66 NEW LAND. 



If the eider colony is to bring in money, the eggs and down 

 should only be taken once a year, and the down never before the 

 duck has left the nest with her young ones. Fourteen birds are 

 reckoned to provide a pound of down, and one owner can well have 

 five to six thousand ducks on his bird-island, or, in other words, 

 collect about 300 Ibs. of down annually. As the down sells at the 

 rate of twelve to fifteen kroner fourteen to seventeen shillings a 

 pound, it brings him in an income of 3000 to 4000 kroner, or 170 

 to 220 a year. Added to this are the eggs which, from a cor- 

 responding number of ducks, represent 40 to 45 a year. As 

 will be seen, this is no inconsiderable income in a country where 

 the conditions of life are simple. 



The ice and snow on the fjord were good, after we left the 

 Eskimo settlement, and in the evening we reached a large stretch 

 of sands about five minutes' drive from the head of the fjord, where 

 we encamped. 



Next day, Schei went ashore on a geological excursion up 

 a ravine with precipitous sides and a river at the bottom of it ; 

 or more properly a canon. Fosheim and I went to the end of the 

 fjord ; he on the south side and I on the north. We discovered 

 and followed up the trail of a large bear, and met on the sands at 

 the end of the fjord where the tracks cut straight across the sand. 

 Fosheim was very keen ; he had never seen a polar bear, and, as 

 the tracks were so fresh, he felt sure we should come up with the 

 animal itself. I had not much hope of it, for a bear covers the 

 ground with rapidity and is not easy to overtake, but we were going 

 in that direction in any case, and therefore went on as quickly as 

 possible. We climbed some high ground on the north side of the 

 river, in order to get a view over the flat, grassy country higher up, 

 and from it we were able to see several miles up the valley. 

 I scanned the country through my glasses, and really did see 

 the bear under a steep stony place on the other side. There 

 seemed to be no chance of shooting any polar oxen, and so, as we 

 had plenty of time, we followed up the bear; Fosheim through 

 the valley, to cut off its retreat, and I on the other side, so that we 

 could get the animal between us. We scrambled about among 

 the rocks for a couple of hours, but saw no more of our quarry. 



