FOSHEIM'S ACCOUNT. 275 



.all skin and bone, and with a large swelling at the root of the tail. 

 The meat was therefore almost as hard to eat as the animal had 

 been to kill, and it was so pale and unappetizing in appearance, 

 that we left it altogether for the dogs; but we felt very much 

 inclined to try the heart, liver, and tongue, and some of the blood 

 for a black pudding a dish we were both very fond of. We 

 hesitated a good deal, however, before we made up our minds to it. 

 Supposing the animal was suffering from an infectious disease ? 

 Perhaps the blood was pure unadulterated poison? Why not 

 first try its effect on one of the dogs say the 'Tiger,' who had 

 forfeited his wicked life over and over again? In the end, how- 

 ever, we gathered courage, and made a huge black pudding, which 

 both tasted good and agreed with us exceedingly well. 



On his way up the mate had gone along the ridge of a hill 

 down which ran a stream, but had not noticed anything of the 

 bull. But as he came down again, along the middle of the valley, 

 he heard a peculiar sound like somebody snoring. He stopped, 

 astonished, and to his great amazement saw a polar ox close by 

 him lying with outstretched head and legs, fast asleep. The 

 hunter's blood began at once to boil, and without more ado he 

 woke it up with a bullet in the body. 



On May 6 we drove round ' Isfjeldodden ' (Iceberg Point), 

 whose northernmost extremity lies on about lat. 80 20' N., and 

 rises gradually for a distance of nearly fourteen miles towards the 

 highlands in the south, but everywhere it seemed to be deserted 

 and barren, with sparse vegetation and little game. The only 

 signs of life were the tracks of wolves, of a bear, and of a few 

 ptarmigan. Greely Fjord stretched to the north-east large and 

 broad, on the north side skirted by lofty mountains, and some- 

 times with abrupt snow-bare precipices. To the south a long arm 

 of the sea penetrated deeply into the laud. Was it a fjord or a 

 sound ? This question we were about to solve, and we were very 

 much excited as to the result. 



The last couple of days we had been driving on snow which 

 for gliding qualities was about as good as blue clay, and it often 

 reminded me of the terrible travelling the previous year on the 

 west coast of Axel Heiberg Land. Furthermore, our loads were 



