NEW LAND. 



obliged to push on. We passed one polar herd after another, but 

 would not lose time by shooting them. We did not mean to 

 sacrifice a day to shooting and getting food for the dogs until we 

 reached Isfjeldodden. Before starting for the unknown coast 

 in the west we thought of making a cache of meat for use on the 

 return journey. Judging from our acquaintance with the country 

 thereabouts, we thought it would be easy to procure a sufficient 

 store. 



We had not forgotten our experiences of the previous spring, of 

 the ice in Heureka Sound up towards Smorgrautberget, and this 

 time laid our route along the east shore. I felt certain we should 

 find a better way there, at any rate, if we turned a little way into 

 Greely Fjord. The ice consisted chiefly of pressed-up young ice, 

 with an old floe in between here and there. In all likelihood the 

 sound at this part had been almost free of ice the summer 

 before. 



Our shooting at Isfjeldodden did not even end in smoke, for 

 the simple reason that we met never an animal. Numerous tracks 

 in the snow, however, convinced us that if we were willing to 

 give up a day to driving inland we should not come back empty- 

 handed. But time was growing short, and we had to go west. 



From the northern end of the promontory we steered straight 

 across from Greely Fjord to Blaafjeld, keeping to the east side 

 of a pressure-ridge, which stretched straight across the fjord. 

 I imagine that, to a certain extent, this ridge was the boundary 

 between the fast ice of the previous year on Greely Fjord and the 

 drift-ice outside. We went splendidly until we were right under 

 the precipitous mountain, but there w r e had the same horribly bad 

 going which we knew so well from the northern part of the sound. 

 Pdght out in the middle of the shining ice, one after another, were 

 a number of clods of snow, exactly like enormous horse-mush- 

 rooms. The passage between these long rows of mushrooms was 

 so narrow that there was no room for the sledges. They stuck 

 fast in them almost before we knew it, and every single time 

 the fore end had to be lifted clear. This was, without com- 

 parison, the worst going it was possible to have ; we could not 

 use our ' ski,' and it was difficult to get along without them. 



