346 NEW LAND. 



one of the loads had slid down the slope, and was floating in the 

 sea. It was not a very inspiriting story; the sledge had been 

 stopped, and on starting again the dogs had put on such 

 a spurt that it had slid down and over the wall of ice, 

 which was here many feet in height. Happily the traces had 

 broken at the moment when the sledge started off, and the dogs, 

 immediately grasping the seriousness of the situation, had one and 

 all clawed on to the snow, clinging to it for clear life. For once in 

 their lives they were agreed. 



We all collected round the scene of the disaster, and saw the 

 sledge lying close in to the wall of ice, where it had lodged on 

 some stones at the bottom, and consequently had not sunk. The 

 sledge had to be recovered at any price, for although it was loaded 

 with things which would stand water, namely, stock-fish and paraffin 

 and inasmuch as this was the case the misfortune was not a great 

 one we could not by any means afford to lose it. 



One of the members of the party, with a rope round his waist, 

 climbed down the wall of ice, clinging on to it as best he could. 

 Things went well all the way down. Peder, who is a man of 

 forethought, and well knew the contents of the hold, -had brought 

 with him some fathoms of very stout plumbline. After the gun, 

 sleeping-bag, and private bag had been drawn up, the line was put 

 round the sledge, and the eight men who were standing above 

 hauled all they knew ; while the man hanging in the rope below 

 got the sledge clear of the ice-wall every time it stuck fast. In 

 this manner it was slowly but surely drawn up. We then undid 

 the lashing, knocked the slush out of the fish, lashed the load on 

 again, and continued our journey. 



We worked our way along to a spit of land whence the coast 

 seemed to take a more easterly direction, and on arriving there,- 

 after much toil and tribulation, found, to our great joy, that 

 the sound opened out to a considerable extent and trended east- 

 ward in a largish bay ; that the entire sound was covered with 

 young ice ; and that by following the ice-foot for a short distance 

 we could again get down on to even ice. This was a sight 

 which was as pleasing as it was unexpected, for I had not dared 

 to hope for any improvement for some days to come. 



