400 NEW LAND. 



festal meal. I had gone through the depot and brought out all 

 sorts of delicacies, such as sausages, green peas, tongue, bacon, etc., 

 while an omelet figured on our bill of fare by way of sweet. 



We did not forget our faithful companions, the dogs, in the 

 enjoyment of our own good cheer. They had stuffed immoderately 

 ever since we had shot the bear, and as they had not had much 

 to take it out of them the last few days, we had every reason to 

 hope they would be very fresh when we started anew next morning. 

 We sat long talking that evening, and it was late before we felt 

 inclined to turn in. 



The day afterwards it was Whitsun Eve we said good-bye 

 to Fosheim ; and Bay took his place and his team. The first 

 thing Fosheim was going to do after he was alone was to put a 

 sloping roof on the house, as he had neither desire nor ability to 

 play commodore to the squadron of tin boxes, and there were 

 enough fragments of sailcloth left from the old Bjorneborg to 

 cover the roof. 



It had been snowing all night, so that everywhere there was 

 deep, loose snow. Often it reached the dogs' bellies, and sometimes 

 up their flanks. The sledges travelled remarkably well all the 

 same, for there was hardly any friction, though we did not go fast, 

 the snow being so deep. We drove steadily on all day, and when 

 that is done, although the pace may not be very great, the distance 

 mounts up in the end. 



We camped in a raging storm that evening, on an old floe to 

 the east of Baadsfjord. The weather was mild, but nevertheless 

 it was a bitter pleasure getting up the tent. Nor had we any 

 very clear idea where we were ; for the air was so thick that we 

 could see nothing of our surroundings, but, judging by a hummock 

 close by, we concluded we were at the boundary between the 

 pressure- and fjord-ice, somewhere east of Baadsfjord. 



We started again at seven the next morning in the same loose 

 snow as before, and, twelve hours later, camped at South Cape. 

 We gave the dogs a good feed, cooked ourselves some supper, and 

 lay awhile inside the tent, but started again at two, in weather that 

 was as thick as ever. We shaped the course, as far as we knew, 

 for the southern point of Skreia, and made all the haste we could, 



