164 NEW LAND. 



them along was no joke; while there was also more to come 

 farther out, for we had all the bear-flesh to pick up. The skin 

 of a bear with the blubber on it is a load in itself, and as much as 

 a barrel of blubber is often removed from a single skin. 



The going was so good, however, that we were actually able to 

 sit on the sledges, until we were constrained to get off and run 

 beside them to keep ourselves warm. The dogs were in worse case 

 than ourselves ; it poured with rain, and sharp jagged fragments 

 began to project from the salt-water ice. It was like driving 

 over needles, and we had not gone far before the ice was spotted 

 with blood. Matters were no better when the rain went over to 

 sleet, and we had to cross one large pool after another, many 

 of them so deep that the sledges were under water. It was 

 as much as the dogs could do to get across them without swim- 

 ming, while we ran by the side as best we could to make it as 

 easy for them as possible. 



Outside Knipetangen, in Hayes Sound, we had bright sunshine 

 again, whereas over Beitstadfjord still hung the same dull grey 

 weather. The ice became worse and worse, often with deep, loose 

 snow on the top of it, but under land was some bare ice, and 

 thither we steered. The dogs, in spite of being so footsore, behaved 

 splendidly, and a stiff breeze springing up behind us, we managed 

 to get on a good pace. 



Heavy as were our loads, they were not so heavy as that which 

 awaited us in the tent. 



