CHAPTER V. 



JOURNEY BY SLEDGE TO THE FLIGELY FJORD. DISCOVERY OP 

 COAL LAYERS ON KUHN ISLAND. 14tH TO 21ST SEPT., 1869.' 



Onr outfittiiigs. — Departure on 14th September. — First niglit under 

 tents. — Passage of Clavering Straits iu sledges. — Cape Hamburg. 

 — A Polar bear shot. — The Fligely Fjord. — Ascent of a mountain- 

 peak 4050 feet high. — The prospect therefrom. — The Fligely 

 Fjord connected with Ardencaple Bay. — Scientific labours of 

 Lieutenant Payer. — Return to the tent. — An Arctic night. — Back 

 to the ship. — Discoveiy of coal strata on Kuhu Island by Lieutenant 

 Payer.^ — Arrival at tlie ship on 21st September. 



The temperature was now settled at one degi^ee below 

 freezing point, and altlioiigli in the neighbourliood of 

 Pendulum Island the young ice was destroyed by the wind 

 as soon as formed, the ground on land was frozen hard, 

 and the watery pools on the finn land-ice were already 

 covered with a coating of ice, so thick as to be able to 

 bear the weight of sledges and men. Now was the fittest 

 time for our proposed sledge-journey to the west ; and on 

 the same day, the 13th, all necessary preparations were 

 made. It was the first of any importance that we had 

 undertaken, and though, from works on the Ai'ctic regions, 

 we understood something of the ways and means of carry- 

 ing it out, none of us had any practical experience, so that 



^ By Captain Koldewcy and Lieutenant Payer. 



