GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



2.30 afternoon. 



The glacier river, which proved to be a frothing ice-stream 

 of 60 metres breadth, nearly destroys all our hopes ; for at the 

 point where we struck it it was so deep that there was no pos- 

 sibility of fording it. After a long reconnoitring I succeeded in 

 finding a place where the water reached us merely to the hips, 

 and as the current seemed to be less violent here we made the 

 attempt. We succeeded, and in the course of a couple of hours 

 our instruments and diaries were safely deposited on the 



opposite shore. 



This bath, with its accompanying strain and excitement, 

 told on us so much that once more we had to prepare a meal, so 

 we killed our third dog. The one which we killed yesterday 

 provided merely one poor meal for the six men and the three 

 dogs. The fog which has all day been lying clammy and close 

 around us now seems to lift. The sun is on the point of break- 

 ing through, and a blissful warmth begins to stream through our 

 bodies, which are icy-cold under the wet clothes. We now 

 attempt to set a course straight on land towards the south-west. 



CAMP 17 

 (525 metres above sea-level. Distance, 15 kilometres). 



After a day's journey of thirteen hours we had to make a 

 halt by a great river, which we have not had the strength to 

 cross to-day. Comparatively soon after we broke up from the 

 place where we took our meal yesterday, we sighted land. Our 

 course is straight and the remaining distance must be scarcely 

 20 kilometres. But a mighty net of rivers so far separates us 

 from it. About eight o'clock yesterday we had to wade across 

 a deep river which was some 40 metres broad, and where the 

 water reached us to the waist. The cold water told chiefly on 

 the muscles of our knees. We have to pull the sledges our- 

 selves now. In the evening another dog is killed, as we prefer 

 to transport its flesh on the sledge ; we have now only one left. 



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