88 Esnar MIKKELSEN. 
miles’ journey to the bottom would take a long time, particularly as 
our dogs were so very exhausted. 
We did not deem the possible result of this journey — the surveying 
of the extreme bottom, a stretch of some few miles — worth the risk, 
and began our homeward journey on May 27th at 11 p.m. 
As will be seen from the above, we had much fog while in Danmark’s 
Fjord, and on the last part of the journey the east coast could only 
be seen in glimpses save on two days, when the weather was clear — 
one day at Sjelland’s Sletten and another at the summer camp, but in 
both cases, the land could be seen far to either side. We were thus 
able to form an idea of the appearance of the east coast, which was 
undulating and hilly all the way from Sjælland’s Fjældene to the NE 
point of the fjord. The hills, which rose to their full height some few 
miles inland, were however between 400—500 metres high. They were 
divided by some very large rivers which had cut out large valleys in 
the sides of the hills or mountains. They probably drained the In- 
landice, seen in most places above the coastland, which had a breadth 
of 15—20 miles. 
The land tapered down toward the north, and the naze inside Prins 
Frederik Islands, as well as the islands themselves were quite iow, while 
Cape Ringkøbing lying further back was high and precipitous. 
The snow covering the ice in Danmark’s Fjord was fairly deep and 
soft, whenever we came a couple of thousand metres out from the coast, 
but disappeared in most cases quite close in to land, where, however, 
the glare-ice by now (the later part of May) was covered by about 2 cm. 
soft, wet, newly fallen snow. 
The only place where the snow was really difficult to pass was off 
Hjærtefjældsdalen, where it was very deep and soft. 
The vegetation on land was — as will be seen from the preceding 
notes — scanty, the more so the further we came out toward the mouth 
of the fjord, and the country behind the summer-camp was so barren 
that it seemed incredible that musk-ox could exist on it. Animal life 
was consequently very poor, and we saw no living thing the whole way 
out of the fjord, and only very few traces of animals. The traces of 
musk-ox were all old, and not a single one could with certainty be said 
to have been formed since the return of the sun. The traces of hares 
were fresher and somewhat more numerous, but we saw none of the 
animals themselves, nor any ptarmigan, in spite of the many fresh 
traces, particularly on the coast forming the south side of Sjælland’s 
Sletten. Of foxes we saw more traces than anywhere else in NE Green- 
land, and also one of a very large wolf. No sparrows or other 
migrating birds were seen in spite of the advanced season, and the 
general impression of the country as to animal life was one of utter 
desolation. 
