SHERARD OSBORNE FJORD 



one succeeds in realizing a small fraction of them, one will 

 become a shining paradigm for wondering humanity. My 

 memories of the country are my strongest tie. I have never 

 felt really homely in the flats in Copenhagen, for I never get 

 more out of them than just the temporary and occasional 

 which their Danish name implies* — temporary life in a colony 

 in a street which in no way concerns me, between strange 

 people without the stamp of personality, without rest, without 

 the inducement to enjoy home life which only country life 

 offers. 



A big town is like a bird-mountain made by man ; it is well 

 enough for a time, but one soon has enough of the noise, of the 

 screeching auks, the whistling guillemots, the greedy gulls, 

 and from one's inmost heart one longs for the lonely nest of 

 the wild duck by a quiet distant lake, or out amongst the 

 rocks of the ocean where eiderducks ride the crested waves. 



Late in the afternoon, Ajako returns from the seal-hunt 

 with no other result than a wetting to the skin. We warm 

 him with a cup of tea and lend him some of our garments 

 until his own shall be dried ; but yet the thawing snow falls 

 quickly and unmercifully. 



Next morning I wake up about three o'clock, and no 

 longer hear the snow pattering against the canvas. I turn out 

 and find to my great joy that the snow has ceased to fall and 

 the sky is clear, though as yet it hangs low about the mountain. 

 The landscape is wintry white, so dazzling that one can scarcely 

 keep one's eyes open, and even the rotten water-logged ice is 

 hidden under a beautiful spread of snow. I boil coffee and 

 arouse my comrades. Again a couple of seals have crawled up 

 on the ice, and though they be looked upon merely as will-o'- 

 the-wisps on a marsh, they represent nevertheless some little 

 possibility. 



Yesterday we had to kill three dogs because of the lack of 

 food for both men and dogs. So in the beautiful morning we 

 make a big fire and boil the flesh. 



* Flat: Danish leilighed, which means literally "occasion." — TEAKS. 



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