GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



ice-mountains. Even the blocks which now and then calve 

 off from Humboldt's Glacier look like huge pieces of Polar-ice. 

 In some places these are rather large, but never did we see 

 them of such a height that they might be called icebergs, such 

 as we know from the glaciers near Inglefield Gulf, Wolsten- 

 holme Sound, and Melville Bay. 



After a few hours' driving it was manifest that we had 

 been right in waiting whilst the storm was on, for even now. 

 after the snow had ceased to drift, the wind blew so hard from 

 the fjord that we had difficulty in standing when the FohnAike 

 squalls whirled around us. The sky was uncannily beautiful, 

 with big balloon-like clouds drifting along under the pressure 

 of a hurricane. The ice seemed to have lain immovable here, 

 as it consisted entirely of uneven Sikiissaq. Frequently we 

 were blown out into great basins formed during the ice-melting 

 of the summer, big lakes up to 1 kilometre long covered with 

 fresh-water ice, shiny as a mirror where neither men nor dogs 

 could find a footing. Powerless to resist, we were flung away 

 and slid along limply towards the opposite shore with the sledge 

 in front and the miserably whining dogs behind us. Here we 

 had to keep all our wits about us in order to prevent the sledge- 

 runners being broken. But it would have been hopeless to 

 attempt to make camp here, and in spite of everything we had 

 to let matters take their course, for in no place could we find 

 shelter for a tent ; and the complete absence of snow on the 

 ice seemed to indicate that in this neighbourhood storms were 

 the order of the day. After twelve hours' tussle with wind 

 and slippery ice, we at last reached Offley Island. 



April 30th. — In the shelter of the small but high and steep 

 island the tent was erected, and after that we attempted a 

 musk-ox hunt. This tract consisted of dark limestone ; it was 

 quite barren and gloomy. The storm whipped across it with 

 such violence that it was often quite impossible to go against 

 the wind. In spite of all our efforts the long chase had no 

 result. We found no track of game and the country was 

 almost void of vegetation. 



