RISE OF TEMPERATURE. 457 



coal we had seen the previous summer on the south side 

 of the island. Tramnitz was less fortunate ; he returned 

 empty-handed, with a broken gun and torn clothing, in- 

 forming us that he had been thrown down by a musk-ox 

 and trampled on. In a hunting expedition with Wagner, 

 somewhat later, one of them was killed. 



The rise of the mean temperature, and uninterrupted 

 daylight had in the meanwhile entirely altered the phy- 

 siognomy of the land. Organic life woke once more in 

 the few plants peculiar to the Arctic climate ; under the 

 snow bridges and ice vaults might be heard the whisper 

 of trickling water ; long trains of eider ducks came from 

 the south ; light-grey lemmings rushed terrified over the 

 stony rubbish ; yellowish brown caterpillars crawled with 

 fruitless industry over the same; white hares revelled 

 amongst the young shoots of moss ; slender reindeer 

 frequented the deep furrows of the glacier streams ; and 

 over the sunny surface of the water, although some dis- 

 tance from us, rose the curious head of the seal. 



Meanwhile we had lost so much time that the success 

 of our undertaking depended greatly upon a steady 

 favourable road for the future, and above all whether the 

 snow-fields over which our return road lay were acces- 

 sible. At last we were entirely dependent upon hunting ; 

 for before the musk-ox was killed, which gave us fifty- 

 six pounds of meat, our provisions had consisted chiefly 

 of coffee and hard bread. 



Mieders had become snow-blind ; so upon starting in 

 the evening we put him in the midst of us to drag 

 the sledge. The application of wet bandages during 

 the march, (which a month before had been impossible,) 

 relieved him in the course of a week from this painful 



