A POLAR IDYL. 183 



Stream after stream ran down the slopes ; the valley was at least 

 a mile in width, and the high steep banks on both sides of it told 

 their own tale. It gave me the impression that in the spring 

 water must run over the whole of the bottom of the valley truly 

 a sizeable water- course. 



Later in the evening we steered on a projecting spit of land, 

 where we had decided to camp for the night, and whence we hoped 

 to be able to see the fjord on the other side. This time, actually, 

 we were not disappointed. When we had come so far that we 

 could look round the point, we .caught a glimpse of the fjord, 

 enough to tell us that it was no pigmy we had to do with. 



Our tent we pitched by the side of a low sand-hill, a couple of 

 miles from the fjord. We had a good deal of observing to do, and 

 took an azimuth, and observations for longitude and variation. 



Had our excitement of late been great, and our anxiety lest we 

 should not find ourselves in the much-discussed fjord no less, we 

 were now equally eager to find out for certain whether this was 

 the right fjord, or whether it was only the one Isachsen and Hassel 

 had looked into the previous year. The others declared themselves 

 convinced that we were now entering the promised land. I thought 

 we had borne a little too far to the east, and was very much 

 afraid that it was Isachsen and Hassel's fjord (' Storfjord,' or 

 ' Great Fjord ') we now saw. 



Next morning, while Fosheim was occupied with an observation 

 for longitude, and the others were dividing provisions and so 

 forth between the two sledge-parties, so that we each had our own 

 things, and could separate if necessary at any moment, I went a 

 reconnaissance down to the shore. The fjord was very large, and 

 in a direction about east by west penetrated some twenty or 

 possibly thirty miles inland. Iceberg after iceberg towered in 

 fantastic majesty inwards up the fjord ; and east of it, far inland, 

 I could see a glimpse of the ' inland ice,' like a white stripe under 

 the horizon. On the north side of the fjord the coast did not 

 answer at all to the description I had had of it, though as far as 

 some islands were concerned it certainly did agree. 



I thought and thought, but grew no wiser; the whole thing 

 seemed very mysterious. Meantime I decided to drive towards 



