THROUGH HELL GATE. 



341 



get through almost anything. As regards the dogs, they had not 

 yet been very much tried, for, owing to the roughness of the ground, 

 they had had waiting periods every time the caravan was obliged 

 to pull up for the purpose of making a way. For the sledges and 

 men, however, it had been a trial by fire, and the demands made 

 on them that day are not easily represented. It was simply 

 incredible that such lightly built sledges could withstand what 

 they did, but that they really had survived the shocks I made 

 quite certain when we encamped, for, according to my usual custom, 



PUESSURE-HIDGE AT BAADSFJORDNUTEN. 



I looked carefully over them all, and not one had suffered the least 

 injury. The only accident that had happened during the course 

 of the day was the breaking of a spoke in one of the odometers, but 

 this was not very important, and it could easily be mended as soon 

 as we had got through the strait. 



At our usual hour the next day, Sunday, March 25, we began 

 to literally carve our way northwards, accompanied by driving 

 snow and a strong wind from the south. Bad as the ice had 

 been the previous day, it was now many times worse, and at 

 places was so impracticable as to baffle description. Towering 

 pressure- ridges lay in many places forced far up against the 

 cliffs, and we were compelled to cut a way foot by foot, through 



