SPRING JOURNEYS AND SUMMER IMPRESSIONS. 303 



the eiders, hares, and geese. On our wanderings we came across 

 the ruins of some winter houses. 



We moved from here diagonally across the fjord, to Indre Eide, 

 and camped under a steep cliff. What an Eldorado for the man of 

 stones ! There was hardly a stone which did not contain fossils. 

 And it was so convenient the way they lay strewn about on the 

 beach at our very feet ! All four of us worked hard collecting 

 them during the daytime, but the evenings we devoted to sport. 

 Small lakes were dotted about all over the isthmus, and in them 

 hundreds of geese were disporting themselves. Although they 

 were not so very shy, still we found it extremely difficult to get 

 within range. For one thing, we had always to shoot along the 

 ground, and in the very warm weather which we had at this time 

 the air quivered above the hot stretches of grit, so that the quarry 

 appeared distorted. Never in my life have I shot all over the 

 place in the way I did at those bewitched geese at Indre Eide. I 

 lost faith in myself and in my rifle, and at last gave up the 

 whole thing. Still, we managed to get a few geese together out 

 there all the same, though it went slowly. It was possible to 

 wade across the smaller of the lakes, notwithstanding that the 

 water was waist-deep. But Olsen cared not at all about this, and 

 went out to fetch the birds like a retriever. 



However, a wetting just at this time did not much matter. 

 As soon as we were back at the tent and laid out our things on 

 the sand they were dry directly. When the air is dry, and a 

 strong wind blows without ceasing, the thermometer showing 

 46 to 48 Fahr. (8 to 9 Cent.) in the shade, water soon evapo- 

 rates, and snow and ice vanish like dew before the sun. At one 

 time the wind was so lively that we had to support the tent-poles, 

 or we should probably have had the tent on our heads. 



They were lovely days we had on this trip. A weather 

 wonderful as only the land of the midnight sun can offer, an 

 abundant scientific harvest, amusing shooting, and good food : 

 goose fillets, eider fillets, roast hare, and the like. Olsen and 

 Nodtvedt had not been on many of the journeys, and they enjoyed 

 themselves vastly during these days. 



On July 2 we started north to the ' Fram,' and arrived on 



