ving, and thinking, and even
enjoying. There is no _compulsive_ rest such as darkness brings--no
sweet isolation, which is the best refreshment of sleep. You lie down in
the broad day, and the summons, "Arise!" attends on every reopening of
your eyes. I never went below and saw my fellow-passengers all asleep
around me without a sudden feeling that something was wrong: they were
drugged, or under some unnatural influence, that they thus slept so fast
while the sunshine streamed in through the port-holes.

There are some advantages of this northern summer which have presented
themselves to me in rather a grotesque light. Think what an aid and
shelter is removed from crime--how many vices which can only flourish in
the deceptive atmosphere of night, must be checked by the sober reality
of daylight! No assassin can dog the steps of his victim; no burglar can
work in sunshine; no guilty lover can hold stolen interviews by
moonlight--all concealment is removed, for the sun, like the eye of God,
sees everything, and the secret vices of the earth must be bold indeed,
if they can bear his gaze. Morally, as well as physically, there is
safety in light and danger in darkness; and yet give me the darkness and
the danger! Let the patrolling sun go off his beat for awhile, and show
a little confidence in my ability to behave properly, rather than worry
me with his sleepless vigilance.

I have described the smells of Hammerfest, which are its principal
characteristic. It seemed to me the dreariest place in the world on
first landing, a week previous; but, by contrast with what we had in the
meantime seen, it became rather cheerful and comfortable. I was visiting
a merchant after our return, and noticed with pleasure a stunted ash
about eight feet high, in an adjoining garden. "Oh!" said he, in a tone
of irritated pride, "we have plenty of trees here; there is quite a
forest up the valley." This forest, after some search, I found. The
trees were about six feet high, and some of them might have been as
thick as my wrist. In the square before the merchant's house lay a crowd
of drunken Lapps, who were supplied with as much bad brandy as they
wanted by a licensed grogshop. The Russian sailors made use of the same
privilege, and we frequently heard them singing and wrangling on board
their White Sea junks. They were _unapproachably_ picturesque,
especially after the day's work was over, when they generally engaged in
hunting in the exten