SLEDGE-JOURXEYS ASHORE AND AFLOAT. 185 



went in the right direction, and we gradually drifted across to the 

 other side of the bay, where we managed to get a hold on the ice. 

 Just as we were drawing alongside, a large fragment fell on to our 

 cake, causing it to careen to such an extent that the sledges began 

 to slide off, but we managed to stop them in time and hauled them 

 up again. 



In the morning we pitched the tent at our old camping-place 

 on the west side of the fjord. We scanned the country and found 

 that, as far as we could see, there was open water along shore, but 

 about a mile from land was an unbroken ice-field. The question 

 was how were we to reach it. But, what was that ? A rock ? 

 We had not noticed it before, and out came our glasses at once. 

 It proved to be only what we called a ' meatberg ' a large herd 

 of walrus on a floe. 



We toiled hard the next day carrying the baggage and sledges 

 across the streams which cut through the ice-foot in deep channels. 

 At last we reached the drift-ice, where we thought all our 

 troubles would be at an end, but again we were doomed to 

 disappointment. The old polar ice was grooved by deep channels 

 of water which it was impossible to cross. We toiled and drove 

 and carried our baggage, but our greatest achievement was to 

 make almost a circuit, and finally we were obliged to find a way 

 as best we might to the edge of the old ice. We did not advance 

 more than a couple of miles that day, and eventually had to bite 

 the sour apple, as we say, and camp on the drift-ice a thing we 

 very unwillingly did in the summer, for it meant having all our 

 things wet through as the result of it. 



We now began to travel again by day, for, as our method of 

 advance was wading, we found the water quite cold enough anyhow, 

 without choosing the coolest time of the twenty -four hours to do 

 it in. 



Eventually, after getting on to ice of the previous winter, 

 we were able to make tolerable progress. We saw walrus and 

 numbers of seals lying about, and every kind was represented, but 

 each species kept to itself in select cliques. There were bladder- 

 nose, harbour seals, the common seal, and saddle-backs (Ph. Green- 

 landica), but the greater number were bearded seals (Erignathus 



