Report on the expedition. 137 
On December 16th and February 16th we had very high tempera- 
tures, in the first case as high as — 9°8, in the second as high as — 477. 
In both cases it was quite clear and calm, and no reason could be alleged 
for this sudden rise of temperature, particularly as the draft of the wind 
came from the north, i.e. away from the water. 
The fall of snow was surprisingly small during the winter until the 
beginning of March, when there was rather a heavy snowfall. The small 
local glaciers were quite bare of snow until March, and only 30cm of 
snow was lying on the level sea-ice. 
Footprints, made in the autumn and then about 5cm deep, rose 
about 10 cm above the snow-level toward the end of February, and they 
bore evidence of the decrease in the thickness of the layer of snow lying 
on level ice. The conditions, however, became normal in April. 
All winter the ice off Bass Rock was broken up close inland, and 
on December 4th the breadth of the shore-ice was only 300 metres. The 
land-water changed in breadth with the shifting winds, and ranged from 
a few hundred metres to 4 å 5 miles. The motion in the pack-ice was 
rather great durmg the winter, and the thin ice, which covered the 
landwater, and which grew rather thick with the extremely low tem- 
perature and calm weather, was continually broken up and drifted away. 
Even the ice in the sheltered Freeden Bay broke up during the winter, 
and a very large, open tract of water was always there, even with the 
lowest temperatures. 
The animal life was very poor during the winter, and our place was 
only visited by three bears, a dozen foxes and a couple of hares. These 
latter animals were so hungry that they were caught in a trap, baited 
with dried vegetables. 
Unfortunately we were unable to make observations of the aurora 
borealis, as our fuel would not permit us to keep watch day as well as 
night. Consequently our notes on these phenomena are scattered and 
of no account whatsoever. It is a much discussed point, whether the 
aurora borealis is able to throw light over the country or not, and only 
once we noticed that this was the case. It was during the night of 
Dec. 12th; the weather was quite clear and so dark that a stone was 
invisible at a distance of only a few metres from the house. A little 
later, when we came out, we were surprised at the difference, and we 
were now able to see far about us. The aurora borealis in this case had 
no defined shape, and was neither particularly large nor luminous. Its 
colour was greenish. The light thrown over the country was so strong 
that the details of a point about 1000 metres distant were quite clear, 
and we thought that the light was strong enough to throw shadows. 
It only lasted a quarter of an hour, after which everything was in dark- 
ness, as before. 
1912. In order to make preparations for a sledge-journey along 
the coast to Cape Dalton and further to Angmagsalik, which we intended 
