Report on the Danmark expedition to the north-east coast. 233 



the tent at 12 noon a few kilometers south of the tent-place of the 

 night betAveen the 4th and 5th of May. Made everything ready for 

 the ascent to the inland ice, which was begun at 7.30 p. m. It was 

 exceedingly easy. The total weight of the sledge was about 225 to 

 235 kg. (including the sledge), i. e. a little more than 75 kg. per man. 

 Nevertheless, they succeeded without too great exertion in drawing 

 up the whole at one time. The first steep ascent was approximately 

 150 meters high and the slope might be reckoned at ca. 5°. 



The melting-ice knolls now and then projected through the snow 

 but did not cause any trouble and to begin with no fissures were ob- 

 served. After they had come up over the slope the layer of snow 

 became thinner, the melting-ice hummocks appeared more distinctly 

 and began to interfere with the sledging, and fissures were now met 

 with. These all ran in the direction east to west and in the beginning 

 were only 14 to 1 meter broad. Often they were so completely hidden 

 under the snoAV-layer, that their presence w&s only discovered after 

 falling in. 



Gradually the fissures increased in size, up to 5 m. broad and 

 very deep; down in the darkness the bottom could not be seen. Both 

 Koch and Freuchen fell into the fissures but fortunately remained 

 hanging. To diminish the risk of this danger from the fissures, one 

 of the traces was made twice as long as the other two and the first 

 man (Koch) carried a 'Tokejærn'', with which he steadily probed 

 the snow in front. 



May 12th. Raised the tent 12.30 a. m. at 77°28' N. lat. and 22°02'. 

 W. long. Total distance about 15 kilometers, 8 of which on the in- 

 land ice. Departure 6.30 p. m. Good advance made. In the begin- 

 ning broad fissures CA^erywhere, but later these became smaller and 

 the snow-layer at the same time became somewhat more solid. 



May 13th. Camped 12.30 a. m. at 77°25' N. lat. and 22°30' W. 

 long. Distance about 15 kilometers. Measurements taken. Rested 

 owing to fog. 



May 14th. Departure 3.30 p. m. Previously the course had 

 been towards Dronning Louises Land. The ice however had gradu- 

 ally become so uneven, that it proved impossible to reach into land 

 in this direction. But between the large ice-stream, which falls into 

 Jøkelbugt and the ice-stream going to the north of Dronning Loiuses 

 Land there was quite a narrow belt, at places hardly more than a 

 couple of hundred meters broad, where the ice was comparatively 

 level. Along this belt the party tried to penetrate further in a direc- 

 tion almost west. Freuchen again fell into a fissure this day in a 

 very unpleasant manner; he completely disappeared from the view 

 of the others but, fortunately, the line held him up. 



Koch now arranged, that each man should have a tent-pole and 



