GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



that in the midst of ice I live over again that which once was. 

 I see my dear old mother coming from the strawberry-beds, her 

 apron filled with big red berries ; as usual, she picks out the 

 biggest and gives them to us, and it is as if the flavour is doubly 

 sweet and precious when one knows that every one of them has 

 cost her pains in her old back as she bent down to pick them. 

 And I hear my father's firm, somewhat heavy tread between 

 the trees of the garden. He takes his evening walk, stopping 

 frequently in front of the fruit-bushes, the growth and thriving 

 of which he follows from day to day in his dear garden. Now 

 and then there is a sound of the balls from the croquet-ground. 

 The cool evening breeze sighs round the great lime-trees, while 

 the white fruit-blossoms float down on to the garden paths. 



During the heat of noon the first winged sign of summer 

 comes to me as a couple of bluebottles buzzingly break into the 

 tent and circle round that innocent little piece of meat which so 

 vigilantly I watch over. Three curious gulls sail across our 

 camp on pointed wings, to disappear towards the whirlpool ; 

 and when I add that a couple of small buntings have also tried 

 to keep me company during the day, I have finished my day's 

 biology. 



In the quiet, mild weather the sun quickly melts the snow. 



At eleven o'clock in the evening Koch returns to the tent 

 after his twenty-five hours' walk. No game has he seen. His 

 discoveries fully confirm my observations of the other day from 

 the black slate-stone mountain. We are in quite a new fjord 

 which has nothing to do with Chip Inlet, and which has not 

 been visible from the route which has previously been followed. 

 We agreed to call this fjord LP. Koch Fjord. Neither is to 

 be found the great island, marked down inside the mouth of 

 Chip Inlet ; in its place we have a tall mountainous peninsula 

 which, with no less than sixteen glaciers, shoots out between 

 Nordenskjold Fjord and I. P. Koch Fjord. The land north 

 of the fjord and to the east is partly ice-free, but it consists of 

 wild alpine landscapes where one cannot hope to find musk-oxen. 



Ajako has gone further into the fjord, and at nine o'clock in 

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