THE WINTER NIGHT 381 



once struck a walrus -spear through the coffin, and it's 

 sticking there yet.' 



" ' What did he do that for ?' 



" ' Oh, just because he wanted to know if there was 

 anything in the coffin ; and yet he didn't want to open 

 it, you know. But let him lie in peace now.' " 



" Friday January 26th. Peter and I went eastward 

 along the opening this morning for about seven miles, 

 and we saw where it ends, in some old pressure-ridges ; 

 its whole length is over seven miles. Movement in the ice 

 began on our way home ; indeed, there was pretty strong 

 pressure all the time. As we were walking on the 

 new ice in the opening it rose in furrows or cracked 

 under our feet. Then it raised itself up into two high 

 walls, between which we walked as if along a street, 

 amidst unceasing noises, sometimes howling and whining 

 like a dog complaining of the cold, sometimes a roar like 

 the thunder of a great waterfall. We were often obliged 

 to take refuge on the old ice, either because we came to 

 open water with a confusion of floating blocks, or because 

 the line of the packing had gone straight across the 

 opening, and there was a wall in front of us like a high 

 frozen wave. It seemed as if the ice on the south side 

 of the opening where the Fraiii is lying were moving 

 east, or else that on the north side was moving west; for 

 the floes on the two sides slanted in towards each other 

 in these directions. We saw tracks of a little bear which 

 had trotted along the opening the day before. Unfort- 



