NORTH DEVON AND STENKULFJORD. 419 



falleii snow. A glance at the map will show that the ice on 

 " Bjornebugten " (Bear Bay), and between South Cape and Cone 

 Island, must as a rule be very much broken, on account of the 

 wind and direction of the currents, the prevailing winds in Jones 

 Sound being north-west and south-east. 



'Bay toiled immoderately during these days. Being in- 

 experienced as a " skilober," he could not use his " ski " and 

 look after the load at the same time, so in order to keep up he 

 had to have one of my dogs. I drove first with the other four. 

 It was wonderful that he managed to get on at all, but it was 

 work calculated to take it out of one, and I remember that one 

 day he fainted twice from over-exertion. It will be seen from 

 this what an enormous advantage it is to be able to use " ski." 



' We could now see the whole of the coast northward, as far as 

 Baadodden, where we had been the year before. The ice here was 

 as good as impracticable, and we therefore took a line for 

 Stormkap. " Bjornebugten " must be a favourite haunt of the 

 bears, for there were tracks nearly everywhere ; in certain places 

 literally beaten tracks. 



' We camped on Stormkap in the evening of May 17, in fine 

 sunny weather, with a temperature of 5 Fahr. ( 15 Cent.), and 

 thereafter we celebrated the day with " full music," as Bay called 

 it ; in other words, by producing the best we had with us. We 

 had at the same time to keep Whitsun Eve, and the day of our 

 arrival in King Oscar Land. 



' The following day there was a violent head wind, with driving 

 snow, and it was impossible to make any way against it. We 

 tried to, but the dogs and sledges went backwards instead of 

 forwards. It was not until May 21 that we could go on. There 

 were several landslips during these days between Stormkap and 

 Gaasefjord. We came on board on the 22nd, about noon. 



'We were surprised during the evening by the arrival of 

 " Svarten," who, as aforesaid, disappeared after the attack of the 

 bear. Strange to relate, he was in good condition, and not in 

 the least hungry. He had probably followed our tracks to the ship, 

 and had procured himself food by taking a leaf out of the bear's 

 book.' 



