CHAPTER VI. 



SNOWSTORM AND MISFORTUNE. 



ON board our first business was to build a forge, and after that the 

 dog-kennels. The over-runners of our sledges too had suffered 

 much from all the trips across the neck, and we had to make new 

 ones as quickly as possible. 



The experience gained from these journeys across Gaasedalseidet 

 taught us that the ' water-sledge ' was the most satisfactory for 

 work of the kind, and Fosheim at once began to make three more 

 after the same model. This sledge had now been scraping over 

 bare land for years, so that the steel plates were t as good as 

 useless. Nodtvedt and Peder re-shod it ; and as soon as the new 

 sledges left Fosheim's hands they fixed the plates on them. 



At this juncture we found ourselves short of material. Nothing 

 suitable for sledge steel was forthcoming except some of the ice- 

 saws, the blades of which were of unusually hard steel. These we 

 had to sacrifice, but when cut into strips and welded together they 

 provided us with particularly good plates. 



The meat and skins were hung up in the after- cabin to thaw, 

 and the meat was afterwards disjointed and sorted. The briskets 

 and tongues were salted by themselves ; and the kidney-fat, 

 flanks, and various small pieces of superior excellence were handed 

 over to the steward for the fabrication of sausage^ . The heads 

 and hoofs were separated from the skins, as well as some of 

 the suet, and the other parts which were not required for our 

 consumption. 



It had been my intention ever since we came into this fjord to 

 make a journey northward to explore the northern part of ' Nor- 

 skebugten ' (Norwegian Bay). Several circumstances combined 



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