498 THE GERMAN AECTIC EXPEDITION. 



of the walrus and seal, and heaps of mussel-shells, show- 

 ing that formerly this had evidently been a favourite 

 summer resort of the Esquimaux. 



In the tent we refreshed ourselves with two newly 

 killed hares, cooked by a fire of willow wood and bear's 

 fat. Towards the evening, as the wind dropped we went 

 to the spot where our cairn was to be built, leaving 

 Iversen, whose eyes were worse, behind in the tent; it 

 was still too windy, however, to do anything with the 

 theodolite, so we built the cairn and ascertained by the 

 barometer the height of the hill ; this was 672 feet above 

 the surface of the sea. On our return we passed through 

 a broad valley to the south of our station, whose rich 

 vegetation had attracted a whole herd of musk-oxen, 

 eleven full-grown animals and three calves. It was 

 remarkable how carefully, even in their hurried flight, 

 they looked after the calves, which, although certainly 

 not more than fourteen days old, ran with astonishing 

 speed. 



It was morning before we reached the tent ; we rested 

 until the evening, and on the 21st of May continued our 

 journey. The weather was quiet but foggy. 



We also found to our relief that the sledge went easily 

 with the whole of the baggage. With the exception of 

 an hour in which to make some coffee, we marched until 

 ten a.m. of the next day. This was our longest march, 

 being thirteen nautical miles. 



Here we took an observation for magnetic declination, 



which gave 44° 52' westerly ; and fixed the position of 



the place as 74° 55.2' N. Lat. and 19° 9' Long, west of 



" Greenwich. In the evening it was 14° Fahr., and when 



we started at midnight 7°, making the snow hard. Until 



