LAND AT LAST 345 



over imperceptibly with an even slope into the glacier 

 within it. 



" About three in the afternoon wt finally set off in 

 open water and sailed till eight or so in the evening; 

 the water was then closed, and we were compelled to 

 haul the fleet over flat ice to open water on the other 

 side. But here, too, our progress seemed blocked, and 

 as the current was against us we pitched the tent." 



On August loth we v/ere "compelled partly to haul 

 our sledges over the ice, partly to row in open water in 

 a southwesterly direction. When we reached navigable 

 waters again, we passed a flock of walruses lying on a 

 floe. It was a pleasure to see so much food collected at 

 one spot, but we did not take any notice of them, as, for 

 the time being, we have meat and blubber enough. After 

 dinner we managed, in the mist, to wander down a long 

 bay into the shore-ice, where there was no outlet; we had 

 to turn back, and this delayed us considerably. We now 

 kept a more westerly course, following the often massive 

 and uneven edge of the ice ; but the current was dead 

 against us, and, in addition, young ice had been forming 

 all day as we rowed along ; the weather had been cold 

 and still, with falling snow, and this began to be so thick 

 that we could not make way against it any longer. We 

 therefore went ashore on the ice, and hauled until ten in 

 the evenino;. 



" Bear-tracks, old and new, in all directions — both the 

 single ones of old bachelors and those of she-bears with 



