A voyage to Viking-land by Steele Thomas Sedgwick 1845-1903

Author:Steele, Thomas Sedgwick, 1845-1903
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boston, Estes and Lauriat
Published: 1896-10-16T05:00:00+00:00

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slope. With the North Cape ends the island belt of Norway, and the coast is washed direct by the long, sweeping waves of the Arctic Ocean, the sole attraction being the bleakness and solemnity of the scene as one gazes out on the open polar sea. On the top is a granite column commemorating the visit of King Oscar II., in 1873, and a beacon recording that of Emperor William II., in 1891, which has made the trip to this region very popular ever since.

The naphtha launches were soon in the water, the first cpntaining our band, which the captain had sent to the top of the rock to encourage with its music the fatigued climbers; although the fellow who carried the ^ big bass drum also had our sympathies. An enthusiastic American was in the prow of the boat, and, with a five - foot American flag, was the first to step ashore and unfurl the Stars and Stripes on the most northern point of Europe. Not all climbed to the top of the rock, as the chance to see the midnight sun that night was very doubtful, and, as the result proved, the orb sank to rest in a big bank of fog, much to the disappointment of the "Excelsiors,'' who were gathered at the summit until after midnight. But almost all went ashore, threw snowballs at one another from the glacier near the landing, or picked wild flowers among the rocks, perfectly contented to believe, with a late climber

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of our own high elevations, that "you can often see more of a mountain from its base than you can from its top/'

The landscape about North Cape is not in the least picturesque; far from it, one feels overburdened with a sense of its barrenness. However, for a region bordering on the Arctic Ocean, in almost 72 degrees of north latitude, we were greatly surprised with the variety and beauty of the flowers. Bluebells, geraniums, forget-me-nots, violets, and yellow Iceland poppies, which looked like great double buttercups, the latter over an inch in diameter, were to be found in profusion, and were gathered in quantities to decorate our dining-table.

These Iceland poppies (sometimes called Arctic) are to be found all over northern Norway, Siberia, and even still nearer the North Pole.

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