrases comme une coque d'ceuf vide entre deux doigts." 
 
 "Apres plusieurs heures de tatonnements, d'cssais in- 
 fructueux, nous finissons par decouvrir un passage etroit et 
 tortueux. Nous nous y engageons. On entend les grince- 
 ments des glaces qui mordent sur la coque de notre navire^ 
 Nous nous frayons un chemin avec peine. Soudain lamer 
 s'eclaircit. En avant ! Encore quelques vigoureux coups 
 d'helice, et nous voguons en pleine mer, et nous sommes 
 libres." 
 
 " Les deux autorites du bord, apres un moment de con- 
 ference, croient devoir essayer d'une derniere tentative. 
 * * * Mais les bourguignons sont deciders k de'fendre 
 vaillam.ment I'entre'e de leur domaine. lis se serrent, ils 
 nous pressent de toutes parts, ils surgissent h babord et k 
 tribord. La mer devient houleuse ; elle se brise avec 
 fracas contre ses inflexibles gardiens des rt^gions arctiques. 
 Les fantomes de crista! depassent en hauteur les bords de 
 notre navire. lis se balancent sur les vagues et nous 
 menacent de leurs pics aigus. Aussi loin que I'oeil peut 
 atteindre, la mer se couvre et se he'risse de ces d^fenseurs 
 •de Tile de Jean Mayen. 
 
2l6 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 " II n'y a plus de doulCjla Banquise defend les approches 
 du Chanaan sauvagede notrc pert^grination. Elle s'etcnd 
 h. pertc de vue dans la direction E, M.E. foute la cote 
 meridionale de Tile est bloquee par les glaces. II se peut 
 qu'elle offre un acc^s par le Nord ; mais, pour cella, il 
 aurait fallu essayer t\ I'Est d'un detour dont il est difficile 
 de calculer la longueur. D'ailleurs, la moitie de notre char- 
 bon est consommee ; nouse avons peine de quoi effectuer 
 notre retour kReykjawik. Quant k notre acolyte le Saxon^ 
 depuis trois jours nous Vavons perdu de vue. Pas de trace 
 de ce qu'il est devenu ; espoir fort problematique de le ral- 
 lier. Force nous est done de renoncer h, notre entreprise." 
 
 " Le commandant fait mettre le cap dans la direction de 
 la capitale de I'lslande. Le parti cjue nous prenons lur 
 parait d'autant plus sage que la mer devient tres mauvaise 
 et commence h, rouler des vagues fort inhospitalieres.. 
 
 " En ce moment, la petite goelette qui, jusqu'ici, s'etait 
 associe'e si intimement h, toutes nos aventureuses peripeties, 
 est infdrmee de notre determination. Lord Dufferin nous 
 fait passer h, bord une boite en fer-blanc contenant deur 
 lettres. Tune pour sa me^-e, I'autre pour le commandant de 
 la Roncifere. II nous annonce que le Foam a beaucoup 
 fatigue par suite de la remorque rapide et prolongde, et 
 qu'il ne se sent plus la force de nous suivre. Aussitot les 
 amarres qui lient les deux navires sont largue'es ; un hurrah 
 d'adieu retentit sur les deux batiments, et, en un clin d'ceil,. 
 la goelette qu'accompagnera notre inquietude et que 
 suivront nos bons souvenirs disparait dans les brumes." 
 
LETTER X. 
 
 BUCOLICS— THE GOAT— MAID MARIAN— A LAPP LADY- 
 LAPP LOVE-MAKING— THE SEA-HORSEMAN— THE GULF 
 STREAM — ARCTIC CURRENTS— A DINGY EXPEDITION — 
 A SCHOOL OF PERIPATETIC FISHES — ALTEN — THE 
 CHATELAINE OF KAAFIORD— STILL NORTHWARD HO K 
 
 Alten, July 27th. 
 This letter ought to be an Eclogue, so pastoral 
 a life have we been leading lately among these 
 pleasant Nordland valleys. Perhaps it is only^ 
 the unusual sight of meadows, trees and flow- 
 ers, after the barren sea and still more barren 
 lands we have been accustomed to, that invests 
 this neighbourhood with such a smiling charac- 
 ter. Be that as it may, the change has been too 
 grateful not to have made us seriously reflect on 
 our condition ; and we have at last determined 
 that not even the envious ocean shall for the 
 future cut us off from the pleasures of a shepherd 
 life. Henceforth, the boatswain is no longer to 
 be the only swain on board ! We have pur- 
 chased an ancient goat — a nanny-goat — so that 
 we may be able to go a-milking upon occasion- 
 Mr. Webster, late of Her Majesty's Foot-guards,. 
 
2l8 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I ii 
 
 11,1 
 
 ii ; 
 
 carpenter, &c., takes brevet-rank as dairy-maid ; 
 and our venerable passenger is at this moment 
 being inducted into a sumptuous barrel * which I 
 have had fitted up for her reception abaft the 
 binnacle. A spacious meadow of sweet-scented 
 hay has been laid down in a neighbouring corner 
 for her further accommodation ; and the Doctor 
 is tuning up his flageolet, in order to complete 
 the bucolic character of the scene. The only 
 personage amongst us at all disconcerted by 
 these arrangements is the little white fox which 
 has come with us from Iceland. Whether he 
 considers the admission on board of so domestic 
 an animal to be a reflection on his own wild 
 Viking habits, I cannot say ; but there is no im- 
 pertinence — even to the nibbling of her beard 
 when she is asleep — of which he is not guilty 
 towards the poor old thing, who passes the 
 greater part of her mornings in gravely butting 
 at her irreverent tormentor. 
 
 But I must relate our last week's proceedings 
 in a more orderly manner. 
 
 As soon as the anchor was let go in Hammer- 
 fest harbour, we went ashore ; and having first 
 ascertained that the existence of a post does not 
 necessarily imply letters, we turned away, a little 
 •disappointed, to examine the metropolis of Fin- 
 
 * The cask in question was bought in order to be rigged 
 up eventually into a crow's nest, as soon as we should again 
 .find ourselves among the ice. 
 
I ■ J 
 
 A Lapp Lady. 
 
 219 
 
 mark. A nearer inspection did not improve the 
 impression its first appearance had made upon 
 us ; and the odour of rancid cod-Hver oil, which 
 seemed indiscriminately to proceed from every 
 buildini^ in the town, including the church, has 
 irretrievably confirmed us in our prejudices. 
 Nevertheless, henceforth the place will have one 
 redceminfr association connected with it, which 
 I am bound to mention. It was in the streets of 
 Hammerfest that I first set eyes on a Laplander. 
 Turning round the corner of one of the ill-built 
 houses, we suddenly ran over a diminutive little 
 personage, in a white woollen tunic, bordered 
 with red and yellow stripes, green trousers, fast- 
 ened round the ankles, and reindeer boots, curv- 
 ing up at the toes like Turkish slippers. On her 
 head — for, notwithstanding the trousers, she 
 turned out to be a lady — was perched a gay 
 parti-coloured cap, fitting close round the face, 
 and running up at the back into an overarch- 
 ing peak of red cloth. Within this peak was 
 crammed — as I afterwards learnt — a piece of 
 hollow wood, weighing about a quarter of a 
 pound, into which is fitted the wearer's back- 
 hair, so that perhaps after all, there does exist 
 a more inconvenient coiffure than a Paris bon- 
 net. 
 
 Hardly had we taken off our hats, and bowed 
 a thousand apologies for our unintentional rude- 
 ness to the fair inhabitant of the green trousers, 
 
220 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 II : 
 
 before a couple of Lapp gentlemen hove in sight. 
 They were dressed pretty much like their com- 
 panion, except that an ordinary red night-cap 
 replaced the queer helmet worn by the lady ; and 
 the knife and sporran fastened to their belts, 
 instead of being suspended in front as hers 
 were, hung down against their hips. Their 
 tunics, too, may have been a trifle shorter. 
 None of the three were beautiful. High cheek- 
 bones, short noses, oblique Mongol eyes, no eye- 
 lashes, and enormous mouths, composed a cast 
 of features, which their burnt sienna complexion 
 and hair — like ill-got-in hay — did not much en- 
 hance. The expression of their countenances 
 was not unintelligent ; and there was a merry,, 
 half-timid, haJf-cunning twinkle in their eyes, 
 which reminded me a little of faces I had met 
 with in the more neglected districts of Ireland.. 
 Some ethnologists, indeed, are inclined to reckoa 
 the Laplanders as a branch of the Celtic family.. 
 Others, again, maintain them to be Ugrains ;. 
 while a few pretend to discover a relationship 
 between the Lapp language and the dialects of 
 the Australian savages, and similar outsiders of 
 the human family ; alleging that as successive 
 stocks bubbled up from the central birthplace of 
 mankind in Asia, the earlier and inferior races 
 were gradually driven outwards, in concentric 
 circles, like the rings produced by the throwing 
 of a stone into a pond ; and that, consequently, 
 
1 
 
 Lapp Love-making. 
 
 221 
 
 those who dwell in the uttermost ends of the 
 earth arc, ipso facto, first cousins. 
 
 This relationship with the I'olynesian Niggers, 
 the native genealogists would probably scout 
 with indignation, being perfectly persuaded of 
 the extreme gentility of their descent. Their 
 only knowledge of the patriarch Noah is as a 
 personage who derives his principal claim to 
 notoriety from having been the first Lapp. Their 
 acquaintance with any sacred history — nay, with 
 Christianity at all — is very limited. It was not 
 until after the thirteenth century that an attempt 
 was made to convert them ; and although Charles 
 the Fourth and Gustavus ordered portions of 
 Scripture to be translated into Lappish, to this 
 very day a great proportion of the race are Pa- 
 gans ; and even the most illuminated amongst 
 them remain slaves to the grossest superstition. 
 When a couple is to be married, if a priest hap- 
 pens to be in the way, they will send for him 
 perhaps out of complaisance ; but otherwise, the 
 young lad}''s papa merely strikes a flint and steel 
 together, and the ceremony is not less irrevocably 
 completed. When they die, a hatchet and a flint 
 and steel are invariably buried with the defunct, 
 in case he should find himself chilly on his long 
 journey — an unnecessary precaution, many of the 
 orthodox would consider, on the part of such lax 
 religionists. When they go boar-hunting — the 
 >most important business in their lives — it is a 
 
 41 
 
222 
 
 Letters frout High Latitudes. 
 
 sorcerer, with no other defence than his incanta- 
 tions, who marches at the head of the procession. 
 In the internal arrangements of their tents, it is 
 not a room to themselves, but a door to them- 
 selves, that they assign to their womankind ; for 
 woe betide the hunter if a woman has crossed 
 the threshold over which he .sallies to the chase ; 
 and for three days after the slaughter of his prey 
 he must live apart from the female portion of his 
 family in order to appease the evil deity whose 
 familiar he is supposed to have destroyed. It 
 would be endless to recount the innumerable 
 occasions upon which the ancient rites of Jumala 
 are still interpolated among the Christian ob- 
 servances they profess to have adopted. 
 
 Their manner of life I had scarcely any oppor- 
 tunities of observing. Our Consul kindly under- 
 took to take us to one of their encampments ; 
 but they flit so often from place to place, it is 
 very difficult to light upon them. Here and 
 there, as we cruised about among the fiords, blue 
 wreaths of smoke rising from some little green 
 nook among the rocks would betray their tempo- 
 rary place of abode ; but I never got a near view 
 of a regular settlement. 
 
 In the summer-time they live in canvas tents ; 
 during winter, when the snow is on the ground, 
 the forest Lapps build huts in the branches of 
 trees, and so roost like birds. The principal tent 
 is of a hexagonal form, with a fire in the centre, 
 
Habits of tJic Lapps. 
 
 223 
 
 whose smoke rises through a hole in tlie roof. 
 The gentlemen and ladies occupy different sides 
 of the same apartment ; but a long pole laid 
 along the ground midway between them symbol- 
 izes an ideal partition, which I dare say is in the 
 end as effectual a defense as lath and plaster 
 prove in more civilized countries. At all events, 
 the ladies have a doorway quite to themselves, 
 which, doubtless, they consider a far greater privi- 
 lege than the seclusion of a separate boudoir. 
 Hunting and fishing are the principal employ- 
 ments of the Lapp tribes ; and to slay a bear is 
 the most honourable erploit a Lapp hero can 
 achieve. The flesh of the slaughtered beast be- 
 comes the property — not of the man who killed 
 him, but of him who discovered his trail, and the 
 skin is hung up on a pole, for the wives of all 
 who took part in the expedition to shoot at with 
 their eyes bandaged. Fortunate is she whose 
 arrow pierces the trophy, — not only does it be- 
 .come her prize, but in the eyes of the whole 
 settlement, her husband is looked upon thence- 
 forth as the most fortunate of men. As long as 
 the chase is going on, the women are not allowed 
 to stir abroad ; but as soon as the party have 
 safely brought home their booty, the whole female 
 population issues from the tents, and having de- 
 liberately chewed some bark of a species of alder,, 
 they spit the red juice into their husbands' faces,, 
 typifying thereby the bear's blood which has beea 
 shed in the honourable encounter. 
 
224 
 
 Letters from IligJi Latitudes. 
 
 Ill 
 
 ii 
 
 Altliouj^'h the forest, the rivers, and tlie sea 
 supply them in a fjre.it measure with tlieir food, 
 it is upon the reindeer that the Laphmder is 
 dependent for every other comfort in life. The 
 reindeer is his estate, his horse, his cow, his 
 companion, and his friend. He has twenty-two 
 different names for him. Mis coat, trousers, and 
 shoes, are made of reindeer's skin, stitched with 
 thread manufactured from the nerves and sinews 
 of the reindeer. Reindeer milk is the most im- 
 portant item in his diet. Out of reindeer horns 
 are made almost all the utensils 'used in his 
 domestic economy ; and it is the reindeer that 
 carries his baggage, and drags his sledge. But 
 the beauty of this animal is by no means on a 
 par with his various moral and physical endow- 
 ments. His antlers, indeed, arc magnificent, 
 branching back to the length of three or four 
 feet ; but his body is poor, and his limbs thick 
 and ungainly ; neither is his pace quite so rapid 
 as is generally supposed. The Laplanders count 
 distances ^v the number of horizons they have 
 traversed , and if a reindeer changes the horizon 
 three times during the twenty-four hours, it is 
 thought a good day's work. Moreover, so just 
 an appreciation has the creature of what is due 
 to his great merit, that if his owner seeks to tax 
 him beyond his strength, he not only becomes 
 restive, but sometimes actually turns upon the 
 inconsiderate Jehu who has overdriven him. 
 
Espousals. 
 
 225 
 
 When, therefore, a Lapp U in a j;rcat liurry, 
 insteatl of takiiv^ to his sle(l;^^e, he puts on a pair 
 of skates exacti)' twice as lon^^ as his own body, 
 and so flies on the winj^s of the wind. 
 
 Every Laplander, however poor, has his dozen 
 or two dozen deer ; and the flocks of a Lapp 
 Cnesus amount sometimes to two thousand liead. 
 As soon as a youn;^ \:\(\y is born — after having 
 been dul)' rolled in tlie snow — she is dowered by 
 her fatlier with a certain number of deer, which 
 arc immediately branded with her initials, and 
 thenceforth kept apart as her especir.l property. 
 In proportion as they increase and nv.iltiply, does 
 her chance improve of making a good match. 
 Lapp courtships are conducted pretty much in 
 the same fashion as in other parts of the world. 
 The aspirant, as soon as he discovers that he lias 
 lost his heart, goes off in search of a friend and 
 a bottle of brandy. The friend enters the tent, 
 and opens simultaneously — the brandy — and his 
 business ; while the lover remains outside, en- 
 gaged in hewing wood, or some other menial 
 employment. If after the brandy and the pro- 
 posal have been duly discussed, the eloquence of 
 his friend prevails, he is himself called into the 
 conclave, and the young people are allowed to 
 rub noses. The bride then accepts from her 
 suitor a present of a reindeers tongue, and the 
 espousals are considered concluded. The mar- 
 riage does not take place for two or three years 
 
 IS 
 
I' 
 
 226 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 
 1 
 
 afterwards ; and during the interval the intended 
 is obliged to labour in the service of his father-in- 
 law, as diligently as Jacob served Laban for the 
 sake of his lonc^-loved Rachel. 
 
 I cannot better conclude this summary of what 
 I have been able to learn about the honest Lapps, 
 than by sending you the tourist's stock specimen 
 of a Lapp love-ditty. The author is supposed to 
 be hastening in his sledge towards the home of 
 his adored one : — 
 
 " Hasten., Kulnasatz ! my little reindeer ! long is the way. 
 and boundless are the marshes. Swift are we, and light of 
 foot, and soon we shall have come to whither we are speed- 
 ing. There shall I behold my fair one pacing. Kulnasatz, 
 my reindeer, look forth ! look around I Dost thou not see 
 her soruewhere — bathing- ? " 
 
 As soon as we had thoroughly looked over 
 the Lapp lady and her companions, a process to 
 which they submitted with the greatest compla- 
 cency, we proceeded to inspect the other lions of 
 the town ; the church, the lazar-house, — princi- 
 pally occupied by Lapps, — the stock fish estab- 
 lishment, and the hotel. But a very few hours 
 were sufficient to exhaust the pleasures of Ham- 
 merfest ; so having bought an extra suit of jer- 
 sey for my people, and laid in a supply of other 
 necessaries, likely to be useful in our cruise to 
 Spitzbergen, we exchanged dinners with the Con- 
 sul, a transaction by which, I fear, he got the 
 worst of the bargain, and then got under weigh 
 for this place, — Alten. 
 
Bad Ncii's. 
 
 227 
 
 he 
 
 The very day we left Ilamnicrfest our liopes 
 of being able to get to Spitzbcrgen at all — re- 
 ceived a tremendous shock. We had just sat 
 down to dinner, and I was helping the Consul to 
 fish, when in comes Wilson, his face, as usual, 
 upside down, and hisses something into the Doc- 
 tor's ear. Ever since the famous dialogue which 
 had taken place between them on the subject of 
 sea-sickness, Wilson had got to look upon Fitz 
 as in some sort his legitimate prey, and when- 
 ever the burden of his own misgivings became 
 greater than he could bear, it was to the Doctor 
 that he unbosomed himself. On this occasion, I 
 guessed, by the look of gloomy triumph in his 
 eyes, that some great calamity had occurred, and 
 it turned out that the following was the agree- 
 able announcement he had been in such haste to 
 make : " Do you know. Sir } " — This was always 
 the preface to tidings unusually doleful. " No — 
 what } " said the Doctor, breathless. " Oh noth- 
 ing, Sir ; only two sloops have just arrived, Sir, 
 from Spitzbergen, Sir — where they couldn't get, 
 Sir ; — such a precious lot of ice — two hundred 
 miles from the land — and, oh. Sir, — they've come 
 back with all their bows stove in ! " Now, imme- 
 diately on arriving at Hammerfest, my first care 
 had been to inquire how the ice was lying this 
 year to the northward, and I had certainly been 
 told that the season was a very bad one, and that 
 most of the sloops that go every summer to kill 
 
 ■J 
 
 - '! 
 
228 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 11 
 
 sea-horses (/. e. walrus) at Spitzbcrgen, bein^- 
 unable to reach the land, had returned empty 
 handed, but as three weeks of better weather had 
 intervened since their discomfiture, I had quite 
 reassured myself with the hope, that in the mean 
 time the advance of the season might have opened 
 for us a passage to the island. 
 
 This news of Wilson's quite threw me on my 
 back again. The only consolation was, that 
 probably it was not true ; so immediately after 
 dinner we boarded the honest Sea-horseman who 
 was reported to have brought the dismal intel- 
 ligence. He turned out to be a very cheery in- 
 telligent fellow^ of about five-and-thirty, six feet 
 high, with a dashing, *' devil-may-care " manner 
 that completely imposed upon me. Charts were 
 got out, and the whole state of the case laid 
 before me in the clearest manner. Nothing could 
 be more unpromising. The sloop had quitted the 
 ice but eight-and-forty hours before making the 
 Norway coast ; she had not been able even to 
 reach 3k\ir Island. Two hundred miles of ice 
 lay OiT the southern and western coast of Spitz- 
 bergen — the eastern side is always blocked up 
 with ice) — and then bent round in a continuous 
 semicircle towards Jan Mayen. That they had 
 not failed for want of exertion — the bows of his 
 ship sufficiently testified. As to our getting there, 
 it was out of the question. So spake the Sea- 
 horseman. On returning on board The Foam, I 
 
TJic Gulf Stream. 
 
 229 
 
 gave myself up to the most ^doomy reflections. 
 This, then, was to be the result of all my prepa- 
 rations and long-meditated schemes. What like- 
 lihood there was of success, after so unfavourable 
 a verdict ? Ipse dixit, equus inarinus. It is true, 
 the horse-marines have hitherto been considered 
 a mythic corps, but my friend was too substan- 
 tial looking for me to doubt his existence; and 
 unless I was to ride off on the proverbial credu- 
 lity of the other branch of that amphibious pro- 
 fession, I had no reason to question his veracity. 
 Nevertheless, I felt it would not become a gentle- 
 man to turn back at the first blush of discourage- 
 ment. If it were possible to reach Spitzbergen, I 
 was determined to do so. I reflected that every 
 day that passed was telling in our favour. It was 
 not yet the end of July; even in these latitudes 
 winter does not commence much before Septem- 
 ber, and in the meantime the tail of the Gulf 
 Stream would still be wearing a channel in the 
 ice towards the pole; so — however unpromis- 
 ing might be the prospect I determined, at all 
 events, that we should go and see for ourselves 
 how matters really stood. 
 
 But I must explain to you why I so counted 
 upon the assistance of the Gulf Stream to help 
 me through. 
 
 The entire configuration of the Arctic ice is 
 determined by the action of that mysterious cur- 
 rent upon its edges. Several theories have been 
 
230 
 
 Letters from lligJi Latitudes. 
 
 advanced to account for its influence in so remote 
 a region. I give you one which appears to me 
 reasonable. It is supposed that, in obedience to 
 that great law of Nature which seeks to establish 
 equilibrium in the temperature of fluids, a \-ast 
 body of gelid water is continually mounting from 
 the Antarctic, to displace and regenerate the over- 
 heated oceans of the torrid zone. Bounding up 
 against the west side of South America, the 
 ascending stream skirts the coasts of Chili and 
 Peru, and is then deflected in a westerly direc- 
 tion across the Paciflc Ocean, where it takes the 
 name of the Equatorial Current. Having com- 
 pletely encircled Australia, it enters the Indian 
 Sea, sweeps up round the Cape of Good Hope, 
 and crossing the Atlantic, twists into the Gulf of 
 Mexico. Here its flagging energies are suddenly 
 accelerated in consequence of the narrow limits 
 within which it finds itself compressed. So mar- 
 vellous does the velocity of the current now be- 
 come, so complete its isolation from the deep sea 
 bed it traverses, that by the time it issues again 
 into the Atlantic, its hitherto diffused and loitering 
 waters are suddenly concentrated into what Lieu- 
 tenant Maury has happily called — '' a river in the 
 ocean," swifter and of greater volume than either 
 the Mississippi or the Amazon. Surging forth 
 between the interstices of the Bahamas, that 
 stretch like a weir across its mouth, it cleaves 
 asunder the Atlantic. So distinct is its indivi- 
 
The GitlJ Stream . 
 
 231 
 
 •duality, that one side of a vessel will be scoured 
 by its warm, indigo-coloured water, while the 
 other is floating in the pale, stagnant, weed-en- 
 cumbered brine of the i\Iar de Sargasso of the 
 Spaniards. It is not only by colour, by its tem- 
 perature, by its motion, that this "/j^v 'D^xfAwoio'' is 
 distinguished ; its very surface is arched upwards 
 some way above the ordinary sea level toward 
 the centre, by the lateral pressure of the elastic 
 liquid banks between which it flows. Impreg- 
 nated with the warmth of tropic climes, the Gulf 
 Stream — as it has now come to be called, then 
 pours its genial floods across the North Atlantic, 
 , laving the western coasts of Britain, Ireland, and 
 Norway, and investing each shore it strikes upon, 
 with a climate far milder than that enjo\'ed by 
 other lands situated in the same latitudes. 
 Arrived abreast of the North Cape, the impetus 
 of the current is in a great measure exhausted. 
 
 From causes similar (though of less eflicacy, 
 ,in consequence of the smaller area occupied by 
 water,) to those which originally gave birth to 
 the ascending energy of the Antartic waters, 
 a gelid current is also generated in the Arctic 
 Ocean, which, descending in a southwesterly 
 direction, encounters the already faltering Gulf 
 Stream in the space between Spitzbergen and 
 Nova Zembla. A contest for the mastery ensues, 
 ^vhich is eventually terminated by a compromise. 
 The warmer stream, no longer quite able to hold 
 
232 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 its own, splits into two branches, the one squeez- 
 ing itself round the North Cape, as far as that 
 Varanf^ar Fiord which Russia is supposed so 
 much to covet, while the other is pushed up in 
 a more northerly direction along the west coast 
 of Spitzbergen. But although it has power to 
 split up the Gulf Stream for a certain distance, 
 the Arctic current is ultimately unable to cut 
 across it, and the result is an accumulation of 
 ice to the south of Spitzbergen in the angle 
 formed by the bifurcation, as Air. Grote would 
 call it, of the warmer current. 
 
 It is quite possible, therefore, that the north- 
 west extremity of Spitzbergen may be compara- 
 tively clear, while the whole of its southern coasts 
 are enveloped in belts of ice of enormous extent. 
 It was on this contingency that we built our 
 hopes, and determined to prosecute our voyage, 
 in spite of the discouraging report of the Norse 
 skipper. 
 
 About eight o'clock in the evening we got 
 under weigh from Hammerfest ; unfortunately 
 the wind almost immediately after fell dead calm, 
 and during the whole night we lay " like a painted 
 ship upon a painted ocean." At six o'clock a 
 little breeze sprang up, and when we came on 
 deck at breakfast time, the schooner was skim- 
 ming at the rate of five knots an hour over the 
 level lanes of water, which lie between the silver- 
 gray ridges of gneiss and mica slate that hem in\ 
 
A Dingy Expedition. 
 
 233 
 
 the Nordland shore. The distance from Ham- 
 merfest to Alten is about forty miles along a 
 zigzag chain of fiords. It was six o'clock in the 
 evening, and we had already sailed two-and-thirty 
 miles, when it again fell almost calm. Impatient 
 at the unexpected delay, and tempted by the 
 beauty of the evening, — which was indeed most 
 lovely, the moon hanging on one side right oppo- 
 site to the sun on the other, as in the picture of 
 Joshua's miracle. — Sigurdr, in an evil hour, pro- 
 posed that we should take a row in the dingy, 
 until the midnight breeze should spring up, and 
 bring the schooner along with it. Away we 
 went, and so occupied did we become with ad- 
 miring the rocky precipices beneath which we 
 were gliding, that it was not until the white sails, 
 of the motionless schooner had dwindled to a 
 speck, that we became aware of the distance we 
 had come. 
 
 Our attention had been further diverted by the 
 spectacle of a tribe of fishes, whose habit it ap- 
 peared to be — instead of swimming like Christian 
 fishes in a horizontal position beneath the water 
 — to walk upon their hind legs along its surface. 
 Perceiving a little boat floating on the loch not 
 far fromi the spot where we had observed this 
 phenomenon, we pulled towards it, and ascertained 
 that the Lapp officer in charge was actually in- 
 tent on stalking the peripatetic school — to use a 
 technical expression — whose evolutions had so- 
 
234 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 much astonished us. The i^reat object of the 
 sportsman is to judc^e by their last appearance 
 what part of the water the fisli are likely to select 
 for the scene of their next promenade. Directly 
 he has determined this in his own mind, he rows 
 noiselessly to the spot, and as soon as they show 
 themselves — hooks them with a landing-net into 
 his boat. 
 
 By this time it had become a doubtful point 
 whether it WDuld not be as little trouble to row 
 on to Alten as to return to the schooner, so we 
 determined to go on. Unfortunately we turned 
 down a wrong fiord, and after a long pull, about 
 two o'clock in the morning had the satisfaction 
 of finding ourselves in a cnl-dc-so.c. To add to 
 our discomfort, clouds of mosquitoes with the 
 bodies of behemoths and the stings of dragons, 
 had collected from all quarters of the heavens to 
 make a prey of us. In vain we struggled — strove 
 to knock them down with the oars, — plunged our 
 heads under the water, — smacked our faces with 
 frantic violence ; on they came in myriads, unti^ 
 I thought our bleaching bones would alone re- 
 main to indicate our fate. At last Sigurdr espied 
 d log hut on the shore, where we might at least 
 find some one to put us into the right road again ; 
 but on looking in at the open door, we only saw 
 a Lapland gentleman fast asleep. Awaking at 
 our approach, he started to his feet, and though 
 nothing could be more gracefully conciliatory than 
 
'' a 
 
 Allen. 
 
 235 
 
 the bow with which I o[)cncd the conversation, 1 
 regret to say that after staring wildly round for a 
 few minutes, the aboriginal bolted straight away 
 in the most unpolite manner and left us to our 
 fate. There was nothing for it but patiently to 
 turn back and try some other opening. This 
 time we were more successful, and about three 
 o'clock A.M. had the satisfaction of landing at one 
 of the wharves attached to the copper mines of 
 Kaafiord. We came upon a lovely scene. It 
 was as light and warm as a summer's noon in 
 England ; upon a broad plateau, carved by nature 
 out of the side of the gray limestone, stood a 
 bright shining house in the middle of a plot of 
 rich English-looking garden. On one side lay 
 the narrow fiord, on every other rose an amphi- 
 theatre of fir-clad mountains. The door of the 
 house was open, so were many of the windows — 
 even those on the ground-floor, and from the road 
 v/here we stood we could see the books on the 
 library shelves. A swing and some gymnastic 
 appliances on the lawn told us that there were 
 children. Altogether, I thought I had never seen 
 such a charming picture of silent comfort and 
 security. Perhaps the barren prospects we had 
 been accustomed to — made the little oasis before 
 us look more cheerful than we might otherwise 
 have thought it. 
 
 The question now arose, what was to be done .-' 
 My principal reason for coming to Alten was to 
 
236 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 
 buy some salt provisions and Lapland dresses ; 
 but dolls and junk were scarcely a sufficient pre- 
 text f(jr knocking up a quiet family at three o'clock 
 in the morninf^. It is true, I happened to have a 
 
 letter for Mr. T , written by a mutual friend, 
 
 who had expressly told me that — arrive when I 
 might at Alten, — the more unceremoniously I 
 walked in and took possession of the first unoc- 
 cupied bed I stumbled on, the better Mr. T 
 
 would be pleased ; but British punctilio would 
 not allow me to act on the recommendation^ 
 though we were sorely tried. In the mean time,, 
 the mosquitoes had become more intolerable than 
 ever. At last, half mad with irritation, I set off 
 straight up the side of the nearest mountain, in 
 hopes of attaining a zone too high for them to 
 inhabit ; and — poising myself upon its topmost 
 pinnacle, I drew my handkerchief over my head — 
 I was already without coat and waistcoat — and 
 remained the rest of the morning " mopping and 
 mowing" at the world beneath my feet. 
 
 About six o'clock, like a phantom in a dream,, 
 the little schooner came stealing round the misty 
 headland, and anchored at the foot of the rocks 
 below. Returning immediately on board, we 
 bathed, dressed, and found repose from all our 
 troubles. Not long after, a message from Mr. 
 
 T , in answer to a card I had sent up to the 
 
 house as soon as the household gave signs of 
 being astir — invited us to breakfast ; and about 
 
The Cliatalaiuc of Kaafiord. 
 
 2}>7 
 
 half-past nine \vc presented ourselves at his hos- 
 pitable door. Ihe reception I met with was ex- 
 actly what the gentleman who had given me the 
 letter of introduction had led me to expect ; and 
 
 so eacrer did Mr, T seem to make us com- 
 
 fortable, that I did not dare to tell him how we 
 Jiad been prowling about his house the greater 
 part of the previous night, lest he should knock 
 me down on the spot, for not having knocked 
 Jiim up. The appearance of the inside of the 
 liouse quite corresponded with what we had an- 
 ticipated from the soigii''' air of everything about 
 its exterior. Books, maps, pictures, a number of 
 astronomical instruments, geological specimens, 
 and a magnificent assortment of fishing-rods, be- 
 trayed the habits of the practical, well-educated, 
 business-loving English gentleman who inhabited 
 it ; and as he showed me the various articles of 
 interest in his study, most heartily did I congrat- 
 ulate myself on the lucky chance which had 
 brought me into contact with so desirable an 
 acquaintance. 
 
 All this time we had seen nothing of the lady 
 of the house ; and I was just beginning to specu- 
 late as to whether that crowning ornament could 
 be wanting to this pleasant home, when the door 
 at the further end of the room suddenly opened, 
 and there glided out into the sunshine — " The 
 White Lady of Avenal." A fairer apparition I 
 have seldom seem, — stately, pale, and fragile as a 
 
w 
 
 23« 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes, 
 
 lily — blonde hair, that rii)i)lcd round a forehead of 
 ivory — a check of waxen purity on which the 
 fitful colour went and came — not with the flush 
 of southern blood, or flower-bloom of Knf^lish 
 beauty — but rather with a cool radiance, as of 
 '• northern streamers" on the snows of her native 
 hills, — eyes of a dusky blue, and lips of that rare 
 tint which lines the conch-shell. Such was the 
 Chutelaine of Kaafiord, — as perfect a type of 
 Norse beauty as ever my Saga lore had conjured 
 up ! I'rithiof's Ingeborg herself seemed to stand 
 before me. A few minutes afterwards, two little 
 fair-haired maidens, like twin snowdrops, stole 
 into the room ; and the sweet home-picture was 
 complete. 
 
 The rest of the day has been a continued fCte. 
 In vain — after having transacted my business — I 
 pleaded the turning of the tide, and our anxiety 
 to get away to sea ; nothing would serve our 
 kind entertainer but that we should stay to din- 
 ner ; and his n^as one of those strong energetic 
 wills it is diff^ o resist. 
 
 In th«^ x.oon, the Hammerfest steamer 
 called in ,in the southward, and by her came 
 two fair sisters of our hostess from their father's 
 home in one of the Lofifodens which overlook the 
 famous Miilstrom. The stories about the vio- 
 lence of the whirlpool Mr. T assures mc are 
 
 ridiculously exaggerated. On ordinary occasions 
 the site of the supposed vortex is perfectly un- 
 
.S7/7/ Xort/i'u'ijrd Ho ! 
 
 239 
 
 ruftlctl, and it is only when '! stronj^ weather tide 
 is runninji that any unusual movements in the 
 water can be observed ; even then the disturb- 
 ance docs not amount to much more than a 
 rather troublesome race. " Often and often, when 
 she was a L;irl, had his wife and her sisters sailed 
 over its fabulous crater in an open boat." lUit 
 in this wild romantic country, with its sparse 
 population, ruc,^,L(ed mountains, and i^looni)* fiords, 
 very ordinary matters become invested vvith a 
 character of awe and mystery quite foreign to 
 the atmosphere of our own matter-of-fact world ; 
 and many of the Norwegians arc as prone to 
 superstition as the poor little Lapp pagans who 
 dwell amonc: them. 
 
 No later than a few years ago, in the very 
 fiord we had passed on our way to Alten, wlien 
 an unfortunate boat got cast away during thc^ 
 night on some rocks at a little distance from the 
 shore, the inhabitants, startled by the cries of dis- 
 tress which reached them in the morning twilight, 
 hurried down in a body to the seaside, — not to 
 afford assistance, — but to open a volley of mus- 
 ketry on the drowning mariners ; being fully 
 persuaded that the stranded boat, with its torn 
 sails, was no other than the Kracken or Great 
 Sea-Serpent, flapping its dusky wings ; and 
 when, at last, one of the crew succeeded in 
 swimming ashore in spite of waves and bullets — 
 the whole society turned and fled ! 
 
240 Letters fivm High Latitudes. 
 
 And now, again i::^ood-byc. \Vc are just going 
 
 up to dine with Mr. T ; and after dinner, or 
 
 at least as soon as the tide turns, we get under 
 weigh— Northward Ho ! (as ]\Ir. Kingsley would 
 say} in right good earnest this time ! 
 
 ' 
 
 ill 
 
or 
 
 icr 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 WE SAIL FOR BEAR ISLAND AND SPLrznERGEN— CHERIE 
 LSLAND— HARENTZ — SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY— PARRY'S 
 ATTEMPT TO REACH THE NORTH POLE— AGAIN AMONGST 
 THE ICE— ICEBLINK — FIRST SIGHT OF SPITZBERGEN— 
 WILSON— DECAY OF OUR HOPES— CONSTANT STRUGGLE 
 WITH THE ICE— WE REACH iHE 8o' N.LAT.— A FREER 
 SEA — WE LAN'~> IN SPITZBERGEN — ENGLISH BAY— LADV 
 EDITH'S GLACIER-A MIDNIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NO REIN- 
 DEER TO BE SEEN— ET EGO IN ARCTIS— WINTER IN SPITZ- 
 BERGEN— PTARMIGAN— THE BEAR-SAGA— THE "FOAM" 
 MONUMENT — SOUTHWARDS— SIGHT THE GREENLAND 
 ICE— A GALE — WILSON ON THE MALSTROM — BREAKERS 
 AHEAD— ROOST— TAKING A SIGHT— THRONDHJEM. 
 
 Throndhjem, August 22, 1856. 
 
 We have won our laurels, after all ! We have 
 landed in Spitzbergen — almost at its most north- 
 ern extremity ; and the little Foam has sailed to 
 wathin 630 miles of the Pole ; that is to say, 
 within 100 miles as far north as any ship has 
 ever succeeded in getting. 
 
 I think my last letter left us enjoying the pleas- 
 ant hospitalities of Kaafiord. 
 
 The genial quiet of that last evening in Nor- 
 way was certainly a strange preface to the scenes 
 16 
 
r 
 
 242 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 we have since witnessed. So warm was it, that 
 when dinner was over, we all went out into the 
 garden, and had tea in the open air ; the ladies 
 without either bonnets or shawls, merely pluck- 
 ing a little branch of willow to brush away the 
 mosquitoes ; and so the evening wore away in 
 alternate inter-als of chat and song. At mid- 
 night, seawardb again began to swirl the tide, 
 and we rose to go, — not without having first paid 
 a visit to the room where the little daughters of 
 the house lay folded in sleep. Then descending 
 to the beach laden with flowers and kind wishes 
 waved to us by white handkerchiefs held in still 
 whiter hands, we rowed on board ; up went the 
 flapping sails, and dipping her ensign in token of 
 adieu — the schooner glided swiftly on between 
 the walls of rock, until an intervening crag shut 
 out from our sight the friendly group that had 
 come forth to bid us " Good speed." In another 
 twenty-four hours we had threaded our way back 
 through the intricate fiords ; and leaving Ham- 
 merfest three or four miles on the starboard hand, 
 on the evening of the 28th of July, we passed out 
 between the islands of Soroe and Balsvoe into 
 the open sea. 
 
 My intention was to go first to Bear Island 
 and ascertain for myself in what direction the 
 ice was lying to the southward of Spitzbergen. 
 
 Bear — or Cherie Island, is a diamond-shaped 
 island, about ten miles long, composed of second^ 
 
Sir Hugh WilloiigJiby. 
 
 243 
 
 ed 
 id- 
 
 ary rocks — principally sandstone and limestone 
 — lying about 280 miles due north 'of the North 
 Cape. It was originally discovered by Barcntz, 
 the 9th of June, 1596, on the occasion of his last 
 and fatal voyage, Already had he commanded 
 two expeditions sent forth by the United Prov- 
 inces to discover a northeast passage to that 
 dream-land — Cathay ; and each time, after pene- 
 trating to the eastward of Nova Zcmbla, he had 
 been foiled by the impenetrable line of ice. On 
 this occasion he adopted the bolder and more 
 northerly course, which brought him to Bear 
 Island. Thence, plunging into the mists of the 
 frozen sea, he ultimately sighted the western 
 mountains of Spitzbcrgen. Unable to proceed 
 further in that direction, Barentz retraced his 
 steps, and again passing in sight of Bear Island, 
 proceeded in a southeast direction to Nova Zem- 
 bla, where his ships got entangled in the ice, and 
 he subsequently perished. 
 
 Toward'^ the close of the sixteenth century, in 
 spite of repeated failures, one endeavour after 
 another was made to penetrate to India across 
 these fatal w^aters. 
 
 The first English vessel that sailed on the dis- 
 astrous quest w^as the Bona Esperaurja, in the 
 last year of King Edward VI. Her commander 
 was Sir Hugh Willoughby, and we have still 
 extant a copy of the instructions drawn up by 
 Sebastian Cabot — the Grand Pilot of England, 
 
 
I:ii! 
 
 244 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 for his guidance. Nothing can be more pious 
 than the spirit in which this ancient document is 
 conceived; expressly enjoining that morning and 
 evening prayers should be offered on board every 
 ship attached to the exi)edition, and that neither 
 dicing, carding, tabling, or other devilish devices 
 were to be permitted. Mere and there were 
 clauses o( a more questionable morality, — recom- 
 mending that natives of strange lands be " en- 
 ticed on board and made drunk with your beer 
 and wine ; for then you shall know the secrets of 
 their hearts." The whole concluding with an 
 exhortation to all on board to take especial heed 
 to the devices of *' certain creatures with men's 
 heads and the tails of fishes, who svv'im with 
 bows and arrows about the fiords and bays, and 
 live on human flesh." 
 
 On the nth of May the ill-starred expedition 
 got under weigh from Deptford, and saluting the 
 king, who was then lying sick at Greenwich, put 
 to sea. By the 30th of July the little fleet — 
 three vessels in all — had come up abreast of the 
 LofToden islands, but a gale coming on the Espe- 
 ranza was separated from her consorts. Ward- 
 huus — a little harbour to the east of the North 
 Cape — had been appointed as the place of ren- 
 dezvous in the case of such an event, but unfor- 
 tunately Sir Hugh overshot the mark, and wasted 
 all the precious autumn time in blundering amid 
 the ice to the eastward. At last, winter set in, 
 
More A ttcmpts to reach the Pole. 245 
 
 in, 
 
 and they were obliged to run for a port in Lap- 
 land. Here, removed from all luiman aid, they 
 were frozen to death. A year afterwards, the 
 ill-fated ships w^re discovered by some Russian 
 sailors, and an unfinished journal proved that 
 Sir Hugh and many of his companions were still 
 alive in January, 1534. 
 
 The next voyage of discovery in a northeast 
 direction was sent out by Sir Francis Cherie, 
 alderman of London, in 1603. After proceeding 
 as far east as Ward-huus and Kela, the God- 
 speed pushed north into the ucean, and on the 
 1 6th of August fell : with Bear Island. Un- 
 aware of its previous disc(>very by Barentz, Ste- 
 phen Bennet — who commanded the expedition — 
 christened the island Cherie Island, in honour of 
 his patron, and to this day the two names are 
 used almost indiscriminately. 
 
 In 1607, Henry Hudson was dispatched by the 
 Muscovy Company, with orders to sail, if possible, 
 right acioss the pole. Although perpetually 
 baffled by the ice, Hudson at last succeeded in 
 reaching the northwest extremity of Spitzbergen, 
 but finding his further progress arrested by an 
 impenetrable barrier of fixed ice, he was forced 
 to return. A few years later, Jonas Pool — hav- 
 ing been sent in the same direction, instead of 
 prosecuting any discoveries, wisely set himself to 
 killing the sea-horses that frequent the Arctic 
 ice-fields, and in lieu of tidings of new lands — 
 
111 
 
 I 
 
 46 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 brouj^"ht back a \aluablc carj^o of walrus tusks. 
 In 1615, Fotlicrby started with the intention of 
 rencwin^,^ the attempt to sail across the north 
 pole, but after encountering^ many dangers he 
 also was forced to return. It was during the 
 course of his homeward vo\'a<^e that he fell in 
 with the island of Jan Mayen. Soon afterwards, 
 the discovery by Hudson and Davis, of the seas 
 and straits to which they have give'-" their names, 
 diverted the attention of the ^^ublic from all 
 thoughts of a northeast passage, and the Spitz- 
 bergen waters were only frequented by ships en- 
 gaged in the fisheries. The gradual disappear- 
 ance of the whale, and the discovery of more 
 profitable fishing stations on the west coast of 
 Greenland, subsequently abolished the sole at- 
 traction for human beings which this inhospitable 
 region ever possessed, and of late years, I under- 
 stand, the Spitzbergen seas have remained as 
 lonely and unvisited as they were before the 
 first adventurer invaded their solitude. 
 
 Twice only, since the time of Fotherby, has 
 any attempt been made to reach the pole on 
 a northeast course. In 1773, Captain Phipps, 
 afterwards Lord Mulgrave, sailed in The Carcass 
 towards Spitzbergen, but he never reached a 
 higher latitude than 81^. It was in this expedi- 
 tion that Nelson made his first voyage, and had 
 that famous encounter with the bear. The next 
 and last endeavour was undertaken by Parry, in 
 
A^i 
 
 'ain amongst ilic Ice. 
 
 247 
 
 1827. Unable to get his ship even as far north 
 as Phipps had gone, he determined to leave her 
 in a harbour in Spitzbergen, and push across the 
 sea in boats and sledges. The uneven nature of 
 the Surface over which they had to travel, caused 
 their progress northward to be very slow, and 
 very laborious. The ice, too, beneath their feet, 
 was not itself immovable, and at last they per- 
 ceived they were making the kind of progress a 
 criminal makes upon the treadmill, — the floes 
 over which they were journeying — drifting to the 
 southward faster than they walked north ; so 
 that at the end of a long day's march of ten 
 miles, they found themselves ten miles further 
 from their destination than at its commencement. 
 Disgusted with so Irish a manceuvre, Parry de- 
 termined to return, though not until he had almost 
 reached the 83rd parallel, a higher latitude than 
 any to which man is known to have penetrated. 
 Arctic authorities are still of opinion that Parry's 
 plan for reaching the pole might prove successful, 
 if the expedition were to set out earlier in the 
 season, ere the intervening field of ice is cast 
 adrift by the approach of summer. 
 
 Our own run to Bear Island was very rapid. 
 On getting outside the islands, a fair fresh wind 
 sprung up, and we went spinning along for two 
 nights and two days as merrily as possible 
 under a double-reefed mainsail and staysail, on a 
 due north course. On the third day we began 
 
24S 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 
 to sec some land birds, and a few hours after- 
 wards, the loom of the island itself; but it had 
 already begun to get fearfully cold, and our ther- 
 mometer — which I consulted every two hours — 
 plainly indicated that we were approaching ice. 
 My only hope was — that at all events, the south-^ 
 era extremity of the island might be disengaged ; 
 for I was very anxious to land, in order to exam- 
 ine some coal-beds which are said to exist in the 
 upper strata of the sandstone formation. This 
 expectation was doomed to complete disappoint- 
 ment. Before we had got within six miles of 
 the shore, it became evident that the report o^ 
 the Ilammerfest Sea-horseman wa» too true. 
 
 Between us and the land there extended an 
 impenetrable barrier of packed ice, running due 
 east and west — as far as the eye could reach. 
 
 What was now to be done } If a continuous 
 field of ice lay 150 miles off the southern coast 
 of Spitzbergen, what would be the chance of 
 getting to the land by going further north } 
 Now that we had received ocular proof of the 
 veracity of the Hammerfest skipper in this first 
 particular, — was it likely that we should have the 
 luck to find the remainder of his story untrue }' 
 According to the track he had jotted down for 
 me on the chart, the ice in front stretched right 
 away west in an unbroken line, to the wall of 
 ice which we had seen running into the north, 
 from the upper end of Jan Mayen. Only a: 
 
More Ici\ 
 
 249 
 
 a. 
 
 week had elapsed since he had actually ascer- 
 tained the impracticability of reaching a higher 
 latitude, — what likelihood could there be of a 
 channel having been opened up to the north- 
 ward during so short an interval ? Such was 
 the series of insoluble problems by which I posed 
 myself, as we stood vainly smacking our lips at 
 the island, which lay so tantalizingly beyond our 
 reach. 
 
 Still, unpromising as the aspect of things 
 might appear, it would not do to throw a chance 
 away, — so I determined to put the schooner 
 round on the other tack, and run westwards 
 along the edge of the ice, until we found our- 
 selves again in the Greenland sea. Bidding, 
 therefore, a last adieu to Mount Misery, as its 
 first discoverers very appropriately christened one 
 of the higher hills in Bear Island, we suffered it 
 to melt back into the fog, — out of which, indeed, 
 no part of the land had ever more than partially 
 emerged, — and, with no very sanguine expecta- 
 tions as to the result, sailed west away towards 
 Greenland. During the next four-and-twenty 
 hours we ran along the ^^^o. of the ice, in nearly 
 a due westerly direction, without observing the 
 slightest indication of any thing approaching to 
 an opening towards the North. It was weary 
 work, scanning that seemingly interminable bar- 
 rier, and listening to the melancholy roar of" 
 waters on its icy shore. 
 
250 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 At last, after having conic about 140 miles 
 since leavinc; Ik'ar Ishmd — the lonj^s white, wavc- 
 lashed line suddenly ran down into a low point, 
 and then trended back with a decided inclination 
 to the North. Here, at all events, was an im- 
 provement ; instead of our continuing to steer 
 VV. by S., or at most W. by N., the schooner 
 would often lay as hi^h up as N. W., and even 
 N. W. by N. I'^vidently the action of the Gulf 
 Stream was beginnin^^ to tell, and our spirits 
 rose in proportion. In a {<:\\' more hours, iiow- 
 ever, this cheerinj; prospect was interrupted by a 
 fresh line of ice bein^^ reported, not only ahead, 
 but as far as the e)'e could reach on the port 
 bow — so at^^ain the schooner's head was put to 
 the westward, and the old story recommenced. 
 And now the flank of the second barrier was 
 turned, and we were able to edge up a few hours 
 to the northward ; but only to be again con- 
 fronted by another line, more interminable — 
 apparently — than the last. But, why should I 
 weary you with the details of our various man- 
 oeuvres during the ensuing days.-* — they were too 
 tedious and disheartening at the time, for me to 
 look back upon them with any pleasure. Suf- 
 fice it to say, that by dint of sailing north when- 
 ever the ice would permit us, and sailing west 
 when we could not sail north, — we found our- 
 selves on the 2nd of August, in the latitude of 
 the southern extremity of Spitzbergen, though 
 
First Sight of Spitzbcrgcn. 
 
 251 
 
 divided from the land by about fifty miles of ice. 
 All this while the weather had been pretty good, 
 foj^gy and cold enouj^di, but with a {\\\q, stiff 
 breeze that rattled us alonj^ at a good rate when- 
 ever we did get a chance of making any North- 
 ing, Ikit lately it had come on to blow very 
 hard, the cold became quite piercing, and what 
 was worse — in every direction round the whole 
 circuit of the horizon, except along its southern 
 segment — a blaze of iceblink illuminated the 
 sky. A more discouraging spectacle could not 
 have met our eyes. The iceblink is a luminous 
 appearance, reflected on the heavens from the 
 fields of ice that still lie sunk beneath the hori- 
 zon ; it was therefore on this occasion an unmis- 
 takable indication of the encumbered state of the 
 sea in front of us. 
 
 I had turned in for a few hours of rest and 
 release from the monotonous sense of disapj^^int- 
 ment, and was already lost in a dream of deep 
 bewildering bays of ice, and gulfs whose shifting 
 shores offered to the eye every possible combina- 
 tion of uncomfortable scenery, without possible 
 issue, — when " a voice in my dreaming ear " 
 shouted ^^ Land!''' and I awoke to its reality. I 
 need not tell you in what double quick time I 
 tumbled up the companion, — or with what greed- 
 iness I feasted my eyes on that longed-for view, 
 — the only sight — as I then thought — we were 
 ever destined to enjoy of the mountains of Spitz- 
 bergen ! 
 
ff 
 
 252 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 !' 
 
 l\. 
 
 i 
 
 The whole heaven was overcast with a dark 
 mantle of tempestuous clouds that stretched 
 down in umbrella-like points towards the liori- 
 zon, leavinj^ a clear space between their edge 
 and the sea, illuminated by the sinister brilliancy 
 of the iceblink. In an easterly direction, this belt 
 of unclouded atmosphere was ctherealized to an 
 indescribable transparency, and up into it there 
 gradually grew — above the dingy line of star- 
 board ice — a forest of thin lilac peaks, so faint, 
 so pale, that had it not been for the gem-like 
 distinctness of their outline, one could have 
 deemed them as unsubstantial as the spires of 
 fairy-land. The beautiful vision proved only too 
 transient; in one short half hour mist and cloud 
 had blotted it all out, while a fresh barrier of ice 
 compelled us to turn our backs on the very land 
 we were striving to reach. 
 
 Although we were certainly upwards of sixty 
 miles distant from the land when the Spitzbergen 
 hills were first observed, the intervening space 
 seemed infinitely less; but in these high latitudes 
 the eye is constantly liable to be deceived in the 
 estimate it forms of distances. Often, from some 
 change suddenly taking place in the state of the 
 atmosphere^ the land you approach will appear 
 even to recede; and on one occasion, an honest 
 skipper — one of the most valiant and enterpris- 
 ing mariners of his day — actually turned back, 
 because, after sailing for several hours with a fair 
 
 1 
 
JTi/sofi. 
 
 253 
 
 -wind towards the land, and findinf; himself no 
 nearer to it than at first, he concluded that some 
 loadstone rock beneath the sea must have at- 
 tracted the keel of his shii)and kept her stationary. 
 
 The next five days we' j spent in a ct>ntinual 
 strugj^le with the ice. On referrinj,^ to our loi;, I 
 see nothin^^ but a repetition of the same mono- 
 tonous (observations. 
 
 "July 3 1, — Wind W. by S. — Courses sundry 
 to clear ice. 
 
 " Ice very thick'. 
 
 " These twenty-four hours picking our way 
 through ice. 
 
 "August I. — Wind W. — Courses variable — 
 ^^SSy — continuall}' among ice these twenty-four 
 hours." 
 
 And in Fitz's diary, the discouraging state of 
 the weather is still more pithily expressed : — 
 
 "August 2. — Mead wind — sailing westward — 
 large hummocks of ice ahead, and on port bow, 
 2. c. to the westward — hope we may be able to 
 push through. In evening, ice gets thicker; we 
 still hold on — fog comes on — ice getting thicker 
 — wind freshens — we can get no further — ice im- 
 passable, no room to tack — struck the ice several 
 times — obliged to sail S. and W. — things look 
 very shady." 
 
 Sometimes wc were on the point of despairing 
 altogether, then a plausible opening would show 
 .itself as if leading towards the land and we 
 
F 
 
 254 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 would be tempted to run down it, until we found 
 the field become so closely packed, that it was 
 with great difficulty we could get the vessel 
 round, — and only then at the expense of col- 
 lisions, which made the little craft shiver from 
 stem to stern. Then a fog would come on — so 
 thick you could almost cut it like a cheese, — and 
 thus render the sailing among the loose ice very 
 critical indeed ; then it would fall dead calm and 
 leave us — hours together — muffled in mist, with 
 no other employment than chess or hopscotch. 
 
 About this period Wilson culminated. Ever 
 since leaving Bear Island he had been keeping 
 a carnival of grief in the pantry, until the cook 
 became almost half-witted by reason of his Jere- 
 miads. Yet I must not give you the impression 
 that the poor fellow was the least wanting in 
 ^hick — far from it. Surely it requires the highest 
 order of courage to anticipate every species of 
 disaster every moment of the day, and yet to 
 meet the impending fate like a man — as he did. 
 Was it his fault that fate was not equally ready 
 to meet him } Llis share of the business was 
 always done; he was ever prepared for the 
 worst ; but the most critical circumstances never 
 disturbed the gravity of his carriage, and the fact 
 of our being destined to go to the bottom before 
 tea-time — would not have caused him to lay out 
 the dinner-table a whit less symetrically. Still, 
 I own, the style of his service was slightly de- 
 
IVe still Struggle 2^'ith tlie Ice. 
 
 255 
 
 pressing. He laid out my clean shirt of a morn- 
 ing as if it had been a shroud ; and cleaned my 
 boots as though for a man oti his last legs. The 
 fact is, he was imaginative and atrabilious, — con- 
 templating life through a medium of the colour 
 of his own complexion. 
 
 This was the cheerful kind of report he used 
 invariably to bring me of a morning. Coming 
 to the side of my cot with the air of a man 
 announcing the stroke of doomsday, he used to 
 say, or rather toll — 
 
 " Seven o'clock, my Lord ! " 
 
 *' Very well; how's the wind.-* ? " 
 
 " Dead ahead, my Lord — dead! " 
 
 " How many points is she off her course } " 
 
 *' Four points, my Lord — full four points!" 
 (Four points being as much as she could be.) 
 
 " Is it pretty clear? eh ! Wilson .?" 
 
 "Can't see your hand, my Lord ! — can't see 
 your hand! " 
 
 •'Much ice in sight .^" 
 
 " — Ice all round, my Lord — ice a-all ro-ound!" 
 — and so exit, sighing deeply over my trousers. 
 
 Yet it was immediately after one of these un- 
 promising announcements that for the first time 
 — matters began to look a little brighter. The 
 preceding four-and-twenty hours we had remained 
 enveloped in a cold and dismal fog. But on com- 
 ing on deck, I found the .^ky had already begun 
 to clear ; and although there was ice as far as the 
 
256 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 eye could see on either side of us, in front a nar- 
 row passage showed itself across a patch of loose 
 ice into what seemed a freer sea beyond. The 
 only consideration was — whether we could be cer- 
 tain of finding our way out again, should it turn 
 out that the open water we saw was only a basin 
 without any exit in any other direction. The 
 chance was too tempting to throw away ; so the 
 little schooner gallantly pushed her way through 
 the intervening neck of ice where the floes seemed 
 to be least huddled up together, and in half an 
 hour afterwards found herself running up along 
 the edge of the starboard ice, almost in a due 
 northerly direction. And here I must take occa- 
 sion to say, that — during the whole of this rather 
 anxious time, my master — Mr. Wyse — conducted 
 himself in a most admirable manner. Vigilant, 
 cool, and attentive, he handled the vessel most 
 skilfully, and never seemed to lose his presence 
 of mind in any emergency. It is true, the silk 
 tartan still corruscated on Sabbaths, but its bril- 
 liant hues were quite a relief to the colourless 
 scenes which surrounded us, and the dangling 
 chain now only served to remind me of what 
 firm dependence I could place upon its wearer. 
 Soon after, the sun came out — the mist entirely 
 disappeared, and again on the starboard hand 
 shone a vision of the land ; this time not in the 
 sharp peaks and spires we had first seen, but in a 
 chain of pale, blue, egg-shaped islands, floating 
 
IVe still Struggle with the lee. 
 
 257 
 
 in the air a long way above the horizon. This 
 peculiar appearance was the result of extreme re- 
 fraction, for — later in the day — we had an oppor- 
 tunity of watching the oval, cloud-like forms 
 gradually harden into the same pink, tapering 
 spikes which originally caused the island to be 
 called Spitzbergen ; nny, so clear did it become, 
 that even the shadows on the hills became quite 
 distinct, and we could easily trace the outlines of 
 the enormous glaciers — sometimes ten or fifteen 
 miles broad — that fill up every valley along the 
 shore. Towards evening, the line of coast again 
 vanished into the distance, and our rising hopes 
 received an almost intolerable disappointment by 
 the appearance of a long line of ice right ahead, 
 running to the westward, apparently — as far as 
 the eye could reach. To add to our disgust, the 
 wind flew right round into the north, and increas- 
 ing to a gale, brought down upon us — not one of 
 the usual thick, arctic mists to which we were 
 accustomed, but a dark, yellowish, brown f( pv 
 that rolled along the surface of the water in 
 twisted columns, and irregular masses of v.j our, 
 as dense as coal smoke. We had now ahnost 
 reached the eightieth parallel of north latitude, 
 and still an impenetrable sheet of ice — extending 
 fifty or sixty miles westward from the shore — 
 rendered all hopes of reaching the land out of" 
 the question. Our expectation of finding the 
 northwest extremity of the island, disengaged. 
 
 17 
 
'•« 
 
 258 
 
 Letters frotn High Latitudes. 
 
 from ice by the action of the currents, was — at 
 all events for this season — evidently doomed to 
 disappointment. We were ah'cady ahnost in the 
 hititude of Amsterdam Island — which is actually 
 its northwest point — and the coast seemed more 
 encumbered than ever. No whaler had ever suc- 
 ceeded in ^^cttin*^ more than about 120 miles fur- 
 ther north than we ourselves had already come ; 
 and to entangle ourselves any further in the ice — 
 unless it were with the certainty of reaching land 
 — would be sheer folly. The only thing to be 
 done was to turn back. Accordingly, to this 
 course I determined at last to resign myself, if — 
 after standing on for twelve hours longer — noth- 
 ing should turn up to improve the present aspect 
 of affairs. It was now eleven o'clock, P.M.; Fitz 
 and Sigurdr went to bed, while I remained on 
 deck to see what the night might bring forth. It 
 blew great guns, and the cold was perfectly in- 
 tolerable ; billow upon billow of black fog came 
 sweeping down between the sea and sky, as if it 
 were going to swallow up the whole universe ; 
 while the midnight sun — now completely blotted 
 out — now faintly struggling through the ragged 
 breaches of the mist — threw down from time to 
 time an unearthly red-brown glare on the waste 
 of roaring waters. 
 
 For the whole of that night did we continue 
 beating up along the edge of the ice, in the teeth 
 of a whole gale of wind ; at last, about nine 
 
/JV Sig/it Auisterdavi IsUxiid. 
 
 259 
 
 •o'clock in the niornincc, — but two short hours 
 before the moment at which it had been airrecd 
 we should bear up and abandon the attempt, — 
 •we came up with a long low point of ice, that 
 had stretched further to the Westward than any 
 we had yet doubled, — and there, beyond, lay an 
 open sea ! — open not only to the Northward and 
 Westward, brt also to the Eastward ! You can 
 imagine my excitement. " Turn the hands up, 
 Mr. Wyse ! " " 'Bout ship ! " " Down with the 
 helm ! " " Helm-a-lee ! " Up comes the schoon- 
 er's head to the wind, the sails flapping with 
 the noise of thunder — blocks rattling against the 
 deck, as if they wanted to knock their brains 
 out — ropes dancing about in galvanized coils 
 like mad serpents — and every thing to an inex- 
 perienced eye in inextricable confusion ; till grad- 
 ually she pays off on the otlier tack — the sails 
 stiffen into deal-boards — the staysail sheet is let 
 go — and heeling over on the. opposite side, again 
 she darts forward over the sea like an arrow from 
 the bow. " Stand by to make sail ! " " Out all 
 reefs ! " (I could have carried sail to sink a man- 
 of-war ! ) and away the little ship went, playing 
 leap-frog over the heavy seas, and staggering 
 under her canvas, as if giddy with the same joy- 
 ful excitement which made my own heart thump 
 50 loudly. 
 
 In another hour the sun came out, the fog 
 cleared away, and about noon — up again, above 
 
26o 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 ii 
 
 :i;|| 
 
 the horizon, grow the pale lilac peaks, warming 
 into a rosier tint as we approach. Ice still, 
 stretches toward the land on the starboard side; 
 but we don't care for it now — the schooner's head 
 is pointing E. and by S. At one o'clock we sight 
 Amsterdam Island, about thirty miles on the port 
 bow; then came the "seven ice-hills" — as seven 
 enormous glaciers are called — that roll into the 
 sea between lofty ridges of gneiss and mica 
 slate, a little to the northward of Prince Charles's 
 Foreland. Clearer and more defined grows the 
 outline of the mountains, some coming forward, 
 while others recede ; their rosy tints appear less~ 
 even, fading here and there into pale yellows and 
 grays ; veins of shadow score the steep sides of 
 the hills ; the articulations of the rocks become 
 visible ; and now, at last, we glide under the 
 limestone peaks of Mitre Cape — past the marble 
 arches of King's Bay on the one side — and the 
 pinnacle of the Vogel Hook on the other, into 
 the quiet channel that separates the Foreland 
 from the main. 
 
 It was at one o'clock in the morning of the 6th 
 of August, 1856, that after having been eleven 
 days at sea, we came to an anchor in the silent 
 haven of English Bay, Spitsbergen. 
 
 And now, how shall I give you an idea of the 
 wonderful panorama in the midst of which we 
 found ourselves } I think, perhaps, its most strik- 
 ing feature was the stillness — and deadness — and 
 
IVe Land in Spit zber gen. 
 
 261 
 
 impassibility of this new world ; ice, and rock, 
 and water, surrounded us ; not a sound of any- 
 kind interrupted the silence ; the sea did not 
 'break upon the shore ; no bird or any living thing 
 was visible ; the midnight sun — by this time 
 muffled in a transparent mist — shed an awful, 
 mysterious lustre on glacier and mountain ; no 
 atom of vegetation gave token of the earth's 
 vitality ; an universal numbness and dumbness 
 •seemed to pervade the solitude. I suppose in 
 scarcely any other part of the world is this ap- 
 pearance of deadness so strikingly exhibited. On 
 the stillest summer day in England, there is 
 always perceptible an undertone of life thrilling 
 through the atmosphere ; and though no breeze 
 should stir a single leaf, yet — in default of mo- 
 tion — there is always a sense of growth ; but 
 here not so much as a blade of grass was to be 
 seen, on the sides of the bald excoriated hills. 
 Primeval rocks — and eternal ice — constitute the 
 landscape. 
 
 The anchorage where we had brought up is 
 the best to be found, with the exception perhaps 
 •of Magdalena Bay, along the whole west coast of 
 Spitzbergen ; indeed it is almost the only one 
 where you are not liable to have tlie ice set in 
 upon you at a moment's notice. Ice Sound, 
 Bell Sound, Horn Sound — the other harbours 
 along the west coast — are all liable to be beset 
 iby drift-ice during the course of a single night, 
 
262 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 even thouj,di no vcsti^c of it may have been in 
 sight four-and-twcnty liours before ; and many a 
 {^ood ship has been inextricably in'ii)risoned in 
 the very harbour to which she had fled for refuge. 
 This bay is completely landlocked, being pro- 
 tected on its open side by Prince Charles's 
 Foreland, a bng island lying parallel with the 
 mainland. Down towards either horn run two 
 ranges of shistose rocks about 1,500 feet high, 
 their sides almost precipitous, antl the topmost 
 ridge as sharp as a knife, and jagged as a saw; 
 the intervening space is entirely filled up by an 
 enormous i^l^cier, which — descendin<^ with one 
 continuous incline from the head of a valley on 
 the right, and sweeping like a torrent round the 
 roots of an isolated clump of hills in the centre — 
 rolls at last into the sea. Ihe length of the 
 glacial river from the spot where it apparently 
 first originated, could not have been less than 
 thirty or thirty-five miles, or its greatest breadth 
 — less than nine or ten ; but so completely did it 
 fill up the higher end of the valley, that it w^as as 
 much as you could do to distinguish the further 
 mountains peeping up above its surface. The 
 height of the precipice where it fell into the sea, 
 I should judge to have been about 120 feet. 
 
 On the left — a still more extraordinary sight 
 presented itself. A kind of baby glacier actually 
 hung suspended half-way on the hill-side, like a. 
 tear in the act of rolling down the furrowed 
 cheek of the mountain. 
 
Ciacii'rs. 
 
 263 
 
 I have tried to convey to you a notion of the 
 rallinc,^ impetus impressed on the surface of the 
 Jan Ma)'en ice rivers ; hut in this case, so unac- 
 countable did it seem that tlie overhanj^inc^ mass 
 of ice should not continue to tliunder down 
 npon its course, that (Jiie's natural impulse was 
 ■o :-.!v.itk from crossing the path alouj^- whicli a 
 \ r^:\'.\. — r; sound — miL,dit precipitate the suspended 
 ; \.iu;:'.':!.e into the valley. 
 
 Tiiese glaciers are the principal characteristic 
 of the scenery in Spit/bcr^^en ; the bottom of 
 every valley in e\cry })art of tlie island, is occu- 
 pied — and (generally completely fdled by them, 
 enablinc; one in some measure to realize the look 
 of EnL;land during her f.dacial period, when Snow- 
 don v.i'.s sti!! bcinj.,^ slowly lifted towards the 
 clouds <.;id every valley in Wales was brimful 
 of ice. ]>ut the glaciers in English Ikiy are by 
 no means the largest in the island. We our- 
 selves got a view — though a very distant one — of 
 ice rivers which must have been more extensive; 
 and Dr. Scoresby mentions several A\hich actu- 
 ally measured forty or fifty miles in length, and 
 nine or ten in breadth ; while the precipice formed 
 by their fall into the .sea was sometimes upwards 
 of400or500 feet high. Nothing is more dan- 
 gerous than to approach these cliffs of ice. Every 
 now and then, huge masses detach themselves 
 from the face of the crystal steep and toi)plc 
 over into the water ; and woe be to the un- 
 
264 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 fortunate ship whicli miglit happen to be pass- 
 ing b^low. Scoresby himself actually witnessed 
 a mass of ice, the size of a cathedral, thunder 
 down into the sea from a height of 400 feet; 
 frequently during our stay in Spitzbergen we 
 ourselves observed specimens of these ice ava- 
 lanches ; and scarcely an hour passed without 
 the solemn silence of the bay ^''ng disturbed by 
 the thunderous boom result: rom similar cat- 
 astrophes occurring in adjacent valleys. 
 
 As soon as we had thoroughly taken in the 
 strange features of the scene around us, we all 
 turned in for a night's rest. I was dog tired, as 
 much with anxiety as want of sleep; for in con- 
 tinuing to push on to the northward in spite of 
 the ice, I naturally could not help feeling that if 
 any accident occurred, the responsibility would 
 rest with me ; and although I do not believe that 
 we were at any time in any real danger, yet 
 from our inexperience in the peculiarities of 
 arctic navigation, I think the coolest judgment 
 would have been liable to occasional misgivings 
 as to what might arise from possible contingen- 
 cies. Now, however, all was right ; the result 
 had justified our anticipations ; we had reached 
 the so longed-for goal ; and as I stowed myself 
 snugly away in the hollow of my cot, I could 
 not help heartily congratulating myself that — for 
 that night at all events — there was no danger of 
 the ship knocking a hole in her bottom against 
 
Wilson Baconises. 
 
 265 
 
 some hummock which the look-out had been too 
 sleepy to observe; and that Wilson could not 
 
 come in the next morning and announce 
 
 ice 
 
 St 
 
 all round, a-all ro-round !" In a quarter of an 
 hour afterwards, all was still on board The Foam; 
 and the lonely little ship lay floating on the 
 glassy bosom of the sea, apparently as inanimate 
 as the landscape, 
 
 My feelings on awakening next morning were 
 very pleasant ; something like what one used to 
 feel the first morning after one's return from 
 school, on seeing pink curtains glistening round 
 one's head, instead of the dirty-white boards of a 
 turn-up bedstead. When Wilson came in with 
 my hot-water, I could not help triumphantly 
 remarking to him, — "Well, Wilson, you see 
 we've got to Spitzbergen after all! " But Wilson 
 was not a man to be driven from his convictions 
 by facts ; he only smiled grimly, with a look 
 which meant — " Would we were safe back 
 again ! " Poor Wilson ! he would have gone only 
 half-way with Bacon in his famous Apothegm ; 
 he would willingly "commit the Beginnings of 
 all actions to Argus, with his hundred eyes, and 
 the Ends " — to Centipede, with his hundred legs. 
 " First to watch and then to speed " — aivay ! 
 would have been his pithy emendation. 
 
 Immediately after breakfast we pulled to the 
 shore, carrying in the gig w^ith us the photo- 
 graphic apparatus, tents, guns, ammunition and 
 
266 
 
 Letters from f/ii^h Latitudes. 
 
 the S<iat. Poor old lliin^' ! she had suffered 
 th-c.'idfully from sca-sickiicss, and I thou^dit a 
 run ashore nn\dit do her j;ood. On the left-hand 
 side of the bay, between the foot c)f the moun- 
 tain and the sea, tliere ran a low flat l;elt of 
 black moss, about half a mile broad, and as 
 this appeared the only point in the neii;hbour- 
 hood likely to offer any attraction to reindeer, it 
 was on this side that I determined to land. My 
 chief reason for havin,c; ruu into Jv.i^dish Jiay, 
 rather than Maj^dalena liiy, was, because we 
 liad been told at Ilammerfest that it was the 
 more likely place of the two for deer; and as 
 we were sadly in want of fresh meat, this advan- 
 tat^e (juite decided us in our choice. As soon, 
 therefore, as we had superintended the erection" 
 of the tent, and set Wilson hard at work clean- 
 ing the glasses for the photographs, we slung our 
 rifles on our backs and set off in search of deer. 
 But in vain did I peer through my telescope 
 across the dingy flat in front; not a vestige of a 
 horn was to be seen, although in several places 
 we came upon impressions of their track. At last 
 our confidence in the reports of their great plenty 
 became considerably diminished. Still the walk 
 was very refreshing after our confinement on 
 board ; and although the thermometer was below 
 freezing, the cold only made the exercise more 
 pleasant. A little to the northward I observed — 
 lying on the sea-shore — innumerable logs of 
 
MvtiUT luii't/i. 
 
 267 
 
 erccl 
 
 lit a 
 
 liancl 
 
 loun- 
 
 ilt of 
 
 d as 
 
 bour- 
 
 :cr, it 
 
 My 
 
 Bay, 
 
 ;c we 
 
 ls the 
 
 ,nd as 
 
 idvan- 
 soon, 
 cctioii 
 clean- 
 up our 
 deer, 
 cscopc 
 : of a 
 places 
 \t last 
 plenty 
 c walk 
 cnt on 
 below 
 e more 
 ,>rved — 
 logs of 
 
 driftwood. This wood is floated all the wa)' from 
 America by the Gulf Stream, and as I walked 
 from one Iuij.;;e bole to another, 1 coultl not help 
 wonderinj^^ in what primeval forest each hatl 
 j^^rown, what chance had orij^inall)' cast them on 
 the waters, and pilote Jiem to this desert shore. 
 Mini^ded with this frin^^c of unhewn timber that 
 lineil the beach — lay — waifs and strays of a more 
 sinister kind ; j)ieces of broken spars, an oar, a 
 boat's flaL;-staff, and a few shattered fra<,Mnents 
 of some lonj;-lost vessel's plankin^^ Here and 
 there, too, we would come upon skulls of wal- 
 rus, ribs and shoulder-blades of bear:?, brou^dit 
 possibly by the ice in winter. Turnin^^ a^^ain 
 from the sea, we resumed our search for deer ; 
 but two or three hours more very stiff walkinj:^ 
 produced no better luck. Suddenly a cry from 
 Fitz, who had wandered a little to the right, 
 brought us helter-skelter to the spot where he 
 was standing. P>ut it was not a stag he had 
 called us to come and look upon. Half imbed- 
 ded in the black moss at his feet, there lay a 
 gray deal coffin falling almost to pieces with age; 
 the lid was gone — blown off probably by the 
 wind — and within were stretched the bleaching 
 bones of a human skeleton. A rude cross at 
 the head of the grave still stood partially upright, 
 and a half-obliterated Dutch inscription preserved 
 a record of the dead man's name and age : — 
 
I 
 
 !i BJ'i 
 
 I \i': 
 
 268 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 VANDER SCHELLING .... 
 
 COMMAN .... JACOB MOOR .... 
 OB 2 JUNE 1758 ^T 44. 
 
 ft was evidently some poor whaler of the last 
 century to whom his companions had given the 
 only burial possible in this frost-hardened earth, 
 which even the summer sun has no force to pen- 
 etrate beyond a couple of inches, and which will 
 not afford to man the shallowest grave. A bleak 
 resting-place for that hundred years' slumber, I 
 thought, as I gazed on the dead mariner's re- 
 mains ! — 
 
 " I was snowed over with snow 
 And beaten with rains 
 And drenched with the dews 
 Dead have I long been," — 
 
 — murmured the Vala to Odin in Nifelheim, — 
 and whispers of a similar import seemed to rise 
 up from the lidlcss coffin before us. It was no 
 brother mortal that lay at our feet — softly folded 
 in the embraces of ** Mother Earth " — but a poor 
 scarecrow, gibbeted for ages on this bare rock, 
 Hke a dead Prometheus ; the vulture — frost, 
 gnawing for ever on his bleaching relics, and 
 yet eternally preserving them I 
 
 On another part of the coast we found two 
 other corpses yet more scantily sepulchred, with- 
 out so much as a cross to mark their resting- 
 place. Even in the palmy days of the whale- 
 fisheries, it was the practice 01 the Dutch and 
 
 th( 
 sy< 
 era 
 Al] 
 nail 
 th( 
 
 1... 
 
Mountain Climbing. 
 
 269 
 
 English sailors to leave the wooden coffins in 
 which they had placed their comrades' remains, 
 exposed upon the shore ; and I have been told by 
 an eye-witness, that in Magdalena Bay there are 
 to be seen even to this day, the bodies of men 
 who died upwards of 250 years ago, in such com- 
 plete preservation that when you pour hot water 
 on the icy coating which encases them, you can 
 actually see the unchanged features of the dead, 
 through the transparent incrustation. 
 
 As soon as Fitz had gathered a few of the 
 little flowering mosses that grew inside the coffin, 
 we proceeded on our way, leaving poor Jacob 
 Moor — like his great namesake — alone in his 
 glory. 
 
 Turning to the right, we scrambled up the 
 spur of one of the mountains on the eastern side 
 of the plain, and thence dived down among the 
 lateral valleys that run up between them. Al- 
 though by this means we opened up quite a \\q.\s 
 system of hills, and basins, and gullies, the gen- 
 eral scenery did not change its cha*-acteristics. 
 All vegetation — if the black moss deserves such a 
 name — ceases when you ascend twenty feet above 
 the level of the sea, and the sides of the moun- 
 tains become nothing but steep slope.^^ of schist, 
 split and crumbled into an even surface by the 
 frost. Every step we took, unfolded a fresh suc- 
 cession of these jagged spikes, and break-neck 
 acclivities, in an unending variety of quaint con- 
 
2/0 
 
 Letters from HigJi Latitudes. 
 
 If 
 
 figuration. ^Mountain climbing has never been a 
 hobby of mine, so I was not tempted to play the 
 part of 1 'Excelsior on any of these hill-sides, — but 
 for those who love such exercise a fairer or a 
 more dangerous opportunity of distinguishing 
 themselves could not be imagined. The super- 
 cargo or owner of the very fn-st Dutch ship that 
 ever came to Spitzbergen, broke his neck in at- 
 tempting to climb a hill in Prince Charles's Voxa- 
 land. liarentz very nearly lost several of his men 
 under similar circumstances, and when Scorcsby 
 succeeded in making the ascent of another hill 
 near Horn Sound, it was owing to his having 
 taken the precaution of marking each upward 
 step in chalk, tliat he was ever able to get down 
 again. The prospect from the summit — the ap- 
 proach to which was by a ridge so narrov/, that 
 he Scit astride upon its edge — seems amply to 
 have repaid the exertion ; and I do not think I 
 can give you a better idea of the general effect of 
 Spitzbergen scenery, than by quoting his striking 
 description of the panorama he beheld. 
 
 " The prospect was most extensive and grand. 
 A fine sheltered bay was seen to the cast of us, 
 an arm of the same on the northeast, and the sea, 
 whose glassy surface was unruffled by a breeze, 
 formed an immense expanse on the west ; the 
 icebergs rearing their proud crests almost to the 
 tops of mountains between which they were 
 lodged, and defying the power o{ the solar beams, 
 
Mountain Ciunbing, 
 
 271 
 
 irand. 
 
 )f us, 
 
 |c sea, 
 
 'CCZC, 
 
 the 
 
 the 
 
 wrerc 
 
 'ams, 
 
 were scattered in various directions about the sea- 
 coast and in the adjoininc.^" bays. Beds of snow 
 and ice fillin<^ extensive hollows, and j^ivin;^ an 
 enamelled coat to adjoininj.,^ \alle)-s, one of which, 
 conimcncinL;" at the foot of the mountain where 
 we stood extended in a continued line towards 
 the north, as far as the eye could reach — moun- 
 tain rising*- above mountain, until by distance 
 thev dwindled into insi^'nificancv — the whole 
 contrasted by a cloudless canopy of deepest 
 azure, and enlii^htened by the rays of a blazing 
 sun, and the effect aided by a feeling of danger, 
 seated as we v/ere on the pinnacle of a rock 
 almost surroimded by tremendous precipices, — 
 all united to constitute a picture singularly sub- 
 lime. 
 
 . " Our descent we found really a very hazardous 
 and in some instances a painful undertaking. 
 Every movement was a work of deliberation. 
 Having by much care, and with some anxiety, 
 made good our descent to the top of the secon- 
 dary hills, we took our way down one of the 
 steepest banks, and slid forward with great 
 facility in a sitting posture. Towards the foot 
 of the hill, an expanse of snow stretched across 
 the line of descent. This being loose and soft, 
 we entered upon it without fear, but on reaching 
 the middle of it we came to a surface of solid ice, 
 perhaps a hundred yards across, over which we 
 launched with astonishing velocity, but happily 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 Kir 
 
w 
 
 I 
 
 272 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 escaped without injury. The men whom we left 
 below viewed this latter movement with astonish- 
 ment and fear." 
 
 So universally docs this strange land bristle 
 with peaks and needles of stone, that the views 
 we ourselves obtained — though perhaps from a 
 lower elevation, and certainly without the risk — 
 scarcely yielded, either in extent or picturesque 
 grandeur to the scene described by Dr. Scoresby. 
 
 Having pretty well overrun the country to the 
 northward, without coming on any more satisfac- 
 tory signs of deer than their hoof-prints in the 
 moss — we returned on board. The next day — 
 but I need not weary you with a journal of our 
 daily proceedings — for however interesting each 
 moment of our stay in Spitzbergcn was to our- 
 selves, as much perhaps from a vague expecta- 
 tion of what we might see, as from anything 
 we actually did sec — a minute account of every 
 walk we took, and every bone we picked up, or 
 every human skeleton we came upon, would 
 probably only make you wonder why on earth 
 we should have wished to come so far to see 
 so little. Suffice it to say that we explored the 
 neighbourhood in the three directions left open 
 to us by the mountains, that we climbed the two 
 most accessible of the adjacent hills, wandered 
 along the margin of the glaciers, rowed across to 
 the opposite side of the bay, descended a certain 
 distance along the sea-coast, and in fact ex- 
 hausted all the lions of the vicinity. 
 
•w^^l^i^ 
 
 Wijitcr ill Spitr:bcrgfn, 
 
 273 
 
 Duririfr the whole period of our stay in Spitz- 
 bergen, we had enjoyed unclouded sunshine. 
 The nights were even brighter than the days» 
 and afforded Fitz an opportunity of taking some 
 photographic views by the light of the mid>iight 
 sun. The cold was never very intense, though 
 the thermometer remained below freezing ; but 
 about four o'clock every evening, the salt-water 
 bay in which the schooner lay, was veneered over 
 with a pellicle of ice one-eighth of an inch in 
 thickness, and so elastic, that even when the sea 
 beneath was considerably agitated, its surface 
 remained unbroken — the smooth round waves 
 taking the appearance of billows of oil. If such 
 is the effect produced by the slightest modifica- 
 tion of the sun's power, in the month of August, 
 — you can imagine what must be the result of 
 his total disappearance beneath the horizon. 
 The winter is, in fact, unendurable. Even in 
 the height of summer, the moisture inherent in 
 the atmosphere is often frozen into innumerable 
 particles, so minute as to assume the appearance 
 of an impalpable mist. Occasionally persons 
 have wintered on the island, but unless the 
 greatest precautions have been taken for their 
 preservation, the conse(iuences have been almost 
 invariably fatal. About the same jieriod as 
 when the party of Dutch sailors were left at 
 Jan Mayen, a similar experiment was tried in 
 Spitzbergen. At the former place it was scurvy 
 18 
 
 'Ui 
 
274 
 
 Letters from Higli Latitudes. 
 
 1 ,' 
 
 rather than cold, which destroyed the poor 
 wretches left there to fight it out with winter ; 
 at Spitzberger., as well as could be gathered 
 from their journal, it a})peared that they had 
 perished from the intolerable severity of the cli- 
 mate, — and the contorted attitudes in which their 
 bodies were found lying, too plainly indicated 
 the amount of agony they had suffered. No 
 description can give an adequate idea of the 
 intense rigour of the six months' winter in this 
 part of the world. Stones crack with the noise 
 of thunder ; in a crowded hut the breath of its 
 occupants will fall in flakes of snow ; wine and 
 spirits turn to ice ; the snow burns like caustic ; 
 if iron touches the flesh, it brings the skin away 
 with it ; the soles of your stockings may be burnt 
 off your feet, before you feel the slightest warmth 
 from the fire ; linen taken out of boiling water, 
 instantly stiffens to the consistency of a wooden 
 board ; and heated stones will not prevent the 
 sheets of the bed from freezing. If these are 
 the effects of the climate within an air-tight, 
 fire-warmed, crowded hut, — what must they be 
 among the dark, storm-lashed, mountain peaks 
 outside ! 
 
 It was now time to think of ijoincf south 
 again; we had spent many more days on the 
 voyage to Spitzbergen than I had expected, and 
 I was continually haunted by the dread of your 
 becoHilng anxious at not hearing from us. It 
 
Ptarmigan. 
 
 2/5 
 
 mth 
 atcr, 
 )dcn 
 the 
 are 
 ight, 
 y be 
 ^caks 
 
 your 
 >. It 
 
 was a great disappointment to be obliged to 
 return without having got any deer ; but your 
 peace of mind was of more consequence to me 
 than a ship-load of horns; and accordingl}' wc 
 decided on not remaining more than another day 
 in our present berth; leaving it still an open 
 question whether we should not run up to Mag- 
 dalena i^a}' — if the weather proved very inviting 
 — the last thing before quitting for c\er the 
 Spitzbergen shores. 
 
 We had killed nothing as yet, except a {q.\\ 
 eider ducks, and one or two ice-birds — the most 
 graceful winged creatures I have ever seen, with 
 ■imraensely long pinions, and plumage of spotless 
 ■white. Although enormous seals from time to 
 time used to lift their wise grave faces above the 
 water, with the dignity of sea-gods, none of us 
 had any very great inclination to slay such rational 
 human-looking creatures, and — with the excep- 
 tion of these and a white fish, a species of whale 
 — no other living thing had been visible. On the 
 very morning, however, of the day settled for our 
 departure, Fitz came down from a solitar}' expe- 
 dition up a hill with the news of his having seen 
 some ptarmigan. Having taken a rifle with him 
 instead of a gun, he had not been able to shoot 
 more than one, which he had brought back in 
 triumph as proof of the authenticity of his report; 
 but the extreme 
 
 Ji 
 
 lity 
 
 dly 
 
 permitted us to identify the species ; the hole 
 
I'jG 
 
 Letters froui High Latitudes. 
 
 I 
 
 I J! 
 
 i < 
 
 made by the bullet being about the same size as 
 the bird. Nevertheless, the slightest prospect of 
 obtaining a supply of fresh meat, was enough to 
 reconcile us to any amount of exertion ; therefore,, 
 on the strength of the pinch of feathers which 
 Fitz kept gravely assuring us was the game he 
 had bagged, we seized our guns — I took a rifle 
 in case of a possible bear — and set our faces to- 
 ward the hill. After a good hour's pull we 
 reached the shoulder which Fitz had indicated as 
 the scene of his exploit, but a patch of snow was 
 the only thing visible. Suddenly I saw Sigurdr, 
 who was remarkably sharp-sighted, run rapidly 
 in the direction of the snow and bringing his 
 gun up so his shoulder, point it, as well as I could 
 distinguish, at liis own toes. When the smoke 
 of the shot had cleared away, I fully expected to 
 see the Icelander prostrate ; but he was already 
 reloading with the greatest expedition. Deter- 
 mined to prevent the repetition of so dreadful an 
 attempt at self-destruction, I rushed to the spot. 
 Guess then my relief when the bloody body of a 
 ptarmigan — driven by so point blank a discharge 
 a couple of feet into the snow — was triumphantly 
 dragged forth by instalments from the sepulchre 
 which it had received contemporaneously with 
 its death wound, and thus happily accounted for 
 Sigurdr's extraordinary proceeding. At the same 
 moment I perceived two or three dozen other 
 birds, brothers and sisters of the defunct, calmly 
 
The Real 'Saga. 
 
 277 
 
 )f a 
 irge 
 .ntly 
 Ichre 
 iwitlv 
 for 
 ;ame 
 )ther 
 [Imly 
 
 strutting about under our very noses. By this 
 time Sigurdr had reloaded, I-'itz had also come 
 up and a regular massacre began. Retiring to 
 a distance — for it was the case of Mahomet and 
 the mountain reversed — the two sportsmen opened 
 fire upon the innocent community, and in a few 
 seconds sixteen corpses strewed the ground. 
 
 Scarcely had they finished off the last survivor 
 of this Niobean family, when we were startled by 
 the distant report of a voile}' of musketr)-, fired in 
 the direction of the schooner. I could not con- 
 ceive what had happened. Had a mutiny taken 
 place } Was Mr. \\'}'se rei nacting, with a less 
 docile ship's company, the pistol scene on board 
 the Glasgow steamer } Again resounded the 
 rattle of the firing. At all events, there was no 
 time to be lost in getting back; so, tying up the 
 birds in three bundles, we flung ourselves down 
 into the gully by which we had ascended, and 
 leaping on from stone to stone, to the infinite 
 • danger of our limbs and necks — rolled rather than 
 ran down the hill. On rounding the lower w^all 
 of the curve which hitherto had hid what was 
 passing from our eyes, the first thing I observed 
 was Wilson breasting up the hill, evidently in a 
 state of the greatest agitation. As soon as he 
 thought himself within earshot, he stopped dead 
 short, and, making a speaking-trumpet wath his 
 hands, shrieked — rather than shouted, ** If you 
 please, my Lord!" — (as I have already said, 
 
 m 
 
278 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 irii 
 
 Wilson never forgot Ics coiivcnaticcs) — " If you 
 please, my Lord, there's a b-e-a-a-a-a-r ! " pro- 
 longing the last word into a jjolysyllable of fear- 
 ful import. Concluding by the enthusiasm he 
 was exhibiting that the animal in question was 
 at his heels, — hidden from us probably by the 
 inequality of the ground, — I cocked my rifle and 
 prepared to roll him over the moment he should 
 appear in sight. But what was my disappoint- 
 ment, when, on looking towards the schooner, 
 my eye caught sight of our three boats fastened 
 in a row and towing behind them a white float- 
 ing object, which my glass only too surely re- 
 solved the next minute into the dead bear! 
 
 On descending to the shore, I learned the 
 whole story. 
 
 As Mr. Wyse was pacing the deck, his atten- 
 tion was suddenly attracted to : white speck in 
 the water, swimming across from Prince Charles* 
 Foreland — the long island which lies over against 
 English Bay. When first observed, the creature, 
 whatever it might be, was about a mile and a 
 half off, — the width of the channel between the 
 island and the main being about five miles. 
 Some said it was a bird, others a whale, and the 
 cook suggested a mermaid. When the fact was 
 ascertained that it was a boia fide bear, a gun 
 was fired as a signal for us to return ; but it was- 
 evident that unless at once intercepted. Bruin 
 would get ashore. Mr. Wyse, therefore, very 
 
Wilson's Plan of Escape. 
 
 279 
 
 gun 
 
 properly determined to make sure of him. This 
 was a matter of no difficulty: the poor beast 
 showed very little fight. His first impulse was 
 to swim away from the boat ; and even after he 
 had been wounded he only turned round once or 
 twice upon his pursuers. The honour of having 
 given him his death wound rests between the 
 steward and Mr. Wyse; both contend for it. 
 The evidence is conflicting — as at least half-a- 
 dozen mortal wounds were found in the animal's 
 body; each may be considered to have had a 
 share in his death. Mr. Grant rests his claim 
 principally upon the fact of his having put two 
 bullets in my new rifle — which must have greatly 
 improved the bore of that instrument. On the 
 strength of this precaution, he now wears as an 
 ornament about his person — one of the bullets 
 extracted from the gizzard of our prize. 
 
 All this time Wilson was at his tent, busily 
 occupied in taking photographs. As soon as the 
 bear was observed, a signal was made to him 
 from the ship, to warn him of the visitor he 
 might shortly expect on shore. Naturally con- 
 cluding that the bear would in all probability 
 make for the tent as soon as he reached land, 
 it became a subject of consideration with him 
 what course he should pursue. Weapons he 
 had none, unless the chemicals he was using 
 might be so regarded. Should he try the influ- 
 ence of chloroform on his enemy ; or launch the 
 
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 whole photographic apparatus at his grisly head, 
 and take to his heels ? Thought is rapid, but the 
 bear's progress seemed equally expeditious ; it 
 was necessary to arrive at some speedy conclu- 
 sion. To fly was to desert his post and leave 
 the camp in possession of the spoiler; life and 
 honour were equally dear to him. Suddenly a 
 bright idea struck him. 
 
 At the time the goat had been disembarked to 
 take her pleasure on terra finna, our crow's-nest 
 barrel had been landed with her. At this mo- 
 ment it was standing unoccupied by the side of the 
 tent. By creeping into it, and turning its mouth 
 downward on the ground, Wilson perceived that 
 he should convert it into a tower of strength for 
 himself against the enemy, while its legitimate 
 occupant, becoming at once a victim to the 
 bear's voracity, would probably prevent the mon- 
 ster from investigating too curiously its con- 
 tents. It was quite a pity that the interposition 
 of the boats prevented his putting this ingenious 
 plan into execution. He had been regularly 
 done out of a situation, in which the most poig- 
 nant agony of mind and dreary anticipations, 
 would have been absolutely required of him. 
 He pictured the scene to himself; he — lying fer- 
 menting in the barrel — like a curious vintage ; 
 the bear snuffling querulously round it, perhaps 
 cracking it like a cocoa-nut, or extracting him 
 like a periwinkle ! Of these chances he had 
 
Bears Grease. 
 
 281 
 
 > 
 
 )S 
 
 n 
 id 
 
 been deprived by the interference of the crew. 
 F'riends are often injudiciously meddling. 
 
 Although I felt a little vexation that one of us 
 should not have had the honour of sla}'ing the 
 bear in single combat — which would certainly 
 have been for the benefit of his skin, — the un- 
 expected luck of having got one at all, made us 
 quite forget our personal disappointment. As 
 for my people, they were beside themselves with 
 delight. To have killed a polar bear was a great 
 thing, — but to eat him would be a greater. If 
 artistically dealt with, his carcase would prob- 
 ably cut up into a supply of fresh meat for many 
 days. One of the hands happened to be a 
 butcher. Whenev^er I wanted any thing — a little 
 out of the way — to be done on board, I was 
 sure to find that it happened to be the sprcialito 
 of some one of the ship's compan}-. In the 
 course of a few hours, the late bear was con- 
 verted into a row of the most tempting morsels 
 of beef, hung about the rigging. Instead of in 
 flags, the ship was dressed in joints. In the 
 mean time it so happened that the fox — having 
 stolen a piece of offal — was in a few minutes 
 afterwards seized with convulsions. I had al- 
 ready given orders that the bear's liver should 
 be thrown overboard, as being — if not poisonous 
 — at all events very unwholesome. The seizure 
 of the fox, coupled with this injunction, brought 
 about a complete revolution in the men's minds 
 
282 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 M i 
 
 \\ 
 
 with regard to the delicacies they had been so 
 daintily preparing for themselves. Silently, one 
 by one, the pieces were untied and thrown into 
 the sea ; I do not think a mouthful of bear was 
 eaten on board The Foam. I never heard 
 whether it was in consequence of any prognos- 
 tics of Wilson's that this act of self-denial was 
 put into practice. I observed, however, that for 
 some days after the slaughter and dismember- 
 ment of the bear, my ship's company presented 
 an unaccountably sleek appearance. As for the 
 steward, his head and whiskers seemed carved 
 out of black marble ; a varnished boot would not 
 have looked half so bright ; I could have seen to 
 shave myself in his black hair. I conclude, 
 therefore, that the ingenious cook must — at all 
 events — have succeeded in manufacturing a sup- 
 ply of genuine bear's-grease, of which they had 
 largely availed themselves. 
 
 The bagging of the bear had so gloriously 
 crowned our visit to Spitzbergen, that our disap- 
 pointment about the deer was no longer thought 
 of; it was therefore with light hearts, and most 
 conplete satisfaction, that we prepared for de- 
 parture. 
 
 Maid Marian had already carved on a flat 
 stone, an inscription, in Roman letters, recording 
 the visit of TJie Foam to English Bay ; and a 
 cairn having been erected to receive it, the tablet 
 was solemnly lifted to its resting-place. Under- 
 
The " Foam " Monument. 
 
 283 
 
 ncath I placed a tin box, containinj^^ a memoran- 
 dum similar to that left at Jan Ma\'en, as well as 
 
 a printed dinner invitation from Lady , which 
 
 I happened to have on board. Havini^ planted 
 a boat's flag beside the rude monument, and 
 brought on board with us a load of driftwood, 
 to serve hereafter as Christmas yule-logs — we 
 bade an eternal adieu to the silent hills around 
 us ; and weighing anchor, stood out to sea. For 
 some hours, a lack of wind still left us hanging 
 about the shore, in the midst of a grave society of 
 seals ; but soon after a gentle breeze sprang up in 
 the south, and about three o'clock on Friday, the 
 nth of August, we again found ourselves spank- 
 ing along before a sixth-knot breeze, over the 
 pale, green sea. 
 
 In considering the course on which I should 
 take the vessel home, it appeared to me that in 
 all probability we should have been much less 
 pestered by the ice on our way to Spitzbergen, if, 
 instead of hugging the easterly ice, we had kept 
 more away to the westward ; I determined there- 
 fore — as soon as we got clear of the land — to 
 stand right over to the Greenland shore, on a 
 due west course, and not to attempt to make any 
 southing, until we should have struck the Green- 
 land ice. The length of our tether in that direc- 
 tion being ascertained, we could then judge of 
 the width of the channel down which we were to • 
 beat, for it was still blowing pretty fresh from the 
 southward. 
 
 '' '1 
 
=^ 
 
 284 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 Up to the evening of the day on which we 
 •quitted English Bay, the weather had been most 
 beautiful ; calm, sunshiny, dry, and pleasant. 
 Within a few hours of our getting under weigh, 
 a great change had taken place, and by midnight 
 it had become as foggy and disagreeable as ever. 
 The sea was pretty clear. During the few days 
 we had been on shore, the northerly current had 
 brushed away the great angular field of ice which 
 had lain off the shore, in a northwest direction ; 
 so that instead of being obliged to run up very 
 nearly to the 80th parallel — in order to round it 
 — we were enabled to sail to the westward at 
 once. During the course of the night, we came 
 upon one or two wandering patches of drift ice, 
 ■but so loosely packed that we had no difficulty 
 in pushing through them. About four o'clock in 
 the morning, a long line of close ice was reported 
 right ahead, stretching south — as far as the eye 
 ' could reach. We had come about eighty miles 
 since leaving Spitzbergen. The usual boundary 
 of the Greedland ice in summer, runs — according 
 to Scoresby — along the second parallel of west 
 longitude. This we had already crossed ; so that 
 it was to be presumed the barricade we saw 
 -before us was a frontier of the fixed ice. In 
 accordance, therefore, with my predetermined 
 plan, we now began working to the southward, 
 .and the result fully justified my expectations. 
 
 The sea became comparatively clear, as far 
 
Sout/nvards. 
 
 285 
 
 as could be seen from the deck of the vessel ; 
 although small vagrant patches of ice that we 
 came up with occasionally — as well as the tem- 
 perature of the air and the sea — continued to 
 indicate the proximity of larger bodies on either 
 side of us. 
 
 It was a curious sensation with which we had 
 gradually learnt to contemplate this inseparable 
 companion ; it had become a part of our daily 
 existence — an element — a thing without which 
 the general aspect of the universe would be irreg- 
 ular and incomplete. It was the first thing we 
 thought of in the morning, the last thing we spoker 
 of at night. It glittered and grinned maliciously 
 at us in the sunshine ; it winked mysteriously 
 through the stifling fog; it stretched itself like a 
 prostrate giant — with huge portentous shoulders^ 
 and shadowy limbs — right across our course ; or 
 danced gleefully in broken groups, in the little 
 schooner's wake. There was no getting rid of it» 
 or forgetting it ; and if — at night — we sometimes 
 returned in dreams to the green, summer world — 
 to the fervent harvest fields of England, and heard 
 " the murmurs of innumerous beec," or the song 
 of larks on thymy uplands — thump ! bump ! 
 splash ! gra-a-ate ! — came the sudden reminder 
 of our friend on the starboard bow ; and then 
 sometimes a scurry on deck, and a general 
 " scrimmage " of the whole society, in endea- 
 vours to prevent more serious collisions. More- 
 
 !-v'iS 
 
 
286 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 over, I could not say, with your old French friend, 
 that " Faniiliar'ty breeds despise." The more we 
 saw of it, the less we liked it ; its cold presence 
 sent a chilly sense of discouragement to the heart, 
 and I had daily to struggle with an ardent desire 
 to throw a be jt at Wilson's head, every time his 
 sepulchral voice announced the " Ice all round I '' 
 
 It was not until the 14th of August, fiv^e days 
 after quitting Spitzbergen, that we lost sight of it 
 altogether. From that moment the temperature 
 of the sea steadily rose, and we felt that we were 
 sailing back again into the pleasant summer. 
 
 A sad event which occurred soon after, in some 
 measure marred our enjoyment of the change. 
 Ever since she had left Hammerfest, it had b>> 
 come too evident that a sea-going life did not 
 agree with the goat. Even the run on shore at 
 Spitzbergen had not sufficed to repair her shat- 
 tered constitution, and the bad weather we had 
 .had ever since — completed its ruin. It was cer- 
 tain that the butcher was the only doctor who 
 could now cure her. In spite, therefore, of the 
 distress it occasioned Maid Marian, I was com- 
 pelled to issue orders for her execution. Sigurdr 
 was the onl}' person who regarded the tragical 
 event with indifference, nay — almost with delight. 
 Ever since we had commenced sailing in a south- 
 erly direction, we had been obliged to beat ; but 
 during the last four-and-twenty hours the wand 
 kept dodging us every time we tacked, as a nervous 
 
A Gale. 
 
 287 
 
 b> 
 not 
 
 •c at 
 ;hat- 
 
 had 
 
 cer- 
 
 who 
 the 
 Icom- 
 
 urdr 
 ^gical 
 [light, 
 louth- 
 
 ; but 
 wind 
 
 Irvous 
 
 pedestrian sets to you sometimes on a nar- 
 row trottoir. This spell of ill-luck the Icelander 
 heathenishly thoui^ht would only be removed by 
 a sacrifice to Rhin, the .goddess of the .sea, in 
 which light he trusted she would look upon the 
 goat's body when it came to be thrown over- 
 board. 
 
 Whether the change which followed upon the 
 consignment of her remains to the deep, really 
 resulted from such an influence, I am not pre- 
 pared to say. The weather immediately there- 
 after certainly did change. First the wind 
 dropped altogether ; but though the calm lasted 
 several hours, the sea strangely enough appeared 
 to become all the rougher, tossing and tumbling 
 restlessly /// and doivn — (not over and o\-er as in 
 a gale) — like a sick man on a fever bed ; the im- 
 pulse to the waves seeming to proceed from all 
 four quarters of the world at once. Then — like 
 jurymen with a verdict of death upon their lips — 
 the heavy, ominous clouds slowly passed into the 
 Northwest. 
 
 A dead stillness followed — a breathless pause 
 — until — at some mysterious signal, the solemn 
 voice of the storm hurtled over the deep. Luck- 
 ily we were quite ready for it ; the gale came 
 from the right quarter and the fiercer it blew the 
 better. For the next three days and three nig 
 it was a scurry over the sea such as I never had 
 -before ; nine or ten knots an hour was the very 
 
 
288 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 least we ever went, and 240 miles was the aver- 
 afje distance we made every four-and-twcnty 
 hours. 
 
 Anything grander and more exciting than the 
 sight of the sea under these circumstances — you 
 cannot imagine. The vessel herself remains very 
 steady; when you are below you scarcely know 
 you are not in port. Hut on raising your head 
 above the companion, the first sight which meets 
 your eye is an upright wall of black water, tower- 
 ing — you hardly know how many feet — into the 
 air over the stern. Like a lion walking on its 
 hind legs, it comes straight at you, roaring and 
 shaking its white main with fury — it overtakes 
 the vessel — the upright shiny face curves inwards 
 — the white main seems to hang above your very 
 head ; but ere it topples over, the nimble little 
 ship has already slipped from underneath. You 
 hear the disappointed jaws of the sea-monster 
 snap angrily together, — the schooner disdainfully 
 kicks up her heel — and raging and bubbling up 
 on either side the quarter, the unpausing wave 
 sweeps on, and you see its round back far ahead, 
 gradually swelling upwards, as it gathers strength 
 and volume for a new effort. 
 
 We had now got considerably to the south- 
 ward of North Cape, We had already seen sev- 
 eral ships, and you would hardly imagine with 
 what childish delight my people hailed these 
 symptoms of having again reached more " Chris- 
 tian latitudes," as they called them. 
 
Wilson on the Md/slrom. 
 
 289 
 
 ad, 
 gth 
 
 I had always intended, ever since my conver- 
 sation with Mr. T. about tiie Miilstrom, to have 
 called in at Loffodcn Islands on our way south 
 and ascertain for myself the real truth about this 
 famous vortex. To have bh^tted such a bui^bear 
 out of the map of luu'ope, if its existence really 
 was a myth, would at all events have rendered 
 our cruise not altogether fruitless. lUit, since 
 leaving Spitzbergcn we had never once seen the 
 sun, and to attempt to make so dangerous a 
 coast in a gale of wind and a thick mist, with 
 no more certain knowledge of the ship's position 
 than our dead reckoning afforded, was out of the 
 question ; so about one o'clock in the morning, 
 the weather giving no signs of improvement, the 
 course I had shaped in the direction of the island 
 was altered, and we stood away again to the 
 southward. This manoeuvre was not unobserved 
 by Wilson, but he mistook its meaning. Having 
 I suppose, overheard us talking at dinner about 
 the Miilstrom, he now concluded the supreme 
 hour had arrived. He did not exactly compre- 
 hend the terms we used, but had gathered that 
 the spot was one fraught with danger. Conclud- 
 ing from the change made in the vessel's course 
 that we were proceeding towards the dreadful 
 locality, he gave himself up to despair, and lay 
 tossing in his hammock in sleepless anxiety. At 
 last the load of his forebodings was greater than 
 he could bear ; he gets up, steals into the Doctor's 
 
 19 
 
 li 
 
 I 
 
 rl'» I 
 
290 
 
 Letters froui High Latitudes. 
 
 cabin, w.ikcs him up, and standing over him, — as 
 the nicsscnj^cr of ill tidings once stood over I'riani 
 — whispers, " .V/r / " "What is it?" says Fitz, 
 thinking perhaps some one was ill. " \)o you know 
 where we arc goinj:^ ? " "Why, to Throndhjem," 
 answered I'itz. " We were going to Throndh- 
 jem," rejoins Wilson, " but we ain't now — the 
 vessel's course was altered two hours a^ Oh, 
 Sir ! we are going to Whirlpool — to Wnirl-rl-l- 
 pooo-l ! Sir! in a quaver of consternation, — and 
 so glides back to bed like a phantom, leaving the 
 Doctor utterly unable to divine the occasion of 
 his visit. 
 
 The whole of the next day the gale continued. 
 We had now sailed back into night; it became, 
 therefore, a question how far it would be advisable 
 to carry on during the ensuing hours of dark- 
 ness, considering how uncertain we were as to 
 our real position. As I think I have already 
 described to you, the west coast of Norway is 
 very dangerous; a continuous sheet of sunken 
 rocks lies out along its entire edge for eight or 
 ten miles to sea. There are no light-houses to 
 warn the mariner off; and if we were wrong in 
 our reckoning as we might very well be, it was 
 possible we might stumble on the land sooner 
 than we expected. I knew the proper course 
 would be to lie to quietly until we could take an 
 observation ; but time was so valuable, and I 
 was so fearful you would be getting anxious! 
 
" Breakers A head ! " 
 
 291 
 
 to 
 lady 
 yis 
 ikcn 
 t or 
 to 
 
 g ii^ 
 was 
 
 oner 
 
 )ursc 
 
 an 
 
 id I 
 
 lous I 
 
 'Ihc niL^lit was jirctt;)' clear. Ili^l» mountains, 
 such as wc were e.\])ectin<^^ to make, woukl be 
 seen, even at nii^^lit, several miles oft'. According 
 to our Iol; we were slill 150 miles off the land, 
 and however inaccurate our calculation nn'i;ht be, 
 the error could not be of such macrnitude as that 
 amounted to. To throw awav so fair a wind 
 seemed such a i)it}', esi)ecial!y as it mi^ht be 
 days before the sun appeared ; we had already 
 been at sea about a fortnight without a sij;ht of 
 him, and his appearance at all durin;^ the sum- 
 mer is not an act de rigueur in this part of the 
 world ; wc might spend yet another fortnight in 
 lying to, and then after all have to poke our way 
 blindfold to the coast ; at all events it would be 
 soon enough to lie to the next night. Such were 
 the considerations, which — after an anxious con- 
 sultation with Mr. Wysc in the cabin, and ..luch 
 fingering of the charts, — determined me to carry 
 on during the night. 
 
 Nevertheless, I confess I was very uneasy. 
 Though I went to bed and fell asleep — for at 
 sea nothing prevents that process — my slumbers 
 were constantly agitated by the most vivid 
 dreams that I ever remember to have had. 
 Dreams of an arrival in England, and your 
 coming down to meet us, and all the pleasure I 
 had in recounting our adventures to you ; then 
 suddenly your face seemed to fade away beneath 
 a veil of angry grey surge that broke over low 
 
 
rrf 
 
 292 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 sharp-pointed rocks ; :?.nd the next moment there 
 resounded over the ship that cry which has been 
 the preface to so many a disaster — the ring of 
 which, none who have ever heard it are likely to 
 forget — ** Breakers ahead ! " 
 
 In a moment I was on deck, dressed — for it 
 is always best to dress, — and there sure enough, 
 right ahead, about a mile and a half off, through 
 the mist — which had come on very thick — I 
 could distinguish the upward shooting fluff of 
 seas shattering against rocks. No land was to 
 be seen, but the line of breakers every instant 
 became more evident ; at the paCe we were 
 going, in seven or eight minutes wc should be 
 upon them. Now, thought I to myself, we shall, 
 see whether a stout heart beats beneath the silk 
 tartan ! The result covered that brilliant garment 
 with glory and salt water. To tack was impos- 
 sible, we could only wear, — and to wear in such 
 a sea was no very pleasant operation. But the 
 little ship seemed to know what she was about, 
 as well as any of us ; up went the helm, round 
 came the schooner into the trough of the sea, — 
 high over her quarter toppled an enormous sea — 
 built up of I know not how many tons of water 
 — and hung over the deck ; — by some unaccount- 
 able wriggle — an instant ere it thundered down 
 — she had twisted her stern on one side, and the 
 wave passed underneath. In another minute her 
 head was to the sea, the mainsail was eased over, 
 and all danger was past. 
 
Taking an Observation. 
 
 293 
 
 ter 
 
 nt- 
 
 wn 
 
 the 
 
 her 
 
 ' What was now to be done ? That the land 
 we had seen was the coast of Norway — I could 
 not believe. Wrontx as our dead reckonincf cvi- 
 dently was, it could not be so wrong as that. 
 Yet only one other supposition was possible, viz : 
 that we had not come so far south as we im- 
 agined, and that we had stumbled upon Roost 
 — a little rocky island that lies about twenty 
 miles to the southward of the Loffoden Islands. 
 Whether this conjecture was correct or not, did 
 not much matter ; to go straight away to sea, 
 and lie to until we could get an observation, was 
 the only thing to be done. Away then we went, 
 struggling against a tremendous sea for a good 
 nine hours, until we judged ourselves to be 
 seventy or eighty miles from where we had 
 sighted the breakers, — when we lay to, not in 
 the best of tempers. The next morning, not 
 only was it blowing as hard as ever, but all 
 chance of getting a sight that day seemed also 
 out of the question. I could have eaten my 
 head with impatience. However, as it is best 
 never to throw a chance away, about half-past 
 eleven o'clock, though the sky resembled an even 
 sheet of lead, I got my sextant ready, and told 
 Mr. Wyse to do the same. 
 
 Now, out of tenderness for your feminine ig- 
 norance, I must state, that in order to take an 
 observation, it is necessary to get a sight of the 
 ;sun at a particular moment of the day: this 
 
294 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 ! 
 
 moment is noon. When, therefore, twelve o'clock 
 came, and one could not so much as guess in 
 what quarter of the heavens he might be lying 
 perdu, you may suppose I almost despaired. 
 Ten minutes past. It was evident we were 
 doomed to remain, kicking our heels for another 
 four-and-twenty hours where we were. No ! — 
 yes ! — no ! Hy Phoebus ! there he is ! A faint 
 spongy spot of brightness gleamed through the 
 grey roof ov^er head. The indistinct outline 
 grew a little clearer ; one half of him — though 
 still behind a cloud — hardened into a sharp 
 edge. Up went the sextant. "52.43! " (or what- 
 ever it was) I shouted to Mr. Wyse. "52.41, 
 my Lord ! " cried he, in return ; there was only 
 the discrepancy of a mile between us. We had 
 got the altitude ; the sun might go to bed for 
 good and all now, we did not care, — we knew 
 our position to an inch. There had been an 
 error of something like forty miles in our dead 
 reckoning, in consequence, as I afterwards found 
 — of a current that sets to the northward, along 
 the west coast of Norway, with a velocity vary- 
 ing from one to three miles an hour. The island 
 upon which we had so nearly run zuas Roost. 
 We were still nearly 200 miles from our port. 
 "Turn the hands up! Make sail!" and away 
 we went again on the same course as before, at 
 the rate of ten knots an hour. 
 
 " The girls at home have got hold of the tow- - 
 
Tlirondhjem. 
 
 29S' 
 
 rope, I think, my Lord," said Mr. Wysc, as we 
 bounded along over the thundering seas. 
 
 By three o'clock next day we were up with 
 Vigten; and now a very nasty piece of navi- 
 gation began. In order to make the northern 
 entrance of the Throndhjem Fiord, you have 
 first to find your way into what is called the 
 Froh Havet, — a kind of oblong basin about six- 
 teen miles long, formed by a ledge of low rocks 
 running parallel with the mainland, at a dis- 
 tance of ten miles to seaward. Though the 
 space between this outer boundary and the coast 
 is so wide, in consequence of the network of 
 sunken rocks which stuffs it up, the passage by 
 which a vessel can enter is very narrow, and 
 the only landmark to enable you to find the 
 channel is the head one of the strincr of outer 
 islets. As this rock is about the size of a dining;- 
 table, perfectly flat, and rising only a few feet 
 above the level of the sea, to attempt to make 
 it, is like looking for a needle in a bottle of 
 hay. It was already beginning to grow very 
 late and dark, by the time we had come up with 
 the spot where it ought to have been, — but not 
 a vestige of such a thing had turned up. Should 
 we not sight it in a quarter of an hour, we must 
 go to sea again, and lie to for the night, — a very 
 unpleasant alternative for any one so impatient 
 as I was to reach a port. Just as I was going 
 to give the order, Fitz — who was certainly the 
 
 I 
 
n 
 
 296 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 Lynccus of the ship's company — espied its black 
 back just peeping up above the tumbUng water 
 on our starboard bow. We had hit it off to a 
 yard ! 
 
 In another half hour we were stcaHni^ down 
 in quiet water towards the entrance of the fiord. 
 All this time not a rag of a pilot had appeared; 
 and it was without any such functionary that the 
 schooner swept up next morning between the 
 wooded, grain-laden slopes of the beautiful loch, 
 to Throndhjem — the capital of the ancient sea- 
 kings of Norway. 
 
 
II 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 THRONDHJEM— HARALD HAARFAGER - KING HACON'S 
 LAST I3ATTLE — OLAF TRYGGVESSON— THE *' LONG SER- 
 PENT"— ST. OLAVE— THORMOT) THE SCALD— THE JARL 
 OF LADE— THE CATHEDRAL — HARALD HARDRADA — 
 THE BATTLE OF STANFORD BRIDGE— A NORSE BALL- 
 ODIN AND HIS PALADIKS. / 
 
 Off Muxkholm, Aug. 27, 1856. 
 Throndiijem (pronounced Tronycm) looked 
 very pretty and picturesque, with its red-roofed 
 wooden houses sparkhng in the sunshine, its 
 many windows filled with flowers, its bright fiord 
 •covered with vessels gaily dressed in flags, in 
 lionour of the Crown Prince's first visit to the 
 ancient capital of the Norwegian realm. Tall 
 pretentious warehouses crowded down to the 
 water's edge, like bullies at a public show elbow- 
 ing to the foremost rank ; orderly streets stretched 
 in quiet rows at right angles with each other, and 
 pretty villas with green cinctures sloped away 
 towards the hills. In the midst rose the king's 
 palace, the largest wooden edifice in Europe ; 
 while the old gray cathedral — stately and grand, 
 in spite of the slow destruction of the elements, 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 il 
 
 ^t 1 
 
 ► 
 
2()S 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 w 
 
 
 the mutilations of man's hands, or liis yet more- 
 degrading^ rough-cast and stucco reparations — 
 still towered above the perishable wooden build- 
 ings at its feet, with the solemn pride which befits 
 the shrine of a royal saint. 
 
 I cannot tell you with what eagerness I drank 
 in all the features of this lovely scene — at least, 
 such features as Time can hardly alter — the 
 glancing river, from whence the city's ancient 
 name of Nidaros, or " mouth of the Nid," is de- 
 rived, — the rocky island of Munkh.olm, the bluff of 
 Lade, — the land-locked fiord and its pleasant hills 
 — beyond whose gray stony ridges I knew must 
 lie the fatal battle-field of Sticklestadt. Every 
 spot to me was full of interest, — but an interest 
 no-ways connected with the neat green villas, the 
 rectangular streets, and the obtrusive warehouses. 
 These signs of a modern humdrum prosperity 
 seemed to melt away before my eyes as T gazed 
 from the schooner's deck, and the accessories of 
 an elder time came to furnish the landscape ; — 
 the clumsy merchantmen lazily swaying with the 
 tide, darkened into armed galleys with their rows 
 of glittering shields, the snug, bourgeois-looking 
 town shrank into the quaint proportions of the 
 huddled ancient Nidaros, — and the old maraud- 
 ing days, with their shadowy line of grand old 
 pirate kings, rose up with welcome vividness 
 before my mind. 
 
 What picture shall I try to conjure from the. 
 past, to live in your fancy as it does in mine } 
 
A Picture from the Past. 
 
 299 
 
 d 
 
 e. 
 
 Let the scttini,^ be these very hills, — flooded by 
 this same cold, steely sunshine. In the midst 
 stands a stalwart form, in quaint but regal attire. 
 Hot blood deepens the colour of his sun-bronzed 
 cheek ; an iron purpose gleams in his earnest 
 eyes, like the flash of a drawn sword ; a circlet of 
 gold binds the massive brow, and from beneath 
 it stream to below his waist thick masses of hair, 
 of that duskv red which iilows like the heat of a 
 furnace in the sunlight, but deepens earth-brown 
 in the shadow, l^y his side stands a fair woman; 
 her demure and heavy-lidded eyes are seldom 
 lifted from the earth, which yet they seem to 
 scorn ; but the king's eyes rest on her, and many 
 looks are turned towards him. A multitude is 
 present, moved by one great event, swayed by a 
 thousand passions ; some with garrulous throats 
 full of base adulation and an unworthy joy ; — 
 some — pale, self-scorning, with averted looks, 
 and hands that twitch instinctively at their idle 
 daggers, then drop hopeless — harmless at their 
 sides. 
 
 The king is Harold Haarfager, "of the fair 
 hair ; " the woman is proud and beautiful Gyda, 
 whose former scorn for him, in the days when he 
 was nothing but the petty chief of a few barren 
 mountains, provoked that strange wild vow of 
 his, " That he would never clip or comb his locks 
 till he could woo her as sole king of Norway." 
 
 Among the crowd are those who have bar- 
 
 il 
 
 ij 
 
300 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 tcrcd, for case, and wealth, and empty titles 
 born of the king's breath — tlieir ancient Udal 
 rights, their ]ionder privileges ; others have sunk 
 their proud hearts to bear the yoke of the 
 stronger hand, yet gaze with yearning looks on 
 the misty horizon that opens between the hills. 
 A dark speck mars that shadowy line. Thought 
 follows across the space. It is a ship. Its sides 
 are long, and black, and low ; but high in front 
 rises the prow, fashioned into the semblance of 
 a gigantic golden dragon, against whose gleam- 
 ing breast the divided waters angrily flash and 
 gurgle. Along the top sides of the deck arc 
 hung a row of shining shields, in alternate 
 breadths of red and white, like the variegated 
 scales of a sea-monster, while its gilded tail 
 curls after over the head of the steersman. From 
 either flank projects a bank of some thirty oars, 
 that look, as they smite the ocean with even 
 beat, like the legs on which the reptile crawls 
 over its surface. One stately mast of pine serves 
 to carry a square sail made of cloth, brilliant 
 with stripes of red, white, and blue. 
 
 And who are they who navigate this strange 
 ' barbaric vessel .'' — why leave they the sheltering 
 fiords of their beloved Norway .'' They are the 
 noblest hearts of that noble land — freemen, who 
 value freedom, — who have abandoned all rather 
 than call Harald master, — and now seek a new 
 home, even among the desolate crags of Iceland, 
 
AnotJicr Picture. 
 
 %o\ 
 
 rather than submit to the tyranny of a usurper. 
 *' ^orJ>— obrr $u6 ! tocnn nur 5{e ^tUtv, gruQ^n ! " 
 
 Another picture, and a sadder story, — but the 
 scene is now a wide dun moor, on the slope of a 
 seaward hill ; the autumn evening is closing in, 
 but a shadow darker than that of evening broods 
 over the desolate plain, — the shadow of Death. 
 Groups of armed men, with stern sorrov/ in their 
 looks, are standing round a rude couch, hascily 
 formed of fir branches. An old man lies there — 
 dying. His ear is dulled even to the shout of 
 victory ; the mists of an endless night arc gather- 
 ing on his eyes ; but there is passion yet in the: 
 quivering lip — and triumph on the high-resolvccJ 
 brow ; and the gesture of his hand has kingly 
 power still. Let me tell his saga, like the bards 
 of that old time : — 
 
 * 
 
 
 I : 
 
 i 
 
 il 
 
 KING HACON'S LAST BATTLE. 
 
 I. 
 
 All was over : day was ending 
 
 As the foeman turned and fled. 
 
 Gloomy red 
 
 Glowed the angry sun descending ; 
 
 While round Hacon's dying bed, 
 
 Tears and songs of triumph blending, 
 
 Told how fast the conqueror bled. 
 
 11. 
 " Raise me," said the King. We raised him- 
 Not to ease his desperate pain ; 
 That were vain ! 
 
302 
 
 Letters from Ilif^h Latitudes. 
 
 "Stronj; our foe was — but we faced him : 
 .Show nic that red Held n^ain." 
 Then, with reverend hands, we jilaced him 
 Ilii^h above the bloody plain. 
 
 III. 
 Silent gazed he ; mute we waited, 
 Kneeling round — a faithful few, 
 Staunch and true, — 
 Whilst above, with thunder freiglited, 
 Wild the boisterous North wind blew, 
 And the carrion-bird, unsated, , 
 
 On slant wings around us flew. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Sudden, on our startled hearing, 
 
 Came the low-breathed, stern command — 
 
 " Lo ! ye stand ? 
 
 Linger not, the night is ncaring ; 
 
 Bear me downwards to the strand, 
 
 Where my ships are idly steering 
 
 Off and on, in sight of land." 
 
 V. 
 
 Every whispered word obeying, 
 Swift we bore him down the steep, 
 O'er the deep, 
 
 Up the tall ship's side, low swaying 
 To the storm-wind's powerful sweep, 
 And — his dead companions laying 
 Round him, — wc had time to weep. 
 
 VI. 
 
 But the King said — " Peace I bring hither 
 
 Spoil and weapons — battle-strown. 
 
 Make no moan ; 
 
 Leave me and my dead together. 
 
 Light my torch, and then— begone." 
 
 But we murmured, each to other, 
 
 " Can we leave him thus alone ? " 
 
King Ifdcons Last Hattlc. 
 
 303 
 
 VII. 
 
 Angrily the King replicth ; 
 Flash the awful eye again, 
 With disdain - 
 
 " Call him not alone who licth 
 Low amidst such noble slain ; 
 Call him not alone who dieth 
 Side by side with gallant men." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Slowly, sadly, wc departed : 
 
 Reached again that desolate shore, ' 
 
 Nevermore 
 
 Trod by him, the brave true-hearted — 
 
 Dying in that dark shii)'s core ! 
 
 Sadder keel from land ne'er parted, 
 
 Nobler freight none ever bore ! 
 
 IX. 
 
 There wc lingered, seaward gazing 
 Watching o'er that living toml). 
 Through the gloom — 
 Gloom ! which i.wful light is chasing — 
 Blood-red flames the surge illume ! 
 Lo ! King Hacon's ship is blazing ; 
 'Tis the hero's self-sought doom. 
 
 X. 
 
 Right before the wild wind driving, 
 Madly plunging — stung by fire — 
 No help nigh her — 
 Lo ! the ship has ceased her striving ! 
 Moimt the red flames higher — higher I 
 Till — on ocean's verge arriving. 
 Sudden sinks the Viking's pyre — 
 Hacon's gone ! 
 
3^ 
 
 Letters from ITii^h Latitudes. 
 
 Let mc call one more heroic phantom from 
 Norway's romantic past. 
 
 A kiii^Hy presence — stately and tall ; his shield 
 held hi^di above his head — a broken sword in his 
 right hand. Olaf Tryi^^^^vesson ! Founder of Ni- 
 daros; — that cold northern sea has rolled for 
 many centuries above your noble head, and }'et 
 not chilled the battle heat upon your brow, nor 
 staunched the blood that trickles down your iron 
 glove, from hidden, untold wounds, which the 
 tender hand of Thyri shall never heal. 
 
 To such ardent souls it is indeed given " to 
 live for ever," (the for ever of this world ;) for is 
 it not " Life " to keep hold on our affections, 
 when their own passions are at rest, — to influ- 
 ence our actions (however indirectly) — when 
 action is at an end for them .'' Who shall say 
 how much of modern heroism may owe its 
 laurels to that first throb of fiery sympathy 
 which young hearts feel at the relation of deeds 
 such as Olaf Tryggvesson's } 
 
 The forms of those old Greeks and Romans- 
 whom we are taught to reverence, may project 
 taller shadows on the world's stage ; but though 
 the scene be narrower here, and light be wanting, 
 the interest is not less intense, nor are the pas- 
 sions less awful that inspired these ruder dramas. 
 
 There is an individuality in the Icelandic his- 
 torian's description of King Olaf that wins one's 
 interest — at first as in an acquaintance, — and 
 
The " Loug Serpent!' 
 
 305 
 
 ! 
 
 rivets it last as in a personal friend. The old 
 Chronicle lingers with such loving' minuteness 
 over his attachin^^ qualities, — his social, j,^enerous, 
 nature, — his ^ayety and " frolicsonicness ; " even 
 his finical taste in dress, and his evident i)rone- 
 ncss to fall too hastily in love, have a value in the 
 portrait, as contrasting with the ^doomy colours 
 in which the story sinks at last. The warm, im- 
 pulsive spirit speaks in every action of his life, 
 from the hour when — a youn^j child, in exile — he 
 strikes his axe into the skull of his foster-father's 
 murderer — to the last Ljrand scene near Sviilderiie. 
 You trace in it his absorbin^^ ^Tief for the death 
 of Gcyra, the wife of his youth ; the saya says, 
 " he had no pleasure in Vinland after it," and 
 then naively observes, ** he therefore [)rovided 
 himself with war-ships and went a-plunderin[j,'* 
 one of his first achievements being to go and 
 pull down London bridge. This peculiar kind 
 of " distraction " (as the French call it) seems to 
 have had the desired effect, as is evident in the 
 romantic incident of his second marriage, wdicn 
 the Irish Princess Gyda chooses him — apparently 
 an obscure stranger — to be her husband, out of a 
 hundred wealthy and well-born aspirants to her 
 hand. But neither Gyda's love, nor the rude 
 splendours of her father's court, can make Olaf 
 forgetful of his claims upon the throne of Nor- 
 way — the inheritance of his father ; and when 
 that object of his just ambition is attained, and. 
 
 
 20 
 
'^i M 
 
 
 306 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 he is proclaimed King by general election of the 
 Bonders, as his ancestor Harold Ilaarfager had 
 been, — his character deepens in earnestness as 
 the sphere of his duties is enlarged. All the 
 energies of his ardent nature are put forth in the 
 endeavour to convert his subjects to the true 
 Faith. As he himself expresses it, " he would 
 bring it to this, — that all Norway should be 
 Christian — or die ! " In the same spirit he meets 
 his heretic and rebellious subjects at the Thing of 
 Lade, and boldly replies, when they require him 
 to sacrifice to the false gods, " If I turn with you 
 to offer sacriffice, — then shall it be the greatest 
 sacrifice that can be made ; I will not offer slaves 
 nor malefactors to your gods, — I will sacrifice 
 men; — and they shall be the noblest men among 
 you ! " It was soon after this that he despatched 
 the exemplary Thangbrand to Iceland. 
 
 With a front not less determined does he face 
 his country's foes. The king of Sweden and 
 Svend " of the forked beard," king of Denmark, 
 have combined against him. With them is 
 joined the Norse jarl, Eric, the son of Hacon. 
 Olaf Tryggvesson is sailing homewards with a 
 fleet of seventy ships, — himself commanding the 
 famous Long Serpent^ the largest ship built in 
 Norway. His enemies are lying in wait for him 
 behind the island. 
 
 Notliing can be more dramatic than the de- 
 scription of the sailing of this gallant fleet — 
 
Ulf the Rid. 
 
 307 
 
 (piloted by the treacherous Earl Sigwald) — with- 
 in sight of the ambushed Danes and Swedes, 
 who watch from their hiding-place the beautiful 
 procession of hostile vessels, mistaking each in 
 turn for the Long Serpent, and as often unde- 
 ceived by a new and yet more stately apparition. 
 She appears at length, — her dragon prow glitter- 
 ing in the sunshine, — all canvas spread — her sides 
 bristling with armed men ; " and when they saw 
 her none spoKC, — all knew it to be indeed The 
 Serpent, — and they went to their ships to arm 
 for the fight." As soon as Olaf and his forces 
 have been enticed into the narrow passage, the 
 united fleets of the three alUes pour out of the 
 Sound ; his people beg Olaf to hold on his way 
 and not risk battle with such a superior force, — 
 but the king replied, high on the quarter-deck 
 where he stood, " Strike the sails ! I never fled 
 from battle ; let God dispose of my life, but 
 flight I will never take ! " He then orders the 
 war-horns to sound, for all his ships to close up 
 to each other. "Then," says Ulf the Red, Cap- 
 tain of the forecastle, "if The Long Serpent is 
 to lie so much ahead of the other vessels, we 
 shall have hot work of it here on the forecastle." 
 
 The King replies, " I did not think I had a 
 forecastle man afraid, as well as red!'^ 
 
 Says Ulf, "Defend thou the quarter-deck, as I 
 shall the forecastle." 
 
 * There is a play on these two words in the Icelandic, 
 " Raudan oc Ragan." 
 
308 
 
 Letters front High Latitudes. 
 
 
 The King had a bow in his hands ; he laid an 
 arrow on the string, and made as if he aimed 
 at Ulf. 
 
 Ulf said, ** Shoot another way, King, where it 
 is more needful, — my work is thy gain." 
 
 Then the King asks, " Who is the chief of the 
 force right opposite to us ?" He is answered^ 
 " Svend of Denmark, with his army." 
 
 Olaf replies, " We are not afraid of these soft 
 Danes ! Who are the troops on the right .''" 
 
 They answer, ** Olaf of Sweden, and his 
 forces." 
 
 " Better it were," replies the King, " for these 
 Swedes to be sitting at home, killing their sacri- 
 fices, than venturing under the weapons of The 
 Long Serpent. But who owns the large ships 
 on the larboard side of the Danes }" 
 
 "That is Jarl Eric, son of Hacon," say they. 
 
 The King says, "//<? has reason for meeting- 
 us ; we may expect hard blows from these men ; 
 they are Norsemen like ourselves." 
 
 The fierce conflict raged for many hours. It 
 went hard with the soft " Danes," and idolatrous 
 Swedes, as Olaf had foreseen ; after a short 
 struggle they turn and fly. But Jarl Eric in his 
 large ship, The Iron Beard, is more than a match 
 for Olaf's lighter vessels. One by one their 
 decks are deluged with blood, their brave de- 
 fenders swept into the sea ; one by one they are 
 cut adrift, and sent loose with the tide. And now 
 
Death of Olaf. 
 
 309 
 
 .at last The Iron Beard lies side by side with 
 The Long Serpent, and it is indeed "hot work" 
 •both on forecastle and quarter-deck. 
 
 "Einar Tambarskelvar, one of the sharpest of 
 bowmen, stood by the mast, and shot with his 
 bow." His arrow hits the tiller-end, just over the 
 Earl's head, and buries itself up to the shaft in 
 the wood. "Who shot that bolt?" says the 
 Jarl. Another flies between his hand and side, 
 and enters the stuffing of the chief's stool. 
 Then, said the Jarl to a man named Fin, "Shoot 
 that tall archer by the mast!" Fin shoots; the 
 arrow hits the middle of Einar's bow as he is in 
 the act of drawing it, and the bow is split in 
 two. 
 
 "What is that," cried King Olaf, "that broke 
 with ■ ich a noise V 
 
 " Norivay, King, from thy hands !" cried Einar. 
 
 " No ! not so much as that," says the King ; 
 ^'take my bow and shoot," — flinging the bow to 
 him. 
 
 Einar took the bow, and drew it over the head 
 of the arrow. " Too w^eak, too weak," said he, 
 "for the bow of a mighty King!" and throwing 
 the bow aside, "he took sword and buckler, and 
 fought valiantly." 
 
 But Olaf's hour is come. Many slain lie 
 
 -around him ; many that have fallen by his hand, 
 
 more that have fallen at his side. The thinned 
 
 .ranks on board The Iron Beard are constantly 
 
310 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 replenished by fresh combatants from other ves- 
 sels, /even by the Swedes and soft Danes, no\v 
 .^strong, upon the stronger side," — while Olaf,. 
 cut off from succour, stands almost alone upon 
 The Serpent's deck, made slippery by his people's 
 blood. The Jarl had laid out boats to inter- 
 cept all who might escape from the ship ; but 
 escape is not in the King's thoughts. He casts 
 one look around him, glances at his sword — 
 broken like Einar's bow, — draws a deep breath,, 
 and, holding his shield above his head, springs 
 overboard. A shout — a rush ! who shall first 
 grasp that noble prisoner } Back, slaves ! the 
 shield that has brought him scathless through a 
 hundred fights, shall yet shelter him from dis- 
 honour. 
 
 Countless hands are stretched to snatch him 
 back to worthless life, but the shield alone floats- 
 on the swirl of the wave ; — -'King Olaf has sunk 
 beneath it. 
 
 Perhaps you have siready had enough of my 
 Saga lore, — but with that gray cathedral full in 
 sight, I cannot but dedicate a few lines to another- 
 Olaf, king and warrior like the last, but to 
 whom after-times have accorded a yet higher 
 title. 
 
 Saint Olaf's — Saint Olave, as we call him — 
 early history savours little of the odour of sanc- 
 tity, but has rather that "ancient and fish-like- 
 smeli " which characterized the doings of the- 
 
Olaf the Saint, 
 
 311 
 
 Vikings, his ancestors. But those were days 
 when honour rather than disgrace attached to the 
 ideas of booty and pkmder, especially in an 
 enemy's country; it was a " spoiling of the Egyp- 
 tians" sanctioned by custom, and even permitted 
 by the Church, which did not disdain occasion- 
 ally to share in the profits of a successful cruise, 
 when presented in the decent form of silver can- 
 dlesticks and other ecclesiastical gauds. As to 
 the ancient historian, he mentions these matters 
 as a thing of course. " Here the King landed, 
 burnt and ravaged;" "there the Jarl gained 
 much booty;" " this summer, they took a cruise 
 in the Baltic, to gather property, &c., much as 
 a modern biographer might speak of a gentle- 
 man's successful railroad speculations, his taking 
 shares in a coal mine, or coming into a " nice 
 little thing in the Long Annuities." Neverthe- 
 less, there is something significant of his future 
 vocation, in a speech which Olaf makes to his 
 assembled friends and relations, imparting to 
 them his design of endeavouring to regain pos- 
 session of the throne : " I and my men have 
 nothing for our support save what we captured 
 in war, for zuhick we have hazarded both life and 
 soul ; for many an innocent man have we de- 
 prived of his property, and some of their lives ; 
 and foreigners are now sitting in the possessions 
 of my fathers." One sees here a faint glimmer 
 of the Saint's nimbus, over the helmet of the 
 
 

 312 
 
 Letters from High Latituc^cs. 
 
 i 
 
 Viking, a^dawning perception of the " rights of 
 property," which, no doubt, must have startled 
 his hearers into the most ardent conservative zeal 
 for the good old marauding customs. 
 
 But though years elapsed, and fortunes changed, 
 before this dim light of the early Church became 
 that scorching and devouring flame which, later, 
 spread terror and confusion among the haunts of 
 the still lingering ancient gods, an earnest sense 
 •of duty seems to have been ever present with 
 him. If it cannot be denied that he shared the 
 errors of other proselytizing monarchs, and put 
 down Paganism with a stern and bloody hand, 
 no merely personal injury ever weighed with him. 
 How grand is his reply to those who advise him 
 to ravage with fire and sword the rebellious dis- 
 trict of Throndhjem, as he had formerly punished 
 numbers of his subjects who had rejected Chris- 
 tianity : " We had then God's honour to defend ; 
 but this treason against their sovereign is a much 
 less grievous crime ; it is more in my power to 
 ;spare those who have dealt ill with me, than 
 those whom God hated." The same hard meas- 
 lure which he meted to others he applied to his 
 own actions : witness that curiously characteris- 
 tic scene, when, sitting in his high seat, at table, 
 lost in thought, he begins unconsciously to cut 
 splinters from a piece of fir-wood which he held 
 in his hand. The table servant, seeing what the 
 King was about, says to him (mark the respect- 
 
Death of Saint OlaJ. 
 
 313 
 
 ful periphrasis ! ) '^ It is JMonday, Sin\ to-morroiv!' 
 The Kin^ looks at him, and it came into his 
 mind what he was doing on a Sunday. * He 
 sweeps up the shavings he had made, sets fire to 
 them, and lets them burn on his naked hand ; 
 '* showing thereby that he would hold fast by 
 God's law, and not trespass without punish- 
 ment." 
 
 But whatever human weaknesses may have 
 mingled with the pure ore of this noble character, 
 whatever barbarities may have stained his career, 
 they are forgotten in the pathetic close of his 
 martial story. ' 
 
 His subjects, — alienated by the sternness with 
 which he administers his own severely religious 
 laws, — or corrupted by the bribes of Canute, King 
 of Denmark and England, — are fallen from their 
 allegiance. The brave, single-hearted Monarch is 
 marching against the rebellious Bonders, at the 
 head of a handful of foreign troops, and such as 
 remained faithful among his own people. On the 
 eve of that last battle, on which he stakes throne 
 and life, he intrusts a large sum of money to a 
 Bonder, to be laid out *' on churches, priests, and 
 alms-men, as gifts for the souls of such as may 
 fall in battle against Jiimself^' — strong in the con- 
 viction of the righteousness of his cause, and the 
 .assured salvation of such as upheld it. 
 
 He makes a glorious end. Forsaken by many 
 whom he had loved and served, — yet forgiving 
 
314 
 
 Letters f ran High Latitudes. 
 
 
 and excusing them ; rejecting the aid of all who 
 denied that holy Faith which had become the 
 absorbing interest of his life, — but surrounded by 
 a faithful few, who shared his fate ; " in the lost 
 battle, borne down by the flying " — he falls, trans- 
 pierced by many wounds, and the last words on 
 his fervent lips are a prayer to God.* 
 
 Surely there was a gallant saint and soldier 
 Yet he was not the only one who bore himself 
 nobly on that day. Here is another episode of 
 that same fatal fight. » 
 
 A certain Thormod is one of the Scalds, (or 
 Poets,) in King Olaf's army. The night before 
 the battle, he sings a spirited song at the King's 
 request, who gives him a gold ring from his finger 
 in token of his approval. Thormod thanks him 
 for the gift, and says : " It is my prayer, Sire, 
 that we shall never part, either in life or death." 
 When the King receives his death wound, Thor- 
 mod is near him, — but wounded himself, and so 
 weak and weary, that in a desperate onslaught 
 by the King's men, — nicknamed " Dags Storml^ 
 — he only stood by his comrade in the ranks,, 
 although he could do nothing. ' 
 
 The noise of the battle has ceased ; the King 
 is lying dead where he fell. The very man who 
 had dealt him his death wound has laid the body 
 straight out on the ground, and spread a cloak 
 
 ■''■ The exact date of the battle of Sticklestad is known » 
 an eclipse of the sun occurred while it was going on. 
 
T /ion nod offer the Battle. 
 
 315 
 
 over it. "And when he wiped the blood from the 
 face, it was very beautiful, and there was red in 
 the cheeks, as if he only slept." 
 
 Thormod, who had received a second wound as 
 he stood in the ranks — (an arrow in his side, 
 which he breaks off at the shaft,) — wanders away 
 towards . a large barn, where other wounded men 
 have taken refuge. Entering with his drawn 
 sword in his hand, he meets one of the ]3onders 
 coming out, who says : " It is very bad there, 
 with howling and screaming; and a great shame 
 it is, that brisk young fellows cannot bear their 
 wounds. The King's men may have done bravely 
 to-day, — but truly they bear their wounds ill." 
 
 Thormod asks what his name is, — and if he 
 was in the battle, Kimbe was his name, and he 
 had been " with the Bonders, which was the best 
 sic'"^." "And hast thou been in the battle, too.^" 
 asks he of Thormod. 
 
 Thormod replies : " I was with them that had. 
 the best." 
 
 " Art thou wounded } " says Kimbe. 
 , "Not much to signify," says Thormod. 
 
 Kimbe sees the gold ring and says: "Thou 
 art a King's man; give me thy gold ring and I 
 will hide thee." 
 
 Thormod replies: "Take the ring if thou 
 canst get it ; / Jiave lost that zvhich is more 
 %vorthr 
 
 Kimbe stretches out his hand to seize the ring ;, 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 1^1 
 
3i6 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 but Thormod, swinging his sword, cuts off his 
 hand ; "and it is related tliat Kinibe behaved no 
 better under his wound than those he had just 
 been blaming." 
 
 Thormod then enters the house where the 
 wounded men are l}'ing and seats himself in 
 silence by the door. 
 
 As the people go in and out, one of them casts 
 a look at Thormod and says, " Wh)- art thou so 
 dead pale ? Art thou wounded ? " He answers 
 carelessly, with a half-jesting rhyme ; then rises 
 and stands awhile by the fire. A woman, who 
 is attending on those who are hurt, bids him " go 
 out and bring in firewood from the door." He 
 returns w^ith the wood, and the girl then looking 
 him in the face, says, " dreadfully pale is this 
 man; " and asks to see his wounds. She exam- 
 ines the wound in his side, and feels that the iron 
 of the arrow is still there ; she then takes a pair 
 of tongs and tries to pull it out, "but it sat too 
 fast, and as the wound was swelled, little of it 
 stood out to lay hold of." Thormod bids her cut 
 deep enough to reach the iron, and then to give 
 him the tongs and let him pull." She did as he 
 bade. He takes a ring from his hand and 
 gives it to the girl, saying, " It is a good man's 
 gift ! King Olaf gave it to me this morning." 
 Then Thormod took the tongs and pulled the 
 iron out. The arrow-head was barbed, and on it 
 there hung some morsels of flesh. When he saw 
 
** Ncii's from I Ionic.'' 
 
 317 
 
 that he siiid, " T/ic King has fed us ivcll ! " I am 
 fat — even at tlie heart-roots ! " And so saying, 
 he leant back and died.* 
 
 Stout, faithful heart! if they gave you no place 
 in your master's stately tomb, there is room for 
 you by his side in heaven ! 
 
 I have at last received — I need not say how 
 joyfully — two letters from you ; one addressed to 
 Hammerfest. I had begun to think that some 
 Norwegian warlock had bewitched the post-bags, 
 in the approved old ballad fashion, to prevent 
 their rendering up my dues; for when the packet 
 of letters addressed to The Foam was brought 
 on board, immediately after our arrival, I alone 
 got nothing. bVom Sigurdr and the Doctor to 
 the cabin-boy, every face was beaming over 
 " news from home ! " while I was left to walk 
 the deck, with my hands in my pockets, pre- 
 tending not to care. But the spell is broken 
 now, and I retract my evil thoughts of the war- 
 lock and you. 
 
 Yesterday we made an excursion as far as 
 Lade, saw a waterfall, which is one of the lions 
 of this neighbourhood, (but a very mitigated lion, 
 which " roars you as soft as any sucking dove," 
 and returned in the evening to attend a ball given 
 to celebrate the visit of the Crown Prince. 
 
 * When a man was wounded in the abdomen it was the 
 habit of the Norse leeches to give him an onion to eat ; by 
 this means they learnt whether the weapon had perforated 
 the viscera. 
 
3'8 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 At Ladi's I confess I could think of nothinfr 
 but "the ^reat Jarl," Hacon, the counsellor, and 
 maker of kings, king himself in all but the name, 
 for he ruled over the western sea-board of Nor- 
 way, while Olaf Tryggvcsson was yet a wanderer 
 and exile. He is certainly one of the most pic- 
 turesque figures of these Norwegian dramas ; — 
 what with his rude wit, his personal bravery, and 
 that hereditary beauty of his race, for which he 
 was conspicuous above the rest. His very errors, 
 great as they were, have a dash and prestige 
 about them, which in that rude time must have 
 dazzled men's eyes, and especially ivomcn's, as 
 his story proves. It was his sudden passion for 
 the beautiful Gudrun Lyrgia (the "Sun of 
 Lunde," as she was called), which precipitated 
 the avenging fate which years of heart-burnings 
 and discontent among his subjects had been pre- 
 paring. Gudrun's husband incites the Bonder- 
 to throw off the yoke of the licentious despot, — 
 Olaf Tryggvesson is proclaimed king, — and the 
 " great Jarl of Lad«i " is now a fugitive in the 
 land he so lately n ^d, accompanied by a single 
 thrall, named Karker. 
 
 In this extremity, Jarl Hacon applies for aid 
 to Thora of Rimmol, a lady whom he had once 
 dearly loved ; she is faithful in adversity to the 
 friend of happier days, and conceals the Jarl and 
 his companion in a hole dug for this purpose, in 
 .the swine-stye, and covered over with wood and 
 
The SxvineStyc. 
 
 3»9 
 
 litter ; as the only spot likely to elude the hot 
 search of his enemies. Olaf and tlic IJonders 
 sock for him in Thora's house, but in vain ; and 
 finally, Olaf, standing on the very stone against 
 which the swine-stye is built, promises wealth and 
 honours to him who ^hall brin;:^ him the Jarl 
 of Lude"s head. Tiie scene which follows is re- 
 lated by the Icelandic historian with Dante's 
 tragic power. 
 
 There was a little daylight in their hiding- 
 place, and the Jarl and Karker botii hear the 
 words of Olaf 
 
 Why art thou so pale ?" says the Jarl, • and 
 now again as black as earth } Thou dost not 
 mean to betray me V 
 
 "By no means," said Karker. 
 
 " Wc were born on the same night," said the 
 Jarl, "and the time will not be long between our 
 deaths." 
 
 When night came, the Jarl kept himself awake, 
 — but Karker slept; — a troubled sleep. The Jarl 
 awoke him, and asked of what he was dreaming. 
 He answered, "I was at Lade', and Olaf was lay- 
 ing a gold ring about my neck." 
 ■ The Jarl said, " It will be a red ring about thy 
 neck, if he catches thoe ; from me thou shalt 
 enjoy all that is good, — therefore, betray me 
 not!" 
 
 They then both kept themselves awake ; " the 
 one, as it were, watching npon the other. But 
 
320 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 towards the day, the Jarl dropped asleep, and in 
 his unquiet slumber he drew his heels under him, 
 and raised his neck as if going to rise, " and 
 shrieked fearfully." On this, Karker, "dreadfully 
 alarmed," drew a knife from his belt, stuck it into 
 the Jarl's throat, and cut off his head. Late in 
 the day he came to Ladi', brought the Jarl's head 
 to Olaf, and told his story. 
 
 It is a comfort to know that " the red ring^ 
 was laid round the traitor's neck, Olaf caused 
 him to be beheaded. 
 
 What a picture that is, In the swine-stye, those 
 two haggard faces, travel-stained and worn with 
 want of rest, watching each other with hot, 
 sleepless eyes, through the half darkness, and 
 how true to nature is the nightmare of the mis- 
 erable Jarl ! 
 
 It was on my p-^turn from Lade, that I found 
 your letters, and that I might enioy them \\ ith. 
 out interruption, I carried them off to the church- 
 yard — such a beautiful place !) — to read in peace 
 and quiet. The churchyard was fiot " populous 
 with young men, striving to be alone," as Tom 
 Hood describes it to have been in a certain senti- 
 mental parish : so i enjoyed the seclusion I an- 
 ticipated. 
 
 I was much struck by the loving care and 
 ornament bestowed on the graves ; some were 
 literally loaded with flowers, and even those 
 which bore the date of a long past sorrow had. 
 
Tlic CiitiiidraL 
 
 321' 
 
 each its own blooming crown or fresh nosegay. 
 These good Throndhjeniers must have much of 
 what the French call la religion dcs soiivoiirs, a 
 religion in which we ICnglish (as a nation) are 
 singularly deficient. I suppose no people in 
 Europe are so little addicted to the keeping of 
 sentimental anniversaries as we are ; I make 
 an exception with regard to our living friends' 
 birthdays, — which we are ever tenderly ready to 
 cultivate, when called on ; turtle, venison, and 
 champagne being pleasant investments fur the 
 affections. But time and business do not admit 
 of a faithful adherence to more sombre reminis- 
 cences ; a busy gentleman "on 'Change," cannot 
 conveniently shut himself up, on his " lost Ara- 
 minta's natal-day," nor will a railroad com- 
 mittee allow of his running down by the 10.25 
 A.M., to shed a tear over that neat tablet in the 
 new Willowcum-Hatband Cemetery. He is 
 necessarily content to regret his Araminta in the 
 gross, and to omit the pretty details of a too 
 pedantic sorrow. 
 
 The fact is, we are an eminently practical people, 
 and are easily taught to accept " the irrevocable,'* 
 if not without regret, at least with a philosophy 
 which repudiates all superfluous methods of show- 
 ing it. Decent is the usual and appropriate 
 term applied to our churchyard solemnities, and 
 we are not only " content to dwell in decencies 
 for ever," but to die, and be buried in them. 
 21 
 

 322 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 The cathedral loses a little of its poetical phy- 
 siognomy on a near approach. Modern restora- 
 tion has done something to spoil the outside, 
 and modern refinement a good deal to degrade 
 the interior, with pews and partitions ; but it is 
 a very fine building, and worthy of its metropoli- 
 tan dignity. I am told, that the very church 
 built by Magnus the Good, — son of Saint Olave^^ 
 — over his father's remains, and finished by his 
 uncle Harold Hardrada, is, or rather was, included 
 in the walls of the cathedral, and though succes- 
 sive catastrophes by fire have perhaps left but 
 little of the original building standing, I like to 
 think that some of these huge stones were lifted 
 to their pla c under the eyes of Harald the Stern. 
 It was on the eve of his last fatal expedition 
 against our own Harold of England, that the 
 shrine of St. Olave was opened by the king, 
 who, having clipped the hair and nails of the 
 dead saint (most probably as relics, efficacious 
 for the protection of himself and followers) then 
 locked the shrine, and threw the keys into the 
 Nid. Its secrets from that day were respected, 
 until the profane hands of Lutheran Danes car- 
 ried it bodily away, with all the gold and silver 
 chalices, and jewelled pyxes, which, by kingly 
 gifts and piratical ofTerings, had accumulated for 
 centuries in its treasury- 
 He must have been a fine, resolute fellow, that 
 Harald the Stern, although — in spite of much 
 
Harald Ilmdvada. 
 
 323 
 
 church-building and a certain amount of Pagan- 
 persecuting — his character did not in any way 
 emulate that of his saintly brother. The early 
 part of his history reads like a fairy tale, and is a 
 favourite subject for Scald songs ; more especi- 
 ally his romantic adventures in the East, — 
 
 " Well worthy of the golden prime 
 Of good Haroun Alraschid ; " 
 
 where Saracens flee like chaff upon the wind 
 before him, and impregnable Sicilian castles fall 
 into his power by impossible feats of arms, or 
 incredible stratagems. A Greek empress, "the 
 mature Zoe," as Gibbon calls her, falls in love 
 with him, and her husband, Constantine Mono- 
 machus, puts him into prison ; but Saint Olaf 
 still protects his viauvais sujct of a brother, and 
 inspires " a lady of distinction " with the success- 
 ful idea of helping Harald out of his inaccessible 
 tower by the prosaic expedient of a ladder of 
 ropes. A boom, however, across the harbour's 
 mouth still prevents the escape of his vessel. 
 The Sea-king is not to be so easily baffled. 
 Moving all his ballast, arms, and men, into the 
 after-part of the ship, until her stern slant up out 
 of the sea, he rows straight at the iron chain. 
 The ship leaps almost half way over. The 
 weight being then immediately transferred to the 
 forepart, she slips down into the water on the 
 other side, — having topped the fence like an Irish 
 hunter. A second galley breaks her back in the 
 
324 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 attempt. After some questionable acts of ven- 
 geance on the Greek court, Harald and his bold 
 Va,*ringers go figliting and plundering their way- 
 through the Bosphorus and Black Sea back to 
 Novogorod, where the first part of the romance 
 terminates, as it should, by his marriage with 
 the object of his secret attachment, Elisof, the 
 daughter of the Russian king. 
 
 Hardrada's story darkens towards the end, as 
 most of the tales of that stirring time are apt to 
 do. His death on English ground is so striking,, 
 that you must have patience with one other short 
 Saga ; it will give you the battle of Stanford 
 Bridge from the Norse point of view. 
 
 The expedition against Harold of England 
 
 commences ill ; dreams and omens affright the 
 
 fleet ; one man dreams he sees a raven sitting on 
 
 the stern of each vessel ; another sees the fair 
 
 English coast ; 
 
 " But glancing shields 
 Hide the green fields;" 
 
 and other fearful phenomena mar the beautiful 
 vision. Harald himself dreams that he is back 
 again at Nidaros, and that his brother Olaf meets 
 him with a prophecy of ruin and death. The 
 bold Norsemen are not to be daunted by these 
 auguries, and their first successes on the English 
 coast seem to justify their persistence. But on 
 a certain beautiful Monday in September (A. D^ 
 1066, according to the Saxon Chronicle), part of 
 
TJic Battle of Stanford Br'uigc 
 
 325 
 
 his army being encamped at Stanford Bridge, 
 " Hardrada, having taken breakfast, ordered the 
 trumpets to sound for going on shore ;" but he 
 left half his force behind, to guard the ships ; 
 
 and hi 
 
 »i;- 
 
 istj 
 
 th( 
 
 men, anticipatmj 
 castle, which had already surrendered, " went on 
 shore (the weather being hot), with only their 
 helmets, shields, and spears, and gir;: with swords ; 
 some had bows and arrows, — and all were very 
 merry." On nearing the castle, they sec " a 
 cloud of dust as from horses' feet, and under it 
 shinincr shields and brii^ht armour." En";lish 
 Harold's army is before them. Hardrada sends 
 back to his ship for succour, and sets up his ban- 
 ner, " Land Ravager," undismayed by the in- 
 equality of his force, and their comparatively 
 unarmed condition. The men on each side are 
 drawn up in battle array, and the two kings in 
 presence, each gazes eagerly to discover his noble 
 foe amonc: the multitude. Harald Hardrada's 
 black horse stumbles and falls; "the King got 
 up in haste, and said, ' A fall is lucky for a trav- 
 eller.'" 
 
 The English King said to the Northmen who 
 were with him, " Do you know the stout man 
 who fell from his horse, with the blue kirtle, and 
 beautiful helmet } " 
 
 " That is the Norwegian King," said they. 
 
 English Harold replied, " A great man, and of 
 stately appearance is he; but I think his luck has 
 .left him." 
 
 I 
 
326 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 W-i 
 
 
 And now twenty gallant English knights ride 
 out of their ranks to parley with the Northmen. 
 One advances beyond the rest and asks if Earl 
 Toste, the brother of English Harold (who has 
 banded with his enemy against him), is with the 
 army. 
 
 The Earl himself proudly answers, " It is not 
 to be denied that you will find him here." 
 
 The Saxon says, " Thy brother, Harold, sends 
 this salutation, and offers thee the third part of 
 his kingdom, if thou wilt be reconciled and sub- 
 mit to him." 
 
 The Earl replies, at the suggestion of the Norse 
 King, " What will my brother the King give to 
 Harald Hardrada for his troubles r 
 
 ** He will give him," says the Knight, *' seven 
 feet of English ground, or as )niich more as he 
 may be taller than other men. 
 
 "Then," says the Earl, "let the English King, 
 my brother, make ready for battle, for it never 
 shall be said that Earl Toste broke faith with his 
 friends when they came with him to fight west 
 here in England." 
 
 When the knights rode off, King Harald Har- 
 drada asked the Earl, " Who was the man who 
 spoke so well T' 
 
 The Earl replied, " That knight was Harold of 
 England." 
 
 The stern Norwegian King regrets that his. 
 enemy had escaped from his hands, owing to his. 
 
A Ball at Throndhjun, 
 
 327 
 
 his. 
 his. 
 
 ignorance of this fact ; but even in his first burst 
 of disappointment, the noble Norse nature speaks 
 in generous admiration of his foe, saying to the 
 people about him, " That was but a little man, 
 yet he sat firmly in his stirrups." 
 
 The fierce, but unequal combat is soon at an 
 end, and when tardy succour arrives from the 
 ships, Harald Hardrada is lying on his face, with 
 the deadly arrow in his throat, never to see 
 Nidaros again. Seven feet of English earth, and 
 no more, has the strong arm and fiery spirit con- 
 quered. 
 
 But enough of these gallant fellows ; I must 
 carry you off to a much plcasanter scene of ac- 
 tion. After a very agreeable dinner with Mr. 
 K , who has been most kind to us, we ad- 
 journed to the ball. The room was large and 
 well lighted — plenty of pretty faces adorned it — 
 the floor was smooth, and the scrape of the fiddles 
 had a festive accent so extremely inspiriting, that 
 
 I besought Mr. K to present me to one of 
 
 the fair personages whose tiny feet were already 
 tapping the floor with impatience at their own in- 
 activity. 
 
 I was led up in due form to a very pretty lady, 
 and heard my own name, followed by a singular 
 sound purporting to be that of my charming 
 partner, Madame Hghelghghagllaghem. For the 
 pronunciation of this polysyllabic cognomen, I 
 can only give you a few plain instructions : com- 
 
328 
 
 Letters from Ilij^li Latitudes. 
 
 mcncc it with a slifjht coiigli, continue with a 
 gur^dinj^ in the throat, and fniish witii the first 
 convulsive movement of a sneeze, imparting to 
 the whole operation a delicate nasal twang. If 
 the result is not somethii-g approaching to the 
 sound required, you must relinijuish all hope of 
 achieving it, as I did. Luckly, my business was 
 to dance, and not to apostrophize the lady ; and 
 accordingly, when the waltz struck up, I hastened 
 to claim, in the dumbest show, the honour of her 
 hand. Although my dancing qualifications have 
 rather rusted during the last two or three years, I 
 remember that the time was not so very far 
 
 •distant when even the fair Mad'-""'' K. had 
 
 graciously pronounced me to be a ver)- tolerable 
 waltzer, " for an Englishman," and I led my 
 partner to the circle alread}' formed with the 
 ** air capnble" which the object of such praise is 
 entitled to assume. There was a certain languid 
 rhythm in the air they were playing which rather 
 offended my ears, but 1 suspected nothing until, 
 observing the few couples who had already de- 
 iscended into the arena. I became aware- that they 
 were twirling about with all the antiquated grace 
 of *' la valse a trois temps !' Of course my part- 
 ner would be no exception to the general rule ! 
 nobody had ever danced any thing else at Thrond- 
 hjem from the days of Odin downwards ; and I 
 had never so much as attempted it. What was 
 -to be done } I could not explain the state of 
 
IVe Weigh Anclior. 
 
 329 
 
 the case to Madame Hijhel^^h;4lui<;lla^hem ; she 
 could not understand Enfjlisli, nor I speak Norse. 
 My brain reeled with anxiety to find some solu- 
 tion of the difficulty, or some excuse for rushing 
 from her presence. What if I were taken with 
 
 the 
 
 a sudden Dleedmj^ at tnc nose, or had an apo- 
 plectic fit on the spot ? luther case would neces- 
 sitate my beini^ carried decently out, and con- 
 signed to oblivion, which would have been a 
 comfort under the circumstances. There was 
 nothing for it but the courage of despair ; so, 
 casting reflection to the winds, and my arm 
 round her waist, I suddenly whisked her off her 
 legs and dashed madly down the room, " a deux 
 teuipsr At the first preception that something 
 unusual was going on, she gave such an eldritch 
 scream, that the whole society suddenly came to 
 a stand-still. I thought it best to assume an 
 aspect of innocent composure and conscious rec- 
 titude ; which had its effect, for though the lady 
 began with a certain degree of hysterical anima- 
 tion to describe her wrongs, she finished with a 
 hearty laugh, in which the company cordially 
 joined, and I delicately chimed in. For the rest 
 of the dance she seemed to resign herself to her 
 fate, and floated through space, under my guid- 
 ance, with all the abandon of Francesca di 
 Rimini, in Scheffer's famous picture. 
 
 The Crown Prince is a tall, fine-looking person ; 
 he was very gracious, and asked many questions 
 about my voyage. 
 
 I 
 
330 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 At night there was a general ilhimination, to- 
 which The L'oam contributed some blue lights. 
 
 We got under weigh early this morning, and 
 without a pilot — as we had entered — made our 
 way out to sea again. I left Throndhjem with 
 regret, not for its own sake, for in spite of balls 
 . and illuminations I should think the pleasures of 
 a stay there WDuld not be deliriously exciting; 
 but this whole district is so intimately associated 
 in my mind with all the brilliant episodes of an- 
 cient Norwegian history, that I feel as if I were 
 taking leave of all those noble Haralds, and Olafs, 
 and Hacons, among whom I have been living in 
 such pleasant intimacy for some time past. 
 
 While we are dropping down the coast, I 
 may as well employ the time in giving you a 
 rapid sketch of the commencement of this fine 
 Norse people, though the story '* renioiite jnsqiia 
 la unit des temps',' and has something of the 
 vague magnificence of your own M'Donnell 
 genealogy, ending a long list of great potentates^ 
 with "somebody, who was the son of somebody 
 else, who was the son of Scotha, who was the 
 daughter of Pharaoh !" 
 
 In bygone ages, beyond the Scythian plains 
 and the fens of the Tanais, in that land of the 
 rtiorning, to which neither Grecian letters nor 
 Roman arms had ever penetrated, there was a 
 great city called Asgaard. Of its founder, of its 
 history, we know nothing ; but looming through 
 
Early Norse History. 
 
 11^ 
 
 the mists of antiquity wc can discern an heroic 
 figure, whose superior attainments won for liim 
 the lordshii) dT his own ^^^eneratio. and divine 
 honours from those that succeeded. Wiiether 
 moved by an irresistible impulse, or expelled by 
 more powerful ncii^hbours, it is impossible to 
 say ; but certain it is that at some period, not 
 perhaps very long before the Christian era, under 
 the guidance of this personage, a sun-nurtured 
 people moved across the face of Europe, in a 
 northwesterly direction, and after leaving settle- 
 ments along the southern shores of the lialtic, 
 finally established themselves in the forests and 
 valleys of what has come to be called the Scan- 
 dinavian Peninsula. That children of the south 
 should have sought out so inclement a habitation 
 may excite surprise; but it must always be re- 
 membered that they were, probably, a compara- 
 tively scanty congregation, and that the unoccu- 
 pied valleys of Norway and Sweden, teeming 
 with fish and game, and rich in iron, were a pref- 
 erable region to lands only to be colonized after 
 they had been conquered. 
 
 Thus, under the leadership of Odin — and his 
 twelve Paladins, to whom a grateful posterity 
 afterwards conceded thrones in the halls of their 
 chiefs Valhalla, — the new emigrants spread 
 thenxoclves along the margin of the out-ocean, 
 and round about the gloomy fiords, and up and 
 down the deep valleys, and fall away at right 
 
Jf 
 
 I 
 
 mil « - 
 
 332 
 
 LctUrs from Ili^h Latitudes, 
 
 anj^lcs from the backbone, or keel, as the sea- 
 faring popiihition soon learnt to call the flat 
 snow-capped ridi;e that runs down the centre of 
 Norway. 
 
 Amid the riule but not un;4cnial influences of 
 its bracin^^ climate, was gradually fostered that 
 gallant race which was destined to give an im- 
 perial dynasty to Russia, a nobility to luigland, 
 and conquerors to every sea-board in luirope. 
 
 Upon the occupation of their new home, the 
 ascendency of that mysterious hero, under whose 
 auspices the settlement was conducted, appears 
 to have remained more firmly established than 
 ever, not only over the mass of the people, but 
 also over the twelve subordinate chiefs who ac- 
 companied him ; there never seems to have been 
 the slightest attempt to question his authority, 
 and — though afterwards themselves elevated into 
 an order of celestial beings, every tradition which 
 has descended is careful to maintain his human 
 and Divine supremac}-. Through the obscurity, 
 the exaggeration and the ridiculous fables, with 
 which his real existence has been overloaded, we 
 can still see that this ni idently possessed a 
 
 genius as superior tr jntemporaries, as has 
 
 ever given to any c of man the ascendency 
 
 over his generation. Jn the simple language of 
 the old chronicler we are told, " that his counte- 
 nance was so beautiful, that, when sitting among 
 his friends, the spirits of all were exhilarated by 
 
The Bonders. 
 
 333 
 
 it; t!iat when he spoke, all were persuaded ; that 
 when he went forth to meet his enemies, none 
 coukl withstand him." Thou^di subsequently 
 maile a ^od by the superstitious people he had 
 benefited, his death seems to have been noble and 
 religious. lie summoned his friends around his 
 pillow, intimated a belief in the immortality of 
 his soul, and his hope that hereafter they should 
 meet a^ain in I'aradise. " Then," we are told, 
 " be^^an the belief in Odin, and their calling upon 
 mi. 
 
 On the settlement of the country, the land was 
 divided and subdivided into lots — some as small 
 as fifty acres — and each proprietor held his share 
 — as their descendants do to this day — by udal 
 right ; that is, not as a fief of the Crown, or of 
 any superior lord, but in absolute, inalienable 
 possession, by the same udal right as the kings 
 wore their crowns, to be transmitted, under the 
 same title, to their descendants unto all genera- 
 tions. 
 
 These landed proprietors were called the Bond- 
 ers, and formed the chief strength of the realm. 
 It was they — their friends and servants, or thralls 
 — who constituted the army. Without their con- 
 sent the king could do nothing. On stated occa- 
 sions they met together in a solemn assembly, or 
 Thing (/. c. Parliament) as it was called, for the 
 transaction of public business, the administration, 
 of justice, the allotment of scatt, or taxes. 
 
334 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 I 
 
 Wi \ 
 
 til ' 
 
 Without a solemn induction at the Ore or Great 
 Thing, even the most legitimately-descended sov- 
 ereign could not mount the throne, and to that 
 august assembly an appeal might ever lie against 
 his authority. 
 
 To these Things, and to the Norse invasion 
 that implanted them, and not to the Wittenage- 
 motts of the Latinized Saxons, must be referred 
 the existence of those Parliair .its which are the 
 boast of Englishmen. 
 
 Noiselessly r nd gradually did a belief in liberty, 
 and an unconquerable love of independence, grow 
 up among that simple people. No feudal despots 
 oppressed the unprotected, for all were noble and 
 udal born ; no standing armies enabled the Crown 
 to set popular opinion at defiance, for the swords 
 of the Bonders sufficed to guard the realm ; no 
 military barons usurped an illegitimate authority, 
 for the nature of the soil forbade the erection of 
 feudal fortresses. Over the rest of Europe des- 
 potism rose up rank under the tutelage of a cor- 
 rupt religion ; while, year after year, amid the 
 savage scenery of its Scandinavian nursery, that 
 great race was maturing whose genial heartiness 
 was designed to invigorate the sickly civilization 
 of the Saxon with inexhaustible energy, and pre- 
 serve to the world, even in the nineteenth century, 
 one glorious example of a free European people. 
 
 tii* 
 
 'i I, 
 
LETTER XIII. 
 
 'COPENHAGEN' 
 
 -1?ER(;EN— THE r.LACK DEATH -SICURDR— 
 HOMEWARDS. 
 
 Copenhagen, Sept. 12, 1856. 
 
 Our adventures since the date of my last letter 
 have not been of an exciting character. We had 
 fine weather and prosperous winds down the 
 coast, and stayed a day at Christiansund, and 
 another at Bergen. But though the novelty of 
 the cruise had ceased since our arrival in lower 
 latitudes, there was always a certain raciness and 
 oddity in the incidents of our coasting voyage ; 
 such as — waking in the morning, and finding the 
 schooner brought up under the lea of a wooden 
 house, or — riding out a foul wind with your haw- 
 ser rove through an iron ring in the sheer side of 
 a mountain, — which took from the comparative 
 flatness of daily life on board. 
 
 Perhaps the queerest incident was a visit paid 
 us at Christiansund. As I was walking the deck 
 I saw a boat coming off, with a gentleman on 
 board ; she was soon alongside the schooner, and 
 as I was gazing down on this individual, and 
 wondering what he wanted, I saw him suddenly 
 
336 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 lift his feet lightly over the gunwale and plunge 
 them into the water, boots and all. After cooling 
 his heels in this way for a minute or so, he laid 
 hold of the side ropes and gracefully swung him- 
 self on deck. Upon this, Sigurdr, who always 
 acted interpreter on such occasions, advanced to- 
 wards him, and a colloquy followed, which ter- 
 minated rather abruptly f'l Sigurdr walking aft, 
 and the web-footed stranger ducking down into 
 his boat again. It was not till some hours later 
 that the indignant Sigurdr explained the meaning 
 of the visit. Although not a naval character, this 
 gentleman certainly came into the category of 
 men *' who do business in great waters," his bus- 
 iness being to negotiate a loan ; in short, to ask 
 me to lend him ;^ioo. There must have been 
 something very innocent and confiding in " the 
 cut of our jib " to encourage his boarding us on 
 such an errand ; or perhaps it was the old ma- 
 rauding, toll-taking spirit coming out strong in 
 him ; the politer influences of the nineteenth 
 century toning down the ancient Viking into a 
 sort of cross between Paul Jones and Jeremy 
 Diddler. The seas which his ancestors once 
 swept with their galleys, he now sweeps with his 
 telescope, and with as keen an eye to the inaiti 
 chance as any of his predecessors displayed. The 
 feet-washing ceremony was evidently a propitia- 
 tory homage to the purity of my quarter-deck. 
 Bergen, with its pale-faced houses grouped on. 
 
A /I Infant Walrus. 
 
 337 
 
 the brink of the fiord, Hke invalids at a German 
 spa, thoLii^h picturesque in its way, with a cathe- 
 dral of its own, and plenty of churches, looked 
 rather tame and spiritless after the warmer col- 
 ouring of Throndhjem ; moreover, it wanted nov- 
 elty to me, as I called in there two years ago on 
 my return from the l^altic. It was on that occa- 
 sion that I became possessed of ni)- ever^-to-be 
 lamented infant Walrus. 
 
 No one, personally unacquainted with that 
 "most delicate monster," can have any idea of 
 his attaching qualities. I own that his figure 
 was not strictly symmetrical, that he had a roll 
 in his gait, suggestive of heavy seas, that he 
 would not have locked well in your boudoir; but 
 lie never seemed out of place on my quarter- 
 deck, and every man on board loved him as a 
 brother. With what a languid grace he would 
 wallow and roll in the water, when we chucked 
 him overboard ; and paddle and splash, and make 
 himself thoroughly cool and comfortable, and 
 then come and " beg to be taken up" like a fat 
 baby, and allow the rope to be slipped round his 
 extensive waist, and come up — sleek and drip- 
 ping — among us again with a contented grunt, 
 as much as to say, " Well, after all, there's no 
 place like Jiomc ! " How he would compose him- 
 self to placid slumber in every possible incon- 
 venient place, with his head on the binnacle 
 (especially when careful steering was a matter 
 
 '>-> 
 
33S 
 
 Letters from HigJi Latitudes. 
 
 W 
 
 w 
 
 
 of moment), or across the companion entrance, 
 or the cabin skylight, or on the shaggy back of 
 " Sailor," the Newfoundland, who i)ositively ab- 
 horred him. And how touching it was to see 
 him waddle up and down the deck after Mr. 
 Wyse, whom he evidently regarded in a maternal 
 point of view — begging for milk with the most 
 expressive snorts and grunts, and embarrassing 
 my good-natured master by demonstrative ap- 
 peals to his fostering offices. 
 
 I shall never forget ]\Ir. Wyse's countenance 
 that day in Ullapool Bay, when he tried to com- 
 mand his feelings sufficiently to acquaint me 
 with the creature's death, which he announced 
 in this graphic sentence, " Ah, my Lord ! — the 
 poor thing ! — toes up at last ! " 
 
 Bergen is not as neat and orderly in its archi- 
 tectural arrangements as Drontheim ; a great 
 part of the city is a confused network of narrow 
 .streets and alleys, much resembling, I should 
 think, its early inconveniences, in the days of 
 Olaf Kyrrc. This close and stifling .system of 
 street building must have ensured fatal odds 
 against the chances of life in some of those 
 world-devastating plagues that characterized past 
 ages. Bergen was, in fact, nearly depopulated 
 by that terrible pestilence which, in 1 349, ravaged 
 the North of Europe, and whose memory is still 
 preserved under the name of "The Black Death." 
 
 I have been tempted to enclose you a sort 
 
The Black Death of Bergen, 
 
 339 
 
 of ballad, which was composed while lookirjfj 
 on the very scene of this disastrous event ; its 
 only merit consists in its local inspiration, and in 
 its conveying a true relation of the manner in 
 which the plague entered the doomed city. 
 
 THE BLACK DEATH OF BERGEN. 
 
 I. 
 What can ail the Bergen Burghers 
 
 That they leave their stoups of wine ? 
 Flinging up the hill like jagers, 
 
 At the hour they're wont to dine ! 
 See, the shifting groups are fringing 
 
 Rock and ridge with gay attire, 
 Bright as Northern strean'^^rs tinging 
 
 Peak and crag with fitful fire ! 
 
 II. 
 Towards the cliff their steps are bending,. 
 
 Westward turns their eager gaze, 
 Whence a stately ship ascending. 
 
 Slowly cleaves the golden haze. 
 Landward floats the apparition — 
 
 " Is it, can it be the same?" 
 Frantic cries of recognition 
 
 Shout a long-lost vessel's name ! 
 
 III. 
 Years ago she had departed — 
 
 Castled poop and gilded stern ; 
 Weeping women, broken-hearted, 
 
 Long had waited her return. 
 When the midnight sun wheeled downwards.. 
 
 But to kiss the ocean's verge — 
 When the noonday sun, a moment, 
 
 Peeped above the Wintry surge. 
 
340 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Childless mothers, orphan'cl daughters, 
 
 From the seaward-facing crag, 
 Vainly searched the vacant waters 
 
 For that unreturning flag ! 
 But, suspense and tears are ended, 
 
 Lo ! it floats upon the breeze ! 
 Ne'er from eager hearts ascended 
 
 Thankful prayers as warm as these. 
 
 V. 
 
 ^Z 
 
 See the good ship proudly rounding 
 
 That last point that blocks the view ; 
 " Strange ! no answering cheer resoundinjj 
 
 From the long home-parted crew I " 
 Past the harbour's stoney gateway, 
 
 Onwards borne by sucking tides, 
 Tho' the light wind faileth — straightway 
 
 Into port she safely glides. 
 
 V!. 
 
 Swift, as by good angels carried. 
 
 Right and left the news has spread. 
 Wives long widowed — yet scarce married — 
 
 Brides that never hoped to wed, 
 From a hundred pathways meeting 
 
 Crowd along the narrrow quay. 
 Maddened by the hope of meeting 
 
 Those long counted cast away. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Soon a crowd of small boats flutter 
 O'er the intervening space. 
 
 Bearing hearts too full to utter- 
 Thoughts that flush the eager face ! ' h 
 
 See young Eric foremost gaining — 
 (For a father's love athirst !) 
 
 Every nerve and muscle straining. 
 But to touch the dear handyfrj-/. 
 
The Black Death of Bergen, 34 1 
 
 vni. 
 In ihc ship's green shadow rocking 
 
 Lies his little boat at last : 
 Wherefore is the warm heart knocking 
 
 At his side, so loud and fast ? 
 " What strange aspect is she wearing, 
 
 Vessel once so taut and trim ? 
 Shout ! — my heart has lost its daring, 
 
 Comrades, search I — )ny eyes are dim.* 
 
 IX. 
 
 Sad the search, and fearful finding ! 
 
 On the deck lay parched and dry 
 Men— who in some burning blinding 
 
 Clime — had lain them down to die ! 
 Hands— prayer-clenched — that would not sever, 
 
 Eyes that stared against the sun, 
 Sights that haunt the soul for ever, 
 -till life is done ! 
 
 Poisoning life- 
 
 X. 
 
 Strength from fear, doth Eric gather. 
 
 Wide the cabin door he threw — 
 Lo ! the face of his dead father. 
 
 Stern and still, confronts his view \ 
 Stately as in life he bore him, 
 
 Seated — motionless and grand ; 
 On the blotted page before him 
 
 Lingers still the livid hand ! 
 
 XI. 
 What sad entry was he making, 
 
 When the death-stroke fell at last ? 
 " Is it then God's will in taking 
 
 All, that I am left the last ? 
 I have closed the cabin doorway, 
 
 That I may not see them die : — 
 Would our bones might rest in Norway, — 
 
 'Neath our own cool Northern sky !" 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
342 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes, 
 
 XII. 
 
 Then the ghastly log-book told them 
 
 How — in some .iccurscd clime, 
 Where the breathless land-swell rolled them, 
 
 For an endless age of time — 
 Sudden broke the plague among them, 
 
 'Neath that sullen Tropic sun ; 
 As if tiery scorpions stung them — 
 
 Died they raving, one by one ! 
 
 XIII. 
 — Told the vain and painful striving, 
 
 By shot-weighted shrouds to hide 
 CLast fond care,) from those surviving. 
 
 What good comrade last had died ; 
 Yet the ghastly things kept showing, 
 
 Waist deep in the unquiet grave — 
 To each other gravely bowing 
 
 On the slow swing of the wave ! 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Eric's boat is near the landing — 
 
 From that dark ship bring they aught? 
 In the stern sheets one is standing, 
 
 Though their eyes perceive him not ; 
 But a curdling horror creepeth 
 
 Thro' their veins, with icy darts. 
 And each hurried oar-stroke keepeth 
 
 Time with their o'er-labouring hearts ! 
 
 XV. 
 Heavy seems their boat returning. 
 Weighted with a world of care ! 
 Oh, ye blind ones — none discerning 
 What the spectral freight ye bear. 
 Glad they hear the sea-beach grating 
 
 Harsh beneath the small boat's stem — 
 Porth they leap, for no man waiting — 
 But the Black Death lands with them. 
 
Ilonuward Jjoiimi. 
 
 343 
 
 XVI. 
 
 \'ic\vlcss- soundless ■ stalks the spectre 
 
 Thro' the city chill ;ind pale, 
 Which like bride, this morn, had deck'd her 
 
 P'or the advent of that sail. 
 Oft by IJergen women, mourning, 
 
 Shall the dismal talc be told. 
 Of that lost ship home returning. 
 
 With " THK Black Death" in her hold. 
 
 I would gladly dwell on the pleasures of my 
 :sccond visit to Christiansund, which has a charm 
 •of its own, independent of its interest as the 
 spot from whence we really "start for home." 
 But though strange lands, and unknown or indif- 
 ferent people, are legitimate subjects for travel- 
 lers' tales, our friends and their pleasant homes 
 are not; so I shall keep all I have to say of 
 gratitude to our excellent and hospitable Consul, 
 Mr. Morch, and of admiration for his charming 
 wife, until I can tell you viv<'i vow how much I 
 wish that you also knew them. 
 
 And now, though fairly ofi' from Norway, and 
 on our homeward way, it was a tedious business, 
 — what with fogs, calms and head winds — work- 
 ing towards Copenhagen. We rounded the 
 Scaw in a thick mist, saw the remains of four 
 ships that had run aground upon it, and were 
 nearly run into ourselves by a clumsy merchant- 
 man, whom we had the relief of being able ta 
 abuse in our native vernacular, and the most racy 
 .sea-slang. 
 
 I 
 
 
344 
 
 Letters from High Latitudes. 
 
 i 
 
 Those five last clays were certainly the only 
 tedious period of the whole cruise. I suppose 
 there is something magnetic in the soil of one's 
 own country, which may account for that impa- 
 tient desire to see it again, which always grows 
 as the distance from it diminishes ; if so, London 
 clay — and its superstratum of foul, greasy, gas- 
 discoloured mud — began about this time to exer- 
 cise a tender influence upon me, which has been 
 increasing every hour since; it is just possible 
 that the thoughts of seeing you again may have 
 some share in the matter. 
 
 Somebody (I think Fuller) says somewhere,, 
 that "everyone with whom you converse, and 
 every place Vvherein you tarry awhile, giveth 
 somewhat to you, and taketh somewhat away» 
 cither for evil or good;" a startling considera- 
 tion for circumnavigators, and such like restless, 
 spirits ; but a comfortable thought, in some re- 
 spects, for voyagers to Polar regions, as (except 
 seals and bears) few things could suffer evil from 
 us there ; though for our own parts, there were 
 solemn and wholesome influences enough " to 
 be taken away " from those icy solitudes, if one 
 were but ready and willing to " stow " them. 
 
 To-morrow I leave Copenhagen and my good 
 Sigurdr, whose companionship has been a con- 
 stant source of enjoyment, both to Fitz and 
 myself, during the whole voyage ; I trust that I 
 leave with him a friendly remembrance of our 
 
Signnir. 
 
 345 
 
 too short connection, and pleasant thoughts of 
 the strange places and things we have seen to- 
 gether; as I take away with me a most affec- 
 tionate memory of his frank and kindly nature, 
 his ready sympathy, and his imperturable good 
 humour. From the day on which I shipped him 
 — an entire stranger — until this eve of our separa- 
 tion — as friends, through scenes of occasional 
 discomfort and circumstances which might some- 
 times have tried both temper and spirits — shut 
 up as we were for four months in the necessarily 
 close communion of life on board a vessel of 
 eighty tons, — there has never been the shadow of 
 a cloud between us ; henceforth, the words " an 
 Icelander" can convey no cold or ungenial asso- 
 ciations to my ears, and however much my 
 imagination has hitherto delighted in the past 
 history of that singular island, its Present will 
 always claim a deeper and warmer interest from 
 me, for Sigurdr's sake. 
 
 To-morrow Fitz and I start for Hamburgh, 
 and very soon after — at least as soon as railroad 
 and steamer can bring me — I look for the joy of 
 seeing your face again. 
 
 By the time this reaches Portsmouth, The Foam 
 will have performed a voyage of six thousand 
 miles. 
 
 I have had a most happy time of it, but I fear 
 my amusement will have cost you many a weary- 
 hour of anxiety and suspense. 
 
Vi 
 
 .?^l' 
 
 
 Ju 
 pa 
 
 CO 
 
 Li 
 
 in 
 
 an 
 
 of 
 
 off 
 
 att 
 
 Li 
 
 
 Th 
 
 
 up 
 
 
 lat 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 na 
 
 
 it ^ 
 
 
 di( 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 V(>}'a£C of Discovoy alony; the Juinifiii.u', north of hclanii^ 
 by La Rkine Hortense. 
 
 It fell to the lot of an officer of the French navy, M. 
 Jules dc Blossevillc, to attempt to explore those distant 
 parts, and to shed an interest over them, both by his dis- 
 coveries and by his tragical and premature end. 
 
 In the spring of 1833, on the breaking up of a frost. La 
 Lilloise, under the command of that brave officer, succeeded 
 in passing through the Iia)iquist\ nearly up to latitude 69^ 
 and in surveying about thirty leagues of coast to the south 
 of that latitude. After having returned to her anchorage 
 off the coast of Iceland, he sailed again in July for a second 
 attempt. From that time nothing has been heard of La 
 Lilloise. 
 
 The following year The Bordelaisc was sent to look for 
 The Lilloise, but found the whole north of Iceland blocked 
 up by ice-fields ; and returned, having been stopped in the 
 
 latitude of the North Cape. 
 
 •if******* 
 
 As a voyage to the Danish colonies on the western 
 coast of Greenland formed part of the scheme of our arctic 
 navigation, we were aware at our departure from Paris, that 
 it was our business to make ourselves well acquainted with 
 the southern part of the ice-field, from Reykjavik to Cape 
 
348 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 \^t 
 
 
 
 F.irewcll. Hut while wc were touching at Peterhead, the 
 princij)al port for the fitting out of vessels destined for the 
 seal fishery, the Prince, and M. de la Ronciere, Commander 
 of La Reine Hortense, gathered — from conversations with 
 the fishermen just returned from their spring expedition, 
 some important information on the actual state of the ice. 
 They learnt from them that navigation was completely free 
 this year round the whole of Iceland ; that the ice-field 
 resting on Jan Mayen Island, and surrounding it to a dis- 
 tance of about twenty leagues, extended down the south- 
 west along the coast of (}reenland,but without blocking up 
 the channel which separates that coast from that of Iceland, 
 These unhoped-for circumstances opened a new field to our 
 explorations, by allowing us to survey all that part of the 
 Banquise which extends to the north of Iceland, thus form- 
 ing a continuation to the observations made by The 
 Recherche, and to those which we ourselves intended to 
 make during our voyage to Greenland. The temptation 
 was too great for the Prince ; and Commander de la? 
 Ronciere was not a man to allow an opportunity to escape 
 for executing a project which presented itself to him with 
 the character of daring and novelty. 
 
 But the difficulties of the enterprise were serious, and of 
 such a nature that no one but a sailor experienced in navi- 
 gation is capable of appreciating. The Reine Hortense is 
 a charming pleasure boat, but she offered very few of the 
 requisites for a long voyage, and she was destitute of all the 
 special ecjuipment indispensable for a long sojourn in the 
 ice. There was room but for six days' coals, and for three 
 weeks' 'vater. As to the sails, one may say the masts of 
 the corvette are merely for show, and that without steam it 
 would be impossible to reckon on her making any jvay reg- 
 ularly and uninterruptedly. Add to this, that she is built of 
 iron, — that is to say, an iron sheet of about two centimetres 
 thick constitutes all her planking,— and that her deck — 
 divided into twelve great panels, is so weak that it has been 
 
y 
 
 'Xppoidix. 
 
 340 
 
 thought incapable of carrying; guns proportioned to her ton- 
 nage. Those who have seen the massive vessels of the 
 fishermen of Peterhead, their enormous outside planking 
 their bracings and fastenings in wood and in iron, and their 
 internal knees and stancheons, may form an idea from such 
 precautions — imposed by long experience, of the nature of 
 the dangers that the shock — or even the pressure of the ice 
 — may cause to a shij) in the latitudes that we are going to 
 
 explore. 
 
 ♦ * ♦ * ♦ * 
 
 The Cocytc had also been placed at the disposal of 
 W. I. H. Prince Napoleon. This vessel, which arrived at 
 Reykjavik the same day that we did, the 30th of June, — is 
 a steam schooner, with paddles, standing the sea well, car- 
 rying coals for twche days, but with a deplorably slow rate 
 of speed. 
 
 We found besides at Rcykja\ik the war transjiort La 
 Perdrix, and two English merchant steamers, the Tasmania 
 and the Saxon, freighted by the Admiralty to take to Ice- 
 land coals necessary for our voyage to Greenland. 'Ihese 
 five vessels, with the frigate Artemise, which performed the 
 duties of guardship, formed the largest squadron which had 
 ever assembled in the harbour of the capital of Iceland. 
 
 Unfortunately, these varied and numerous elements had 
 nothing in common, and Commodore de la Ronciere soon 
 saw that extraneous help would afford us no additional se- 
 curity; and in short, that The Reine Hortense— obliged to 
 go fast— as her short supplies would not allow long voyages, 
 had to reckon on herself alone. However, the [English] 
 captain of The Saxon expressing a great desire to visit these 
 northern parts, and displaying on this subject a sort of na- 
 tional vanity, besides promising an average speed of seven 
 knots an hour, it was decided that — at all events, that ves- 
 sel should start alone with The Reine Hortense, whose sup- 
 ply of coals it would be able to replenish, in the event — a 
 doubtful one, it is true — of our making t'. coast of Jan 
 
 if 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 l! 
 
 . 
 
 r^i 
 
350 
 
 Appendix'. 
 
 Mayen's island, and finding a good anchorage. The Reine 
 Hortense had— by the help of a supplementary load on 
 deck — a supply of coals for eight days ; and immediately 
 on starting, the crew, as well as the passengers, were to be 
 put on a measured allowance of water. 
 
 A few hours before getting under weigh, the expedition 
 was completed by the junction of a new companion, quite 
 unexpected. We found in Reykjavik harbour a yacht be- 
 longing to Lord Dufferln. The Prince, seeing his great 
 desire to visit the neighbourhood of Jan Mayen, offered to 
 take his schooner in tow of The Reine Hortense. It was a 
 fortunate accident for a seeker of maritime adventures; and 
 an hour afterwards, the proposition having been eagerly 
 accepted, the Englishman was attached by two long cables 
 to the stern of our corvette. 
 
 On the 7th of July, 1856, at two o'clock in the morning, 
 after a ball given by Commander de Mas on board The 
 Artemise — The Reine Hortense, with the English schooner 
 in tow, left Reykjavik harbour, directing her course along 
 the west coast of Iceland, towards Onundarfiord, where we 
 were to join The Saxon, which had left a few hours before 
 us. At nine o'clock, the three vessels, steering east-north- 
 east, doubled the point of Cape North. At noon our 
 observation of the latitude placed us about 67°. We had 
 just crossed the Arctic circle. The temperature was that 
 ot a fine spring day, 10^ centigrade, (50 Farenh.) 
 
 The Reine Hortense diminished her speed. A rope, 
 thrown across one of the towing-ropes, enabled Lord Duf- 
 ferin to haul one of his boats to our corvette. He himself 
 came to dine with us, and to be present at the ceremony of 
 crossing the polar circle. As to The Saxon, M. de la Ron- 
 ciere perceived that the worthy Englishman had presumed 
 too much on his power. The Saxon was evidently in- 
 capable of following us. The captain, therefore, made her 
 a signal that she was to take her own course, to try and 
 
Appendix.^ 
 
 351 
 
 reach Jan Mayen ; and if she could not succed, to direct 
 her course on Onundartiord, and there to wait for us. The 
 EngHsh vessel fell rapidly astern, her hull disappeared, 
 then her sails, and in the evening every trace of her 
 smoke had faded from the horizon. 
 
 In the evening the temperature grew gradually colder ; 
 that of the water underwent a more rapid and significant 
 change. At twelve at night it was only three degrees cen- 
 tig. (about 37"' Fahr.) At that moment the vessel plunged 
 into a bank of fog, the intensity of which we were unable 
 to ascertain, from the continuance of daylight in these lat- 
 itudes, at this time of the year. These are tokens that 
 leave no room to doubt that we are approaching the solid 
 ice. True enough : — at two o'clock in the morning the 
 officer on watch sees close to the ship a herd of seals, 
 inhabitants of the field ice. A few minutes later the fog 
 clear*:; up suddenly ; a ray of sunshine gilds the surface of 
 the sea, lighting up millions of patches of sparkling white, 
 extending to the farthest limit of the horizon. These are 
 the detached hummocks which precede and announce the 
 field ice ; they increase in size and in number as we pro- 
 ceed. At three o'clock in the afternoon we find ourselves 
 in front of a large pack which blocks up the sea before us. 
 We are obliged to change our course to extricate our- 
 selves from the ice that surrounds us. 
 
 This is an evolution requiring on the part of the com- 
 mander, the greatest precision of eye, and a perfect know- 
 ledge of his ship. The Reine Hortense, going half-speed 
 with all the officers and the crew on deck, glides along be- 
 tween the blocks of ice, some of which she seems almost to 
 touch, and the smallest of which would sink her instantly 
 if a collision took place. Another danger, which it is al- 
 most impossible to guard against, threatens a vessel in 
 those trying moments. If a piece of ice gets under the 
 screw, it will be inevitably smashed like glass, and the con- 
 sequences of such an accident might be fatal. 
 
352 
 
 '\ppciidix. 
 
 The little English schooner follows us bravely ; bound- 
 ing in our track, and avoiding only by a constant watchful- 
 ness and incessant attention to the helm the icebergs that 
 we have cleared. 
 
 Ikit the difficulties of this navigation are nothing in clear 
 
 ' weather, as compared to what they are in a fog. Then, 
 notwithstanding the slowness of the speed, it requires as 
 much luck as skill to avoid collisions. Thus it happened 
 that after having escaped the ice a first time, and having 
 steered E. N. E., we found ourselves suddenly, towards two 
 o'clock of that same day (the 9th), not further than a quar- 
 
 . ter of a mile from the field ice which the fog had hidden us. 
 Oenerally speaking, the Banqnisc that we coasted along 
 for three days, and that we traced with the greatest care 
 for nearly a hundred leagues, presented to us an irregular 
 
 . line of margin, running from W. S. W. to E. N. E., and 
 thrusting forward towards tlie south— capes and promon- 
 tories of various sizes, and serrated like the teeth of a saw. 
 PIvery time that we bore up for E. N. E., we soon found 
 
 •ourselves in one of the gulfs of ice formed by the indenta- 
 tions of the Banqnisc. It was only by steering to the 
 
 ■. S. W. that we got free from the floating icebergs, to re- 
 sume our former course as soon as the sea was clear. 
 
 The further we advanced to the northward, the thicker 
 became the fog and more intense the cold (two degrees 
 centig. below zero ; the snow whirled round in squalls of 
 wind, and fell in large flacks on the deck. The ice began to 
 present a new aspect, and to assume those fantastic and ter- 
 rible forms and colours, which painters have made familiar 
 to us. At one time it assumed the appearance of mountain- 
 peaks covered with snow, furrowed with valleys of green and 
 blu? ; more frequently they appeared like a wide flat plateau, 
 as high as the ship's deck, against which the sea rolled with 
 fury, hollowing its edges into gulfs, or breaking them into 
 perpendicular cliffs or caverns, into which the sea rushed in 
 clouds of foam. 
 
Appendix. 
 
 353 
 
 We often passed close by a herd of seals, which— stretch- 
 ed on these floating islands, followed the ship with a stupid 
 and puzzled look. We were forcibly struck with the contrast 
 between the fictitious world in which we lived on board the 
 ship, and the terrible realities of nature that surrounded us. 
 Lounging in an elegant saloon, at the corner of a clear and 
 sparkling fire, amidst a thousand objects of the arts and 
 luxuries of home, we might have believed that we had not 
 changed our residence,or our habits, or our enjoyments. One 
 of Strauss's waltzes, or Schubert's melodies— played on the 
 piano by the ijand-master — completed the illusion ; and yet 
 we had only to rub off the thin incrustation of frozen \apour 
 that covered the panes of the windows, to look out upon the 
 gigantic and terrible forms of the icebergs dashed against 
 each other by a black and broken sea, and the whole pano- 
 rama of Polar nature, its awful risks, and its sinister splend- 
 ours. 
 
 ^ It t, Ht 
 
 Meanwhile, we progressed but very slowly. On the loth 
 of July we were still far from the meridian of Jan Mayen, 
 when we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by a fog, and 
 at the bottom of one of the bays formed by the field ice 
 We tacked immediately, and put the ship about, but the 
 wind had accumulated the ice behind us. At a distance the 
 circle that enclosed us seemed compact and without egress. 
 We considered this as the most critical moment of our ex- 
 pedition. Having tried this icy barrier at several points, 
 we found a narrow and tortuous channel, into which we 
 ventured ; and it was not till after an hour of anxieties that 
 we got a view of the open sea, and of a passage into it. 
 From this moment we were able to coast along the Banqidse 
 without interruption. 
 
 On the nth of July At 6 A. M. we reached, at last, the 
 meridian of Jan Mayen, at about eighteen leagues* distance 
 
 * I think there must be some mistake here ; when we parted company with 
 The Reine Hortense, we were still upwards of loo miles distant from the 
 southern extremity of Jan Mayen. 
 
 23 
 
354 
 
 Appendix, 
 
 from the southern part of that island, but we saw the ice- 
 tields strctchin;4 out Ix-foro us as far as the eye could reach ; 
 lience it l)ecanu> evident that Jan Mayen was blocked u|) by 
 the ice, at least alonj; its south coast. To ascertain whellu'r 
 it mi};ht still be accessible from the north, it would ha\e 
 been necessary to havcattemi)ted a c'rjuit to the eastward, 
 the possible extent of which could not be estimated ; more- 
 over, we had C(msumed half our coals, and had lost all hope 
 of bein^f joined by The Saxon. Thus forced to i;ive up any 
 fiuther attemjjts in that direction, Conmiodorc de la Ronci- 
 I're, havinj; <;ot the ship clear of the floatiuj;' ice, took a \V. 
 S. W. course, in the direction of Reykjavik. 
 
 The instant the Reine I lortense assumed this new course, 
 a telej^raphic si,<^nal as ha'd been previously arranijed — 
 acquainted Lord Duffcriu with our determination. Almost 
 immediately, the young Lord sent on board us a tin box, 
 with two letters, one for his mother, and one for our com- 
 mander. In the letter he stated that- tlndinj^ himself clear 
 of the ice, and master of his own movements -he preferred 
 continuing his voyage alone, uncertain whether he should at 
 once push for Norway, or return to Scotland.* The two 
 ropes that united the vessels were then cast oft', a farewell 
 hurrah was given, ami in a moment the l"'nglish schooner 
 was lost in the fog. 
 
 Our return to Reykjavik afforded no incident worth notice ; 
 The Reine Horlense, keeping her course outside the ice, 
 encountered no impediment, except from the intense fogs, 
 which forced her-fromthe impossibility of ascertaining her 
 position — to lie to, and anchor oft' the cape during part of 
 the day and night of the 13th. 
 
 On the morning of the 14th, we were getting out of the 
 Dyre Fiord where we had anchored, we met — to our great 
 astonishment— The Cocyte proceeding northwnrd. Her 
 commander, Sonnart, informed us that on the evening of 
 
 '* I was purposely vague as to my plans, lest you might learn we still intend- 
 ed to go on. 
 
Apf^cndix 
 
 355 
 
 the 121I1, The Sn\on in consc(|iicncc of the injuries she 
 had rei:ei\ eel, had been forced hack to Reykjavik. She had 
 hardly reached the ice on the 9th, when she came into col- 
 lision with it ; live of her timbers had been stove in, and an 
 cmormous leak had followed. IJecomin-- water-Nv^-ed, she 
 was ran ashore, the first time at Onundarliord, and attain in 
 Reykjavik roads, whither she had been brought with the 
 greatest difficulty. 
 
H' 
 
 ■m 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FIGURE-HEAD OF "THE FOAM." 
 
 Cai M Sculptured image of as sweet a face 
 As ever lighted up an English home, - 
 
 Whose mute companionship has dcign'd to grace 
 (Jur wanderings u'er a thousand leagues of foam, - 
 
 ir. 
 
 Our progress was your triumph duly hailed 
 By ocean's inmates ; herald dolphins played 
 
 Before our stem, tall ships that sunward s.iiled 
 With stately curtseys due obeisance paid. 
 
 111. 
 
 Fair Fortune's fairer harbinger ! you smoolh'd 
 Our way before us, through the frantic flin.i; 
 
 Of roystering waves — as once Athene sooth'd 
 The deeps that raged around the wandering King ; 
 
 IV. 
 
 The scowling tempest rose in vain to clutch 
 His forked bolts; you smiled,— they harmless tuinecj 
 
 To sheets of splendour at his palsied touch, 
 And all their anger perished ere it burned. 
 
 Now tinkling waves a peal of welcome rang 
 Against the sheathing of our brazen bows,— 
 
 No gladder hymn the rosy Nereids sang. 
 When, clad in sunshine, Aphrodite rose. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Anon, a mightier passion stirr'd the deep- 
 Presumptuous billows scaled the quivering deck 
 
 Up to your very lips would dare to leap, 
 And fling their silver arms about your neck ; 
 
358 To the Figure-head of '* The Foam'' 
 
 vri. 
 
 The uncouth winds slolc kisses from your Lheck, 
 Then, wihl with exultation, hurried on, 
 
 And hoastinn liadc their laKK-ii'd eoinradcs seek 
 'l"he riionientary bliss themselves had won, 
 
 vlil. 
 
 Who, followinj;;, fdicil our prosperous sails uiilil 
 We readied ctermd winter's tirear domain, 
 
 Where suns of June but frozen liglit distil, 
 And, baffled, (piickly abdicate their reign. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Vet even here your gracious beauty shed 
 
 Deep calm ; old Ocean shunbered 'neatli its spell ; 
 
 And Summer seemed to follow where you led, 
 As lotli to bid your kindred smile farewell. 
 
 The ominous shapes of drifting ice, that jiack 
 The desolate channels of the polar flood, 
 
 Clustered like wolves around our Northward track, 
 '{'ill swayed by that sweet power to altered mooil, 
 
 They cowered, and ranged themselves on either side, 
 
 Like vassal r.iiiks who watch some passing (Juecn 
 Through her white columned halls in silence glide. 
 Nor mingling meet till she no more is seen. 
 
 XII. 
 
 And we with confident souls still followed you, 
 Where stern those serried files of icebergs rose,- 
 
 As James of Douglas followed,- staunch and true. 
 The honoured heart he Hung amongst his foes ; 
 
 XllI 
 
 Till in my sailor's child-like hearts there grew 
 A vague, half sportive reverence for that Form,- 
 
 Which, like commissioned angel, onward Hew, 
 And with a halcyon spell conjured the storm ! 
 
 XIV. 
 
 What marvel then, if-when our wearied hull 
 In some lone haven found a brief repose. 
 
 Rude hands, by love made delicate, would cull 
 A grateful garland for your Goddess brows ? 
 
To the Fijrurc-hcad of " The Foam!' 3§() 
 
 XV. 
 
 Wli.it marvel if ilioir Iculcr, too, woiilil l:iy 
 His fragile wrcalli of cvaiiCMciu rliyme, 
 
 At licr iltar ft-ct whose iniagc cheered his way, 
 And warmM wiili old hoiru- thoiiKhts the lonely time, 
 
 XVI. 
 
 When av. he walfhod that scdplnr.-d life like smile 
 riiroii>'.li many an anxious hour oj Arctic kIooui, 
 
 Its inaKic inHnence would half hcKuile 
 
 I'll.- Mtak and l.arrcn ocean tracts to bloom - 
 
 XV tf. 
 
 With well rL'mendjcrcd woods, and Hikjhiand hills 
 That cluster round a castle's statt iy towers ; 
 
 And gleaming lawns, and glens, and inurnuirinK rills, 
 Where Kdith plays amid the summer Jlowers ! 
 
 ■1,