.-1 HARD STRUGGLE 229 



" Now followed a time when the lanes orrevv worse 



O 



than ever, and we began to toil in grim earnest. Lanes 

 and cracks went crosswise in every direction. The ice 

 was sometimes uneven, and the surface loose and heavy 

 between the irregularities. 



" If one could get a bird's-eye view of this ice, the 

 lanes would form a veritable net-work of irregular meshes. 

 Woe to him who lets himself o-et entanofled in it! 



" Wednesday, May 29th. Yesterday I inaugurated a 

 great change, and began with ' komager.' It was an 

 agreeable transition. One's feet keep nice and dry now, 

 and one is furthermore saved the trouble of attending- 

 to the Finn shoes* night and morning. They were be- 

 ginning in this mild temperature to assume a texture 

 like our native ' lefser,' a kind of tough rye-cake. Then, 

 too, one need no longer sleep with wet rags on one's 

 chest and legs to dry them." 



That day we saw our first bird ; a fulmar {Procellaria 

 glacialis). 



" Thursday, May 30th. At 5 o'clock yesterday morn- 

 ing we set forth with the buoyancy born of the belief 

 that now at last the whole network of lanes was behind 

 us ; but we had not gone far before the reflection of new 



northwest coast of Franz Josef Land even in winter, this can easily be im- 

 agined. 



* Whereas Finn shoes are made of reindeer-skin with the hair on, 

 " komager" are made of under-tanned hide without hair, generally from 

 the ox or bearded seal (P/ioca barbata), with tops of reindeer-skin. They 

 are strong and water-proof. (See description of equipment.) 



