GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



the fight against the pressure-ice had obviously worn down both 

 their bodies and their tempers. They no longer walked proudly 

 with tails erect, the expression of their eyes was subdued, and 

 their skins no more possessed that glossiness which is the surest 

 proof of well-being and strength. Their tails flopped limply 

 between their legs, and we all felt it our duty to restore their 

 strength as soon as possible. 



A reconnoitring in the neighbourhood had a discouraging 

 result. We walked far into a snowless, stony terrain, but 

 nowhere could we find fresh tracks of musk-ox. Scattered 

 flocks seemed to have been here many years ago, but not even 

 the clay showed recent tracks. Of ground game there was a 

 fair amount of hares ; they were very shy — an unfailing indica- 

 tion of the absence of musk-ox. In all places where the hares 

 eat grass side by side with the wandering wolves, they flee as 

 soon as they get a glimpse of any other living thing. And, 

 according to the tracks, it would seem that there were not a few 

 wolves. It was obvious that the hares were used to meeting 

 enemies only. But where they live on land with peaceful musk- 

 oxen, they show, on the contrary, no nervousness even if one 

 takes them by surprise rather suddenly on the hill-crest. 



We often saw ptarmigans, but only in single pairs ; but these 

 were too small, so for the time being we would not kill any great 

 amount of them. Their white winter coats, which previously 

 made them so conspicuous in snow-bare spots where they seek 

 their food, were already beginning to give place to the brown 

 feathers of the summer. They filled the landscape with their 

 cooing, which between these silent mountains sounds like a song 

 in the loneliness. 



The tableland inside St. George Fjord, dotted with moun- 

 tains, so far did not tempt us to waste our time hunting ; and 

 those parts of Sherard Osborne Fjord which from the moun- 

 tain we had been able to survey with our field-glasses were, to our 

 great disappointment, so glaciated that a visit there would be 

 too risky. I therefore decided to postpone the exploration of 

 these fjords for the time being, until we felt our existence some- 

 what secure by successful hunting. We were beginning to feel 

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