188 XEW LAND. 



was not. I asked Schei to finish it off, but if I remember right 

 he had to give it two or three shots below the head before we 

 could begin to skin it, but by that time it was comparatively 

 dead. We had of course taken the camp-kettle with us in order 

 to make ourselves a savoury black-pudding, but the bear cheated 

 us in the end. Not a drop of blood was to be found in the 

 whole of its body, and I cannot conceive how it remained alive 

 for so long a time. Not one of the last shots had gone astray, 

 but from my position I had been unable to hit any vital spot. 

 The animal had died of loss of blood. 



When the dogs again put in an appearance, after a long 

 absence, they were well feasted, and the remaining meat tied to 

 the traces so that they could drag it back to camp, and all the 

 teams have a midnight supper. In the meantime Fosheim, as an 

 answer to his calculations, had made out our former camping- 

 place to be on long. 84 W., while the meridian altitude taken at 

 noon gave us lat. 78 50' N. 



Next morning we went on again, keeping the same course, but 

 with the snow rather heavy and slow. The dogs, moreover, had 

 so over- eaten themselves that they were indisposed to work. My 

 condition all day was one of feverish excitement. It was only 

 a matter of reaching the point we were steering on, and the all- 

 important question which so entirely occupied us all whether 

 there were sea farther north or not would be solved. By degrees 

 as we neared the point the going became harder and harder, and 

 we soon found ourselves in the midst of young pressure-ice, which 

 was very difficult to drive in. 



By one o'clock we reached the point. We drove up to the 

 crack, made a short halt, and fortified ourselves with bread and 

 meat ; for it was necessary now to be equal to the situation. 

 We were about to face the solution, that we all felt ; but whether 

 it would bring us bitter disappointment or jubilant gladness was 

 still a sealed book to us. 



We then went a little way up the talus. Never before had we 

 scanned land and shore with such excitement. And what did we 

 see ? We saw a beautiful large sound extending northward as far 

 as the eye could reach ! 



