64 NEW LAND. 



row. It was as much as they could do to pull the boat through 

 the heavy brash. 



Bay was much struck with the richness of the fauna in these 

 tracts, and said that he had never before found anything like it in 

 the Arctic regions. His harvest was surprising in many respects, 

 and it was a pity they could not remain there longer. To 

 Simmons, on the other hand, the trip had proved a disappoint- 

 ment, the vegetation at the head of the fjord being very sparse. 

 Schei had scoured the mountains in all directions, had examined 

 stones and boulders, and collected a number of specimens. 



One evening, after their return to camp, they had heard some- 

 thing moving outside the tent door, and on looking cautiously out 

 saw a fox gnawing Schei's gun-case. By the time they came out 

 of the tent it had already dragged the cover a short distance away, 

 but when it saw them left it and slunk off. It was not in the 

 least shy, and, unalarmed at the voices inside, it had come quite 

 close to the tent-door, where the cover was lying. It must have 

 been exceedingly hungry, poor thing. 



For the first two or three days we found the snow and brash 

 on the water a great inconvenience to us, but the ice soon became 

 strong enough to bear, when we had ' ski ' on. Now dawned a 

 couple of golden days with the hares, and almost every one on 

 board had a shot at them. We made good bags at first, but the 

 country round the ship was soon exhausted about fifteen brace 

 being killed altogether. 



Immediately after his return Schei began to investigate the 

 mountains at the head of the fjord. His hammering brought to 

 light a great number of beautiful fossilized plants, and for a time, 

 while lie was engaged on this work, it was necessary for him to 

 have three or four men to help him bring the stones on board. 



The mate, Fosheim, Olsen, and I decided to go a trip up the 

 valley to try and get some meat for the larder. Olsen and the 

 mate greatly looked forward to the expedition, for neither of them 

 had as yet met a polar ox at close quarters. The mate had been 

 out before, but the oxen had cheated him, and he was now firmly 

 resolved to reverse the situation. 



Early in the morning we started up the valley, and five miles 



