The morning news., 1897-08-20
ARCTIC PICNICs.
OpportunitIes For summer Trips 10
the Frozen North.

From the Spectator.
During the last six weeks two invita-
lions have been issued to the public to fol-
low the example OF the ice-loving birds
and make a summer voyage for pleasure
to the true Arctic seas. One comes from
Norway, where a summer voyage TO the
region of "thick-ribbed ice" has for some
years been increasingly popular The
Vasteraalen Steamship Company OF IRON
lem runs a steamer every week In july
and the first three weeks In August from
Troniem to Hammerfest, and thence TO
Advent Bay, I'm Spitzbergen. The second
invitation was issued by the Orient Steam
Navigation Company, one Of whose steam
ers left Tilbury for Spitzbergen on July
o. and, after taking it's passengers past
the polar ice pack and to the great Blae-
iers falling into Recherche Bay. Will re-
turn to London on Aug. 20. The Norwe-
glan company has built house at Ice
Fiord. in Advent Bay, with accommoda-
tion for thirty or forty visitors. servants
and stewards. The Fram's captain,
otto Sverdrup. famous as a hunter ana
Arctic navigator takes charge of the YES
sell Sport forms part OF the Morse pro-
gramme, for Spitzbergen has for some
years attracted visitors from scandinavia
to shoot reindeer ptarmigan ana Whlte
bears and to fish for whales and seals.
Boats and sealing gear are kept at head
quarters and the famous breeding haunts
of the elder duck auks, barnacle geese
and other Arctic fowl will be within reach.
The English company dwells more espec-
ialIy on the mental exhilaration and phys
icaI refreshment caused by the migration
~
shines day and night on the everlasting
ice, where the primitive landscape shows
no trace of mans handiwork, where the
air has been purified by ages OF frost, ana
is untainted by the dust Of the earth Tor
man never dehles or disturbs the surfaces
of the soil. and where the silence of the
void is only broken by the plunge of glac-
iiers into the Arctic ocean or the cries OF
the Arctic fowl.
Why Spitzbergen, instead of the North
cane or the Lapland coast, ia a question
which may occur In connection with the
new project. The essence and interest OF
the proposal lie in the fact that It is "A
visit to real Arctic scenery, and that the
nearset point TO temperate Europe at which
this can be enjoyed is la the Spitzbergen
Archipelago In the first place the ISL
ands are 100 miles nearer to the pole than
the North cape, and within an average
OF 100 miles of the ice-pack; and, secondly,
the north coast OF Norway, though geo.
graphically well within the Arctic circle,
is not Arctic at all. The Gulf stream and
the forcing heat OF the northern summer
have converted II into a temperate coast
Its waters are warm, II Is inhabited by
man, its glacial period has passed away
In the summer the North cape and the
Land OF the Midnight Sun" are merely
temperate Norway shorn OF timber. Fa-
millar flowers and birds villages, fishing
hoafa and 0ahfpp towns Ike WardO With
European civilization, recall the travellers
thoughts daily TO the life OF every day. But
the voyaRer TO Spitzenbergen passes out
OF one familiar world into another so diff
ferent that It might be part of another
panet, a world whose plants are begotten
In six months darkness and forced 70 life
by six months sun, whose birds and ami
mails are the born children Of the Ice. and
return there yearly by air or water 20 en-
JOY their summer by the Arctic sea.
The Spitzbergen region IN not a mere
group Of islets. It's area is as large as
that Of ireland. Northward the Arctic
current keeps II In grip Of the polar cold
On ~ south side the fringe OF the Guif
stream tempers the air. and causes the
one climatic drawback 10 the Sudzbergen
summer, dense and clingnR fogs, which
brood over the adjacent sea But within
the fog-scrcen the sun shines bright ard
clear on the snOw-pcaks out OF a sky Of
Nff til1EIf hiln AIf lhNNftANf Al0hN IuN.U
as n the whole mass of the Swiss Alps
had been sunk In the p0.ar sea 70 a point
above the Level Of tree growth. The sub
merged valleys become hords. the glaciers
far iarger than any on the AlDs-silde
down 10 these fOr1s, and break OF ln ice
bergH; ptarmigan, or true grouse accord
ing Co Mr. Abel Chapman haunt the low-
or range, and la place Of chamois REIN
deer are found in most OF the valleys
Tho reindeer are arRer than those Of
Norway How clther they are the grouse
sulsist in the winter IL one Of the mystic
r.es OF animal life in the sand. bu the
fari that theg DO survive shows that we
are moi yet acquainted with the limits OF
vegetable iife lu Spltzbergen.
The area OF the islands 81 too large nnd
TOO little known 90 speak with any Ger.
iniuty of their capacity aH "a sporting re-
scrRc, but lt ia known that game iH nuns
efoua ln some parts, and or kind ana
among surroundings entirely new 90 orr
diuary experience. The polar bears and
wHlruH have been much killed down buf
when the lcouack and drift loo touch che
land. with them come she seal. fhe polar
bear ana fhe Walrun 90 rrafock che ISLAND.
Ten years nE0 nfiY polar hears were shot
BOZ ono hunter in ninlopgn straits. between
ths tWo main islands. The chance o.