Report on the Danmark expedition to the north-east coast. 207 



are found now and then but if fresh it is impossible to get them to 

 burn; we therefore collect the withered ones and use them as fuel. 

 As the number of our dogs has become reduced, Mylius and Hagen 

 intend driving on one sledge on our return journey to the ship; in 

 this way we can use one of the sledges as fuel but we must economize 

 very much with it, for when it has been burnt it will be very difficult 

 to get something warm to eat. Fortunately, there is some fat on the 

 musk-oxen I shot the other day which may also be used with success. 

 We cook by turns, but only once a day. 



And as our pot is too small now that we eat nothing but meat, 

 we have three cookings of meat one after the other. When one is 

 reduced to meat exclusively, one naturally eats a lot and thirsts a 

 great deal. 



July 2nd. After a fog which began to seem somewhat tedious 

 we had at last this evening quite clear weather. During the first 8 

 days we had constantly had heavy fog with snow and slush. 



Yesterday I examined the ice to see if the layer of snow had be- 

 come reduced. 



Along the shore the ice had indeed become very good, but further 

 out it was still very bad because the snow was fairly soft with water 

 underneath. 



During these days Hagen and I have been constantly roaming 

 and have built cairns up in the hills as marks for the sketches and 

 survey of the land. 



Sunday night July 7th. Last night we had hail and fog all through 

 the night. The sky is still cloudy and it is very cold. 



During the days towards the middle of July the weather was 

 still very cloudy and it was constantly snowing and raining. Not 

 until the 12th did the weather become quite good again. 



July 13th. We long for the night-frost, which against our ex- 

 pectations has not begun to set in yet. At midnight a thin layer of 

 ice covers all places where the ice had melted. But as the thermo- 

 meter has not once gone down one degree of cold, the freezing of the 

 ice makes no progress. 



On the leth of July in the evening Hagen and I went southwards 

 to look for musk-oxen; for we are now badly off again and our pro- 

 visions are on the point of running short. When we had walked 4 

 miles we came to a river which we could not get across. We then 

 followed the land, though we did not expect to meet with any game: 

 we had not gone very far, before we saw the tracks of a large musk-ox 

 which we followed and shot. It was very fortunate that the beast 

 contained a little fat which we used for greasing our fuel. When we 

 had covered up the animal and taken some of the meat we drove 

 back and reached the tent on the 17th in the evening at 10. 



