VOYAGE THROUGH THE KARA SEA 151 



* 



round, just as if each had dug out a hole for itself in the 

 sandy plain. 



With the oars of our boat and a large tarjoaulin we 

 had made a sort of tent. We were lucky enough to find 

 a little dry wood, and soon the tent was filled with the 

 fragrant odor of hot coffee. When we had eaten and 

 drunk and our pipes were lit, Johansen, in spite of fa- 

 tigue and a full meal, surprised us by turning one som- 

 ersault after another on the heavy, damp sand in front 

 of the tent in his long military cloak and sea-boots half 

 full of water. 



By 6.30 next morning we were on board again. The 

 fog had cleared, but the ice, which lay drifting back- 

 ward and forward according to the set of the tide, 

 looked as close as ever towards the north. Durine the 

 morning we had a visit from a boat with two stalwart 

 Samoyedes, who were well received and treated to food 

 and tobacco. They gave us to understand that they 

 were living in a tent some distance inland and farther 

 north. Presently they went off again, enriched with 

 gifts. These were the last human beings we met. 



Next day the ice was still close, and, as there was 

 nothing else to be done, some of us went ashore again 

 in the afternoon, partly to see more of this little-known 

 coast, and partly, if possible, to find the Samoyedes' 

 camp, and get hold of some skins and reindeer flesh. 

 It is a strange, flat country. Nothing but sand, sand 

 everywhere. Still flatter, still more desolate than the 



