3d of April the ship's
company received three months' wages in advance, together with their
river-pay; and on the following morning, at half past four, we weighed
and made sail from the Nore.

We had at this time remarkably fine weather for the season of the year,
and such a continuance of southerly winds that we arrived off the island
of Soroe, within which Hammerfest lies, on the 17th, without having had
occasion to make a tack till we entered the fiord which forms the
northern entrance.

The wind becoming light from the southward, and very variable, we were
occupied the whole of the 18th in beating up towards Hammerfest. In the
evening a Lapland boat came on board, and one of the men undertook to
pilot the ship to the anchorage, which, after beating all night against
an ebb tide, we reached at three A.M. on the 19th. Finding that our
reindeer had not arrived, I immediately despatched Lieutenant Crozier,
in one of our own boats, to Alten, from whence they were expected--a
distance of about sixty English miles. At the same time, we landed our
observatories and instruments at Fugleness, near the establishment of
Messrs. Crowe and Woodfall, the British merchants residing here; and
Lieutenant Foster and myself immediately commenced our magnetic and
other observations, which were continued during the whole of our stay
here. We completed our supply of water, and obtained a small quantity of
venison, with abundance of good fish (principally torsk and cod), and
some milk. We also purchased a set of snow-shoes for our travelling
party, together with the Lapland shoes of leather (called Kamooga[016]),
which are the most convenient and comfortable for wearing with them; and
we practised our people in the manner of walking in them in deep snow,
which afforded them fine exercise and amusement.

On the 23d, Lieutenant Crozier returned in the boat from Alten, and was
followed the next day by Mr. Wooodfall, who brought with him eight
reindeer for our use, together with a supply of moss for their provender
(_cenomyce rangiferina_). As, however, the latter required a great deal
of picking, so as to render it fit to carry with us over the ice, and
as it was also necessary that we should be instructed in the manner of
managing the deer, I determined on remaining a day or two longer for
these purposes. Nothing can be more beautiful than the training of the
Lapland reindeer. With a simple collar of skin round his neck, a single
trace of