Report on the Danmark expedition to the north-east coast. 219 



sparingly and who, for protection, only had a tent wathout bottom, 

 poor sleeping-bags and miserable foot-gear. 



The last especially has determined their fate. All Ьал'е most 

 likely been severely frostbitten and this with the general weakness 

 from want and suffering and the sickness resulting therefrom has 

 led to their death rather than the lack of food. 



This is certainly true for Jørgen Brønlund. 



In the month of November they at last reached Nioghalvfjerds- 

 fjord. Their goal was the depot on Lamberts Land. Here they knew 

 they would find provisions, petroleum and clothing. But by this 

 time they were completely exhausted and both Mylius-Erichsen 

 and Hagen died just before they could reach the depot. 



Only Jørgen Brønlund reached it, hardly believing however 

 that he could save his life. All indicates, that he was fully conscious 

 of his approaching death. But he knew that his body would be found 

 there and with it the results of their journey northward ^. 



Then with shaking hand he writes down the last account of their 

 terrible death-march (see PI. X), made his will and placed his diary 

 and the bottle containing Hagen's chart-sketches in such a position, 

 that they were certain to be found by any relief expedition sent out 

 from the ship. 



And far from family and friends, with the eternal darkness and 

 cold of the polar night reigning over the snow-covered hills and the 

 ice-covered sea, Jørgen Brønlund calmly awaits and faces death. 



There is a touch of the old northern race of heroes in the tragedy 

 that came to an end in those dark November nights. 



Jørgen Brønlund's statement, where Hagen and Mylius-Erichsen 

 died, is not clear. 



"The bodies of the two others lie in the middle of the fjord in 

 front of the glacier (about 10 miles)", he writes. 



The westernmost of the two fjords cutting down into Lamberts 

 Land from the north has no name. It is not impossible, that the re- 

 ference is to the middle of the mouth of this fjord, which indeed they 

 must have passed on their way down from Nioghalvfjerdsfjord to 

 the depot on Lamberts Land. It is quite conceivable, namely, that 

 as the fjord had no name Jørgen Brønlund has called it the "fjord 

 in front of the glacier", namely, the fjord cutting in from the side 

 in front of the glacier at the head of Nioghalvfjerdsfjord. Further, 

 the distance from the depot on Lamberts Land to the middle of the 

 mouth of this fjord is just 10 miles. 



A second doubtful point is, whether Mylius-Erichsen died two 

 or ten days after Hagen. It is difficult to say, namely, whether Jørgen 

 Brønlund's diary has two written in letters or the numlicr 10. The 



^ See Koch's report, p. 1!)2. 



