BJORNESUND AND ULVEFJORD. 245 



ordinary occasions, nor had I ever remarked that they were super- 

 stitious ; but this time they pricked up their ears, gave short, 

 uneasy barks, and were absolutely determined to strike off across 

 the ice, and get away from this unedifying neighbourship. Schei's 

 dog 'Mosaiken,' who, as off dog in the file, was nearest to the 

 monster, could hardly be induced to go on. When we were abreast 

 the mysterious structure, the dog pressed as close in as he could 

 to the sledge, and as soon as we had the hut on our beam, he, 

 like the others, started off with the load as if he were fleeing 

 from the crack of doom, all the while uttering short barks and 

 looking up apprehensively at the ice-foot. 



And what was this terrifying object ? Comparatively soon we 

 discovered that it was merely a weird formation of the ice ; the 

 most extraordinary thing about it, and what well-nigh made me 

 shudder, being an arrangement on the roof in the shape of a long 

 lance of ice, with a flag drooping from it. It was so natural that 

 it almost made one's hair stand on end. The whole thing was 

 black with dirt, but most black and most diabolical of all was the 

 door, which ran up in a point, and was formed by a deep groove 

 or grotto. It looked as if a troll might come rushing forth from 

 it at any moment to see who were the strangers who were thus 

 roving amid the ice up here. 



There were the tracks of many bears along the shore, but this 

 was not to be wondered at, seeing that they had a regular high- 

 road just here. We particularly noticed the tracks of an enormous 

 bear, which had gone west, at most only a few hours before 

 ourselves. 



We camped out on the southernmost point, where Schei and 

 Peder had had their camping-place the previous year. We found 

 many vestiges of the past on this point, in the shape of tent-rings 

 and meat-cellars. Two or three reindeer had come from the west, 

 and gone ashore here. 



Next day we drove up ' Gletcherfjord ' (Glacier Fjord). A 

 chain of mountains which fell sheer away on the west side of 

 Ulvefjord sloped evenly down towards Gletcherfjord, like a 

 monster 'ski '-hill. On the east side of Gletcherfjord were ex- 

 tensive lowlands, which continued very far north. Outside these 



