340 Chapcer VI. 



" ' That's just rubbish ; it has never been dug up.' 



"'Well,' said I, 'it seems to me that I've heard 

 something about it too ; I believe it was here on board, 

 and I am very much mistaken if it was not yourself 

 that said it, Peter.' 



" ' No, I never said that. All I said was that a man 

 once struck a walrus spear through the coffin, and it's 

 sticking there yet.' 



" ' What did he do that for ? ' 



" ' Oh ! just because he wanted to know if there was 

 anything in the coffin ; and yet he didn't want to open 

 it, you know. But let him lie in peace now.' 



" Friday, January 26th. Peter and I went eastwards 

 along the opening this morning for about seven miles, 

 and we saw where it ends, in some old pressure ridges ; 

 its whole length is over seven miles. Movement in the 

 ice began on our way home ; indeed, there was pretty 

 strong pressure all the time. As we were walking on the 

 new ice in the opening, it rose in furrows or cracked 

 under our feet. Then it raised itself up into two high 

 walls, between which we walked as if along a street, 

 amidst unceasing noises, sometimes howling and whining 

 like a dog complaining of the cold, sometimes a roar like 

 the thunder of a great waterfall. We were often obliged 

 to take refuge on the old ice, either because we came to 

 open water with a confusion of floating blocks, or because 

 the line of the packing had gone straight across the 

 opening, and there was a wall in front of us like a high 



