238 NEW LAND. 



discovered for certain that the fjord-arm was only a little rounded 

 creek, and returned the way we had come. As we neared the 

 point again we saw the same herd grazing on the slopes. This 

 time they took no notice of us. 



We stopped down by the ice-foot, and looked at them for a 

 while in doubt whether we should kill one or two of them or not. 

 But when we discovered that almost the whole herd consisted 

 of cows with small calves, we left them in peace, and went on. 



A little way farther out the snow became very bad going. It 

 was so loose that the dogs floundered in it halfway up their 

 flanks. And how the sun baked against the crags of rock around 

 us ! Its power in this basin was something incredible. 



At last we could stand it no longer ; the sledges would hardly 

 move, and we decided to camp out by the crack. We did it, 

 moreover, with a good conscience, for we had driven as many as 

 twenty- nine miles that day. 



