432 Chapter VII. 



winter approaching, which, maybe, will find us as far 

 advanced as it left us. 



" I was busily engaged with my examination of the 

 salinity of the sea water this afternoon, when Mogstad 

 stuck his head in at the door, and said that a bear must 

 be prowling about in the neighbourhood. On returning 

 after dinner to their work at the great hummock, where 

 they were busy making an ice-cellar for fresh meat,* the 

 men found bear tracks which w r ere not there before. I 

 put on my snow-shoes and went after it. But what 

 terrible going it had been the last few days ! Soft slush, 

 in which the snow-shoes sink helplessly. The bear had 

 come from the west right up to the Pram, had stopped 

 and inspected the work that was going on, had then 

 retreated a little, made a considerable detour, and set off 

 eastwards at its easy, shambling gait, without deigning 

 to pay any further attention to such a trifle as a ship. 

 It had rummaged about in every hole and corner where 

 there seemed to be any chance of finding food, and had 

 rooted in the snow after anything the dogs had left, or 

 whatever else it might be. It had then gone to the 



It was seal, walrus, and bear's flesh from last autumn, which was 

 used for the dogs. During the winter it had been hung up in the ship, 

 and was still quite fresh. But henceforth it was stored on the ice until, 

 before autumn set in, it was consumed. It is remarkable how well 

 meat keeps in these regions. On June 2 3th we had reindeer-steak for 

 dinner that we had killed on the Siberian coast in September of the 

 previous year. 



