THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY 



The glacier is an ideal one, even and bare of snow, entirely free 

 from the system of crevasses which forced Peary and Astrup to 

 set their course further in on the inland-ice. 



Temporarily we make a line towards south-west, following 

 the back of the glacier along the land which has just turned up, 

 stretching from the head of St. George Fjord in towards Peter- 

 mann Fjord. A wild and riven country where deep ravines 

 intersect mountains and little glaciers, obstinately and defiantly 

 contrasting its broken and disquiet lines to the dead monotony 

 of the inland-ice. 



We give it the name of Nyeboe Land. 



CAMP 7 

 (1,200 metres above sea-level. Distance, 43 kilometres). 



August llth-12th. — During this time, when we are often 

 in activity for from twenty to twenty-four hours at a stretch, 

 we have, in order to keep our capacity for work somewhat near 

 to the mark, been forced to introduce a slight meal in the middle 

 of our day's march. It consists of a cup of oat-gruel with a 

 few pieces of pemmican, and is subtracted from our regular 

 morning and evening rations and does us extraordinarily well. 



With a start at 9.30 in the evening, we make camp at 10.30 

 in the morning, after having covered 43 kilometres of fine 

 going. It is really a considerable distance. The sledges ran 

 somewhat heavily and we men used skis and snowshoes. In the 

 eternal white surroundings the long walking tour seemed some- 

 what monotonous, although not really tiring except for the first 

 three or four hours. As soon as one has walked off the sore- 

 ness of one's body, a good and increasing speed is developed as 

 we gradually approach the time when we have our meal. Thus 

 we adopt entirely the habits of the seal. We have now reached 

 such a height that the rise of the inland-ice is no longer felt ; 

 the horizon about us is without a change ; only casually do we 

 pass a small ice-clad mountain-top. There is somewhere near 

 1 metre of softer snow down to the "ice," but the surface 

 carries the dogs fairly well so that it does not trouble them. 



219 



