478 FARTHEST NORTH 



forward a little, and then something was drawn along, 

 and all was quiet. Johansen crept cautiously out with 

 his gun. When he put his head out of the hole, and his 

 eyes had recovered from the first dazzling effects of the 

 daylight, he saw the bear standing gnawing at a bear- 

 skin. A bullet through the head killed it on the spot. 

 It was a lean little animal, but worth taking, inasmuch 

 as it saved us the trouble of thawing up carcasses in order 

 to cut provisions for our journey off them. Frozen stiff 

 as they now are, we cannot cut them up outside in the 

 cold, but have to bring them into the hut and soften 

 them in the warmth before we can cut anything off them, 

 and this takes time. Two bears were here on a visit last 

 night, but they turned back again at the sledge, which is 

 stuck up on end in the moraine to the west of us, to 

 serve as a stand for our thermometer." 



As we were breakfasting on May 9th we again heard 

 a bear's footstep outside, and being afraid that it was 

 going to eat up our blubber, we had no other resource 

 than to shoot it. We now had far more meat than w^e 

 required, and did not care to use more cartridges on 

 these animals for the present ; but what grieved us most 

 was the thought of all the beautiful bearskins which w^e 

 should leave behind us. The time was now drawing 

 near when we should break up our camp, and we worked 

 eagerlv at our preparations. Our clothes were now 

 readv. The entry for Tuesday, May 12th, runs thus: 

 " Took leave to-day of my old trousers. I was quite sad 



