THE CAMP BY THE OWL'S NEST 



shoots from the summits down into the many doughs which 

 intersect the mountain. But everywhere one sees deep snow. 

 The head of the main fjord is plainly visible about 30 or 40 

 kilometres inland from our camp, and only now it becomes 

 clear to me that it is an entirely new fjord we have discovered. 

 Chip Inlet was not very long, and was supposed to run parallel 

 with Nordenskjold Fjord, but this fjord does not exist at all. 

 But north of Nordenskjold Fjord a large new fjord cuts east- 

 ward for about 50 kilometres into Peary Land. Near its head 

 a big mountain is discerned which crosses the run and merges 

 into the inland-ice. Whilst the south-west side of the head of 

 the fjord is thus directly connected with the main glacier, large 

 snow-covered but apparently ice-free stretches of land spread 

 out in the direction of north-cast. 



When Ajako and I meet again our faces beam with joy over 

 the great discovery we have made ; but for the moment we are, 

 of course, most interested in the opportunities which this un- 

 expected whirlpool with its seals offers us. Provided the ice 

 near the edge where the seals lie is not eaten into too much by 

 the current underneath, we have here the possibility of a wel- 

 come store of meat. But as seal-hunting brings the best result 

 during the warm sunshine of noon, we postpone for the time 

 being the hunt, taught by our sad experience at Dragon Point, 

 where the seals, I do not know for what reason, were very timid. 

 So we return to our camp, with no other catch than the two 

 hares. 



Of fresh musk-ox tracks, or merely of year-old excrements, 

 we saw none ; the signs of life we ran across appeared to be 

 several years old. But it is possible that musk-oxen are to be 

 found still further in along the fjord, and these regions are to 

 be explored as soon as we have had a rest. In the meantime 

 we have been in incessant activity for over thirty hours. We 

 ran across lemming holes everywhere, and also ptarmigan, 

 which in couples celebrate the mating season with a lively 

 cackling. 



By midnight we are once more back in the tent. Again 



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