86 THE SIEGE OF THE NORTH POLE 



forced them to return to the ship a few days after 

 leaving. 



On the 24th March they started again. During the 

 first day one of the men had the whole of his right foot 

 frost-bitten, and the convoy-sledge had to return to the 

 ship. A herd of musk-oxen was seen on Hochstetter's 

 Promontory, but none was shot. A bear was killed on the 

 4th of April, and supplied the party with meat, and his 

 fat served as fuel four days. On the 6th of April they 

 crossed the 76° of latitude, and on the south side of Cape 

 Karl Hitter discovered traces of Esquimaux summer tents. 

 On the 11th April, Cape Bismarck in 76° 47' was reached, 

 and this was the end of the actual sledge-journey. 

 Leaving their tent here, they journeyed to a mountain 

 in 77° 1' north latitude, and 18° 50' west longitude, where 

 a cairn was erected. Provisions were now running short, 

 and they were compelled to return. Two musk-oxen were 

 shot at Cape Bismarck. Like many of the other ex- 

 peditions about this period, they suffered greatly from 

 want of snow-shoes, and frequently had to wade through 

 snow up to the thighs. The difficulties of such a sledge- 

 journey are well described by Lieutenant Payer: — 



" Amongst other disagreeables of an Arctic sledge- • 

 journey is its monotony. The ideas and wishes contained 

 within the limited horizon of life in the Arctic world pass 

 as quickly away as the eye is wearied by the monotony of 

 the landscape. 



" Conversation carried on by men straining at the 

 traces can certainly not be very animated. The frost 

 prevents smoking, for the pipes freeze. There is a con- 

 tinued conflict against the loss of warmth ; and the cold 

 penetrates in a hundred different ways. Now the chin is 

 numbed, a painful straining of the forehead sets in, or a 

 violent pricking of the nostrils, which are exposed to the 

 wind. Sometimes one stands in danger of the heels, the 



