322 NEW LAND. 



Our mines, however, were in very good order ; they all went off, 

 and acted quickly. We tried shooting in two the ice-belt between 

 the ship and the point in the east, but the ice remained as 

 immovable as ever. Wind and weather now changed, the cold 

 set in, and the lane closed up ; the new crust and the rubble 

 froze together into a single mass, and the vessel made no way. 



On Wednesday, August 21, we had to give up our efforts out 

 there, and went north, through the lane we had broken for our- 

 selves, to try what we could do along the land. The old ice was 

 much weaker than when we had tried it here before, and, had it 

 not been for the young ice, we should have made good progress. 

 We passed the point, and worked our way a couple of miles to the 

 south. We went only a few fathoms from shore, but the water 

 deepened suddenly, and in some places we had plenty of room 

 to thrust the pieces of ice aside ; at others we were obliged to saw. 

 Between the pools, outside some small streams, the ice was so thin 

 that we went straight through it. Later in the evening we reached 

 the first cross lead, and tried to make our way across to the west 

 shore, but had soon to beat a retreat ; the lane was too narrow and 

 winding. The only w r ay now open to us was the land channel, which 

 was not much broader than the ' Frani ' herself ; but the soundings 

 showed sufficient depth, and we pushed on. We could see from the 

 crow's-nest that the bay south of the point at Middagskollen was 

 very shelving and shoal, but the lane, by way of compensation, 

 was very broad. We kept on the outside of this, and went hard 

 ahead ; the tide was rising, and if we ran aground we should soon 

 be afloat again. Sure enough we stuck fast, but soon got off, and 

 not long afterwards reached the place where the walrus-meat was 

 lying, waiting to be brought on board. While this was going on, 

 Fosheim and Isachsen rowed through the lane across the fjord and 

 fetched the ' pram ' and the other things which the - walrus- 

 catchers had left behind. Meanwhile Bay and I went inwards to 

 catch some of the dogs, which were still about at the ship's last 

 moorings. We had great trouble in getting them to follow us, 

 and some of them had to be led the whole way. The mate's dogs 

 had spent the last week of their time out at the walrus-meat; 

 but when the ' Frani ' approached they ran away up on land, and 



