CHAPTER II 



THE GREAT SLEDGE JOURNEY TO THE NORTH 



COAST OF GREENLAND : FROM THULE 



TO HUMBOLDT'S GLACIER 



DEPARTURE FROM THULE 



THE preparations for long journeys are made in a very 

 serious spirit ; but, as compensation, when the actual 

 start is made and leave is taken of the camp, the mood 

 changes to one of happy geniality, and one goes out to meet 

 one's fate and adventures filled with joyful expectation. And 

 thus it is now with us when at last the sledges are loaded and 

 the dogs stand harnessed by the side of the old Danviark. By 

 a strange coincidence, Mylius-Erichsen's old ship is to-day the 

 background for our departure. 



April 6th, 1917. — In celebration of our departure we were 

 invited to breakfast on board, and the Eskimo members of the 

 expedition and their wives were included in the party. Captain 

 Hansen of the Danmark had done everything possible, and our 

 appetites did justice to the luxuries of the table. 



But the fever of travel had seized on us and we had in mind 

 only the idea of getting away. Wulff and Koch had already 

 set off, and were one day ahead of us. It had been necessary 

 for me, after everything was clear, to spend the last night alone, 

 so that once more I might go over all the lists and memoranda 

 of those things which must not be forgotten. This, more than 

 anything else, requires the peace of solitude, for t here js the 

 ever-present menace that if a single little thing is forgotten, 

 it is impossible to procure it when one is hundreds of miles away 

 from the depot, however urgently it may be needed. Probably 

 most leaders of an expedition spend the last night before the 

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