382 NEW LAND. 



worth very much. We camped in the evening somewhere out on 

 the ice, but whether it "was sea-ice or ice above sand we did not 

 know ; we knew only that we had driven nearly sixteen miles from 

 our last camping-place. 



We started next day in the same kind of weather, and without 

 the slightest idea where our camping-ground had been. We kept 

 the same course as the day before, but as we were pressing on 

 as best we could we had driven about four miles I suddenly 

 discovered that we were standing on the top of a sand-hill with a 

 steep drop in front of us. How we had come there is impossible 

 to say, for in our innocence we thought we were on level sea-ice ! 

 One must be born in Axel Heiberg Land if one is to find one's 

 way in such weather as this. 



We let the sledges go, and when we reached the bottom found 

 ourselves, by a way of a change, on a river, on which the ice was 

 as clear as crystal, and we could count the stones six or seven feet 

 beneath us. It was of considerable size, too, being both deep and 

 broad. I went up on to a crag of rock to try to get some idea of 

 the lie of the land, but the drift was so dense that the only thing 

 I could discover for certain was that the river ran in a north- 

 easterly direction, through apparently extensive level country. I 

 also thought I saw fjord-ice outside the mouth of the river. 



On the big plains, of which I could just see a glimpse inland, 

 there must be abundant vegetation ; and far away as I was from 

 them, I walked all the time on grass and moss in practically 

 snow-bare country. The moss was so dry and thick that it was 

 like walking on a soft carpet ; but of animal life there was not 

 a trace, though certainly I had not much opportunity of looking 

 for anything of the kind. 



We then drove down the river, soon reached the mouth, and 

 went out on to the sea-ice. We were not long in deciding to keep 

 a course so far to the west, that we should be in no danger of again 

 mistaking land for sea, and drove hard ahead ; but the very same 

 thing happened again, and it was not long before we were once 

 more close inshore. This time, happily, we drove under a steep 

 sand-hill, and as we found out in time where we were, we were 

 not put to any trouble. 



