JOURNEY BY SLEDGE TO THE FLIGELY FJORD. 317 



intentions by a well-aimed sliot from Mr. Tramnitz. We 

 took one of his hams with us as an addition to our stock 

 of provisions ; the beautiful skin, and the remainder of the 

 flesh we left for the ravens and the foxes. At the mouth 

 of the Fjord, where Cape Hamburg bends round to the 

 west, we halted for our mid -day meal, as well as for the 

 purpose of making some necessary measurements. 



In the meantime we had discovered, to our great sur- 

 prise, that the Fligely Fjord was covered with an uninter- 

 rupted coating of ice. Sorry we were that we had brought 

 no skates, by which our journey would have been much 

 hastened. We pushed ourselves along the ice with the 

 alpenstocks ; the sledge followed easily, almost by the 

 influence of the wind. The ice in the Fjord ^, evidently 

 only formed in September, was at first from three to 

 four inches thick, then three-quarters of an inch, so that 

 our steps were accompanied by an uninterrupted cracking. 

 Large cracks formed, and we kept near the land, so that 

 in case of falling in we might find a bottom. 



With one thrust of the iron point of the alpenstock, 

 we broke the icy covering, and drank eagerly of the up- 

 springing water. This, being immediately under the ice, 

 was but little salt, and quite drinkable. 



The shore of the Fjord was surrounded by beautiful 

 mountain-chains — to the north gneiss — and granite clifls, 

 at the foot of which were slopes covered with soft grassy 

 vegetation ; to the south rose ice-crowned rocks, the 

 highest of which (we will call it Domberg) was certainly 



^ This" Fjord had for the most part been free from ice in the 

 Eummer. The heat in the two summer months is here so great that it 

 will melt ice of seven feet thickness, which is not possible in the 

 outer coast in these latitudes. The ice outside the Fjord remained firm 

 all the summer. 



