LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. RED BEACH, SPITZBERGEN . . . . . . Frontispiece. BARENTSZ RELICS. . . . . . . . . . 11 RUINS OF SCALLOWAY CASTLE . . . . . . . 68 SHARK . . . . . . . . . . . 79 BOTTLE-NOSE WHALE . . . . . . . . . 85 SEA-BIRD . . . . . . . . . . .. BRENT GEESE, EIDER DUCKS, AND YOUNG SNOW GOOSE . YACHT IN AN ICE FIELD . . . . . . . . 104 TREACHEROUS ICE . . . . . . . . . STAR-FISH . . . . . . . . . . . ICE IN SMITH SOUND . . . . . . . . . ib. REINDEER . . . . . . . . . . . 223 236 DANGEROUS DESCENT . . . . . . . . . 237 ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE 247 A PUSH AND A PINCH 251 VIEW FROM THE PEAK BETWEEN ICY FIORD AND WIDDIE BAY 252 SKETCH IN RED BAY KING'S BAY. . . . . . . . . . 259 PARTING WITH NORDENSKIOLD . . . . . . . 326 PRINCE CHARLES'S FORELAND . . . . . . . 331 WATERSPOUT . . . . . . . . . . . 350 SOME OF THE FOSSIL LEAVES WE FOUND IN SPITZBERGEN : 352 THE GATE-WAY TO THE POLYNIA : BEING A VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. “Ponti profundus clausa recessibus. Strepens procellis, rupibus obsita, Sinum nebulosa pandis.” The British Sailor has taken a leading part in the exploration of the North Polar Regions since the Venetian merchant of Bristol, John Cabot, led the way under the patronage of Henry VII., at the close of the fifteenth century. The names of Willoughby, Frobisher, Davis, Hudson, Baffin, Ross, Parry, Franklin, Scoresby, Beechy, Back, and many others belonging to individuals who are yet alive, recall to our minds the deeds of our countrymen-deeds which shed a lustre upon the annals of the British Navy. At one time the motive for such enterprise was based upon commercial considerations, the desire being to |