CHAPTER III 

 WASHINGTON LAND TO HALL LAND 



WASHINGTON LAND TO HALL LAND 



ESKIMO bear-hunters had often told me that on the other 

 side of the "Great Glacier" I should find a country 

 dissimilar to theirs. In many places the cliffs were 

 whitish-grey, in other places their foot showed up black as coal ; 

 but only rarely did one find vegetation of any kind in the barren 

 valleys. 



Now and then hares would come jumping from the moun- 

 tain plateaux, and it also happened that the dogs would suddenly 

 scent big game, presumably musk-ox ; but in spite of many 

 expeditions inland, these had never been found. What was 

 of most interest to us, however, was that the bear-hunters also 

 spoke of many places along the great headlands where heavy 

 currents met and opened up the ice very early in the year. 

 Many bearded seals were to be found here, which would pro- 

 vide us with a welcome addition to our stores. 



It was therefore in a state of great excitement that we 

 approached this country which the Eskimos call Akia — i.e., 

 "the country on the other side of the Great Glacier," whilst 

 the Americans have christened it "Washington Land." 



April 20th. — Driving had been easy across the whole of 

 Peabody Bay, so with a distance of 66 kilometres behind us we 

 made camp by an ice-mountain off the cliffs of Cass Bay on the 

 evening of the 20th of April, under a heavy snowfall and grow- 

 ing storm. The next morning we woke up to the same kind 

 of weather, but, as we were all impatient to get northward, we 

 had no time to consider this. Lauge Koch went on land near 

 Cape Clay, whilst I rounded Cass Bay along the ice-foot to see 



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