The morning news., 1897-08-20

shooting two or three polar bears. of hunt
ing reindeer under the Arctic snn on a.
rnnhabited shore, offered within eleven
days voyage of London, have no parallel
in any part of the globe Ii IS proba hje
that before long measures will be taken
TO preserve the game, and though This
VIII not extend to the polar bears. nor
traits or which. engaged I'm biting the
heads of PROSTATE gentlemen Vovagers.
or laying a friendly paw on their arms
previous 70 making a meal off of them.
lend such lively interest TO De Veer,s ac-
count of the early discoverers' voyages
the increase Of reindeer and seals is GER
tain TO lead to an increase in the num-
bers OF the animal that preys upon them.
Ice fowl swarm In certain portions Of tha
coast, especially in Ice sound, Bell sound.
Horn sound and the Alkefjeld, near Iom-
me bay. The three former are all on the
coast OF West Spitzbergen, to the south
of the "hoter' in Advent bay. Here are
the home of the "rotches." and of the
most thoroughly Arctic of all birds. the
ivory gull. There is an immense colony
or little auks in Magdalen bay to the
north Of the West Island, and on the fiat
islets In Ice sound thousands of elder duck
breed.
The past value and numbers OF game
and fowl may be gathered from the his
tory OF the islands, so far as human in
terest has been concerned with them
Right whale were so numerous In the
seventeenth century that ten thousand
whalers' crews used to meet annually on
the coast during the summer In 1897 the
Dutch whalers alone caught 1850 whales
The remains of their houses still exist
on the shores OF "Smeeringberg the old
whalers headquarters. In time the right
whales were nearly killed off and Spitz-
bergen was left to the polar bears. Then
Russian hunters sailed thither and killed
such numbers of reindeer, walrus and
Arctic fox that these grew scarce. and
the Russian hunters moved off to Nova
Zembia. When the game recovered the
Norwegians began to visit the island
partly for sport, partly for profit, and 1t
is due to the reports circulated by them
that the Vasteraalens Company organized
their weekly expeditions TO the Islands
Salmon are found In the rivers and
Cords, but so far they have only been
netted as the glacier water is too muddy
for using the fly. But other whales than
right whales are still found on the coast
and one whaling station is maintained.
This opens a chance for the most danger
Gus and exciting of all sea sports. For
the Alpine climber there Is endless oppor-
tunity on the ice-coVered peaks and enor-
nous glaciers. and for the botanist and
geologist there are 120 species Of flower
Ing plants, many of which are not found
elsewhere and at the entrance Of Recher-
che bay is a fossil herbarium." the rich
est In the world, and all this, as we may
again point out, within eleven days voy-
age from T1lbury docks; a new climate, a
nlghtless summer lasting from April % to
Aug. q, a new fauna and fora, and new
forms Of sport. Soon we may expect a
regular service 20 the islands, and nova
BILE headquarters, In large steamers, which
will act as large hotels or recelving-ships.
To them will be attached smaller steam-
ers, steam launches. boats and subsidiary
huts on shore. with guides, fishermen and
hunters, and a new polar playground will
be added 20 Europe