KETUllN JOURNEY. 439 



this we might thank for enabhng us to obtain water — 

 which with the meat formed a luxurious meal. Merely the 

 flesh was cut from the creatures, and together with the 

 hams packed on the sledge. This, together with a bear 

 which we killed a few days later, lasted until we reached 

 the ship. By degrees we had accustomed ourselves to 

 eat reindeer, walrus, seal, bear, and musk oxen raw, and 

 indeed fresh killed, for the nourishment contained in the 

 fresh meat overcame the disagreeable taste of train-oil, 

 and the great decrease of our stock of spirit compelled 

 us to do so. 



Only at first did we object : tufts of hair, wool from our 

 coverlids, with coffee, bread dust, pepper, and juniper- 

 berries (the contents of the sacks had become partly 

 mixed), the remains of bears' grease, frozen butter, and 

 the rest of the soup left at the last meal ; we were only 

 too glad to swallow all when at last necessity compelled. 



The snow-storm lasted till the 16th April, and the 

 temperature suddenly rose for a few hours to 17° Fahr., 

 which caused the tiresome thawing of the snow in the 

 tent. Not till five p.m., when we started, was the atmos- 

 phere still ; some feet of fresh snow had fallen, and still 

 the storm raged; the clouds lay close to the earth — 

 only occasionally for a moment could we see the long 

 wall of Devil's Cape in bluish colours far to the south- 

 west. The road back to Cape Heligoland was traversed 

 slowly and silently. Beyond that was the large snowy waste 

 south of Dove Bay. We waded through it during Easter 

 time, as step by step we sank up to the thighs through 

 the crusted surface, and in spite of the greatest exertions 

 could only make a short day's journey. Panting and 

 almost bent double we tugged at the traces ; with strut^:- 



