BEARS AND POLAR OXEK 



163 



We returned to the tent tired and hungry, and feeling as if we 

 should much enjoy regaling ourselves on our spoils of the previous 

 day. There were, indeed, delicacies to meet the idiosyncrasies of 

 every palate; one chose steaks, pure and simple, another had a 

 preference for marrow-bones, while another examined the heart 

 and kidneys, and fried them afterwards. 



On Saturday evening we turned out at ten o'clock, lighted the 

 ' Primus/ and put on the cooking-pot. Our way was now to 

 Fort Juliana ; we had told the doctor that we should be absent for 



FROM SCHEIS JOURNEY. CAMP AT BACHE PENINSULA. 



four days, and nothing should tempt us to remain longer. The 

 enchanting landscape of the morning was all gone, and the weather 

 had turned raw and cold. Dark, rainy clouds hung threateningly 

 over the precipices, while the valley seemed twice as narrow and 

 the mountains twice as high as heretofore. Now and again a 

 heavy rain-drop would fall on the tent, as if to warn us that it was 

 time to break up ; but we were not in any great hurry to start, for 

 it was warm and comfortable inside. We had our breakfast and 

 smoked our regulation pipes of plug tobacco. 



With the addition of the flesh and skins of three oxen our 

 loads had now become very heavy, and we found that getting 



