“At Newfoundland, they have only from twelve to fourteen hours sun; at Hammerfest, nearly four months. The advantages, therefore, as to climate, on the side of Hammerfest, are most obvious. Perhaps, too, an establishment in the North might, in time of war, be of some importance, as it would the better enable us to prevent our enemies enjoying any share of so lucrative a trade as the whale fishing. “The cold is by no means so intense in winter as might be expected. The inner harbour, though seldom agitated by winds, was never seen frozen over; and the moonlight is sufficiently strong to render labour practicable. Nature has been very provident with respect to fuel, the whole country abounding with good turf. The severity of the climate diminishes the vital principle in the human race; the men soon get old, and the women are past child-bearing at thirty-five. “The chase of the bear, who is never killed before January or February, when they are in the best condition, sets the courage and cool deliberation of the Finmarker in a most conspicuous point of view. In October, the Finmarker carefully watches the haunts of the bear, who, at that time, seeks for a winter retreat; and having marked it, returns in January to the attack. Having prepared a lance, to which a _cross-bar_ is affixed, about one foot from the point, the Finmarker, when the wind is in a favourable direction, makes a large fire before the bear’s den; the smoke soon irritating the animals, they rush out, one by one: at this critical moment the Finmarker, concealing his lance, places himself behind the fire, and the bear, rearing on his hind legs, in order to seize him, he plunges his lance up to the cross-bar in his breast.[37] The rest are served in the same manner. [37] The intrepidity of the Finmarker, and the dangers he has to encounter in the chase of the seal, are well described in Acerbi’s excellent Travels in the North, vol. i. p. 291. “The rein deer are here extremely plenty, and very dear; we paid L.2 for one of them. Certainly they had heard something of the wealth of John Bull. “Some of the better sort of people at Hammerfest, possessed a few cows and sheep. The cows were not larger than a bull-dog, and the sheep like a good tom-cat. “The female beauty of this place had sufficient attraction to induce the gentlemen of the Princess Carolina and Sybyll to give them a ball and supper. The invitation was quite general, and the whole went off with great eclat. “Most of the Russian agents and merchants spoke the English language; but they were by no means anxious to communicate information which they thought might, one day or other, ruin their commercial pursuits. It was only when they got a good dinner, and plenty of wine, that any thing particular could be drawn from them.