CHAPTER XXXIV. 



OUR COMRADES' EXPERIENCES. 



ON board we found everything as it should be. The work had 

 gone all the time its even steady way. What was most apparent 

 to the eye, was the broad continuous street of sand all along 

 the ice to the outer point near Borgen. It had been completed a 

 week before our return. 



As I have mentioned before, Baumann and Eaanes parted from 

 Schei and myself up at Hareneset on April 9. Notwithstand- 

 ing their light baggage, they did not make much progress, as 

 the dogs were spent and the going slow. When they camped 

 at Bjornekaplandet in the evening the dogs refused so much as 

 to look at another bit of the inevitable stock-fish. This news 

 was probably trafficked round Bjornekaplandet in the course of 

 the night, for by four o'clock the next morning a bear came 

 marching up towards them, and allowed himself to be shot for 

 the public good. It had apparently crossed land and water to 

 be in time ; its coat was covered with ice, and lumps of ice as 

 big as a man's fist were hanging from its jaws. This is quite 

 a phenomenon. 



With their dogs well fed, and themselves provided with meat, 

 they took a line for Lille Bjornekap. They passed many polar 

 herds on the way, numbering from eight to fifteen animals, but 

 they had neither wish nor need to enter the lists with them. 

 They also saw reindeer, altogether about twenty head, scattered 

 in herds of from four to five animals. They shot two, and took 

 with them the skins, and also the meat. The dogs were now in 

 splendid condition, and went quickly south, across Norskebugten, 

 although the weather was rough. Towards the end of the trip 



406 



