Survey of Northeast Greenland. st 
avoidable, if in the preparation of the latter one had absolutely 
nothing to go upon but the observations from the stations. It was, 
therefore, necessary during the ride from camping site to camping 
site to make notes as regards the peculiarities of the ground covered, 
so that in this way one got the means to rectify the deficiencies of 
the observations made from the stations. 
It is thus first and foremost an absolute necessity during the 
sledge journey to have easy access to one’s pocket book. 
On this very point I have often been met with the objection 
that the pocket book is too valuable to permit one’s running the 
risk of losing it, and that it ought to be particularly well packed on 
the sledge. It is a well-known fact that during the sometimes rather 
rough work of driving the dogs one is very liable to drop those 
very things, which during the drive one alternately carries on one’s 
person or perhaps places on the sledge, especially one’s wraps (wind- 
proof garments), and on the other hand it is practically necessary 
to keep the pocket.book in one’s outside clothing, should one want 
to be able to get at it at any time. Therefore, I have seen people, 
in several cases, pack their pocket books in such a manner that 
they could only get at them when arriving at the camping site; 
trusting that for one day they might rely on their memories, and 
that they might enter the necessary remarks in the journal, after 
the march was done. 
This, however, will not do. One ought to be able to take good 
care of one’s pocket book, even when carrying it in one’s outer 
clothing. Nor have I in a single instance known a sledge driver to 
loose his pocket book during the drive, whereas I have often known 
him to lose his whip, mittens, wind-proof garments and similar 
things, may, even boxes of provisions, without discovering their loss 
till long afterwards. 
The notes are mainly limited to an indication of courses and 
distances, to a few primitive bearings, to notes concerning peculiarities 
in the coast line etc. Examples of this may be found in the sub- 
sequent extract from my diary. 
On the Danmark-Ekspedition I always carried a small pocket 
compass, but it was never used, because I preferred to go by the 
sun (in exceptional cases also by the stars) in connection with my 
watch. Therefore I can say nothing of the practicability of a com- 
pass"). As one always knows the clock correction to apparent time 
1) On Peary Land in 1907 I have during a snowstorm proved by means of the 
compass that we were taking a wrong course. At that time we drove, Eskimo 
fashion, by the direction of the wind and by the sastrugi of the snow. Wind 
and sastrugi, however, changed their direction with the course of the mountains 
