LAXD AT LAST 353 



of our environment, but it was too steep, and we did 

 not get higher than a third part up the side. 



" In the evening we at last reached the islands we had 

 been steering for for the last few days, and for the first 

 time for two years had bare land under foot. The 

 delight of the feeling of being able to jump from block 

 to block of granite "^ is indescribable, and the delight 

 was not lessened when in a little sheltered corner amone 

 the stones we found moss and flowers, beautiful poppies 

 {Papavcr nudicaitlc) Saxifraga nivalis, and a Stcllaria 

 {sp.?). It goes without saying that the Norwegian flag- 

 had to wave over this our first bare land, and a banquet 

 was prepared. Our petroleum, meanwhile, had given 

 out several days previously, and we had to contrive 

 another lamp in which train-oil could be used. The 

 smoking hot lobscouse, made of pemmican and the last 

 of our potatoes, was delicious, and we sat inside the tent 

 and kicked the bare grit under us to our heart's content. 



" Where we are is becoming more and more incom- 

 prehensible. There appears to be a broad sound west 

 of us, but what is it } The island! we are now on, and 

 where we have slept splendidly (this is written on the 

 morning of August i6th) on dry land, with no melting 

 of the ice in puddles underneath us, is a long moraine- 

 like ridge running about north and south (magnetic), 



* I have called it granite in my diary, but it was in reality a very 

 coarse-grained basalt. The specimens I took have unfortunately been 

 lost. 



t " Houen's Island." 

 11.-23 



