56 SPITSBERGEN chap, iv 



furniture from her and arranged them in the hut. At first 

 we burned the coal from the boat which we had got in Green 

 Harbour. That gave out on the 5th of January, and then we 

 fetched more from the hill near the hut, but do what we 

 might we could not keep warm. The cold was dreadful. 

 With all our furs we were never once warm during the 

 whole winter. The ground beneath our feet used to bang 

 like a cannon, cracking with the frost. Later on we made our 

 hut better and stronger, but at this time it was a very poor 

 shelter. Of course there were quantities of snow on the hills 

 and all about, but There was never any snow on the flat of 

 Advent Point — it was always blown away from there. 



" Because of the cold we thought it would be better if we 

 could move across to Nordenskjold's House at Cape Thordsen, 

 on the far side of Ice Fjord; so on the nth of January, 

 when the fjord was frozen over, we all set forth to cross 

 the ice on foot. It took us fourteen hours to walk across. 

 Anton Neilsen was already ill with scurvy. On the way 

 across, his nose, eyes, hands, and feet became badly frost- 

 bitten. 



"We stayed in Nordenskjold's House, which was much 

 warmer than our hut, about a fortnight — till January 26. 

 Then we had to go back for more provisions. We left 

 Neilsen at Cape Thordsen with food enough. Bad weather 

 came on after we left, and for twelve days we could not 

 return ; then, however, it cleared and we went back, dragging 

 a sledge laden with food. We found Neilsen in a very bad 

 way. His nose had dropped off ; his feet were black, his 

 hands almost black. He was also very ill with scurvy. On 

 February 20, we had again to go for provisions. W T e left 

 him with three weeks' food, but he seemed to us to be nearly 

 dying, though we expected to return before he died. 



"About the middle of the fjord we came upon open 

 water and saw some walruses. Because of the open water 



