250 NEW LAND. 



the edge of the ice, and plunged into the lane. It was lying there, 

 floating, when we reached the spot. A dead bear which has exerted 

 itself never sinks, unless it is extremely thin, and this was a fine, 

 fat beast. We then hacked a slope in the edge of the ice, up which 

 to haul it, and although there were four of us to the job, it was as 

 much as we could do to drag it up. If I recollect right, it took 

 three of us, when it was landed, to turn it over on its back. The 

 work of cutting it up and skinning it out there on the ice in such 

 wind was anything but amusing. 



When we had finished our work, and were looking forward to 

 the moment when we should be comfortably settled inside the tent, 

 we found that the tide had risen so much that we could not get 

 ashore like ordinary human beings. Schei declared that his wind 

 overalls were so waterproof that he could wade to land without 

 getting very wet, if he tied them tightly round his boots, and, after 

 due preparation, he started off. These overalls of waterproofed 

 cotton material are invaluable garments, and those Schei had on 

 were not otherwise than thick ; probably, too, they were fairly 

 watertight ; but it took him some time to get across, for the water 

 was deep and there were pitfalls to be avoided, and certainly he 

 got very wet. 



Fosheim and I. having no wish for a swim, decided to wait till 

 the tide went down. Meanwhile we dragged the meat down to the 

 crack, so that we should have nothing to do but hand it across the 

 ice-foot at low tide. It was miserably cold standing about, with a 

 wind that seemed to blow right through one, so we took a turn 

 eastwards, and, in so doing, unexpectedly found a crossing, which 

 brought us ashore dry-shod. 



The camp was then put in order, and later on the meat fetched 

 and laid out on the snow to freeze. 



We were very much interested to know in what direction the 

 land trended : that it should extend so far to the west we had 

 never imagined, and we hoped and expected that as soon as we 

 had got round the nearest headland to the west we should find the 

 coast trending northward. But at present we could see nothing of 

 our surroundings ; the fog lay thick out at sea, and as it was also 

 growing late, we postponed our reconnaissance till the morrow. 



