408 NEW LAND. 



Out on the ice, about a mile from land, was a collection of 

 large stones, and for a long distance the ice was also covered with 

 grit. At one time, probably, all this had lain close under the 

 cliffs, before the receding of the ice from land. In any case, it 

 made a curious impression to see these big collections of grit and 

 stones spread over such a comparatively large space. 



It was blowing so hard that we were afraid to pitch the tent 

 out at the extremity of Cape North- West, and consequently we 

 spent a long time searching for a spot where there was some 

 shelter before we eventually found one up under the crack. 



The next morning the same gale was blowing from the north, 

 but happily there was not quite so much drift, as the snow had 

 packed somewhat. The weather too was on the whole considerably 

 clearer ; we even saw the sun, and I made an attempt to take an 

 observation for longitude and an azimuth to the cape north of us, 

 which we had left the previous day. But it is not easy to take 

 observations when the weather is as rough as it was then, and 

 almost all my fingers were frost-bitten before I had finished my 

 operations. 



We started at our usual hour, but the ice went up and down 

 like waves ; in the depressions especially the going was dreadful, 

 and our progress much less satisfactory than on the previous day. 



Of this first part of the return journey there is little to relate. 

 The weather was in the same key the whole time, and we did not 

 escape a couple of days' halt from stress of weather ; but we soon 

 saw that if we were to reach Bjorneborg with all the dogs alive 

 we must make haste and drive every day, no matter what the 

 weather might be. Our knowledge of the country, such as it was, 

 now stood us in good stead. 



So now, when morning came, we no longer asked each other 

 what the weather was like, but went solely by the clock ; starting 

 every morning at a quarter to eight, and driving without a break 

 till five in the afternoon. Our baggage was now quite light ; even 

 when we had picked up the dog-food and over-runners, which we 

 had left behind, we had no loads to speak of, so that, in the worst 

 weather and going, we now managed to drive over eleven miles 

 a day. 



