348 FARTHEST NORTH 



animal would not turn its head so that I could aim at 

 a spot behind the ear, where it is more easily wounded, 

 I was constrained to put a ball in the middle of its fore- 

 head ; there was no time to be lost. Happily this was 

 enough, and it lay there dead and floating on the water. 

 With great difficulty we managed to make a hole in 

 the thick skin, and after cutting ourselves some strips 

 of blubber and meat from the back we went on our way 

 again. 



At seven in the evening the tidal current turned and 

 the channel closed. There was no more water to be found. 

 Instead of taking to hauling over the ice, we determined 

 to wait for the opening of the channel when the tide 

 should turn next day, and meanwhile to cut off the 

 ends of our sledges, as I had so long been thinking of 

 doing, and make ourselves some good double paddles, 

 so that we could put on greater pace, and, in our single 

 kayaks, make the most of the channel during the time 

 it was open. While we were occupied in doing this the 

 mist cleared off at last, and there lay land stretched out 

 in front of us, extending a long way south and west from 

 S.E. right up to N.N.W. It appeared to be a chain of 

 islands with sounds between them. They were chiefly 

 covered with glaciers, only here and there were perpen- 

 dicular black mountain-walls to be seen. It was a sight 

 to make one rejoice to see so much land at one time. 

 But where were we ? This seemed a more difficult ques- 

 tion to answer than ever. Could we, after all, have ar- 



