CHAPTER XII 

 SEEKING HELP 



FIRST DAY 



AUGUST 25TH-26TH. — Ajako and I begin our walk cheer- 

 fully and in excellent spirits. It is beneficent, relieving, 

 "and reviving, to walk across this big land which seems to 

 teem with life — at least, it appears so to us after many months 

 of walking in the desert. Everywhere a wealth of flowers thrust 

 up from the soil, and we do not tire in our admiration, especially 

 now that the autumn has splashed its strong, fresh colours over 

 the whole landscape. I am chiefly impressed by the vigour 

 with which the Polar willow has developed. Its big bold leaves 

 lie everywhere beneath our feet, now flaming in red hues like 

 wild vine, now shining yellow like ochre between the crimson 

 saxifrage and green heath ; even the whortleberry plant, which 

 unfortunately does not bear any fruit, has gleaming red leaves. 



The life of summer has passed its climax, and autumn 

 has dressed everything in festive garments ; the coolness has 

 announced itself before the cold, the colours before the snow — 

 a last blaze-up before the sleep of winter. 



On thick, soft moss we walk along the small mountain- 

 rimmed lakes, which wink at us like black, deep eyes. For 

 every kilometre we pass new lakes, which unfortunately often 

 force us to make long, toilsome detours. However much we 

 are desirous of making haste, our road goes in large bends and 

 turns, continually up and down across beautiful and wild but 

 exceedingly difficult cloughs. 



To the north-west we have all the little islands of Peabody 

 Bay in the corner towards Humboldt's Glacier ; a thick fog yet 

 hangs above that quarter, hovering like the steam from the 

 q 241 



