TOWARDS THE NORTH! 399 



another point, such as had been the case every time here west ? 

 The excitement of driving in a strange country when the weather 

 is fine, and one can see far and wide around one, is very different 

 from our sensations on the present occasion. One's fancy then has 

 wings, and creates new goals according as the nearer ones are 

 reached. Behind each bit of blue distance rises another, luring one 

 on to exert one's every faculty ; it is the princess behind the seven 

 blue mountain ranges far away in fairyland over again. But with 

 bad weather one loses courage and vigour, and it requires all the 

 iron will of a man to prevent one from throwing up the game. 



On the dogs the weather has the same effect: it is like the 

 difference between night and day. If the team have not a 

 particular point to make for, but must drag the sledges at hap- 

 hazard through fog and thick weather, the pace is quite certain to 

 suffer. If, for instance, one is driving across a large bay where 

 there is hardly anything to be seen but sky and frozen sea, the 

 teams at once lose energy in a quite remarkable manner ; but 

 no sooner does a pressure-ridge come into view in the distance 

 than they set off as hard as they can go. If, furthermore, they 

 know that there will be a short halt each time such a goal is 

 reached, their energy can be considerably increased. In the same 

 way if one is following the line of a coast, a stop at each point will 

 put new life into the team, and one will not have any difficulty in 

 keeping the course, for, as a rule, a good team will always go in a 

 straight line, mile after mile. In thick weather, on the other hand, 

 they do nothing but swerve, first in one direction and then in 

 another ; while the same is the case in loose drifted snow, as they 

 always try to find the hardest places. 



The snow was very loose that day, and the dogs sank into it ; 

 but all the same, we made better progress than hitherto, as the 

 sledges rode better. The weather, too, was fairly clear, and we 

 were able to see several fjords at the end of the bay, extending 

 into the land in different directions. 



Late in the day we saw a beautiful sight in the shape of several 

 mock-suns. A mock-sun in itself is not, of course, a very rare 

 phenomenon ; but it is not often that are seen, as on that day, 

 besides the sun itself, seven suns at once, in two rings, one outside 



