394 PROF. NORDENSKIOLD, EXPEDITION TO GPvEENLAND. 



else make a long circuit to avoid. After two hours' wandering, 

 the region of clefts was passed. In the course of our journey, how- 

 ever, we very frequently met with portions of similar ground, 

 though none of any very great extent. We were now at a height 

 of more than 800 feet above the level of the sea. Farther inward 

 the surface of the ice, except at the occasionally securring regions 

 of clefts, resembled that of a stormy sea suddenly bound in fetters 

 by the cold. The rise inwards was still quite perceptible, though 

 frequently interrupted by shallow valleys, the centres of which 

 were occupied by several lakes or ponds with no apparent outlet, 

 although they received water from innumerable rivers running 

 along the sides of the hollow. These rivers presented in many 

 places not so dangerous, though quite as time- wasting, a hindrance 

 to our progress as the clefts ; they did not occur so often, but the 

 circuits to avoid them were much longer. 



During the whole of our journey on the ice we enjoyed 

 fine weather, frequently there was not a single cloud visible 

 in the sky. The warmth was to us, clad as we were, quite 

 sensible ; in the shade, near the ice of course, but little over zero ; 

 higher up, in the shade, as much as 7° or 8° ; but in the sun 25° 

 to 30° Centig. After sunset the water-pools froze, and the nights 

 were very cold. We had no tent with us, and, although our party 

 consisted of four men, only two ordinary sleeping sacks. These 

 were open at both ends, so that two persons could, though with 

 great difficulty, with their feet opposite to each other, squeeze 

 themselves into one sack. With rough ice for a substratum, the 

 bed was so uncomfortable that, after a few hours' sleep, we were 

 awakened by cramp ; and as there was only a thin tarpaulin be- 

 tween" the ice and the sleeping sack, the bed was extremely cold 

 to the side resting on the ice, which the Greenlanders, who turned 

 back before us, described to Dr. Nordstrom by shivering and 

 shaking throughout their whole bodies. Our nights' rests were, 

 therefore, seldom long ; but our midday rests, during which we 

 could bask in a glorious warm sun-bath, were taken on a propor- 

 tionately larger scale, whereby I was enabled to take observations 

 both for altitude and longitude. 



On the surface of the inland ice we do not meet with any stones 

 at a distance of more than a cable's length from the border ; but 

 we find everywhere, instead, vertical cylindrical holes, of a foot or 

 two deep, and from a couple of lines to a couple of feet in section, 

 so close one to another that one might in vain seek between them 

 room for one's foot, much less for a sleeping-sack. We had 

 always a system of ice-pipes of this kind as substratum when we 

 rested for the night, and it often happened, in the morning, that 

 the warmth of our bodies had melted so much of the ice, that the 

 sleeping sack touched the water, wherewith the holes were always 

 nearly full. But, as a compensation, wherever we rested, we had 

 only to stretch out our hands to obtain the very finest water to 

 drink. 



