EASTER IN HEIHERG LAND 375 



But it was Easter Eve. We made ourselves as comfortable as 

 we could inside the tent ; served up the best we had ; and burned 

 the ' Primus ' an unduly long time, for even in Heiberg Land we 

 had to keep the feast. 



On Easter Day we drove across the next bay, and all the time 

 followed land north-westward. Here, too, we saw little else but 

 precipitous cliffs which fell abruptly into the sea ; but our progress 

 was fairly good, for, as a rule, we could drive on the young ice 

 which followed the shore, in and out, in a strip fifty to a hundred 

 yards wide. At last, by way of a change, had come quiet holyday 

 weather. It was the best we had had since our departure from 

 Hvalrosfjord, even though it was hardly what would be called fine 

 down in the south. Nor was it clear that day either, and we were 

 again sprinkled over by the same dust-like snow which was so 

 common that spring. Still, we thought it worth while to try and 

 get a few photographs of the landscape, and though they were not 

 good, they were at any rate fit for use. 



During the day we passed pressure-ridges, which for height 

 surpassed anything we had yet seen. We thought of measuring 

 them, but the wind was so strong and keen that we decided to 

 leave it till we drove south again, hoping then to have a better 

 opportunity : we had little time to spare now. However, to have 

 some idea of their height I asked Isachsen what he would put 

 it at, and to be sure of his not overstepping the mark I guessed 

 first, saying : 



' That pressure-ridge is about eighty feet high, I suppose ? ' 



' No,' answered Isachsen, ' it's a hundred and twenty if 

 it's one.' 



How high it may have been is difficult to say, since we did 

 not measure it, but it was of great height. I had never thought 

 that ice could pile itself up in such a manner, far up on land ; and 

 to this day I cannot understand how it came to pass. 



After the great pressure had taken place the entire mass of 

 the drift-ice had gradually receded from the land so that a belt 

 of new ice had been able to form in here, and this remained lying 

 unaffected. The period of this enormous pressure must have 

 been some time during the previous autumn, or the first part 



