GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



wounding an enemy at a distance instead of during a close fight. 

 Then they quiver in pain, until another bullet cuts off their 

 breath and their enormous bodies topple over in the sand, 

 drawing with a heavy gasp their last sigh. 



When the skinning was finished the dogs were given as 

 much meat as they would eat ; they were then tethered on the 

 selected spot by a running brook, where they could sink into a 

 comfortable sleep until once more they were ready for a 

 meal. 



After that we ourselves went down to the tent to take our 

 rest, no less deserved. Every man carried on his back as much 

 of solid meat as he could manage. For we humans have at any 

 rate that advantage over the animals that we offer a thought 

 for the morrow. 



We remember Summer Valley as an oasis in our period of 

 distress. It was full summer and at every step we took we 

 could enjoy the many beautiful flowers which pushed up from 

 the mean earth wherever there was the faintest possibility to 

 strike root. Besides these many aesthetic pleasures there was 

 also the material boon of abundant and savoury provisions for 

 so long as our visit lasted. 



Summer Valley stretches about 6 kilometres from north to 

 south, or from the sea-ice to the inland-ice. A river, which at 

 our departure will present great difficulties by the great and 

 deep delta which it melts far out in the Polar Sea, has created 

 the valley and flows through 200 metres high hilly tracts, the 

 so-called " stubble mountains," whose slopes are very fertile. 

 From all fells and mountains little brooks run down in the main 

 river, and from certain yet unmelted snowdrifts water oozes 

 down through a throng of yellow, red, white, and blue flowers 

 and lush, green grass. 



Whilst at the camp on the ocean-ice we have a temperature 

 which swings between zero and 2° (Cent.), we have 10° of 

 warmth in the shade both night and day as soon as we come a 

 little way up into the valley. In the sun there is upwards of 

 25°, a temperature so overwhelming that we must search 

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