502 THE GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



the shore to find our tent, which we had left on a gravelly 

 hillock, standing on a peninsula in the midst of a broad 

 sea. Yes, the Arctic summer comes overnight ! how 

 else would it be possible, in the short space of three 

 months, for the earth to bring forth flowers, and for the 

 fruit to ripen ? 



At four a.m. on the 4th of June we prepared to carry- 

 out our plan of taking the sledge to Hochstetter's Pro- 

 montory, but it was a colossal work ; at every step both 

 ourselves and the sledge broke through, and some inches 

 of water stood on the ice, so that our boots were soon full. 

 We now determined to leave everything behind except 

 the instruments, and, keeping close to the coast, reach 

 the ship as soon as possible. 



On our way we found the first blooming plant, a 

 Saxi/raga oppositifolia. Copeland and Iversen went 

 hunting, and killed two musk-oxen ; upon reaching the 

 top we were just in time to take the sun's altitude ; it then 

 clouded over, and began to snow. Deep in Ardencaple 

 Inlet we discovered a glacier reaching down to the sea, 

 from which, no doubt, proceeded the greater portion of 

 the icebergs with which this Fjord is filled. 



In Ardencaple Inlet and north of Kuhn Island so 

 much water had collected on the ice that the mountains 

 were reflected in it; we might therefore make up our 

 minds to wade from thirteen to fourteen hours through 

 water at 32°. 



At eleven p.m. we retraced our steps, with the inten- 

 tion of visiting the western hill, which we conjectured to 

 be the beds in situ of the brown coal which lay in such 

 quantities on the shore ; this was so good that it lit with 

 a lucifer-match. By noon we had returned to the tent, 



