Report on the Danmark expedition to the north-east coast. 205 



2 ptarmigans in one shot outside our tent. I rejoiced ол'ег this booty, 

 as we were quite destitute of provisions, having just the small quan- 

 tity of meal for one more time. A little later I AA^ent out to the place 

 where the inland ice merges out into the sea, hoping there to meet 

 with seals, but returned soon after without seeing any. When I came 

 back, the dogs had gone into the tent and eaten the ptarmigans. 



My annoyance can be imagined ! 



At 6 in the evening Mylius and Hagen returned, also without 

 any game. We now consumed our last porridge. We were obliged 

 to kill a dog and use it as food for the other dogs. From this moment 

 we met with a number of misfortunes which we had never thought 

 of before; we very seldom met A^ith game and when there was any, 

 fortune was always against us. 



Every day the dogs lost more and more of their strength, get- 

 ting too little food. My dogs were however a little better than the 

 others. 



On Friday the 14th of June we continued our journey ^ but as 

 soon as we were a little way from the beach and had reached the snow 

 we could not continue. With our dogs, which were now very weak, 

 we could not proceed over such a route, so we had to return and make 

 up our minds to stay ол^ег the summer if we could get something to 

 live upon. This was indeed very dubious, taking into consideration 

 how reduced our provisions were and how little food we had for the 

 dogs. 



June loth. Mylius and I went up in the hills in order to get 

 a view of the land where we had camped; we mounted the highest 

 hill and looked around with out telescope but could not see anything 

 of interest. It was a fairly low land which gradually increased in 

 height and became more and more snow-covered. When we began 

 to descend we caught sight of the tracks of a large musk-ox, evidently 

 from the day before. I was not a little glad, for if it had not gone 

 very far away we were sure to get hold of it. After closely examining 

 the tracks which showed that it had gone slowly northward I returned 

 to our tent. Directly afterwards I set out again with a sledge. After 

 covering 4 miles I went up on the land and tried on foot to find the 

 tracks, which I found and followed for a long time; later I lost the 

 tracks of the animal; but suddenly it appeared right close in front 

 of me, lying down quite motionless. I killed it with 2 shots. 



1 only took out the entrails, cut off one of the hind legs and re- 

 turned, because I had forgotten my knife, which I used to skin with. 



On the way back to my dogs I shot a hare and a goose. When 

 I returned to my comrades they were also very glad. 



' They have reached back to Danmarks Fjord and from Ihe place where 

 they were later forced to stay over the summer, they intended to drive across 

 this fjord to Princess Dagmars Peninsula, in order to begin the return journey. 



