SUMMER JOURNEYS. 151 



Baumann had long been working so energetically at his magnetic 

 observations, that he had had several attacks of partial blindness, 

 and had been obliged to keep his cabin for a day or so at a time. 

 As soon as the snow had melted on the slopes to the south, the 

 botanist set to work to collect plants. The hut was completed 

 and painted, the different parts marked, and the whole erection 

 taken down and stowed in the hold. The mate, in view of the 

 contemplated sledge-journey round Greenland, was very busy 

 rubbing a compound of tar, stearine, and suet, into the wooden 

 runners, in order to render them more resistent and slippery. 

 For this work a good deal of patience is necessary, as each runner 

 has to be warmed, and the grease afterwards rubbed in in all, 

 several hours' treatment. Peder and Hassel profited by the mild 

 spring weather to scrape the blubber off and salt the skins of seals 

 and walrus, and also to salt the skins of polar oxen, which they 

 afterwards stowed away in the hold. The engineers got the engines 

 clear for a start, and Nodtvedt, in his smithy, worked early and late 

 making tools, partly for the sledge-journey, and partly for use 

 during our future sojourn in the hut. Among the things he made 

 were a forge and a complete set of blacksmith's tools. 



Our hopes of an early summer were, I am sorry to say, doomed 

 to disappointment. Cold and still weather set in again, and the 

 thermometer often showed a night temperature of sixteen or 

 seventeen below zero. When are added to this the thick fogs 

 which we experienced during the daytime, it will be seen that the 

 thaw was not' likely to proceed with great rapidity. The trip 

 planned, as a conclusion to the scientific work done up in the 

 fjords, had to be put off on account of the bad weather, but 

 everything was got clear for our departure as soon as a change 

 should set in. 



One of the expeditions was to consist of Schei and Stolz ; 

 but Stolz had to take to his berth, having become snow-blind 

 during the transport of some walrus-skins from the Meat-heap, and 

 the doctor was asked if he would like to take his place. He was 

 delighted at the prospect of going, as it was his first sledge-journey, 

 and the weather was very fine. He had to undertake to act as 

 zoologist, as Bay could not bring himself to leave his dear insects. 



