GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



more on the safe side, and we can see a happy finish to the death 

 march of the last few days. 



What matters it that our joy is very quickly interrupted by 

 bad visibility and pouring rain? We have seen the land and 

 we know that we have the strength to reach it ! At four o'clock 

 in the afternoon we pitch our tent and again kill a dog. It all 

 seems to us merely a small trial for the exercise of our patience ; 

 there is land ahead where men live — the blessed land of 

 reindeer ! 



Four o'clock in the morning. 



The violent rush of a river suddenly bursts through the ice- 

 cover right by the side of our tent, frothing and roaring to a 

 breadth of 30 metres. We rush out in the belief that we our- 

 selves will be swept away, but fortunately it is only a temporary 

 outbreak, which quickly subsides. 



It has been raining hard all night, but now it has ceased. 

 We will attempt to continue. 



CAMP 16 



(620 metres above sea-level. Distance, 20 kilometres). 



August 22nd. — The rain and the continuous mild weather 

 seem to threaten us with calamity. In all dips of the ground 

 great and deep rivers break out, causing us the greatest diffi- 

 culties. These rapid, broad glacier torrents are surely the 

 greatest danger with which a glacier traveller can meet ; for if 

 he slips during the crossing, or loses his foothold when he jumps, 

 he will without fail be carried along the shiny bottom and swept 

 to perdition as the river pours out into the ocean itself. 



There were three great courses which caused us especial diffi- 

 culty, as in several places the run divided into as many as eight 

 rivers. Wherever practicable we made a bridge of the sledges, 

 experiencing during these crossings some of our most exciting 

 moments, particularly when the collections had to be brought 

 across. Often these had to be thrown with a sure aim from one 

 side of the river to the other, and seized on the other side with 

 the same accuracy. A slight twist of the hand, a wrong step of 

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