234 G. Amdrup. 



carry it horizontally, so that if he fell into a fissure the pole might 

 span over this and thus help to hold him up. 



Camped 10.45 p. m. at 77°25' N. lat. and 22^50' W. long. Dis- 

 tance covered about 14 kilometers. 



May loth. Surveying. Departure 3.30 p. m. Good sledging 

 this day over a solid crust, bearing as a rule. Good advance made 

 though the slope was fairly steep. The fissures, which here ran in 

 the direction N. — S., were not numerous; the melting-ice hummocks 

 were quite low and rounded, only some few decimeters high and only 

 here and there projecting up through the snow-layer. Raised the 

 tent 10.45 p. m. at 77°25' N. lat. and 23^29' W. long. Distance about 

 19 kilometers. 



May 16th. Surveying. Departure 6.30 p. m. Shortly after the 

 start the ice became more uneven. The ice-stream, which comes 

 down along the north side of Dronning Louises Land also passes north 

 round Ymers Nunatak and had therefore to be traversed before reach- 

 ing down to the land. A fairly good passage was found through 

 a transverse cleft, about 50 meters broad, which was filled with good, 

 firm snow. Even here, however, the way was very rough and the 

 sledge was constantly upset. But the passage seemed quite free of 

 danger. After the true ice-stream had been passed, the tent was raised 

 10.15 p. m. at 77°25' N. lat. and 23°43' W. long, about 2 kilometers 

 from Ymers Nunatak. Distance 8 kilometers. 



May 17th. As the ice was still hard, the party agreed that nothing 

 Avould be gained by dragging the sledge down to the Nunatak. The 

 tent was left standing, therefore, and at 3 p. m. the party proceeded 

 on foot to the Nunatak. The inland ice fell steeply down towards 

 the land and some time was taken to find a place where the descent 

 could be made, though with considerable difficulty. 



The time now until the 20th of May was spent in survey work 

 and natural history investigations on the Nunatak. 



On May 20th the return journey was begun just after midnight. 



The old track was followed homewards, which made the journey 

 much easier. Not only was it unnecessary to reconnoitre, but there 

 was less danger of falling into fissures. 



The descent from the inland ice was easy. The large and danger- 

 ous clefts, which had made the ascent so difficult, were now readily 

 passed, following the old tracks. But the snow was now somewhat 

 looser than during the ascent and the result was, that the party broke 

 through at various, less dangerous places which had earlier been tra- 

 versed without difficulty. 



During the whole journey on the inland ice it was remarked that 

 old snow lay on the ice at only a few places. It seemed almost, as 

 if the whole layer of snow melts quite away in the course of the sum- 



