THE WHITE WORLD 



progress slow. We saw a great many tracks of foxes, hares, 

 and lemming, and also some old tracks which Frederik 

 said were those of a bear. Frederik had the good fortune 

 to shoot a hare that evening — a valuable addition to our 

 scanty larder. 



Rounding Black Cape, we pitched our tent on a point of 

 land of which it formed a part. Here we built a cairn in 

 which we left two days' provisions for ourselves and dogs 

 to be used on our return. Upon again resuming the march 

 our progress was greatly retarded during several days by 

 a severe storm which finally compelled us to camp for 

 sixty hours at Mary Murray Island — a loss of time we 

 could ill afford. To make good the time thus lost we were 

 forced to do one of two things — reduce our rations or 

 sacrifice one of our dogs. We wisely adopted the former 

 course. 



On May 13, the storm abated and we prepared to resume 

 our advances. A rough reduction of observations obtained 

 here placed us in latitude 83 10/ N. The trend of the coast 

 was still to the northeast, our view terminating at a bold 

 promontory apparently some sixteen miles away. 



Starting from Mary Murray Island we struggled on 

 through the deep snow to Hummock Cape, where we were 

 delayed by the immense masses of ice pushed up against 

 the abrupt face of the rocky headlands. We were com- 

 pelled to lower our sledge by ropes from the ice-foot to the 

 floe, where we found ourselves in a bewildering tangle of 

 rubble ice. In extricating ourselves from the intricacies of 

 this ice-pack, we had to cross the tidal track several times. 

 These crossings were attended with considerable danger, 

 and once we narrowly escaped engulfment by the breaking 

 of the thin ice at the margin of the crack. 



On entering Weyprecht Inlet we had an excellent oppor- 

 tunity of observing the land on its northern side. Back 

 some distance from the inlet we saw a magnificent moun- 

 tain (Mount Schley) not less than 4000 feet high, standing 

 like a giant among a group of lesser peaks. From the outer 

 fringe of mountains the land sloped gradually toward the 

 ocean, terminating in a splendid headland (Cape Chris- 

 tiansen) at which our journey northward was to end. We 

 camped at the northern extremity of this cape, much ex- 

 hausted from our long tramp through the deep snow. 

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