456 THE GERMAN APvCTlC EXPEDITION. 



But, as far as we could judge from a good lieiglit, as well 

 as from the great depth of the snow which lay on all 

 sides, we were convinced of the impossibility of reaching 

 Ardencaple Inlet through Fligely Sound ; so, after many 

 hours' fruitless march, we returned to our tent. 



There remained, therefore, nothing for it but to return 

 by the difficult road, and seek to reach our goal by going 

 round the east side of Kuhn Island. But the exertions of 

 the last few days had so weakened us that we agreed to 

 take a short rest before starting, but we had scarcely done 

 so when we were surprised by a spring-tide, and we had 

 to pack the sledge and start again, with divided luggage, 

 at three a.m. on the 14th of May. 



Fortunately the sky had clouded in the mean time, and 

 the temperature had sunk to 10.5° Fahr. The snow-bog 

 dried, the snow hardened, and we broke through but 

 seldom, and in three hours we reached the camping-place 

 which we had left some days before on the border of the 

 snow waste. At one stroke our spirits rose so, that after 

 a short sleep we made another long stretch that same 

 day, and pitched our tent on the 15th of May, at seven 

 a.m. (5.5° Fahr.) 



On the soft easterly hanging slopes of Kuhn Island 

 we saw twenty head of musk oxen, about 2000 paces 

 from us. Tramnitz, our cleverest hunter, managed to 

 creep near them by circuitous ways, whilst Payer and 

 Herzberg undertook a geological excursion to a deep 

 ravine on the coast, and made the interesting discovery 

 that the gneiss granite ridge, which towered in such beau- 

 tiful forms above the east coast of the island, was rich in 

 extraordinary petrifactions, in strata of fuller's clay, coal 

 loam, and sandstone. The same formation leading to 



