NORDENSKJOLD FJORD 



ought to continue, and not one would give in until we had kept 

 the promises made at the time when we left Denmark. 



Through 1 metre of deep soft snow we drove slowly in the 

 fjord, whilst our comrades set their course towards Cape Salor, 

 where they expected to find a depot from Peary's time. 



We did not succeed in penetrating the fjord more than 17 

 kilometres, and at this point, early in the morning, we camped 

 off a broad clough which cuts into the country. Here Ajako 

 tried musk-ox hunting. For eight hours he tramped across 

 the country, but all he saw was stones, stones, and glaciers 

 along all the mountain-tops. Not a trace of musk-ox or 

 hare was found, not even ptarmigan seemed to live in this 

 desert. 



When he returned with his discouraging report, the fog 

 settled thickly over mountain and ice, and there was nothing 

 else for it but to settle down to wait and wait, with short rations 

 for ourselves and nothing for our dogs. On the ice near the 

 tent I found a dead lemming. It had walked across the deep 

 snow from the other side of the fjord. The energetic and 

 obstinate little animal appeared to have been wandering through 

 the fog, as occasionally it had been walking in a circle, and had 

 moved along in an uneven zigzag which showed plainly that 

 it had lost its bearings. It was almost incredible that this small 

 rodent, which is no larger than a fair-sized bunting, had 

 managed to make its way through the deep snow, of which the 

 upper layer was so soft that it had had to press its small sinewy 

 body through a deep and assuredly most toilsome furrow. All 

 its paws were skinned, and so torn that the toes were frozen 

 together with stiffened blood. The snow had, presumably in 

 the same manner as it happens with our dogs, stuck to the hairs 

 between its toes ; then it had made an effort to try to cleanse 

 them with its teeth, so that it had torn both hair and skin away. 

 In one foot it had a deep wound which it must have inflicted on 

 itself, and the consequent loss of blood must have occasioned 

 its death. 



The Eskimos, who admire the unusual qualities of the 



121 



