WASHINGTON LAND TO HALL LAND 



mountain-side. Here we stopped, and as we found Koch 

 busily collecting fossils a little way ahead, we took the oppor- 

 tunity to make ourselves a cup of cocoa to celebrate as cheer- 

 fully as possible the parting with our old comrade. 



The whole coast of Washington Land had, like Inglefield 

 Land, a broad ice-foot where driving was easy; we first 

 mounted this at Cape Webster, as the sea-ice up to that point 

 had been good. After an hour's rest we continued the 

 journey, but unfortunately we did not succeed in overtaking 

 our comrades on that day, for when we came to Morris Bay we 

 had covered a distance of 90 kilometres ; we ourselves were 

 sleepy, and it is always unwise to overstrain the dogs at the 

 start. 



The coast mountains, reaching a height of from 200 to 300 

 metres, were everywhere rich in fossils and often of unusual 

 beauty. The reaches from Cape Webster to Wright Bay 

 especially impressed us. Here we found limestone mountains 

 of phantastic formation, with grey, cold colours at their foot, 

 and near the summit glowing red shades finely attuned. The 

 formations themselves with their massive contours led one's 

 thoughts back to the burghs of the Middle Ages, where the 

 wide gateways were not the least imposing feature of this 

 natural architecture. Near Cape Callhourn the country 

 changed character. The steep mountain-sides, which gave an 

 impression of sky-scrapers — because we on the ice-foot drove 

 right underneath them — were relieved by low country sloping 

 evenly and picturesquely upwards ; simultaneously the ice-foot 

 turned into a broad and snowless chaussce which made the 

 dogs go for dear life. 



We looked in vain for game. Sometimes the dogs got 

 the scent, so that any moment we expected to see the black 

 fluttering coat of a musk-ox in one of the broad-bottomed 

 doughs. But nothing living could we discover. 



We made camp hurriedly and after six hours' rest we con- 

 tinued, to overtake our comrades at last near Cape Jefferson ; 

 they had camped right off a coral reef which, in this landscape, 

 had a paradoxical effect. 

 E 65 



