GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



The payment generally demanded consisted of powder, lead, 

 and percussion caps. This part of the business was easily and 

 quickly arranged. It is not difficult to come to an agreement 

 with Eskimos with regard to provisions for a large expedition 

 for an indefinite period. They fully sympathize in a matter 

 like this. Greater difficulties arose in the distribution of the 

 meat on the twenty-seven sledges ; for here one had to consider 

 not only the strength of the teams but also the quality of the 

 sledges. 



When everything was in order the motley train set out, and 

 the eager dogs rushed across the ice to the accompaniment of 

 screeching whip-lashes, soon to disappear behind the nearest 

 headland. Our road for the first six miles lay across the frozen 

 ocean as far as Cape Alexander, where the water is always open, 

 even in the severest weather. This water we had to get round 

 by driving up across the inland-ice. 



We started at four o'clock, and the glacier where the ascent 

 was to commence we reached at about seven in the evening. 

 Here we all stopped and made the inevitable cup of coffee, the 

 local cup that cheers. The passage does not take more than 

 a couple of hours, but it is generally exceedingly hard work. 

 First one toils up the steep slopes, dripping with perspiration ; 

 then, at a height of three hundred metres, comes the biting 

 north wind which, in clear weather, always rages round the 

 neck of Cape Alexander. The drifting snow is as thick here 

 as an English fog, cold and damnable, and often so violent as 

 to make it almost impossible for one who comes from the south 

 to drive the dogs up against the wind. The habit of strengthen- 

 ing oneself with a cup of good, strong coffee is therefore not to 

 be wondered at. 



It was difficult to get the heavy sledges up the glacier, 

 which is always blown hard and smooth ; but as there were 

 many of us to share the burden, the crossing was successfully 

 accomplished. The storm and the drifting snow we accepted 

 with a good temper, knowing that we would doubly appreciate 

 the calm weather which always awaits the traveller on the 

 frozen sea. 

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