Report on the expedition. 17 
dogfeed, probably on account of the large amount of fat which it con- 
tains, at any rate when compared with dried cod. 
On Oct. 7th we once more went adrift on thin ice, in spite of the 
fact that we were not above 14 mile off shore. We drifted to the south, 
and the whole of the next day we were surrounded by open water, and 
it was not till Oct. 9th that we managed to reach solid land-ice, about 
7 miles to the south of the place where we went adrift. 
The pressure on the shore-ice had been tremendous, and ice blocks 
had been piled up to a height of 10 metres during the stormy weather 
of the preceding days. 
At last, on Oct. 11th, we reached Danmark’s Havn having been sixteen 
days under way from Shannon Island. We had had 123,6 sledging 
hours in all, and the distance being only ca. 90 miles it gave an hourly 
rate of 0,73 miles. 
The dogs were all in a very poor state, and one had died the day 
before, so we were forced to remain in Danmark’s Havn for some days 
to feed the dogs, and give them a much needed rest. 
As to our future provisions we had to take the stores left in Dan- 
mark’s Havn, as we did not dare to keep on feeding the dogs with fish. 
It was only with regret that we decided on this arrangement, for we did 
not like to break up the depot left by the Danmark-Expedition, but 
we took care to leave enough provisions for a party to reach the large 
depots on Shannon Island, and besides we were absolutely obliged to 
get new provisions for our dogs, if we wanted to carry on the voyage and 
keep the dogs alive. 
We remained in Danmark’s Havn for three days and gave the dogs 
warm food twice a day. This once more built up their strength, and 
when on Oct. 15th we left the place for Lambert’s Land, the dogs were 
again fit and in good form. . 
Towards the north the conditions of the ice became quite different from 
those south of Danmark's Havn, and instead of thin, unsafe icewe found old 
floes or perfectly safe new ice, over which the going at first was quite good. 
It took us only twenty-three sledging hours to reach Cape Marie Valde- 
mar, but in crossing Skærfjorden we once more got into trouble, now 
in the shape of old, hummocky ice with large undulations filled with quite 
soft snow, in which the sledges floundered about, sometimes sinking in 
as far as above the crossboards. Heavy weather with storms and a con- 
siderable fall of snow forced us to remain in camp for a whole day, and 
after this time, Oct. 18th, the good going had disappeared, and the rest 
of the journey was performed through more or less deep snow or over 
ice, where the salt had not yet crystallized, but had only melted the 
snow, which became wet and sticky and very difficult to pass. 
On Oct. 20th we had got so far that we could lay out our first depot 
(135 lbs.) on Bjorneskerene, and this diminishing of the weight eased the 
work of the dogs. But still their strength waned, and this in spite of 
Lil. 2 
