THE NEW YEAR, iSi;6 481 



began to clamber up the glacier, the mother in front, the 

 young one after. But the latter did not get on very 

 fast; it trud2:ed alons^ as well as it could in its mother's 

 footprints in the deep snow. It reminded me exactly of 

 a child in trousers, as it clambered up and kept looking 

 round, half frightened, half curious. It was touching to 

 see how incessantly the mother turned round to hasten 

 it on, now and then jogging it with her head, hissing 

 and snorting all the while at me standing quietly below 

 and looking on. When they reached the crest the moth- 

 er stopped and hissed worse than ever, and when she 

 had let the young one pass her, they both disappeared 

 over the glacier, and I went back to continue my work. 



For the last few weeks a feverish activity had reigned 

 in our hut. We had become more and more impatient 

 to make a start ; but there was still a great deal to be 

 done. W^e realized in bitter earnest that we had no 

 longer the Frani s stores to fall back upon. On board 

 the Frani there might be one or two things lacking; but 

 here we lacked practically everything. What would we 

 not have o-iven even for a sinole box of doo'-biscuits — for 

 ourselves — out of the Frani s abundance } Where were 

 we to find all that we needed } " For a sledge expedi- 

 tion one must lay in light and nourishing provisions, 

 which at the same time afford as much variety as possi- 

 ble ; one must have light and warm clothing, strong and 

 practical sledges," etc., etc. — we knew by heart all these 



maxims of the Arctic text-book. The journey that lay 

 11.-31 



