16 EJNAR MIKKELSEN. 
only 2 days’ provisions. We were not above 25 miles north of Shannon 
Island, when we parted company. 
There was a good deal of animal life in the open water, and seals 
and especially large flocks of narwhals were playing about. We tried to 
shoot them for dog-feed, but our bullets made no impression whatsoever 
on the animals, which continued to play about us all the afternoon. 
A motion in the packice on Oct. 2nd caused a way to be formed 
across this large lake, and we used it in spite of the fact that the ice 
was in continuous motion and often formed pressure-ridges under our 
feet or opened up into wide lanes, which forced us to make long detours. 
On account of a fresh NE wind, which sprang up in the afternoon, 
the ice got into rather violent motion, and large lanes forming all over 
forced us to retrace our steps as fast as possible. We could not be so 
careful, as we might have desired, and the result was that one of our 
sledges cut through the ice. However everything was saved, but our 
dried fish and hard bread became soaked. Luckily we found a small, 
old floe on which we could camp, and where we were compelled to re- 
main for a while, as a gale had sprung up. 
We reached the south point of Koldewey Island on Oct. 4th. Since 
we left Shannon Island, we had covered a distance of 38 miles in the 
course of 9 days with 73,7 sledging hours, which only made an average 
of 0,51 mile an hour. It turned out to be difficult to reach the land, 
as the tide had caused a violent motion in the ice, over which we had 
to take the sledges, with the result that our sledges cut through several 
times, and even our sleeping-bags, lying on top of the loads, be- 
came wet. 
We decided for the future to keep as close to the shore as possible, 
hoping thus to escape the open water-lanes, and to this end we kept 
inside the grounded icebergs, which lined the coast. 
The ice was fairly good, but in spite of this we made but very poor 
progress, as our dogs, which were rather weakened, caused us consider- 
able trouble. It surprised us, as they had quite sufficient to eat, about 
3 Ibs. of dried fish a day, and every second day some pork-offal. But 
fish seems to make very poor dogfeed, probably on account of its lacking 
fat altogether, and there was a very marked difference, according as 
we used fish or pork feeding, the dogs being in very much better form 
after the latter feed. 
Dried fish seems however to have been used with success on some 
expeditions, and NANSEN and SVERDRUP strongly recommend this kind 
of food, but Captain Scorr had the same trouble with his dogs, which 
we had with ours — a general weakness followed by death — and he 
had called the attention to the risk of feeding the dogs on nothing but 
fish. Following his hint we gave the dogs some extra fat ee second 
day 1 №.), but even that was not enough. 
Still it must be remembered that salmon furnishes a very good 
