When we picked ourselves up at the bottom we were not more than 1500
ft. above the sea. The slope was comparatively easy. Water was
running beneath the snow, making "pockets" between the rocks that
protruded above the white surface. The shells of snow over these
pockets were traps for our feet; but we scrambled down, and presently
came to patches of tussock. A few minutes later we reached the sandy
beach. The tracks of some animals were to be seen, and we were puzzled
until I remembered that reindeer, brought from Norway, had been placed
on the island and now ranged along the lower land of the eastern coast.
We did not pause to investigate. Our minds were set upon reaching the
haunts of man, and at our best speed we went along the beach to another
rising ridge of tussock. Here we saw the first evidence of the
proximity of man, whose work, as is so often the ease, was one of
destruction. A recently killed seal was lying there, and presently we
saw several other bodies bearing the marks of bullet-wounds. I learned
later that men from the whaling-station at Stromness sometimes go round
to Fortuna Bay by boat to shoot seals.
Noon found us well up the slope on the other side of the bay working
east-south-east, and half an hour later we were on a flat plateau, with
one more ridge to cross before we descended into Husvik.
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