304 NEW LAND. 



board in the evening. This was the end of the fine- weather period. 

 Northerly winds set in, and the mist, grey and clammy, came 

 sailing down on us. This, unhappily, was to be the prevailing 

 weather that summer. 



The time had come to get the ship clear for sea. Everything 

 was got in readiness in the engine-room ; the mate made a new 

 gaff-topsail for the mainmast, and looked over the rest of the 

 sails. In other ways, too, the work on and near the ' Fram ' was 

 in full swing. A tent was pitched on the shore, and when the 

 meteorological instruments had been conveyed to it Baumaun 

 arranged them, and took his observations from there. In the 

 summer forge Stolz and Nodtvedt stood the whole day long ; while 

 Fosheiin carpentered with the sweat of his brow, for there was a 

 very great deal of carpenter's work to be done before we were 

 ready to sail. 



We spent our evenings goose-shooting, chiefly up in Gaase- 

 dalen, where the geese were well shot through. The keenest shots 

 kept at it till late at night, sometimes even until morning. On 

 the night of July 3 Schei shot two full-grown buck reindeer up in 

 the northern part of the valley. They were exceedingly thin ; 

 without bones, head, or skin they weighed respectively 71 Ibs. 

 and 75 Ibs. On an excursion which he and Olsen went the day 

 afterwards to Skrabedalen they shot two bearded seals, and a 

 number of hares, geese, and ptarmigan, and had to make two trips 

 in order to bring back their harvest of stones and animals. 



On July 11 Bay and Isachsen came back on foot through 

 ' Skrabedalen' (Dredging Valley) from Fourth Camp, where the 

 boat was then stationed. Isachseu came to fetch some necessary 

 things, and Bay thought the time had come to collect insects in 

 Gaasefjord ; it was his opinion, moreover, that dredging in Hell 

 Gate could not bring to light much more of interest. 



At this time there was a change in the weather for a few days, 

 and the thaw proceeded with rapidity. Fosheim hammered a bar 

 into the ice, and every morning measured how much the ice had 

 thawed during the twenty-four hours. For several days it melted 

 an inch and a half to two inches on the surface alone. 



After staying a day on board, Isachsen went back through 



