CHAPTER VI. 



A DESEKTED COUNTRY. 



ON Monday, October 10, Olsen and the mate went back to the 

 Tram,' heavily laden with meat and skins; while we, who re- 

 mained behind, got ready for new expeditions : Bay and Isachsen 

 to map ' Beits tadfjord ; ' Schei, Fosheim and I for a trip into 

 4 Nordfjord,' * as we called it. It had been decided that a large 

 expedition from the Tram,' with all the dogs, should come on 

 October 15 to fetch the meat which had been left in Beitstadfjord. 

 We had, therefore, to make haste about our trip to Nordfjord. 

 Meanwhile, however, bad weather set in, and our departure was 

 delayed for two whole days. 



It was not till Wednesday, October 12, that we were able to get 

 off. We followed land out to 'Noresund/ but, to our great 

 astonishment when we arrived there, saw that the sound was open, 

 the sea free of ice, and in many places the ice-foot along the shore 

 absent. Our way was, therefore, very difficult, and it was as much 

 as we could do to get the sledges along at all. Sometimes we 

 drove on land, sometimes on the ice-foot, and sometimes on the 

 small floes aground on the shore. After having smashed up a 

 sledge, we at length got through the sound, and started on our 

 journey up the fjord. 



In the evening, we reached a point of land where we camped 

 for the night, and there, as we were pitching our tent, we saw a 

 curious-looking pile of stones. On examining the place more 

 carefully, we discovered several of these piles, all exactly alike. 

 That human beings had been here immediately crossed our minds, 

 for we knew that this was no work of nature. When we investi- 

 gated the matter, the heaps of stones proved to be Eskimo fox-traps. 



* See Flagler Fjord in maps. 

 63 



