SLEDGE JOURNEY CONTINUED. 455 



only rose to 21'^ Fahr., but owing to tlie directness of the 

 sun's rays, it caused a glowing lieat. 



As at last we arrived at the hummocks of coast ice, 

 broken by the tide, and also at the foot of the wall, and 

 had conveyed the sledge with much trouble over ice 

 barriers and water-pools, we discovered to our horror 

 that the Fligely Fjord, instead of being covered, as we 

 had conjectured, with smooth ice, was filled with endless 

 snow. Still we need not give up all hope ; it was just 

 possible that the depth of snow might decrease towards 

 the back of the Fjord. Again we started on a weary 

 road between the ice barriers and the rocky shore, and at 

 last landed on a somewhat higher snow surface — a hor- 

 rible prospect ! Did we not know the difficulties hidden 

 under this seeming smoothness ? 



The mountains round the Fjord were, with the excep- 

 tion of the steep walls, perfectly white ; the winter storms, 

 in conjunction with much heavier falls than we had had 

 in our winter harbour, seemed to have borne the masses 

 of snow along with them, and dropped them on the 

 front of the mountains, and sprinkled the Fjord at the 

 same time. Nowhere could we see that stripe coming 

 from the north caused by the storm, and always so 

 striking on the snow-fields of the outer coast. 



Snow-buntings twittered cheerfully in our neighbour- 

 hood, a raven croaked from the heights, and we were not 

 a little astonished at the sight of a musk-ox looking 

 down at us from a steep overhanging rock several hun- 

 dred feet high. We had left the sledge behind, and whilst 

 Wagner had wandered in a southerly direction towards 

 the middle of the Fjord, Tramnitz and Payer went along 

 the shore, to investigate the possibility of further advance. 



