126 NEW LANP. 



from it sitting in the snow. I struggled on to my legs again 

 as quickly as I could, and flung myself on to the next sledge as 

 it flew past, and on we went again at mad speed until at last the 

 dogs came to a standstill in a heap of sand on the north side 

 of the valley. There I came across Bay, who somehow had got 

 into the same line of country. I was very much surprised to 

 find him there, for I had no idea that he had fired at the 

 animals which I had seen ; they must have been at least a couple 

 of thousand yards from him when I heard the shot. He afterwards 

 mumbled something about having ' miscalculated the distance,' 

 and of ' its being a 'bit further than he thought.' How far it 

 really was he only discovered the next day, when he went to fetch 

 cooking-ice (freshwater ice) from the glacier on the other side of 

 the valley. 



Meanwhile the dogs had winded the oxen, and when they came 

 to a standstill I undid the connecting lanyard, and let them head 

 up the slope, followed by Bay, who scrambled after them, literally 

 steaming with perspiration, the result of his efforts in the chase. 



I took my gun, and sauntered after them I liked looking, on 

 at that sort of sport. When I reached the first slope, I observed 

 that the four oxen had formed a square, and were standing 

 in wait for the dogs which were making towards them. It was 

 evidently their intention to give battle, and when the dogs came 

 up, a curious scene ensued. 



The oxen, as I said before, had formed a square. They stood 

 at regular intervals one from another, with their hind-quarters 

 together, and their heads outwards. Then in turn, and with light- 

 ning speed, each one made an advance in the shape of a circular 

 movement from left to right. At the same moment that an 

 ox regained his place, his neighbour on the right sped out on a 

 similar attack, and thus they went on uninterruptedly with almost 

 military precision. As long as the manoeuvre continued, one of 

 the oxen was always out on a movement of attack, endeavouring 

 to spit or rip up one or more of his adversaries. 



The size of the attacking circle seems always to be determined 

 by the distance of the enemy and the nature of the ground. As a 

 rule, the animals advance ten or twelve yards from the square, 



