124 EJNAR MIKKELSEN. 
as the comparatively cold weather prevented the large flow of water, 
which we had to the south of Hovgaard Island. Passed a couple of 
open water-lanes — one of them almost 100 metres broad — using as 
usual a piece of ice as a raft. 
Killed our last dog and could not resist the temptation to eat 
the liver, with the result that we became more than usually tired and 
could not muster sufficient energy to continue sledging till 6,30 a. m. 
on August 21st. We were sledging over the floating Inlandice without 
any difficulty at all, until we came to a very broad crack with open water 
at the bottom of it. The sides of the crack were vertical and about 
10 metres high, and it was at least 50 metres broad. A current was 
setting outward through it, and it was so strong that it foamed along 
the edges, having at least a velocity of 3—4 miles an hour. Saw a large 
seal or walrus, which was barely able to stem the current. Sledging 
outward along the crack we came to a place where some ice-floes had 
jammed, and we succeeded in passing this bridge. 
We had splendid going to the south of the crack and reached Cape 
Drygalsky at 3 a.m. on August 21st. We followed the coast sledging 
on the ice-foot, until the coming flood forced us to camp on land. We 
were so tired that we could not go out hunting, in spite of the tact that 
we saw quite fresh traces of musk-ox. 
Continued sledging at За. т. on August 22nd, when the water 
had fallen so much that the ice-foot was nearly dry. We once more 
met the Inlandice between the two islands and camped off the north 
point of Schnauder Island. We had just passed a large valley, the bottom 
of which was strewn with iceblocks about 1 meter thick. These blocks 
were fragments of a continuous ice-sheet, which had covered the valley 
about two metres above its: bottom, where large pieces still clung to 
the sides. The bursting must have been very violent, as blocks were 
found a couple of metres above the ice-sheet and 20 a 30 metres from 
their original position. The bursting seems to have happened in conse- 
quence of a large floe of Inlandice having broken off from the main 
glacier and settled deeper in the water, whereby the pressure on the 
under side of the ice-sheet covering the water in the valley must have 
become so great that it was rent into small pieces. It must have hap- 
pened in the autumn, or the ice would have been much thicker. 
We reached the NW point of Schnauder Island on August 23th after 
a difficult night’s work, as three deep valleys in the Inlandice and parallel 
to land had to be passed, before we came to a place where the Inlandice 
touched a small point. The grade from the Inlandice towards land was 
very steep. | 
When we had eaten our last piece of dog-meat and taken a short 
rest, we proceeded along the coast, looking for the depot. It was a 
difficult walk, as we often had to cross a marshy foreland, in which 
we got stuck, or broad rivers or very steep points where we had to 
