APPENDIX IV 395 



snow. We had carried with us a shovel to clear away 

 the snow, a lantern to light us at our work, a Primus 

 stove and kerosene with which to make coffee, and tools 

 to cut off a sample of the iron. While the Eskimos built 

 a little shelter of snow blocks to protect us from the 

 piercing wind and made a pot of hot coffee, Rasmussen 

 and I uncovered the meteorite and measured it. When 

 we tried to get some samples of the meteorite we found 

 our efforts almost futile, for in the intense cold — the 

 thermometer registered 52° F. below zero — our chisels 

 and hacksaws and hammers all broke against the chill 

 iron, which, though soft, was tough. Only by using the 

 heavy sledge-hammer could we finally obtain even a 

 small sample. We collected, also, a number of sharp- 

 edged slabs of basalt that the Eskimos had used in 

 former generations to cut off the little flakes of iron that 

 they made into their little serrated knife-blades. 



I shall not soon forget the scene of our labors that 

 day. The sky was clear as only far Arctic skies can be, 

 thick-set with the thousands of brilliant stars. In the 

 north a full moon shone over the lonely far-reaching 

 Greenland ice-cap, and Saturn, in alignment with the 

 heavenly twins. Castor and Pollux, raced toward the fair 

 realms of the wonderful Hyades. 



To the south lay the iceberg-studded fields of Melville 

 Bay, gleaming white in the bright moonlight. The black 

 cliffs of Cape Melville loomed dark on the far eastern 

 horizon, and to the west the forbidding walls of Bush- 

 man Island rose stern and grim. 



It was a passing unusual scene, unique in the annals 

 of the North, an adventure worthy of a saga, this our 

 visit to the mighty, lost hammer of old discarded Thor. 

 Scandinavians both, though one came from the Old 



26 



