36 BIRKELAND. THE NORWEGIAN AURORA POLARIS EXPEDITION, 1902 1903. 



The first two bears were seen on the i8th February; they were jogging quietly along the west 

 coast of the island. In a great, deep snow-drift they had dug themselves a big lair, which looked very 

 nice. Large bear-paths led from it in several directions, which showed that the bears must have been 

 living there for some time. The hunt now began, and two days later the two bears, a she-bear and a 

 year-old young one, were brought down. 



It was not long before there was a continuation of the bear-hunting. The very next day, three 

 bears passed our door; we seized our rifles, and in another instant the three bears lay stretched upon 

 the ground, each with a well-aimed bullet in its body. (See figure 23). 



The bear-hunting also brought a welcome addition to our larder. Our supply of meat, which 

 besides tinned things, for which one soon gets a distaste, consisted only of gulls and other sea-birds 

 preserved from the autumn shooting, had now become very small. 



The weather as regards February, March and part of April, may be most correctly described as one 

 long storm, now and then broken by calm intervals. Now and then, too, the wind increased to a hurricane. 

 The first harbinger of spring came on the I2th May. On that day the first bird of passage arrived, 

 the snow bunting; and after it came gradually the others -- larks, swans, geese, etc. 



Winter still held on obstinately for some time, and the snow in most places did not disappear 



until June or July. Through the greater part 

 of June we had frost, with calm, foggy or 

 cloudy weather. Not until July was there any 

 summer warmth. 



In the middle of July, after the conclusion 

 of the observations, the members of the ex- 

 pedition met with a disagreeable adventure. 



They had gone out with a rowing-boat 

 several miles from home, and had landed on 

 the farther side of a little river, which at that 

 time could be waded without much difficulty. 

 The boat was moored to the bank. 



When they had been there a few days, 

 Fig. 27. The Observer as Hunter. q uite unsuspecting of danger, a fearful storm 



broke; the lightning flashed and the thunder 



roared --a very rare occurrence in those regions. At the same time the east wind broke loose in 

 earnest, with oppressive heat. The consequences were not long in being noted. When the storm had 

 abated, evidences were visible of the effect of the heat and the wind in the melting of snow, for the 

 river was changed into a foaming torrent. The entire tongue of land upon which the boat had lain, was 

 washed away; and the boat was nowhere to be seen; it had drifted out to sea with the east wind. 



The question now was, what was to be done? With no boat, and the river, which was many 

 miles long and very broad, now impossible to wade. Of provisions there were none, and no matches. 

 Fortunately the members had brought their guns farther inland, so they set out on a hunting-expedition 

 and shot some birds, which were immediately skinned and eaten raw. The following day they attempted 

 to go along the river, in the hope that its upper part might be more easily crossed ; but after wading 

 for 20 or 30 miles, the attempt was abandoned. They then went back to the sea, and tried for several 

 days in every possible way to get across, but all in vain. 



It was clear, however, that they must at all costs manage to get home. The fare was not first- 

 class; it still consisted of the one dish -- raw bird. With some old rope and some drift-wood they 

 made a kind of raft, and also found some boards that could be used as oars. It was an exceedingly 



