136 NEW LAND. 



aslant across a tongue of land north of Tommen. There was 

 an even ascent across the spit of land, so that we saw nothing 

 of the fjord around us before we suddenly found ourselves on a 

 sharp ledge, with sides falling perpendicularly to the water. 

 Such a surprise was it, and so grand the panorama which opened 

 out to view, that we both burst out into a cheer. 



Eight beneath us lay the fjord, broad and shining, without so 

 much as a flake of snow on it, only ice, nothing but ice, crystal- 

 clear, like a huge fairy mirror. And the other side of the fjord 

 was a great chain of mountains, several thousand feet in height, 

 with snow-filled clefts and black abysses, jagged peaks, and wild 

 precipices. Just so must the wild western fjords of Norway look 

 on a winter's day ! 



A confounded blast was blowing up there, right through all 

 poetry, and yet we stayed spellbound. Had we been warm, and 

 less hungry, there is no knowing what we might not have done 

 stood on our heads, or written verses, or some other madness, I 

 am quie sure. The situation, at any rate, taught me one thing, 

 and I had had experience of it before : if you are confronted with 

 a great sensation, or a difficult choice, eat first, and eat well, or 

 else nothing will come of it. 



After we had recovered from our great surprise, and our 

 enthusiasm began to sink with our temperature, we tried to find 

 a more sheltered spot ; and spent some time down by the fjord, 

 on the west side of Tommen, looking for one; but everywhere 

 the wind was equally violent. It was a question of being quick, 

 if we wanted to do anything, so I got out the camera ; and Bay, 

 who had been deputed to act as botanist on this occasion, went 

 collecting down the fjord. He returned, having found nothing 

 but a little branch of creeping willow, Salix arctica, which he 

 had discovered in a small cleft, and forthwith declared that he 

 was in possession of the entire vegetation of the west coast of 

 Ellesmere Land. 



I, too, think we never came across country so poor and barren 

 as this was. There was hardly a plant to be seen, although we 

 scoured the country in all directions. Of animal life there was no 

 more trace. No tracks of either hares or polar oxen, with the 



