112 NEW LAND. 



appeared from underneath the hood ; then the buckles were 

 undone, and his face, anything but smiling, showed itself to 

 view. 



' I crept down into my bag again, and soon was sleeping 

 sweetly the last morning snooze is something indescribably 

 delightful, when one can drowsily lie and half-listen to the singing 

 and bubbling of the " Primus " and know that the next time one 

 is called back to reality it will be through the medium of a 

 steaming hot cup of coffee. It was not long before this was ready 

 and I was called ; and soon we had finished our breakfast, which 

 consisted of biscuit, frozen butter, and the indispensable coffee. 



' The only thing now to be done was to strike the tent and 

 start forth again. After breakfast, while the others were lashing 

 the loads on to the sledges, I made use of the time by climbing 

 up on to a neighbouring iceberg to look for a practicable route. 

 It certainly seemed as if there were passable ice in towards land 

 and also close under it, but it did not seem as if we could navigate 

 for so very long in that direction. On the other hand, I saw flat 

 ice due east, and this stretched northward and eastward as far as 

 one could see ; we should have only some pressure-ridges and 

 broken young-ice to negotiate before we reached it. My decision 

 was soon made, for I knew that out there was an Eskimo track 

 which led direct to our destination. 



' We worked our way through very bad not to say infernally 

 bad ice for an hour or two before we reached the flat ice outside, 

 but then we were out of the wood, for as far as the eye could see 

 northwards there was not the smallest hummock in view. We 

 now set our course northward, and it was not long before we got 

 on to the Eskimo track. 



' I now felt certain that we should not be more than two days 

 reaching the " Windward," and so I discarded here a quantity of 

 the dogs' provender, which I thought we could pick up again on 

 the return journey. Our sledges, which were considerably 1 ightened 

 thereby, now shot, over the splendid ice northwards with great 

 rapidity. 



' My comprehension of the Eskimo language being now con- 

 siderably enlarged, I began on a thorough pumping of my friend 



