504 Chapter VIII. 



to do 9^ miles a day with 75 Ibs. each for the first few 

 days, sounds sufficiently reasonable, even if they are not 

 very good ones. This, then, can scarcely be called a 

 wild calculation, always, of course, supposing the ice to 

 be as it is here, and there is no reason why it should 

 not be. It, indeed, steadily improves the farther north 

 we get ; and it also improves with the approach of 

 spring. In 50 days, then, w r e should reach the Pole (in 

 65 days we went 345 miles over the inland ice of Green- 

 land at an elevation of more than 8,000 feet without 

 clogs and with defective provisions, and could certainly 

 have gone considerably farther). In 50 days we shall 

 have consumed a pound of pemmican a day for each 

 dog,'"" that is 1,400 Ibs. altogether ; and 2 Ibs. of pro- 

 visions for each man daily is 200 Ibs. As some fuel also 

 will have been consumed during this time, the freight on 

 the sledges will have diminished to less than 500 Ibs., 

 but a burden like this is nothing for 28 dogs to draw, 

 so that they ought to go ahead like a gale of wind 

 during the latter part of the time, and thus do 

 it in less than the 50 days. However, let us 

 suppose that it takes this time. If all has gone 

 well, we shall now direct our course for the Seven 

 Islands, north of Spitzbergen. That is 9, or 620 miles. 



During the actual expedition the dogs had to be content with a 

 much smaller daily ration, on an average scarcely more than 9 or 

 jo ozs. 



