CHAPTER XLVIII. 



SCHEl'S NARRATIVE. 



SCHEI and Peder had arrived on board on Whit- Sunday morning, 

 that is to say the morning before we did, and were in good health 

 and spirits. Schei himself shall describe their journey, and this he 

 does as follows : 



' On March 20, Hendriksen and I left the " Fram " in company 

 with Captain Sverdrup, Isachsen, and Fosheim, and after going 

 back with the returning party as far as the depot at Bjorneborg, 

 I started on a shorter journey westward. This journey was first to 

 be to North Kent and an island or group of islands north of the 

 former, and afterwards to a large fjord tract in King Oscar Land." 



' On the morning of Good Friday, April 13, 1900, we thus 

 found ourselves in camp on the east shore of North Kent, with full 

 loads and rather exhausted dogs. We had had bad weather the 

 previous day it had compelled us to camp here, right under land 

 and bad weather we had still. No sooner had Bamnann, the mate, 

 and Stolz, who had come with us from Bjorneborg and were now 

 going back, started, than they were hidden from sight by the 

 driving snow from the north. 



' We also were soon under way, and drove northward along 

 shore. The weather and the going were equally unpleasant ; the 

 dogs went badly, and the sledges stuck fast every few minutes. 

 We camped under a steep river bank, where there was some shelter 

 for the tent and the dogs, and easy access, through a short, narrow 

 valley, to the higher parts of the island. 'Next day, when the 

 weather was more reasonable, I went an excursion up this valley, 

 where a couple of peculiar drifts engaged my attention for some 

 time. 



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