2/4 FARTHEST NORTH 



out, and the evil hour is warded off for a long time to 

 come, 



" Sunday, June i6th. Yesterday was as bad as it 

 well could be — the surface enough to make one desper- 

 ate and the ice rough, I very much doubted whether 

 the wisest thing would not be to kill the dogs and keep 

 them as food for ourselves, and try to make our way on 

 as best we could without them. In that manner we 

 should have provender for fifteen or perhaps twenty days 

 longer, and should be able to make some progress at 

 the same time. There does not seem much to be done 

 in that line, however, and perhaps the right thing to 

 do is to w'ait. But, on the other hand, perhaps, it is 

 not far to land or open water, or, at any rate, to slack 

 ice, and then every mile we can make southw^ard is of 

 importance, I have therefore come to the conclusion 

 that we must use the dot^s to o-et on with as best we 

 can — perhaps there will be a change before we expect it ; 

 if nothing else, then, perhaps, some better ice, like that 

 we had before. Meanwhile we were obliged to kill 

 two dogs yesterday, ' Lillera^ven ' could hardly go when 

 we started ; his legs seemed to be quite paralyzed, and 

 he fell down and could not get up again. After I had 

 draofored him and the sledge for a time and had tried in 

 vain to make him go, I had to put him on the load, and 

 when we came to some hummocks wdiere there was 

 shelter from the north wind, Johansen killed him, while I 

 went forward to find a way. Meanwhile my other dog, 



