366 NEW LAND. 



Fjord, and that being so, it was not impossible that there might 

 also be glaciers further south which issued into one or other of 

 the fjords. 



During the course of the night the wind went down, and by 

 the time we were ready to begin cooking in the morning it was 

 almost still. We therefore prepared to get under way as quickly 

 as possible, but after such a storm it takes longer than usual 

 to strike camp, especially when there is as much loose snow 

 for the storm to whirl about as was then the case. The result 

 of this is that sledges and tents and everything else are snowed 

 down, and must be laboriously dug out; the loads on the 

 sledges must be taken off, and each article beaten and brushed 

 free from snow, for one does not wish to drive any unnecessary 

 weight. Sometimes one is even obliged to scrape the ice and 

 snow oft' the dogs. Occupied in this manner, it was past nine 

 before we could set oft' with a good conscience ; and even then we 

 had not everything with us, for the axe, which had been set up 

 beside the tent-door the previous evening, was so entirely buried 

 in the snow that I forgot all about it. 



We had hoped for good hard snow, but in this we were 

 doomed to disappointment; there had been such an inordinate 

 amount of loose snow about, that a storm of short duration such 

 as this was not enough to harden it. In some places the crust 

 on the drifts was so strong that it would almost bear the dogs, 

 but the next minute through they went, often to their bellies, 

 and so would lie for quite a long time struggling and swimming 

 in the loose snow under the crust without being able to find a 

 foothold. Our progress was distressingly slow, and, even when 

 we unharnessed and put two men to a sledge, it was as much as 

 we could do to drag the loads along foot by foot, in short jerks. 



Our way led along the crack, outside an extremely long 

 sandbank, seemingly without end. During the afternoon a stiff" 

 breeze from the west sprang up, which made it absolutely impos- 

 sible to see where we were going, or whether we were driving on 

 sand or sea-ice there was shoal water here, and the crack was not 

 very apparent, a sheet of even snow covering the whole. 



When we stopped in the evening a whole gale was blowing, 



