THE FIRST ACCOUNT xv 



snow. On the 29th the weather became calmer and the 

 sun shone a pleasant surprise. Our course lay over a 

 great glacier, which ran in a southerly direction. On its 

 eastern side was a chain of mountains running to the 

 south-east. We had no view of its western part, as this 

 was lost in a thick fog. At the foot of the Devil's 

 Glacier we established a depot in lat. 86 21', calcu- 

 lated for six days. The hypsometer showed 8,000 feet 

 above sea-level. On November 30 we began to ascend 

 the glacier. The lower part was much broken up and 

 dangerous, and the thin bridges of snow over the 

 crevasses often broke under us. From our camp that 

 evening we had a splendid view of the mountains to the 

 east. Mount Helmer Hansen was the most remarkable 

 of them all; it was 12,000 feet high, and covered by a 

 glacier so rugged that in all probability it would have 

 been impossible to find foothold on it. Here were also 

 Mounts Oskar Wisting, Sverre Hassel, and Olav Bjaa- 

 land, grandly lighted up by the rays of the sun. In the 

 distance, and only visible from time to time through the 

 driving mists, we saw Mount Thorvald Nilsen, with 

 peaks rising to 15,000 feet. We could only see those 

 parts of them that lay nearest to us. It took us three 

 days to get over the Devil's Glacier, as the weather 

 was unusually misty. 



On December 1 we left the glacier in high spirits. 

 It was cut up by innumerable crevasses and holes. We 

 were now at a height of 9,370 feet. In the mist and 



