Report of the First Thule Expedition 1912. 305 



might have to offer. We therefore decided to set out at once in 

 search of game, while the dogs, too weary as yet to feel hunger, 

 gave themselves up to the drowziness which the warmth had laid 

 upon us all. 



A sudden discovery, however, put an end to all desire for sleep 

 as far as we were concerned, and made us fresh and ready for an- 

 other twelve hours of work. In a drift in the north side of the lake 

 we saw tracks of musk ox thawing down, and in a moment the ur- 

 gent demand of the situation was clear; meat, and that without delay, 

 for ourselves and our crowd of dogs. 



We had already noticed some excrements, apparently not very 

 old, up on the moraines quite close to the inland ice, and these 

 tracks in the snow told us clearly enough that it was now only a 

 matter of time. True, the tracks were a month old, but even so, the 

 animals need not be so very far away. We were all wide awake 

 once more. 



We found a sheltered corner in a small creek, where we drove 

 in and pitched our camp. Our first objective was now reached; the 

 mighty desert of the inland ice lay now between us and the rest of 

 the world. It remained for us to show what stuff we were made of. 



We soon disposed of our meal, the inevitable porridge, washed 

 down with great draughts of coffee, and were ready to set out on 

 our first tramp over the new country. Freuchen, who was suffering 

 severely from snow blindness, was obliged to remain behind in the 

 tent and look after the dogs in case they got loose. We others took 

 a dog each with us, in order to have some means of checking the 

 musk ox if we should happen to come across a big herd. At no great 

 distance from the tent we had our first sight of game, a small hare, 

 which was promptly despatched, and by the end of an hour we had 

 four hares and three ptarmigan for the pot. We were all three look- 

 ing forward so eagerly to a meal of fresh meat that for a moment 

 we found it difficult to go any farther; we had our horde of hungry 

 dogs to be considered, however, and they were at the moment in 

 greater need of food than we ourselves. Recollecting that we had 

 only a meal and a half to give them, we were thus obliged to go up 

 over the hills in search of more. We set off each in a different direc- 

 tion, and each leading his dog behind. 



It is a queer feeling, starting off in this fashion into a great un- 

 known country, to be swallowed up by the gloomy monotony of the 

 hills. There is a solemnity about these wastes which makes a deep 

 impression on the mind. Hour after hour one walks, a man unspeak- 

 ably alone, without sound or sight of any living thing, yet with every 

 sense alert to hear and see and find — until at last the strain within 

 and pressure from without create a tension so great that one starts 

 at the noise of one's own footsteps. 



