374 NEW LAND. 



move. When we again turned north, we had such loose snow 

 for a time that the dogs sank in it half-way up their flanks. How 

 they worked, poor animals ! I was sorry for them, but onward 

 we had to go. To give in would have been destruction both for 

 them and for ourselves. We camped in the evening seven miles 

 from Smorgrautberget. 



On May 16, about one o'clock, we reached our old camping- 

 ground at Smorgrautberget. We reduced dinner to a minimum, 

 and went ashore to take observations, which were very successful 

 both this day and the following one. On an excursion a short 

 distance inland, Schei discovered the tracks of a herd of polar 

 oxen, consisting of nine full-grown animals and some young 

 calves. 



