EETURN TO SHIP. 463 



The dispersion of the snow went on quickly, and as wo 

 were constantly sinking in it a base was measured on the 

 surface of the sea-ice, by the help of which we took the 

 altitude of the Black Wall. Whilst we slept during the 

 day the temperature rose in the tent to 73.5° Fahr. ; we 

 therefore now slept outside instead of inside the sleeping 

 sack. Flies sunned themselves on the tent-walls, and 

 the heat was as overpowering as under the leaden roofs 

 of Venice. Rheumatism, pains in the loins, and similar 

 affections now made their appearance, as for two months 

 we had slept on the snow, without interruption, and it 

 now melted under us from the warmth of the body and 

 completely wetted us through. 



On the 25th, after the last geological excursion had 

 been made, we began our return to the ship. The 

 sledge was now as heavy as when we started, from the 

 collection of petrifactions, musk-ox horns, minerals, 

 skins, &c. 



On the 27th we reached Cape Berhn, after great 

 exertion, and a slow march lastly through drifting snow 

 over the snowy waste at the exit of Fligely Fjord. 



The deep snow-drifts at the foot of Cape Berlin had in 

 the meanwhile changed into kind of teeth, from the 

 warmth and a resisting paste which stuck to the sledge, 

 making it very heavy. Once more did we suffer (28th 

 May, ^3° Fahr.) the already-described infliction of divided 

 baggage and the deep sinking in the snow. 



Not until Clavering Straits did the road improve ; 

 when near the mouth of Falschen Bay we passed the 

 night, in order to be ready the next day for the trigono- 

 metrical and topographical survey of a mountain more 

 than 2275 feet high, remarkable for its craggy formation. 



