Report on the Danmark expedition to the north-east coast. 89 



at the head of the fjord. The weather was beautiful and the sledging 

 excellent; the travellers soon reached the head of the bay and then 

 drove some distance up the river, which was covered with hard, glassy 

 ice. They only stopped when a large fall in the river prevented further 

 progress. Here the tent was raised. 



On October 30th an attempt was made to climb the hill at the 

 head of the fjord. But the hill became steeper and steeper, the higher 

 they climbed and the attempt had to be given up before reaching 

 the top. In their endeavours to climb the steep sides, it was neces- 

 sary to remove their mittens to get a good hold, and the result in the 

 low temperature — 21° C. was, that Bertelsen had his fingers very 

 severely frozen. In the course of the night the wind rose to a raging 

 storm. The original intention had been, to make another attempt 

 next day to reach the top; but it was now given up and as soon as 

 there was enough light, the party began the homeward journey. 



October 31st. This was a heavy day for the travellers. Bistrup 

 writes: 



"Such a journey as that of October 31st, in a piping storm down 

 a river over glassy ice, I have never experienced. It was simply a 

 marvel, that we got through at all. We took a whole day to trans- 

 port our two sledges and dogs about 2 miles from the tenting place 

 to the mouth of the river. Bertelsen, whose fingers had been frost- 

 bitten in climbing the hill, now got his one foot slightly crushed be- 

 tween the sledge and stones, on using it as a fender when the wind 

 took command and drove him and the sledge right across the river. 

 We were obliged to unspan the dogs and crawl over the ice, dragging 

 them after us until they co\dd get foothold on stones or snow: as soon 

 as they came on the glassy ice, they lay down flat and refused to move. 

 — It was a tough day. When we were raising the tent, it Ыелу so 

 hard we could hardly stand and it was not easy, for example, to get 

 our sleeping bags up to the tent. This was also blown down on the 

 top of us when we at last got it up, but we had no energy left to raise 

 it again and as there was just room as it was, we let it stay". 



On November 1st the weather improved a little and the journey 

 was continued. The wind was so powerful whilst the travellers were 

 west of Monumentfjæld, that they were practically blown out of the 

 fjord; as soon as they got round Monumentfjæld, the wind completely 

 dropped and as the going was excellent they soon reached Hvalros- 

 odden. 



On November 2nd the party drove some distance up Sælso and 

 tented on the nortliern side of the lake by the large river which flows 

 out there. 



November 3rd. After taking some measurements they drove 

 back to Hvairosodden. Here they met Brønlund and Fritz Johan- 

 sen, who had come to Hvalrosodden to hunt. Bertelsen, who had 



