Report on the Danmark expedition to the north-east coast. 167 



ging was still bad and the dogs very slack. At 4.30 p. m. the depot 

 was reached and fortunately appeared to be in good order, but it 

 did not contain any news of Mylius-Erichsen. It was here that 

 the parties were to separate. G. Thostrup therefore wrote the fol- 

 lowing letter for Trolle which he delivered to Ring. 



"Reached Lamberts Land after 8 days' hard journey from the 

 depot TS^IS' 1. Have been forced to leave behind 5 sledge cases 44 

 kilometers from here. Deposit here 1 sledge case and 10 quarts ^ of 

 petroleum. Rikg returns and we continue with 4 sledge cases and 

 1 in use, 50 quarts of petroleum and about 7 — 8 days' dog food, taking 

 also one of the boxes deposited here. The dogs are very exhausted, 

 especially Tobias' team". 



2ncl party's return. 



On October 8th at 12 a. m. the 2nd party began the return 

 journey, while the 1st party went further northwards. With the 

 lightened sledges they now proceeded fairly quickly in spite of much 

 snow and covered in 8 — 9 hours the 44 kilometers southwards to the 

 sledge cases left behind. 



On October 9th all the sledge cases were driven to Schnau- 

 ders Island and deposited there, the party covered besides about 16 

 kilometers southwards. 



October 10th. In spite of snowy weather they started again at 

 10 a. m. At 5.30 p. m., however, the air was so thick with snow that 

 they could drive no further and therefore raised the tents. The dis- 

 tance covered was about 40 kilometers; but in the end the dogs were 

 also so exhausted, that they could barely be driven onward, which 

 may also be ascribed to the л'егу reduced аПолуапсе they had been 

 giA^en during the last days. 



On October 11th the air was thick with snow till noon. At 

 1 p. m. they started in spite of very Ьеал^у sledging. During the night 

 more than a foot of loose snow had fallen and the dogs became more 

 and more exhausted. It was now quite impossible to sit on the sledge, 

 the sledge-drivers generally had to walk beside it. After covering 

 a distance of 15 kilometers the tents were raised at 6 p. m. and the 

 dogs got the rest of their food. 



On October 12th at 10 a. m. the return journey was con- 

 tinued. Hitherto the same route as on the outward journey had been 

 follow^ed, but they now steered right towards Hagens Island — east 

 of the old route by Nordre Depot. There were large fissures in the 

 ice and sometimes they had to go a long way round to find a passage, 

 often the dogs tumbled into the fissures: but Hagens Island had to 

 be reached the same evening, as all the dog food had been used up. 



' Nordre Depot. 



^ 1 quart = 1.13t) liters. 



