52 NEW LAND. 







sledges we managed to get along all the same, and were not very 

 long before we reached land. 



We encamped a little way above the ice-foot, and then went 

 off to see if there was anything to shoot, but though we tramped 

 about the whole day long we did not come across a sign of game, 

 with the exception of the track of a single hare. The ground we 

 went over was considerable, and I am prepared to say there were 

 not many hares about in the parts we traversed. 



Next day we sallied forth again, but this time did not see even 

 a hare-track ; and the trail of any other animal seemed to be out 

 of the question. All that we observed were the excrements of 

 reindeer and some old cast antlers, so here was proof positive that, 

 at any rate, there had once been reindeer in these parts. 



Most remarkable of all, however, was that we walked that day 

 over the ground where we had seen the large herd of animals some 

 days previously. It was now covered with the most splendid 

 tracking snow a pursuer of game could desire ; but all our looking 

 was in vain ; and not even from a height, whence we had a capital 

 view over our surroundings, could we discover a single animal. 

 Mile after mile the land lay beneath our scrutiny. Large gently 

 sloping valleys were sunk in the wave-like landscape, but every- 

 where the ground was equally dead. But when one came to 

 think of it, what was there for animals to live on here ? We saw 

 no vegetation except down by the shore ; as soon as we turned 

 our steps away from that, we encountered only bare sandy plains, 

 heaps of grit, and rocks. 



Our gaze wandered far south through Cardigan Strait. It 

 seemed to be quite free of ice, and there w r as open sea all the way 

 to the northern edge of North Kent, as far as Graham Island. 

 On the west side, on the contrary, we saw nothing but the pack, 

 though there were some open lanes, which we could have followed 

 down to Cardigan Strait, hardly more than five or six miles from 

 the ship. We struck camp that day and drove out to the ' Fram/ 

 where we arrived at half-past eight in the evening. Here there 

 was every prospect of fog ; and, sure enough, next day we had the 

 same horrible raw weather as before. 



All this time that we lay waiting to slip through the sound 



