THE CAMP BY THE OWL'S NEST 



the morning he has not yet returned. But as long as he re- 

 mains absent we keep on hoping. 



Heigh ! ! ! 



At nine o'clock on the 9th, after thirty hours' hunting, 

 Ajako returns to the tent ; he has shot two seals by the whirl- 

 pool, and three hares. The hares he carries on his back, but 

 the seals he has left, as it will be more practicable to move our 

 camp nearer towards the whirlpool. 



Our joy over this report is so intense that we feel as if warm 

 waves beat through our bodies, and we cannot prevent ourselves 

 from shouting meaningless words. There is now a hope that, 

 at any rate for the time being, we can keep part of the dogs 

 alive ; and it is not unthinkable that we may succeed in shooting 

 still more seals. Ajako has been far in along the fjord, where 

 he has found some old excrement of musk-oxen ; but every- 

 thing points to the probability that these animals many years 

 ago left this district, which they have probably passed on their 

 way eastward. Furthermore, he has seen an owl brooding, 

 and a white fox eagerly hunting fat lemmings. 



The beautiful weather has tempted a lot of Arctic gulls 

 towards our little camp — they sail above our heads or sit on the 

 hummocks along the mountain slopes, from which places they 

 hail the returned hunter with shrill, merry cries. 



GOOD DAYS BY THE WHIRLPOOL 



The camp is now moved a few kilometres further in along 

 the fjord, so that from our tent we may have a convenient view 

 of the little whirlpool which temporarily will be our larder. 



June 10th-13t]i. — I nfortunately both Koch and Ajako are 

 taken ill again. Koch has nausea and has felt dizzy after the 

 long walk of yesterday. His stomach will not stand the ever- 

 lasting diet of meat which we have to live on ; occasionally he 

 is given a little oat-porridge, but as we have to economize 

 strictly under the uncertain conditions life offers us, it is unfor- 



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