TO SKAAREFJORD. 237 



breath was stirring ! We could see from the snow that it had not 

 blown at all there that day. 



We pitched our tent on a snow-bare mound of grit, dragged off 

 our outer clothes, and hung them up to dry, for the sun had such 

 power on the dark grit, that the snow melted at once on the 

 sledges and baggage. 



What a relief to be in the shelter of these high steep walls of 

 rock ! From our warm nest we could see how the storm on the 

 fjord was still raging with unabated force. The transition was so 

 sudden, that we felt as if we had come to Paradise or home to 

 Norway. 



We cooked ourselves some lunch, and then went off, each 

 taking his own line : Schei to the glacier, I to the north-east side 

 of the valley, to take rounds of angles and bearings. After our 

 return in the evening, just as we were about to take observations 

 for longitude, the sky suddenly clouded over, and we had to 

 postpone them till the following day. We took our revenge in 

 the brilliant sunshine next morning. 



After Schei had made some trial shots with his gun, the sights 

 of which were out of order, we set off to drive down the fjord, in 

 beautiful weather, and on snow in capital condition. 



There were others besides ourselves out in the sunshine that 

 day. We saw numbers of seal lying on the ice enjoying existence, 

 but they took to the water as soon as we came near. Above us 

 flew flight after flight of ' skaarer,' or young glaucous gulls ; so 

 many of them were there that we named the fjord ' Skaare- 

 fjord.' Two or three polar oxen browsing on some small bits of 

 level ground quite near the ice-foot sorely tempted us to their 

 destruction, but not beyond resistance. We could not stop for 

 shooting to-day, and pushed on without a halfc along the west 

 shore. 



Five or six miles from the mouth of the fjord a little fjord-arm 

 made a sudden bend due south. We must find out for certain 

 whether this was a sound or a bay, we thought. We rounded the 

 point and set inwards, past a herd of polar cattle, which stood 

 motionless and stared at us from a steep precipice as we drove 

 past. After driving for three miles in rather loose snow we 



