CHAPTER XXXV. 



THE LAST SUMMER. 



THERE was much to be done for us all during the course of the 

 summer. 



First of all the dredging-boat, which was lying out at Ytre 

 Eide, had to be put in order as quickly as possible. It required a 

 new false keel under it, and a new rudder. We measured the 

 rudder of the sister boat which was lying on the shore close by the 

 ship ; Fosheim set to work on the rudder itself, Nodtvedt made the 

 iron gear, and Eaanes the tiller. On June 19 the mate, Fosheim, 

 and Stolz with two teams drove out to the boat. The repairs 

 finished, it was to be driven to the edge of the ice, and put ashore 

 at some spot near there. 



When Schei had finished developing the photographs from his 

 last journey, he, with Olseii and Nodtvedt, went down the fjord 

 to collect fossils, first to Ytre Eide, and then to the large valley 

 on the east side of the fjord, not far from the isthmus. 



Peder and Hassel put things to rights in the hold forward, and 

 the ox-skins were taken out to be aired and looked over. Before 

 the making of the sand street, Peder, Nodtvedt, and Stolz had 

 built cairns, in places which had already been indicated for them, 

 to be used, when triangulating. Isachsen now measured a base 

 line, and began to triangulate the whole length of the fjord, helped 

 by Stolz. Simmons and Bay collected plants and insects. This 

 year again Fosheim took regular measurements of the thaw on the 

 upper surface of the ice. On the best days this would melt as 

 much as three inches in the twenty-four hours ; at other times it 

 hardly melted at all. The sand street looked as if it would be a 

 source of joy to us all ; and it was not many days before we were 

 able to row all the way down it. 



421 



