A HARD STRUGGLE 



169 



I WENT ON AHEAD ON SNOW-SHOES 



was to be seen. It was a veritable chaos of ice-blocks, 

 stretching as far as the horizon. There is not much 

 sense in keeping on longer; we are sacrificing valuable 

 time and doing little. If there be much more such ice 

 between here and Franz Josef Land, we shall, indeed, 

 want all the time we have. 



