154 Gr. Amdrup. 



On May 6tli two parties started again, tlie one to try and find 

 the cairn raised by the Germans at Cape Bismarck on April 15th 1870, 

 the other for hydrographical purposes. 



The first party, consisting of Lindhard, Chr. Bendix Thostrup 

 and Weinschenck, drove down into the head of Stormbugt with a 

 drag-sledge and pitched the tent there. On the 7th of May they all 

 went northwards up into the mountains. It became a long and fati- 

 guing march, because they had taken it for granted, that the cairn 

 had been raised on the highest and most conspicuous knoll and there- 

 fore went too far north. It was only after a long search that they 

 found the cairn, a small heap of stones some few feet high, lying at 

 one of the least conspicuous places in the whole neighbourhood. 



The document was lying in an open crockery jar, the stopper 

 of which had probably mouldered away. It was completely illegible, 

 destroyed by wind and weather. 



An empty cartridge \^^th a W stamped on the end was lying near 

 the cairn. 



This was all that remained to indicate the German visit here 37 

 years previously. 



Regarding the building of this cairn Koldewey writes '. 



"Wir errichteten einen Cairn (Steinjjyramide), der wol unver- 

 rückt und nie wieder gesehen bis ans Ende der Zeiten stehen wird". 

 (We raised here a cairn (stone pyramid), which will probably remain 

 untouched and unseen till the end of time). 



And now, only 37 years later, the cairn was opened by other 

 explorers, who had wintered close by and who had sent out a sledge 

 party that reached 6V2 degrees of latitude further north than the place 

 where the Germans had built their cairn, in the belief that no other 

 expedition would ever reach further north. 



We can however quite well understand Koldewev's remark. 

 W'ith his knowledge of the ice conditions along Greenland's east coast 

 he most probably believed, that no one could ever penetrate further 

 north with ship than he had done with the "Germania", and con- 

 sidering the sledge equipment at that time he was also quite sure, 

 that it would be impossible to carry out sledge expeditions of much 

 longer duration than the one made by him from Germania Harbour 

 to Cape Bismarck. 



The sledge equipment, however, has greatly improved during 

 the past 37 years. We need only refer to the immense progress made 

 in the manufacture of preserves, food etc. within these years. Further, 

 the construction of the excellent cooking apparatus, such as "Primus" 

 and "Lux", have made it possible to carry fuel on the sledge which 

 weighs very little and lasts for a comparatively long time. Sledges, 



1 Die Deutsche zweite Nordpolarfahrt in den Jahren 1869 und 187(1 unter 

 Führung des Kapitän Karl Koldewev. p. 492. Leipzig 1873. 



