The Argosy — page 231: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

214 About Norway. that hung like a pall over the heavens, shutting out all the glorious effects of the midnight sun and midnight glory we had come so far to see. Before us was the North Cape, an almost perpendicular ascent of nearly 1,000 feet. And there, far up the height, wending their slow and stately way, evidently anxious to get out of our sight, was a long string of reindeer, passing over the frozen snow that lay to the left, disappearing one by one over the mountain top. This frozen snow showed plainly that if the sea at the North Cape does not freeze, as much cannot be said for the mountain heights. Nothing could look more picturesque, weird, and lonely than this solitary herd of deer in these desolate regions of the far north, unmo- lested, many of them, perhaps unseen, by man. Though there was no chance of any midnight sun, yet it was clearly everyone’s duty to land and mount to the summit of the North Cape. Had we not all come so far for this very purpose? So the boats were lowered, and one load after another was put on shore, and soon those who were last could see the advance guard toiling up- wards, and looking like flies upon a wall. Last of all struggled up two or three sailors, carrying between them fuel for lighting a fire at the top, a kettle of water, and a hamper containing champagne, brandy, and coffee, for those who might wish to refresh themselves after their arduous labours. It was hard lines enough to reach the top unencumbered, and these men, staggering under the weight of their burdens, might almost have drawn tears of sympathy from a stone. After a long and severe tug, we at length stood on the top of the North Cape: a large, flat area of table land, detached from the main- land by a few yards; the surface covered by a soft moss or lichen which yielded to the tread and made walking no easy matter. Any- thing more wild, barren, bleak, bare, and desolate could not be con- ceived. As we set foot upon the summit, the wind blew up a very hurricane across our path, and hail, snow and sleet came down with such force that it almost cut our faces. It was impossible to keep warm even by walking quickly, and the wind having it all its own: way, blew us about as it listed. Straight across the top, over nearly a mile of ground, we struggled and toiled to its extreme northern point. Gifted with miraculous vision, we might now have looked upon the North Pole. But in place of the grand midnight sun: most sublime sight, when seen from this lonely spot; the very ends of the world, as it were: in place of the gorgeous tints and tones that should have illuminated earth, sea, and sky with Eastern richness: behold nothing but a dull, sombre, weird, mysterious midnight light that was nor light nor dark- ness. Over all the sky hung that dark pall of clouds; the wind searched out and crept into our very bones; the hail and the snow and the sleet ceased not their reign. Down a steep, perpendicular wall we gazed into the gloomy, sullen water, with a feeling that made one creep and draw back. Going as Gomilcbooks *