210 G. AMimiP. 



August 12th. In the morning Hagkn and I ))lnrked up our cou- 

 rage and tried to reach the land by pushing a .sledge before us; by 

 constantly leaping over the narrowest fissures we at last reached the 

 land after much difficulty. Before starting on this venture we ate 

 the last of half a goose, so this UKirning it was a matter (if the utmost 

 importance to get some food. 



.4s soon as we came up on land, we shot a ptarmigan whiih we 

 immediately divided between us and ate raw. 



We now followed the coast southwards and waded across two 

 large rivers; ice-cold as they were and flowing at a rapid rate, neither 

 of us would have thought of wading across them, if we had not been 

 forced on by dread of the future: we grasped each others hands and 

 tried in this way to get through tlio current. We reached southwards 

 to the place where on May 7th I had shot nine hares, but there was 

 nothing now. So we had to retm'n again without anything as a storm 

 was coming on. A strong thaw now set in again, which made it still 

 more difficult for us to get across the ice to the tent. Sometimes we 

 had to turn the sledges upside down so that the points and the 

 uprights touched the bottom of the water that stood on the ice and 

 got over in this way. 



On the 13th of August at 6 in the morning we came back very 

 tired and down-hearted. There was nothing left but to kill a dog 

 and use it as food. 



During the days that followed it was constantly thawing and 

 blowing almost incessantly. Under these conditions the ice thawed 

 still more and the thin ice covering the fissures melted. That our 

 fourteen dogs, our sole means of conveyance for the return journey, 

 had now to be used as food for us, was very hard. And we were 

 longing for good weather, because it would obviously then begin to 

 freeze. Each time the conditions forced us to kill a dog we tried to 

 make it suffice for two days for us and for our dogs. We first took 

 the weakest and smallest because we wanted to save a good team 

 for a sledge. The dog meat we now had was not sufficient for us, we 

 were half-starved: and the small number of dogs still left became 

 more and more emaciated and weak. 



August 22nd. At last the weather began to clear up and grew cold. 



August 23rd. To our great joy when we awoke in the morning, 

 it was turning cold. The thin ice now again covering the cracks in 

 the ice grew thicker and it froze all day long. The weather was v^ery 

 beautiful and quite calm. This day we killed the sixth dog and now 

 hoped to be able to reach land without sacrificing more of those that 

 were left. We certainly longed very much to get back to the ship; 

 nevertheless, our minds were at present mostly bent on reaching a 

 place with hares and musk-oxen, where we as well as the dogs might 

 regain our strength. 



