POSHEIM'S ACCOUNT. 283 



be seen. Most likely it had been found by a pack of wolves, 

 which had feasted sumptuously on their windfall. 



Both that day and the next we saw many small herds of polar 

 oxen, of two, three, or four animals in each ; of heifers or calves 

 we saw nothing, and it is therefore probable that all these un- 

 attached animals, so to speak, were males, which vegetate in 

 bachelor fashion during the spring and summer, until the beginning 

 of the pairing season in August or September. 



On our march we came to the cliffs of a narrow little side 

 valley, and there suddenly found our way barred by a large ox, 

 which looked anything but a pleasant customer. It pawed the 

 ground with its fore-legs like a vicious bull, tore up the sand with 

 its enormous horns, and altogether looked so ready to fight that we 

 thought it wisest not to force a passage, armed only, as we were, 

 with flaying-knives and a rifle without cartridges. I have never 

 been attacked by a polar ox, but this solitary, cross-grained cavalier 

 looked very doubtful, and was evidently not to be trifled with. 



Up all the steep slopes and knolls were numbers of hares. 

 When the weather was still and fine, certain places simply 

 swarmed with them. One hare was so tame that it almost let me 

 stroke its coat. How pretty it was ,as it lay there, round as a 

 ball, and white as the snow ! At last it slowly got up, laid one 

 ear back and pointed the other erect, stretched itself lazily first 

 with one hind-pad and then with the other, and straightened its 

 nose in the air, as if it was going to yawn. Puss was evidently 

 tired after her night revels. Then came a rushing stone and made 

 an unkind end of this Paradisaic idyl. She started a couple of 

 hops aside, scraped away the snow with her fore-pads, and began 

 to browse anew. The next night hares were sitting and lying 

 and running on all the slopes and hills. 



After examining the valley for a distance of seven miles from 

 the sea, we decided to try a passage from hero. The country 

 looked as if it would do pretty well ; the floor of the valley was 

 even and covered with snow, the incline gentle, and the direction 

 right enough if only it did not make a turn farther west. 



The first part of the way was easy beyond all expectation ; 

 for, after no more than two hours' driving, we covered the five 



