264 PREPARING FOR WINTER 



delight the various dogs cllected about their masters, 

 and made for the tents in great jubilation. We kept up 

 this arrangement the whole time. Their food consisted 

 of seal's flesh and blubber one day, and dried fish the 

 next; as a rule, both disappeared without any objection, 

 though they certainly preferred the seal. Throughout 

 the greater part of the winter we had carcasses of seals 

 lying on the slope, and these were usually a centre 

 of great interest. The spot might be regarded as the 

 market-place of Framheim, and it was not always 

 a peaceful one. The customers were many and the 

 demand great, so that sometimes lively scenes took 

 place. Our own store of seal's flesh was in the " meat- 

 tent." About a hundred seals had been cut up and 

 stacked there. As already mentioned, we built a wall 

 of snow, two yards high, round this tent, as a protection 

 against the dogs. Although they had as much to eat 

 as they wanted, and although they knew they were not 

 allowed to try to get in or possibly this prohibition was 

 just the incentive they were always casting longing 

 eyes in that direction, and the number of claw-marks in 

 the wall spoke eloquently of what went on when we 

 were not looking. Snuppesen, in particular, could 

 not keep herself away from that wall, and she was 

 extremely light and agile, so that she had the best 

 chance. She never engaged in this sport by herself, but 

 always enticed out her attendant cavaliers, Fix and 

 Lasse; these, however, were less active, and had to 



