Report on the Danmark expedition to the north-east coast. 131 



land ice graded evenly into the sea ice, so that it was impossible to 

 say where the inland ice stopped and the sea ice begun. The inland 

 ice and the loose snow soon placed such great hindrances in their way, 

 that Mylius-Erichsen already on May 2nd turned towards the north 

 in order to reach the sea ice. Here he crossed Koch's track but soon 

 after again steered westwards. After a few days he passed north of 

 Prinsesse Dagmar's Peninsula. The dogs were by that time very 

 exhausted. Mylius-Erichsen therefore tried to lighten the sledges 

 by depositing a box of dog pemmican on the north side of Prinsesse 

 Dagmar's Peninsula and parting with everything that was not ab- 

 solutely necessary, e. g. the case which contained kitchen utensils. 



As some time passed ere the 1st party met with musk-oxen, it 

 had been necessary to kill 2 of the dogs and use them as food 

 for the others; 1 dog had run away and altogether they had killed or 

 in other ways lost 4 dogs. 



All told the 1st party had shot 21 musk-oxen. Most of them 

 were shot a long way from the tent place high up in the rocks, pro- 

 bably more than 300 meters above the sea. It had been hard work 

 to skin all the animals and carry the meat for miles down to the tent. 

 The hunting under these unfavourable conditions had taken a long 

 time. The dogs had of course been driven up to the hunting place 

 to feed there, but nevertheless it was not such profitable hunting as 

 if the animals had been shot down at the shore. 



Hagen showed Koch his observation-journal containing sketches 

 from the inner part of Danmarks Fjord. They were made with the 

 greatest care and gave a distinct picture of a large Greenland alpine 

 fjord. Questioned expressly by Koch, Hagen stated that the dis- 

 tance from the interior of Danmarks Fjord to the inland ice could 

 be estimated at 30 kilometers. The margin of the inland ice was some 

 500 — 1000 meters high and it was impossible to mount it from the 

 interior of the Fjord. 



It was Mylius-Erichsen's intention to try and penetrate west- 

 wards from Cape Rigsdagen for a couple of days. He had therefore 

 deposited some of his load — including provisions for 4 days and dog 

 food (musk-ox meat) for 2 days — 32 kilometers south of Cape Rigs- 

 dagen. On the sledges he had now provisions and dog food for 3 days 

 and petroleum for a few meals. The little spirit which the 1st party 

 had w'as of course soon used up, but it had caused no difficulty to 

 heat the cooking-apparatus with petroleum. 



When Mylius-Erichsen heard that Koch was sure, that he had 

 seen the Academy Glacier and the inner part of Independence Sound 

 and had carried out a number of preliminary surveys for the deter- 

 mination of the course of the coast line, he stated that he would give 

 up the planned 2 day's journey towards I he west and instead return 

 home with the 2nd party. 



!)* 



