458 THE GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



evil. The nights were foggy and sultry, and Tramnitz, 

 who until now had attended to the observations of tem- 

 perature, was also snow-blind.^ 



The snow was now soft again ; and again began the 

 horrible " Aussingen," and forward jerking of the sledge, 

 and though we lightened it by leaving a sack behind a 

 block of rock, we scarcely moved from the spot, and were 

 obliged to encamp sooner than we intended from sheer 

 exhaustion. 



On the 16th of May the temperature of the snow rose to 

 25.5° Fahr. ; thick fog, and a heavy fall of snow prevented 

 us starting again until the evening, and during the whole 

 of that night's march we could not see ten steps before 

 us, we were constantly losing our course and were 

 obliged at last to have recourse to the compass. 



On the 17th (14° Fahr.) despite a violent snow-storm 

 we pressed onward, passed the mouth of the romantic 

 Bay of Bastian, and arrived on the morning of the 18th 

 at the foot of Cape Bremen, which forms the south- 

 easterly corner of Ardencaple Inlet. 



The depth of the snow had confined our progress 

 during the last few days to fi:'om three-quarters to one 

 and a quarter German miles ; and our strength from 

 the exertion of pulling the sledge had greatly decreased. 

 Icebergs only at a little distance seemed inacces- 

 sible. 



The period for successful sledge journeys was now quite 

 over, and we had to climb half-way up to an horizontal 

 stretching mass of dolerite, in order to decide whether it 

 would be desirable either to advance through Ardencaple 



' A cloudy atmospliere greatly favours this disease of the eyes, as 

 objects disappear, which serve as a rcsting-point or change. 



