BY SLEDGE AND KAYAK 261 



pitched our tent after only four hours' march, and went 

 without our dinner to make up. 



" Here we are, then, hardly knowing what to do next. 

 What the going is like outside I do not know yet, but 

 probably not much better than yesterday, and whether 

 we ought to push on the little we can, or go out and 

 try to capture a seal, I cannot decide. The worst of 

 it is that there do not seem to be many seals in the 

 ice where we now are. We have seen none the last 

 few days. Perhaps it is too thick and compact for 

 them (?). The ice here is strikingly different in char- 

 acter from that we have been travelling over of late. It 

 is considerably more uneven, for one thing, with mounds 

 and somewhat old ridges — among them some very large 

 ones. Nor does it look so very old — in general, I 

 should say, of last winter's formation, though there are 

 occasional old iioes in between. They appear to have 

 been near land, as clay and earth}- matter are frequently 

 to be seen, particularly in the newly formed ridges. 



" Johansen, who has gone out, says the same water- 

 sky is to be seen in the south. Why is it we cannot 

 reach it ? But there it is, all the same, an alluring goal 

 for us to make for, even if we do not reach it very soon. 

 We see it again and again, looking so blue and beau- 

 tiful ; for us it is the color of hope. 



" Friday, June 14th. It is three months to-day since 

 we left the Fram. A quarter of a year have we been 

 wanderino- in this desert of ice, and here we are still. 



