370 P. Freuchen. General observations as to natural conditions. 



On the 7th August we drove up to the edge of the glacier with the 

 last of our gear. We now built a cairn, Thulevarden, on a high and 

 conspicuous hill, depositing there our final report, enclosed in a sealed 

 gun-barrel. From this hill an excellent view of the surrounding country- 

 was obtainable, and here we laid the finishing touches to our survey 

 work. At 10 p. m. on the 9th August we commenced our homeward 

 journey over the inland ice, with 3 sledges and 27 dogs. 



9th August. Leaving the land behind us, we now commenced the 

 ascent of the inland ice. In comparison with the difficulties which Peary 

 and Astrup had encountered in the border zone, our work here was 

 easy enough. The season was now so far advanced that the frost had 

 commenced, and the snow lay firm and hard, the water with which it 

 had been soaked having now solidified. The small lakes and pools which 

 are always to be found in hilly parts were frozen over, as were also such 

 of the streams as had not yet dried up ; they formed an excellent sledge 

 road. Where the flow of water had ceased however, the dried channels, 

 which were frequently broad and deep, presented a series of obstacles 

 by no means pleasant to negotiate. 



A run of 7 hours brought us to the largent of Holger Kiærs Nuna- 

 taks. The ice found about was full of quite narrow fissures, running 

 for the most part towards the nunataks. 



The ice was very hilly, the general trend, however, being naturally 

 upward. We had now no means of taking altitudes, our barometer 

 having been spoiled on the 12th of July by immersion in water. 



In conclusion, I should mention that the maps, which had to be 

 completed before my departure from Denmark, would not have been 

 finished in time had it not been for the valuable assistance kindly ren- 

 dered, in the first place in Greenland, by Frk. Mimi Poulsen of Uperni- 

 vik, in copying and colouring, and untimately in Denmark, by my former 

 comrade from an earlier expedition, Hr. Bendix Thostrup, who under- 

 took the final work of preparing them for the press. To both I wish 

 to express my very sincere thanks. 



Note: In my account of the expedition, written for the most part in diary 



form, I have purposely refrained from correcting the error in date; in Freu- 



chen's „General observations as to natural conditions'' hovi^ever, the mistake has 



been rectified from the day on which it is presumed to have occurred. Thus the 



15th of May in my report answers to the 14th in Freuchen's, and so on, with a 



difference of one day thenceforward. 



Knud Rasmussen. 



