SKUA GULLS 165 



march brought us thirty-four miles nearer Framheim. 

 With our present arrangement, we had these long-day 

 marches every other day. Our dogs need no better 

 testimonial than this — one day seventeen miles, the next 

 day thirty-four, and fresh all the way home. The two 

 birds, agreeably as their first appearance had affected 

 me, led my thoughts after a while in another direction, 

 which was anything but agreeable. It occurred to me 

 that these two might only be representatives of a larger 

 collection of these voracious birds, and that the remainder 

 might now be occupied in consuming all the fresh meat 

 we had so laboriously transported with us and spread 

 all over the plain in our depots. It is incredible what 

 a flock of these birds of prey can get rid of; it would 

 not matter if the meat were frozen as hard as iron, they 

 would have managed it, even if it had been a good deal 

 harder than iron. Of the seals' carcasses we had lying 

 in 80°, I saw in my thoughts nothing but the bones. 

 Of the various dogs we had killed on our way south 

 and laid on the tops of beacons I did not see even so 

 much as that. Well, it was possible that my thoughts 

 had begun to assume too dark a hue ; perhaps the reality 

 would be brighter. 



Weather and going began by degrees to right them- 

 selves; it looked as if things would improve in propor- 

 tion to our distance from land. Finally, both became 

 perfect; the sun shone from a cloudless sky, and the 

 sledges ran on the fine, even surface with all the ease 



