 CHAPTER 6 by Sledge and Kayak, Part 1 Saturday June 1st. So this is June. What has it in store for us? Will not this month either bring us the land we are longing for? Just hope and believe so, though the time is drawing out. Luck for the matter of that is a wonderful thing. I expected this morning as little of the day as was well possible. The weather was thick and snowy, and we had a strong contrary wind. It was no better when we came on a lane directly after we started, which appeared to be nearly impassable. Everything was dark and dull. However, the day turned out to be better than we expected. By means of a detour to the northeast, I found a passage across the lane, and we got on to long flat plains which we went over until quite midday. And from five this afternoon we had another hour and a half of good ice, but that was the end of it, a lane which ran in several directions cut off every means of advance, and although I spent more than an hour and a half in looking for a crossing, none was to be found. There was nothing for it but to camp and hope that the morrow would bring an improvement. Now the morrow has come, but whether the improvement has come likewise, and the lane has closed more together I do not yet know. We camped about nine yesterday evening. As usual laterally, after nearly a whole day of dismal snow, it suddenly cleared up as soon as we began to pitch the tent. The wind also went down, and the weather became beautiful, with blue sky and light white clouds, so that one might almost dream one's self far away to summer at home. The horizon in the west and southwest was clear enough, but nothing to be seen except the same water sky which we have been steering for, and happily it is obviously higher so we are getting under it. If only we had reached it, yonder there must be a change that I have no doubt of, how I long for that change. Notice how different things are, if we only reach land before our provisions give out, we shall think ourselves well out of danger, while to pair it stood for certain starvation if he should have to remain there and not find Tegithoff again. But then he had not been roaming about in the drift-ice between 83 degrees and 86 degrees for two months and a half without seeing a living creature. Just as we were going to break up camp yesterday morning, we suddenly heard the angry cry of an ivory gull. There above us, beautiful and white, were two of them sailing right over our heads. I thought of shooting them, but it seemed, on the whole, hardly worthwhile to expend a cartridge apiece on such birds. They disappeared again, too, directly. A little while afterwards we heard them again. As we were lying in the bag today and waiting for breakfast, we suddenly heard a horse scream over the tent, something like the croaking of a crow. I should imagine it must have been a gull, Loris Argentaris. Is it not curious? The whole night long, whenever I was awake, did the sun smile into us through our silken walls, and it was so warm and light that I lay and dreamed dreams of summer, far from lanes and drudgery and endless toil. How fair life seems at such moments, and how bright the future! But no sooner do I turn out to cook at half-past nine than the sun veils his countenance and snow begins to fall. This happens nearly every day now. Is it because he will have us settle down here and wait? For the summer and the slackening of the ice and open water will spare us the toil of finding a way over this hopeless maze of lanes. I am loath indeed that this should come to pass. Even if we could manage, as far as provisions are concerned, by killing and eating the dogs, and with a chance of game and prospect, our arrival in Spitzbergen would be late, and we might not improbably have to pass the winter there, and then those at home would have another year to wait. Sunday June 2nd. So it is on Hootsunday that this book finishes. I could hardly have imagined that we should still be in the drift-ice without seeing land. But fate wills otherwise, and she knows no mercy. The lane which stopped us yesterday did not close, but opened wider until there was a big sea to the west of us, and we were living on a flow in the midst of it without a passage across anywhere. So at last what we have so often been threatened with has come to pass. We must set to work and make our kayaks seaworthy. But first of all we move the tent into a sheltered nook of the hammock, where we are lying to so that the wind does not reach us, and we can imagine it is quite still outside instead of a regular milberry is blowing from the southwest. To rip off the cover of my kayak and get it into the tent to patch it was the work of a very short time, and then we spent a comfortable, quiet, Hootsunday evening in the tent. The cooker was soon going, and we had some smoking-hot lobster for dinner, and I hardly think either of us regretted he was not on the move. It is undeniably good to make a halt sometimes. The cover was soon patched and ready, then I had to go out and brace up the frame of my kayak where most of the lashings are slack and must be lashed over again. This will be no inconsiderable piece of work, there are at least forty of them. However, only a couple of the ribs are split, so the framework can easily be made just as good as before. Johansson also took the cover off his kayak, and today it is going to be patched. When both the frames are put in order and the cover is on, we shall be ready to start afresh and to meet every difficulty, be it lanes, pools, or open sea. It will indeed be with a feeling of security that we shall set forth, and there will be an end to this continual anxiety lest we should meet with impassable lanes. I cannot conceive that anything now can prevent us from soon reaching land. It can hardly be long now before we meet with lanes and open water in which we can row. There will be a difficulty with the remaining dogs, however, and it will be a case of parting with them. The dog's rations were portioned out yesterday evening, and we still have part of pen for supper, but cloppers long and must go too. We shall then have six dogs, which I suppose we can keep for four days, and still get on a good way with them. What's untied? There is something so lovely and summer-like in the word. It is hard to think how beautiful everything is now at home, and then to lie here still in mist and wind and ice. How homesick one grows, but what good does it do? Little Leave will go to dinner with her grandmother to-day. Perhaps they are dressing her in a new frock at this very moment. Well, well, the time will come when I can go with her. But when? I must set to work on the lashings, and it will be all right. We worked with Ardor during the following days to get our kayaks ready, and even grudged the time for eating. Twelve hours sometimes went by between each meal, and our working day often lasted for twenty-four hours. But all the same it took time to make these kayaks fully seaworthy again. The worst of it was that we had to be so careful with our materials, as the opportunities of acquiring more were not immoderately abundant. When, for instance, a rib had to be relashed, we could not rip up the old lashing, but had to unwind it carefully in order not to destroy the line. And when there are many scores of such places to be relashed, this takes time. In two, several of the bamboo ribs which run along the side of the framework, particularly in Johansson's kayak, were split, and these had wholly or partly to be taken out and new ones substituted, or to be strengthened by lashings and side splints. When the covers were properly patched and the frames after several days' work again in order, the covers were put on and carefully stretched. All this, of course, had to be done with care and was not quick work. But then we had the satisfaction of knowing that the kayaks were fully seaworthy and capable, if need be, of weathering a storm on the way over to Spitzbergen. Meanwhile, the time flew by, our precious time, but then we hoped that our kayaks would render us important assistance and that we should get on all the quicker in them. Thus on Tuesday, June 4, I wrote in my diary, it seems to me that it cannot be long before we come to open water or slack ice. The latter is hereabouts so thin and broken up and the weather so summer-like. Yesterday the thermometer was a little below freezing point and the snow which fell was more like sleet than anything else. It melted on the tent and it was difficult to keep things from getting wet inside. The walls dripped if we even went near them. We had abominable weather the whole day yesterday with falling snow, but for the matter of that we are used to it. We have had nothing else lately. Today, however, it is brilliant, clear blue sky and the sun has just come over the top of our hammock and down into the tent. It will be a glorious day to sit out and work in, not like yesterday when all ones tackle got wet. It is worst of all when one is lashing, for then one cannot keep the line taut. This sun is a welcome friend. I thought I was almost tired of it before when it was always there, but how glad we are to see it now and how it cheers one. I can hardly get it out of my head that it is a glorious fresh June morning home by the bay. Only let us soon have water so that we can use our kayaks and it will not be long before we are home. Today for the first time on the whole of this journey we have dealt out rations for breakfast, both of butter, one and two-thirds ounces, and aluron at bread, six and two-thirds ounces. We must keep two weights in order to be certain the provisions will last out, and I shall take stock properly of what we have left before we go farther. Happiness is indeed short-lived, the sun has gone again, the sky is overcast, and snowflakes are beginning to fall. Wednesday June 5th. Still at the same spot, but it is to be hoped it will not be long before we are able to get off. The weather was fine yesterday after all, and so some are like to sit out and work and bask in the sun, and then to look out over the water and the ice with the glittering waves and snow. Yesterday we shot our first game. It was an ivory gull, Loris Eberneus, which went flying over the tent. There were other gulls here yesterday too, and we saw as many as four at once, but they kept at a distance. I went after them once and missed my mark. One cartridge wasted, this must not be repeated. If we had taken the trouble we could easily have got more gulls, but they are too small game and it is also too early to use up our ammunition. In the pool here I saw a seal and Johansson saw one too. We have both seen and heard gnarls. There is life enough here, and if the kayaks were in order and we could row out on the water I have no doubt we could get something. However it is not necessary yet. We have provisions enough at present, and it is better to employ the time in getting on on account of the dogs, though it would be well if we could get some big game and not kill any more of them until our ice-journey is over and we take to the kayaks for good. Today we had to kill Clapper's Langen. He gave twenty-five rations, which will last the six remaining dogs four days. The slaughtering was now entirely Johansson's business. He had achieved such celerity that with the single thrust of my long lap-knife he made an end of the animal so that it had no time to utter a sound, and after a few minutes with the help of the knife and our little axe he had divided the animal into suitable doles. As I mentioned before we left the skin and hair on. The former was carefully eaten up, and the only thing left after the dog's meal was, as a rule, a tuft of hair here and there on the ice, some claws, and perhaps a well-nod cranium, the hard skull being too much for them. They are beginning to be pretty well starved now. Yesterday Lila raven ate up the toe-strap, the reindeer skin which is placed under the foot to prevent the snow from balling, and a little of the wood of Johansson's snowshoes which the dog had pulled down onto the ice. The late quick ate up her sail-cloth harness, and I am not so sure these others do not indulge in a fragment of canvas now and then. I have just reckoned out our longitude according to an observation taken with the theodolite yesterday, and make it to be sixty-one degrees, sixteen point five minutes east, our latitude was eighty-two degrees, seventeen point eight minutes north. I cannot understand why we do not see land. The only possible explanation must be that we are farther east than we think, and that the land stretched southward in that direction, but we cannot have much farther to go now. Just at this moment a bird flew over us, which Johansson, who is standing just outside the tent, took to be a kind of sandpiper. Thursday June sixth, still on the same spot. I am longing to get off, see what things look like, and have a final solution of this riddle which is constantly before me. It will be a real pleasure to be under way again with whole tackle, and I cannot help thinking that we shall soon be able to use our kayaks in open water. Life would be another thing, then, fancy to get clear for good of this ice and these lanes, this toil with the sledges, and endless trouble with the dogs, only one self in a light craft dancing over the waves at play. It is almost too much to think of. Perhaps we have still many a hard turn before we reach it, many a dark hour, but some time it must come, and then, then life will be life again. Yesterday at last we finished mending the framework of both kayaks. We rigged up some plated bamboo at the bottom of each to place the provisions on in order to prevent them from getting wet in case the kayaks should leak. Today we have only to go over them again, test the lashings, and brace, support those that may require it, and finally put the covers on. Tomorrow evening I hope we shall get off. This repairing has taken it out of the cord of our three balls we have rather less than one left. This I am very anxious to keep as we may require it for fishing and so forth. Our various provisions are beginning to dwindle. Wade the butter yesterday, and found that we only had five pounds one ounce. If we reckon our daily ration at one and a third ounces per man it will last another twenty-three days, and by that time we shall have gone a little farther. Today for the first time I could note down a temperature above freezing point, that is plus thirty-five point six degrees Fahrenheit this morning. The snow outside was soft all through, and the hummocks are dripping. It will not be long now before we find water on the flows. It absolutely rained. It was only a short shower, first of all it drizzled, then came large heavy drops, and we took shelter inside the tent in order not to get wet, but it was rain, rain. It was quite a summer feeling to sit in here and listen to the drops splashing on the tent wall. As regards the going, this thaw will probably be a good thing if we should have frost again. And if the snow is to continue as it is now it will be a fine mess to get through among all these ridges and hummocks. Instead of such a contingency it would be better to have as much rain as possible to melt and wash the ice clear of snow. Well well it must do as it likes. It cannot be long now before it takes a turn for the better, land or open water whichever it may be. Finished and tried the kayaks yesterday at last, but only by dent of sticking to our work from the evening of the day before yesterday to the evening of yesterday. It is remarkable that we are able to continue working so long at a stretch. If we were at home we should be very tired and hungry with so many working hours between meals. But here it does not seem more than it should be although our appetite certainly our first rate and our sleeping powers good. It does not seem as if we were growing weak or sickening for scurvy just yet. As a matter of fact, so far as I know we are unusually strong and healthy just now and in full elasticity. When we tried the kayaks in a little lane just here we found them considerably leaky in the seams and also in the canvas from their rough usage on the way. But it is to be hoped no more so than will be remedied when a little soaking makes the canvas swell out. It will not be agreeable to ferry over lanes and have to put our kayaks dry and leaky on the water. Our provisions may not in probably be reduced to a pulp, but we shall have to put up with that too like everything else. And so we really mean to get off today after a week's stay on the same spot. Yesterday the southeast wind set in. It has increased today and become rather strong to judge by the whistling round the hummocks outside. I lay here this morning fancying I heard the sound of breakers a little way off. All the lanes about here closed yesterday and there was little open water to be seen. It is owing to this wind I suppose and if it is going to close lanes for us then let it blow on. The snow is covered with a crust of ice. The going is as good as possible and the ice it is to be hoped is more or less flat so we shall be all right. Johansson shot another ivory gull yesterday and we had it and another one for dinner. It was our first taste of fresh food and was it cannot be denied very good. But all the same not so delightful as one would expect seeing that we have not had fresh meat for so many months. It is proof no doubt that the food we have is also good. Wade the bread yesterday found we had twenty-six pounds four ounces of wheaten bread and seventeen pounds one ounce of al-Yuranat bread. So for that matter we can manage for another thirty-five or forty days and how far we shall then have got the gods alone know but some part of the way it must be. We got away from our camping ground at last yesterday and we were more than pleased. In spite of the weather which was as bad as it could be with a raging snowstorm from the east we were both glad to begin our wanderings again. It took some time to fix grips under the kayaks consisting of sack, sleeping bag and blankets and so load the sledges but eventually we made a start. We got well off the flow we had lived on so long and did not even have to use the kayaks which we had spent a week in patching for that purpose. The wind had carefully closed the lanes. We found flat ice-country and made good way in spite of the most villainous going with newly fallen snow which stuck to one's snowshoes mercilessly and in which the sledges stood as if fixed to the spot as soon as they stopped. The weather was such that one could not see many hundred feet in front of one and the snow which accumulated on one's clothes on the weather side wedded one to the skin but still it was glorious to see ourselves making progress, progress towards our stubborn goal. We came across a number of lanes and they were difficult to cross with their complicated network of cracks and ridges in all directions. Some of them were broad and full of brash which rendered it impossible to use the kayaks. In some places, however, the brash was pressed so tightly together that we could walk on it. But many journeys to and fro are nearly always necessary before any reasonable opportunity of advance is to be found. This time is often long to the one who remains behind with the dogs being blown through or wedded through meanwhile as the case may be. Even when it seemed as if I were never coming back did Johansson think I had fallen through some lane and was gone for good. As one sits there on the kayak, waiting and waiting, and gazing in front of one into solitude, many strange thoughts pass through one's brain. Several times he climbed the highest hummock near at hand to scan the ice anxiously, and then when at last he discovered a little black speck moving about on the white flat surface far far away his mind would be relieved. As Johansson was waiting in this way yesterday he remarked that the sides of the flow in front of him were slowly moving up and down as they might if rocked by a slight swell. Can open water be near? Can it be that the great breakers from the sea have penetrated in here? How willingly would we believe it? But perhaps it was only the wind which set the thin ice we are now travelling over in wave-like motion. Or have we really opened water to the southeast? It is remarkable that this wind welds the ice together while the southwest wind here a little while ago slackened it. When all is said is it possible that we are not far from the sea? I cannot help thinking of the water reflections we have seen on the sky before us. Johansson has just left the tent and says that he can now see the same reflection in the south. It is higher now and the weather tolerably clear. What can it be? Only let us go on and get there. We came across the track of a berigan yesterday. How old it was could not easily be determined in this snow which obliterates everything in a few minutes, but it was probably from yesterday for Haran directly afterwards got sent of something and started off against the wind so that Johansson thought the bear must be somewhere near. Well, well, old or new a bear was there while we were a little farther north stitching at the kayaks and one day it will come our way too, no doubt. The gulf which Johansson shot brought up a large piece of blubber when it fell and this tends to confirm us in the belief that bears are at hand as it hardly could have done so had it not been in such company. The weather was wet and wretched and to make things worse there was a thick mist and the going was as heavy as could be. To go on did not seem very attractive, but on the other hand a halt for dinner in this slush was still less so. We therefore continued a little while longer and stopped at ten o'clock for good. What a welcome change it was to be under the tent again and the fiskegraten was delicious. It gives one such a sense of satisfaction to feel that in spite of everything one is making a little way. The temperature is beginning to be bad now, the snow is quite wet and some water has entered my kayak which I suppose melted on the deck and ran down through the open side where the lacing is which we have not yet sewn fast. We are waiting for good weather in order to get the covers thoroughly dry first and then stretch them well. Stay June 10th. In spite of the most impenetrable mist and the most detestable going on soppy snow which has not yet been sufficiently exposed to frost to become granular and where the sledges rode their very heaviest we still managed to make good even progress the whole day yesterday. There were innumerable lanes of course to deal with and many crossings on loose pieces of ice which we accomplished at a pinch. But the ice is flat here everywhere and every little counts. It is the same thin winter ice of about three feet in thickness. I only saw a couple of old flows yesterday they were in the neighborhood of our camping ground which was also on an old flow otherwise the ice is new and in places very new. We went over some large expanses yesterday of ice one foot or less in thickness. The last of these tracts in particular was very remarkable and must at one time have been an immense pool. The ice on it was so thin that it cannot be long before it melts altogether. There was water on all this ice and it was like walking through gruel. As a matter of fact the ice about here is nothing else but pure broken up sea ice consisting of large and small flows not infrequently very small flows closely aggregated. But when they have the chance of slackening they will spread over the whole sea here abouts and we shall have water enough to row in any direction we please. The weather seems today to be of the same kind as yesterday with the southwest wind which is tearing and rattling at the tent walls, a thaw and wet snow. I do not know if we shall get any more frost but it would make the snow in splendid condition for our snowshoes. I'm afraid however that the contrary will rather be the case and that we shall soon be in for the worst breakup of the winter. The lanes otherwise are beginning to improve they are no longer so full of brush and slush it is melting away and bridges and such like have a better chance of forming in the clearer water. We scan the horizon unremittingly for land every time there is a clear interval but nothing never anything to be seen. Meanwhile we constantly see signs of the proximity of land or open water. The gulls increase conspicuously in number and yesterday we saw a little awk, mergulous alle in a lane. The atmosphere in the south and southwest is always apt to be dark but the weather has been such that we can really see nothing yet I feel that the solution is approaching but then how long have I not thought so? There is nothing for it but the noble virtue of patience. What beautiful ice this would have been to travel over in April before all these lanes were formed endless flat plains for the lanes as far as we know are all newly formed ones with some ridges here and there which are also new. Tuesday June 11th a monotonous life this on the whole as monotonous as one can well imagine it to turn out day after day, week after week, month after month to the same toil over ice which is sometimes a little better sometimes a little worse it now seems to be subtly getting worse always hoping to see an end to it but always hoping in vain ever the same monotonous range of vision over ice and again ice no sign of land in any direction and no open water and now we should be in the same latitude as Cape Fligley or at most a couple of minutes farther north we do not know where we are and we do not know when this will end meanwhile our provisions are dwindling day by day and the number of our dogs is growing seriously less shall we reach land while we yet have food or shall we when all is said ever reach it it will soon be impossible to make any way against this ice and snow the latter is only slush the dogs sink through at every step and we ourselves splash through it up above our knees when we have to help the dogs or take a turn at the heavy sledges which happens frequently it is hard to go on hoping in such circumstances but still we do so though sometimes perhaps our hearts fail us when we see the ice lying before us like an impenetrable maze of ridges lanes brash and huge blocks thrown together palmel and one might imagine one self looking at suddenly congealed breakers there are moments when it seems impossible that any creature not possessed of wings can get farther and one longingly follows the flight of a passing gull and thinks how far away one would soon be could one borrow its wings but then in spite of everything one finds away and hope springs eternal let the sun peep out a moment from the bank of clouds and the ice planes glitter in all their whiteness let the sunbeams play on the water and life seems beautiful in spite of it all and worthy a struggle it is wonderful how little it takes to give one fresh courage yesterday I found dead in a lane a little polar cod garrus Polaris and my eyes I am sure must have shown with pleasure when I saw it it was real treasure trove where there is fish in the water one can hardly starve and before I crept into the tent this morning I set a line in the lane beside us but what a number of these little fish it would require to feed one many more in one day than one could catch in a week or perhaps in a month yet one is hopeful and lies counting the chances of there being larger fish in the water here and of being able to fish to one's hearts content advance yesterday was more difficult than on the previous days the ice more uneven and massive and in some places with occasional old flows in between we were stopped by many bad lanes to so did not make much way I'm afraid not more than three or four miles I think we may now reckon on being in latitude eighty two degrees eight minutes or nine minutes north if this continual southeast wind has not sent us northward again the going is getting worse and worse the snow is water soaked to the bottom and will not bear the dogs any longer though it has become a little more granular lately and the sludges run well on it when they do not cut through which happens continually and then they are almost immovable it is heavy for the dogs and would be so even if they were not so wretchedly worn out as they are they stop at the slightest thing and have to be helped or driven forward with the whip poor animals they have a bad time of it little oven the last of my original team will soon be unable to go farther and such a good animal to haul we have five dogs left little oven store oven and kifas to my sledge Sagan and Haran to Johansson's we still have enough food for them for three days from East beyond who was killed yesterday morning and before that time Johansson thinks the riddle will be solved vain hope I am afraid although the water sky in the southeast or south southeast magnetic seems always to keep in the same position and has risen much higher we began our march at half past six yesterday afternoon and stopped before a lane at a quarter past three this morning I saw freshwater pools on the ice under some hummocks yesterday for the first time where we stopped however there were none to be found so we had to melt water again this morning but it will not often be necessary hereafter I hope and we can save our oil which by the way is becoming alarmingly reduced outside the weather and snow are the same no pleasure in turning out to the toils of the day I lie here thinking of our June at home how the sun is shining over forest and fjord and wooded hills and there is but sometime we shall get back to life and then it will be fairer than it has ever been before Wednesday June 12th this is getting worse and worse yesterday we did nothing hardly advanced more than a mile wretched snow uneven ice lanes and villainous weather stopped us there was certainly a crust on the snow on which the sledges ran well when they were on it but when they broke through and they did it constantly they stood immovable this crust too was bad for the dogs poor things they sank through it into the deep snow between the irregularities and it was like swimming through slush for them but all the same we made way lanes stopped us it is true but we cleared them somehow over one of them at last which looked nasty we got by making a bridge of small flows which we guided to the narrowest place but then a shameless storm of wet snow or more correctly sleet with immense flakes set in and the wind increased we could not see our way in this labyrinth of lanes and hummocks and were as soaked as duct crows as we say the going was impossible and the sledges as good as immovable in the wet snow which was soon deep enough to cling to our ski underneath in great lumps and prevent them from running there was hardly any choice but to find a camping ground as soon as possible for to force one's way along in such weather and on such snow and make no progress was of little use we found a good camping ground and pitched our tent after only four hours march and went without our dinner to make up here we are then hardly knowing what to do next what the going is like outside i do not know yet but probably not much better than yesterday and whether we ought to push on the little we can or go out and try to capture a seal i cannot decide the worst of it is that there do not seem to be many seals in the eyes where we now are we have seen none the last few days perhaps it is too thick and compact for them the ice here is strikingly different in character from that we have been traveling over of late it is considerably more uneven for one thing with mounds and somewhat old ridges among them some very large ones nor does it look so very old in general i should say of last winter's formation though there are occasional old flows in between they appear to have been near land as clay and earthy matter are frequently to be seen particularly in the newly formed ridges Johansson who has gone out says the same water sky is to be seen in the south why is it we cannot reach it but there it is all the same and a luring goal for us to make for even if we do not reach it very soon we see it again and again looking so blue and beautiful for us it is the color of hope friday june 14th it is three months today since we left the from a quarter of a year have we been wandering in this desert device and here we are still when we shall see the end of it i can no longer form any idea i only hope whatever may be in store for us is not very far off open water or land vilcek land zitchy land spitsbergen or some other country yesterday was not quite so bad a day as i expected we really did advance though not very far hardly more than a couple of miles but we must be content with that at this time of year the dogs could not manage to draw the sledges alone if there was nobody beside them they stopped at every other step the only thing to be done was to make a journey to and fro and thus go over the ground three times while i went on ahead to explore yohansen drove the sledges as far as he could first mine and then back again after his own by that time i had returned and drove my own sledge as far as i had found away and then this performance was repeated all over again it was not rapid progress but progress it was of a kind and that was something the ice we are going over is anything but even it is still rather massive and old with hummocks and irregularities in every direction and no real flat tracks when added to this after going a short distance we came to a place where the ice was broken up into small flows with high ridges and broad lanes filled with slush and brash so that the whole thing looked like a single massive debris where there was hardly standing room to say nothing of any prospect of advance it was only human to lose courage and give up for the time being trying to get on wherever i turned the way was closed and it looked as if advance was denied us for good to launch the kayaks would be of no avail for we could hardly expect to propel them through this accumulation of fragments and i was on the point of making up my mind to wait and try our luck with the net in line and see if we could not manage to find a seal somewhere in these lanes these are moments full of anxiety when from some hummock one looks doubtingly over the ice one's thoughts continually reverting to the same question have we provisions enough to wait for the time when the snow will have melted and the ice have become slacker and more intersected with lanes so that one can row between the flows or is there any probability of our being able to obtain sufficient food if that which we have should fall short these are great and important questions which i cannot yet answer for certain that it will take a long time before all this snow melts away and advance becomes fairly practicable is certain at what time the ice may become slacker and progress by means of the lanes possible we cannot say and up to this we have taken nothing with the exception of two ivory gulls and a small fish we did indeed see another fish swimming near the surface of the water but it was no larger than the other where we are just now there seems to be little prospect of capturing anything i have not seen a single seal the last few days though yesterday i saw the snowed down track of a bear meanwhile we see ivory gulls continually but they are still too small to be worth a cartridge yesterday however i saw a large gull probably laurus argentatus i determined to make one more attempt to get on by striking farther east and this time i was successful in finding a passage across by way of a number of small flows on the other side there was rather old compact ice partially a formation a summer old which seemed to have been near land as it was irregular and much intermixed with earthy matter we have traveled over this icefield ever since without coming on lanes but it was uneven and we came to grief several times in other places again it was pretty good we began our march at eight o'clock on wednesday afternoon and halted here at five o'clock this morning later on in the four noon the wind went over to the northeast and the temperature fell the snow froze hard and eventually the going became pretty good the crust on the snow bore the dogs up and also the sledges to a certain extent and we looked forward to good going on the following day but in this we were doomed to disappointment no sooner had we got inside the tent than it began to snow and kept briskly at it the whole day while we slept and yesterday evening when we turned out to get breakfast ready and start off it was still snowing and deep loose snow covered everything a state of things bad beyond description there was no sense in going on and we decided to wait and see how matters would turn out meanwhile we were hungry but a full breakfast we could not afford so i prepared a small portion of fish soup and we returned to the bag again yohansen to sleep on i to re-recon all my observations from the time we left the from and see if some error might not explain the mystery why no land was yet to be found the sun had partially appeared and i tried though in vain to take an observation i stood waiting for more than an hour with the seo line up but the sun went in again and remained out of sight i have calculated and calculated and thought and thought but can find no mistake of any importance and the whole thing is a riddle to me i am beginning seriously to doubt that we may be too far west after all i simply cannot conceive that we are too far east for in such a case we cannot at any rate be more than five degrees farther east than our observations make us supposing for instance that our watches have gone too fast yohansen cannot at all events have gained more than double its previous escapement i have assumed an escapement of five seconds but supposing that the escapement has been ten seconds this does not make more difference than six minutes forty seconds in eighty days the time from our departure from the from till the last observation that is one degree forty minutes farther east than we ought to be assuming to that i have calculated our days marches at two great lengths in the days between april eight and thirteenth and that instead of thirty six english geographical miles or rather more than forty statute miles we have only gone twenty four english geographical miles or twenty eight statute miles less we cannot possibly have gone we should then have been in eighty nine degrees east instead of eighty six degrees east on the thirteenth as we supposed that is three degrees farther east or with the figures above let us say together five degrees farther east that is we now instead of being in longitude sixty one degrees east should be in sixty six degrees east or about seventy miles from cape fliggly but it seems to me we ought to see land south of us just the same viltrack land cannot be so low and trend suddenly so far to the south when cape budapest is said to lie in about sixty one degrees east and eighty two degrees north and should thus be not so much as fifty miles from us no this is inconceivable on the other hand it is not any easier to suppose ourselves west of it we must have drifted very materially between april eight and thirteenth or my watch must have stopped for a time before april second the observations from april second fourth and eighth seem indeed to indicate that we drifted considerably westward on the second we appeared to be in one hundred three degrees six minutes east on the fourth in ninety nine degrees fifty nine minutes east and april eighth in ninety five degrees seven minutes east between these dates there were no marches of importance between the observations on the second and the fourth there was only a short half days march and between the fourth and the seventh a couple which amounted to nothing and could only have carried us a little westward this is as much as to say that we must have drifted eight degrees or let us reckon at any rate seven degrees westward in the six days and nights assuming that the drift was the same during the five days and nights between the eighth and thirteenth we then get seven degrees farther west than we suppose we should consequently now be in fifty four degrees east instead of in sixty one degrees east and not more than thirty six to forty miles from cape fliggly and close by oscars land we ought to see something of them i think let us assume meanwhile that the drift westward was strong in the period before april second also and grant the possibility that my watch did stop at that time which i fear is not excluded and we may then be any distance west for all we can tell it is this possibility which i begin to think of more and more meanwhile apparently there is nothing for it but to continue as we have done already perhaps a little more south and a solution must come when after having concluded my calculations i had taken a nap and again turned out at midday today the condition of the snow proved to be no better in fact rather worse the new snow was wet and sticky and the going as heavy as it well could be however it was necessary to make an attempt to get on there was nothing gained by waiting there and progress is progress be it ever so little i took a single altitude about midday but it was not sharp saturday june 15th the middle of june and still no prospect of an end to this things only became worse instead so bad as yesterday though it had never been and worse happily it can hardly be the sledges ran terribly heavy in the loose wet newly fallen snow which was deep to boot and sometimes when they stopped and that was continually they stuck as if glued to the spot it was all we could do to move them when we pushed with all our might then to this was added the fact that one's snowshoes ran equally badly and masses of snow collected underneath them the minute one stopped one's feet kept twisting continually from this and ice formed under them so that one suddenly slid off the snowshoes and into the snow till far above one's knees when one tried to pull or help the sledges but there was nothing for it but to scramble up and on to them again to wait along in such snow without them is an impossibility and as i have said before though fastening them on securely would have been a better plan yet it would have been too troublesome seeing that we had to take them off continually to get the sledges over ridges and lanes in addition to all this wherever one turns the ice is uneven and full of mounds and old ridges and it is only by wriggling along like an eel so to speak that one can get on at all there are lanes too and they compel one to make long detours or go long distances over thin small flows ridges and other abominations we struggled along however a little way working on our old plan of two turns but a quick method it could not be called the dogs are becoming more and more worn out lila raven the last survivor of my team can now hardly walk hauling there is no question of he staggers like a drunken man and when he falls can hardly rise to his feet again today he is going to be killed i am thankful to say and one will be spared seeing him store oven two is getting very slack in the traces the only one of mine which pulls at all is kyphus and that is only as long as one of us is helping behind to keep on longer in such circumstances is only wearing out men and dogs to no purpose and is also using up more provinder than is necessary we therefore renounced dinner and halted at about ten yesterday evening after having begun the march at half past four in the afternoon i had however stopped to take an observation on the way it is not easy to get hold of the sundown days and one must make the most of him when he is to be seen through the driving clouds clear he will never be yesterday afternoon after an unconscionable weight and after having put up the instrument in vain a couple of times i finally got a wretched single altitude yesterday evening i reckoned out these observations and find that contrary to our expectations we have drifted strongly westward having come from 61 degrees 16 minutes east which was our longitude on june 4th right to about 57 degrees 40 minutes east but then we have also drifted a good way north again up to 82 degrees 26 minutes north after being down in 82 degrees 17.8 minutes on the same date and we have been pushing southward as hard as we could the whole time however we are glad to see that there is so much movement in the ice for then there is hope of our drifting out eventually towards open water for that we can get there by our own efforts alone over the shocking ice i'm beginning to doubt this country and this going are too bad and my hope now is in lanes and slack ice happily a northeast wind has sprung up yesterday there was a fresh breeze from the north northwest magnetic and the same again today only let it blow on if it has set us northwest it can also set us southwest and eventually out towards our goal towards france joseph land or spitsbergen i doubt more than ever our being east of cape fliggly after this observation and i begin to believe more and more in the possibility that the first land we shall see if we see any and i hope we may will be spitsbergen in that case we should not even get a glimpse of france joseph land the land of which i have dreamed golden dreams day and night but still if it is not to be then well and good spitsbergen is good enough and if we are as far west as we seem to be i have greater hope than before of finding slacker ice and open water and then for spitsbergen but there is still a serious question to be faced and that is to procure ourselves enough food for the journey i have slept here some time on purpose after having spent a good while on my calculations and speculations as to our drift and our future we have nothing to hurry for in this state of the snow it is hardly better today than it was yesterday and then on account of the mild temperature it is better to travel by night than by day the best thing to do is to spin out the time as long as possible without consuming more than absolutely necessary of the provisions the summer cannot but improve matters and we have still three months of it before us the question is can we procure ourselves food during that time it would be strange i think if we could not there are birds about continually i saw another large gull yesterday probably the herring or silver gull laurus argentotus but to support life for any length of time on such small fry we have not cartridges enough on seal or bear all my hopes are fixed just one before our provisions give out and the evil hour is warded off for a long time to come end of file nine file 10 of farthest north volume two this libra vox recording is in the public domain recording by sharon riskadal farthest north by free chaff nonson volume two chapter six by sledge and kayak part two sunday june 16th yesterday was as bad as it well could be the surface enough to make one desperate and the ice rough i very much doubted whether the wisest thing would not be to kill the dogs and keep them as food for ourselves and try to make our way on as best we could without them in that manner we should have provender for fifteen or perhaps twenty days longer and should be able to make some progress at the same time there does not seem much to be done in that line however and perhaps the right thing to do is to wait but on the other hand perhaps it is not far to land or open water or at any rate to slack ice and then every mile we can make southward is of importance i have therefore come to the conclusion that we must use the dogs to get on with as best we can perhaps there will be a change before we expect it if nothing else then perhaps some better ice like that we had before meanwhile we were obliged to kill two dogs yesterday little rovin could hardly go when we started his legs seemed to be quite paralyzed and he fell down and could not get up again after i had dragged him and the sledge for a time and had tried in vain to make him go i had to put him on the load and when we came to some hummocks where there was shelter from the north wind yohansen killed him while i went forward to find a way meanwhile my other dog store oven was in almost as bad a plight hall he could not and the difficulty was to make him go on so that he was not dragged with the sledge he went a little way stumbling and falling and being helped up repeatedly but soon he was just as bad as little rovin had been lagged behind got the traces under the sledge runners and was dragged with it as i thought i had enough to do in hulling the sledge i let him go in the hope that he would at any rate follow us he did so for a little while but then stopped behind and yohansen was compelled to fetch him and put him on his load and when we camped he was killed too kyophus is the only dog i have left to help me haul my sledge and yohansen has haran and sugan we have rations for them for ten days from the two slaughtered dogs but how far we shall be able to get with them the gods alone no not very far i am afraid meanwhile our hitherto somewhat primitive method of hauling had to be improved on with two dog harnesses we accordingly made ourselves proper hauling gear and therewith all idea of using snowshoes not securely fastened on had to be abandoned one's feet twisted and slipped and slid off the snowshoes and deep down into the bottomless snow which in addition turned to ice under our feet and with our smooth komager soles was as slippery as eelskin to stand on then we fastened them on and where the ice was even it really was possible to drag the sledge even with only one dog beside one i saw that given passable snow and passable country to work on we could make some progress during the day though as soon as there was the slightest irregularity in the ice the sledger stood perfectly still it was necessary to strain at the harness all one knew and then perhaps fail to make the sledge budge an inch then back one had to go to it and after exerting one strength to the utmost it would finally glide over the obstacle and on towards a new one where exactly the same process had to be gone through if it was wished to turn the sledge in the deep snow where it stood embedded matters were no better it was only by lifting it bodily that one could get it on at all so we went on step by step until perhaps we came on a small extent of level ice for we could increase the pace if however we came on lanes and ridges things were worse than ever one man cannot manage a sledge alone but two must be put to each sledge then when we have followed up the track i have marked out beforehand i have to start off again and find a way between the hummocks to go direct hauling the sledge is not advisable where the ice is uneven as it only means getting into difficulties and being constrained eventually to turn back in this way we are grinding along but it goes without saying that speed and long marches are not the order of the day but still as it is we make a little way and that is better than nothing it is besides the only thing we can do seeing that it is impossible to crawl into a layer and hibernate for a month or so till progress is possible again to judge by the sky there must be a number of lanes in the south and southwest perhaps our trying mode of advance is leading us to something better we began at about ten yesterday evening and stopped at six this morning we have not had dinner the last few days in order to save a meal as we do not think this ice and our progress generally are worth much food with the same object we this morning collected the blood of store oven and converted it into a sort of porridge instead of the fishkegraten it was good even if it was only dogs blood and at any rate we have a portion of fish flour to the good before we turned into the bag last night we inspected our cartridges and found to our joy that we had 148 shotgun cartridges 181 rifle cartridges and in addition 14 spherical shot cartridges with so much ammunition we should be able to increase our provisions for some time to come if necessary for if nothing else should fall to our guns there would always be birds and 148 birds will go a long way if we use half charges we can eke out our ammunition still further we have more over half a pound of gunpowder and some spherical shot for the rifles also caps for reloading the cartridges this discovery has put me in good spirits for truth to tell i did not think our prospects were inordinately bright we shall now perhaps be able to manage for three months and within that time something must happen in addition to what we can shoot we can also catch gulls with a hook and if the worst should come to the worst and we set seriously to work we can probably take some anamolcula and the like with the net it may happen that we shall not get to Spitzberg and in time to find a vessel and must winter there but it will be a life of luxury compared with this in the drift ice not knowing where we are nor whither drifting and not seeing our goal be it never so far away i should not like to have this time over again we have paid dearly for letting our watches run down that time if there was no one waiting at home a winter in Spitzberg and would be quite enticing i lie here and dream of how comfortably and well we could manage there everything outside of this ice seems rosy and out of it we shall be some time or other we must comfort ourselves with the adage that night is darkest before the dawn of course it somewhat depends on how dark the night is to be and considerably darker than it is now it might very well be but our hopes are fixed on the summer yes it must be better as summer gradually comes on so on we went forward and day after day we were going through exactly the same toil in the same heavy snow in which the sledges stuck fast ceaselessly dogs and men did their best but with little effect and in addition we began to be uneasy as to our means of subsistence the dog's rations were reduced to a minimum to enable us to keep life going as long as possible we were hungry and toil worn from morning to night and from night to morning all five of us we determined to shoot whatever came in our way even gulls and fall mars but now of course none of this game ever came within range the lanes grew worse and worse failed generally with slush and brash we were often compelled to go long distances over nothing but small pieces where one went through continually on june 18th the strong wind from the west magnetic sprang up which tears and rattles at the tent we are going back I suppose once we came only farther north perhaps so we are buffeted by wind and current and so it will go on perhaps the whole summer through without our being able to master it a meridian altitude that day made us in 82 degrees 19 minutes north so we had come down again a little I saw and shot a couple of fulmars and a bruniks guillomaux uriah brunikii and these eaked out our rations but to our distress I fired at a couple of seals in the lanes and missed my mark how we wished we could get hold of such a prize meanwhile there's a good deal of life here now I write on june 20th little ox fly backward and forward in numbers and they sit and chatter and show themselves just outside the tent door it is quite a pleasure to see them but a pity they are so small that they are not worth a shot we have not seen them in flocks yet but in couples as a rule it is remarkable how bird life has increased since the west winds set in the day before yesterday it is particularly striking how the little ox have suddenly appeared in myriads they whizz past the tent here with their cheery twitter and it gives one the feeling of having come down to more hospitable regions this sudden finding of bruniks guillomaux seems also curious but it does no good land is not to be described and the snow is in as wretched a condition as it can be a proper thaw so that the snow can disappear more quickly does not come yesterday morning before breakfast I went for a walk southward to see what were our chances of advance the ice was flat and good for a little way but lanes soon began which were worse than ever our only expedient now is to resort to strong measures and launch the kayaks in spite of the fact that they leak we must then travel as much as possible by way of the lanes and with this resolution I turn back the snow is still the same very wet so that one sank deep in between the hummocks and there are plenty of them we could not afford a proper breakfast so we took one and two-thirds ounces bread and one and two-thirds ounces pemmican per man and then set to work to mend the pumps and put the kayaks in order for ferrying so that their contents should not be spoiled by water leaking in among other things a hole had to be patched in mine which I had not seen before we had a frugal supper two ounces all-ur-on-it bread and one ounce butter per man and crept into the bag to sleep as long as possible and kill the time without eating the only thing to be done is to try and hold out till the snow has melted and advance is more practicable at one in the afternoon we turned out to a rather more abundant breakfast the füßgegratten but we do not dare to eat as much as we require any longer we are looking forward to trying our new tactics and instead of attempting to conquer nature obeying her and taking advantage of the lanes we must get some way at any rate by this means and the farther south the more prospective lanes and the greater chance of something falling to our guns otherwise it is a dull existence enough no prospect for the moment of being able to get on impassable packed ice in every direction rapidly diminishing provisions and now too nothing to be caught or shot an attempt I made at fishing with the net failed entirely a pteropod clio borealis and a few crustacea were the whole result I lie awake at night by the hour racking my brain to find a way out of our difficulties well well there will be one eventually saturday june 22nd half past nine a.m after a good breakfast of seals flesh seal liver blubber and soup here I lie dreaming dreams of brightness life is all sunshine again what a little incident is necessary to change the whole aspect of affairs yesterday and the last few days were dull and gloomy everything seemed hopeless the ice impassable no game to be found and then comes the incident of a seal rising near our kayaks and rolling about round us Johansson has time to give it a ball just as it is disappearing and it floats while I harpoon it the first and only bearded seal foca barbata we have seen yet and we have abundance of food and fuel for upward of a month we need hurry no longer we can settle down adapt the kayaks and sledges better for ferrying over the lanes capture seals if possible and a way to change in the state of the ice we have eaten our fill both at supper and breakfast after being ravenous for many days the future seems bright and certain now no clouds of darkness to be seen any longer it was hardly with great expectations that we started off on Tuesday evening a hard crust which had formed on the top of the soft snow did not improve matters the sledges often cut through this and were not to be moved before one lifted them forward again and when it was a case of turning amid the uneven ice they stuck fast in the crust the ice was uneven and bad and the snow loose and water soaked so that even with snowshoes on we sank deep into it ourselves there were lanes besides and though tolerably easy to cross as they were often packed together they necessitated a winding route we saw clearly that to continue in this way was impossible the only resource was to disburden ourselves of everything which could in any way be dispensed with and start afresh as quickly as we could with only provisions kayaks guns and the most necessary clothing in order at any rate to reach land before our last crumb of food was eaten up we went over the things to see what we could part with the medicine bag the spare horizontal bars belonging to the sledges reserve snowshoes and thick rough socks soiled shirts and the tent when it came to the sleeping bag we drew a long sigh but wet and heavy as it always is now that had to go to we had more over to contrive wooden grips under the kayaks so that we can without further trouble set the whole thing afloat when we have to cross the lane and be able to drag the sledges up on the other side and go on at once if it should then as now be impossible for us to launch the sledges because sleeping bag clothes and sacks of provender etc are lying on them as a soft drainage for the kayaks it will take too much time at every lane we should be obliged to unlash the loads lift the kayaks off the sledges and into the water lash them together there then place the sledges across them and finally go through the same maneuvers in inverse order on the other side we should not get very far in the day in that manner firmly determined to make these alterations the very next day we started off we soon came to a long pool which it was necessary to ferry over the kayaks were soon launched and lying side by side on the water well stiffened with the snowshoes under the straps a thoroughly steady fleet then the sledges with their loads were run out to them one forward one astern we had been concerned about the dogs and how we should get them to go with us but they followed the sledges out onto the kayaks and lay down as if they had done nothing else all their lives kayafas seated himself in the bow of my kayak and the two others astern the seal had come up near us while we were occupied with all this but i thought to wait before shooting it till the kayaks were ready and thus be certain of getting it before it sank of course it did not show itself again these seals seemed to be enchanted and as if they were only sent to delay us twice that day before i had seen them and watched for them to appear again in vain i had even achieved missing one the third time i have missed my mark it looks bad for the ammunition if i am going on like this but i have discovered that i aimed too high for these short ranges and had shot over them so then we set off across the blue waves on our first long voyage a highly remarkable convoy we must have been laden as we were with sledges sacks guns and dogs a tribe of gypsies yohansen said it was if anyone had suddenly come upon us then he would hardly have known what to make of the troop and certainly would not have taken us for polar explorers paddling between the sledges and the snowshoes which projected far out on either side was not easy work but we managed to get along and were soon of the opinion that we should think ourselves lucky could we go on like this the whole day instead of hauling and waiting through the snow our kayaks could hardly have been called watertight and we had recourse to the pumps several times but we could easily have reconciled ourselves to that and only wished we had more open water to travel over at last we reached the end of the pool i jumped ashore on the edge of the ice to pull up the kayaks and suddenly heard a great splash beside us it was a seal which had been lying there soon afterwards i heard a similar splash on the other side and then for the third time a huge head appeared blowing and swimming backward and forward but alas only to dive deep under the edge of the ice before we had time to get the guns out it was a fine large blue or bearded zeal foca borbata we were quite sure that it had disappeared for good but no sooner had i got one of the sledges halfway up the side than the immense head came up again close beside the kayaks blowing and repeating the same maneuvers as before i looked round for my gun but could not reach it where it was lying on the kayak take the gun yohansen quick and blaze away but quick look sharp quick in a moment he had thrown the gun to his cheek and just as the seal was on the point of disappearing under the edge i heard the report the animal made a little turn and then lay floating the blood flowing from its head i dropped the sledge seized the harpoon and quick as lightning threw it deep into the fat back of the seal which lay quivering on the surface of the water then it began to move there was still life in it and anxious lest the harpoon with its thin line should not hold if the huge animal began to quicken in earnest i pulled my knife out of its sheath and stuck it into the seal's throat when a stream of blood came flowing out the water was read with it for a long distance and it made one quite sorry to see the wherewithal for a good meal being wasted like this but there was nothing to be done not on any account when i lose that animal and for the sake of safety gave it another harpoon meanwhile the sledge which had been half dragged up onto the ice slid down again and the kayaks with yohansen and the dogs came adrift he tried to pull the sledge up onto the kayak but without success and so it remained with one end in the water and one on the canoe it healed the whole fleet over and yohansen's kayak canted till one side was in the water it leaked more over like a sieve and the water rose in it with alarming rapidity the cooker which was on the deck fell off and drifted gaily away before the wind with all its valuable contents born high up in the water by the aluminum cap which happily was watertight the ski fell off and floated about and the fleet sank deeper and deeper in meanwhile i stood holding our precious prize not daring to let go the whole thing was a scene of the most complete dissolution yohansen's kayak had by this time healed over to such an extent that the water reached the open seam on the deck and the craft filled immediately i had no choice left but to let go the seal and drag up the kayak before it sank this done heavy as it was and full of water the seal's turn came next and this was much worse we had our work cut out to haul the immense animal hand over hand up onto the ice but our rejoicings were loud when we at last succeeded and we almost fell to dancing around it in the excess of our delight a waterlogged kayak and soaked defects we thought nothing of at such a supreme moment here were food and fuel for a long time then came the rescuing and drying of our things first and foremost of course the ammunition it was all our stock but happily the cartridges were fairly watertight and had not suffered much damage even the shot cartridges the cases of which were of paper had not lain long enough to become wholly permeated such however was not the case with the supply of powder the small tin box in which we kept it was entirely full of water the other things were not so important though it was hardly a comforting discovery to find that the bread was soaked through with saltwater we found a camping ground not far off the tent was soon pitched our catch cut up and placed in safety and i may say seldom has the drift ice housed being so well satisfied as the two who sat that morning in the bag and feasted on seals flesh blubber and soup as long as they had any room to stow it in we concurred in the opinion that a better meal we could not have had then down we crawled into the dear bag which for the present there was no need to part with and slept the sleep of the just in the knowledge that for the immediate future at any rate we need have no anxiety it is my opinion that for the time being we can do nothing better than remain where we are live on our catch without encroaching on the sledge provisions and thus await the time when the ice shall slacken more or the condition of the snow improve meanwhile we will rig up wooden grips on our sledges and try to make the kayaks watertight furthermore we will lighten our equipment as much as we possibly can if we were to go on we should only be obliged to leave a great deal of our meat and blubber behind us and this in these circumstances i think would be madness sunday june 23rd so this is st john's eve and sunday too how merry and happy all the school boys are today how the folk at home are starting forth in crowds to the beautiful norwegian woods and valleys and here are we still in the drift ice cooking and frying with blubber eating it and seals flesh until the train oil drips off us and above all not knowing when there will be an end to it all perhaps we still have a winter before us i could hardly have conceived that we should be here now it is a pleasing change however after having reduced our rations and fuel to a minimum to be able to launch out into excesses and eat as much and as often as we like it is a state of things hardly to be realized at present the food is agreeable to the taste and we like it better and better my own opinion is that blubber is excellent both raw and fried and it can well take the place of butter the meat in our eyes is as good as meat can be we had it yesterday for breakfast in the shape of meat and soup served with raw blubber for dinner i fried a highly successful steak not to be surpassed by the grand hotel though a good sidle of bok beer would have been a welcome addition for supper i made blood pancakes fried in blubber instead of butter and they were a success in as much as you haunson pronounced them first class to say nothing of my own sentiments this frying however inside the tent over a train oil lamp is a doubtful pleasure if the lamp itself does not smoke the blubber does causing the unfortunate cook the most excruciating pain in the eyes he can hardly keep them open and they water copiously but the consequences could be even worse the train oil lamp which i had contrived out of a sheet of german silver became overheated one day under the hot frying pan and at last the whole thing caught fire both the lumps of blubber and the train oil the flame shot up into the air while i tried by every means in my power to put it out but it only grew worse the best thing would have been to convey the whole lamp outside but there was no time for it the tent began to fill with suffocating smoke and as a last resort i unfortunately seized a handful of snow and threw it onto the burning train oil it sputtered and crackled boiling oil flew in all directions and from the lamp itself rose a sea of flames which filled the whole tent and burned everything they came near half suffocated we both threw ourselves against a closed door bursting off the buttons and dashed headlong into the open air glad indeed to have escaped with our lives with this explosion the lamp went out and when we came to examine the tent we found an enormous hole burned in the silk wall above the place where the frying pan had stood one of our sledge sales had to pay the penalty for that hole we crept back into the tent again congratulating ourselves however on having got off so easily and after a great deal of trouble rekindled the fire so that i could fry the last pancake we then ate it with sugar in the best of spirits and pronounced it the most delicious fare we had ever tasted we had good reason too to be in spirits for our observation for the day made us in 82 degrees 4.3 minutes north latitude and 57 degrees 48 minutes east longitude in spite of westerly and in a measure southwesternly winds we had come nearly 14 minutes south in three days and next to nothing east a highly surprising and satisfactory discovery outside the north wind was still blowing and consequently we were drifting south towards more clement regions. Wednesday June 26th June 24th was naturally celebrated with great festivities in the first place it was that day two years since we started from home secondly it was a hundred days since we left the from not really it was two days more and thirdly it was mid-summer day it was of course a holiday and we passed it in dreaming of good times to come in studying our charts our future prospects and in reading anything readable that was to be found that is the almanac and navigation tables Johansson took a walk along the lanes and also managed to miss a ringed seal or snot as we call it in Norwegian in a pool here east of us then came supper rather late in the night consisting of blood pancakes with sugar and unsurpassed in flavor the frying over the oil lamp took a long time and in order to have them hot we had to eat each one as it was fried a mode of procedure which promoted a healthy appetite between each pancake thereafter we stewed some of our red hortleberries and they tasted no less good although they had been soaked in salt water in Johansson's kayak during the catastrophe of a couple of days ago and after a glorious meal we turned into the bag at eight o'clock yesterday morning at midday again i got up and went out to take a meridian altitude the weather was brilliant and it was so long since we had had anything of the kind that i could hardly remember it i set up on the hammock waiting for the sun to come to the meridian basking in its rays and looking out over the stretches of ice where the snow glittered and sparkled on all sides and at the pool in front of me lying shining and still as a mountain lake and reflecting its icy banks in the clear water not a breath of wind stirred so still so still and the sun baked and i dreamed myself at home before going into the tent i went to fetch some salt water for the soup we were to have for breakfast but just at that moment a seal came up by the side of the ice and i ran back from my gun and kayak out on the water i discovered that it was leaking like a sieve from lying in the sun and i had to paddle back faster than i had come out to avoid sinking as i was emptying the kayak up came the seal again in front of me and this time my shot took effect the animal lay floating on the water like a cork it was not many minutes before i had the leaking craft on the water again and my harpoon in the animal's neck i toted in while the kayak gradually filled and my legs or rather that part which follows closely above the legs when one is sitting in a canoe became soaked with water and my co-monger gradually filled after having dragged the seal up to the tent flinsted collected all the blood which was to be had and cut it up i crept into the tent put on some dry underclothes and into the bag again while the wet ones were drying outside in the sun it is easy enough to keep one self warm in the tent now the heat was so great inside it last night that we could hardly sleep although we lay on the bag instead of in it when i came back with the seal i discovered that yohansons barefoot was sticking out of the tent at a place where the peg had given away he was sleeping soundly and had no idea of it after having a small piece of chocolate to commemorate the happy capture and looking over my observations we again settled down to rest it appears remarkably enough from our latitude that we are still on the same spot without any farther drift southward in spite of the northerly winds can the ice be landlocked it is not impossible far off land at any rate we cannot be thursday june 27th the same monotonous life the same wind the same misty weather and the same cogitations as to what the future will bring there was a gale from the north last night with the fall of hard granular snow which lasts against the tent walls so that one might think it be a good honest rain it melted on the walls directly and the water ran down them it is cozy in here however and the wind does not reach us we can lie in our warm bag and listen to the flapping of the tent and imagine that we are drifting rapidly westward although perhaps we are not moving from the spot but if this wind does not move us the only explanation is that the ice is landlocked and that we cannot be far offshore we must wait for an east wind i suppose to drive us farther west and then afterwards south my hope is that we shall drift into the channel between france joseph land and spitsbergen while we are lying here the weather was raw and windy with snowfall so that it was hardly suitable for outdoor work particularly as unfortunately there was no need to hurry the lanes have changed very much of late there is hardly anything left of the pool in front of us over which we paddled and there has been pressure around us in all directions i hope the ice will be well ground into pieces as this enables it to slacken more quickly when the time comes but that will not be before far on in july and we ought to have the patients to wait for it perhaps yesterday we cut some of the seals flesh into thin slices and hung them up to dry we must increase our traveling store and prepare pemmican or dried meat it will be the easiest way of carrying it with us yohansen yesterday found a pond of fresh water close by which is very convenient and we need no longer melt ice it is the first good water we have found for cooking purposes if the seals are few and far between there are birds still i am thankful to say last night a couple of ivory gulls laurus ebernius were bold enough to settle down on our seal skin close beside the tent wall and pecked at the blubber they were sent off once or twice but returned if the meat falls short we must resort to catching birds thus the days passed one exactly like the other we waited and waited for the snow to melt and worked desultorily meanwhile at getting ourselves ready to proceed this life reminded me of some eskimos who churnied up a fjord to collect grass for hay but when they arrived at their destination found it quite short and so settled down and waited till it was long enough to cut a suitable condition of the snow was long and coming on june 29th i write will not the temperature rise sufficiently to make something like an effectual clearance of the snow we try to pass the time as best we can in talking of how delightful it will be when we get home and how we shall enjoy life and all its charms and go through a calculation of chances as to how soon that may be but sometimes too we talk of how well we will arrange for the winter in spitsbergen if we should not reach home this year if it should come to that we may not even get so far but have to winter on some place ashore here no it can never come to that sunday june 30th so this is the end of june and we are about the same place as when we began the month and the state of the snow well better it certainly is not but the day is fine it is so warm that we are quite hot lying here inside the tent through the open door we can see out over the ice where the sun is glittering through white sailing cirrus clouds on the dazzling whiteness and then there is a sunday calm with a faint breeze mostly from the southeast i think amy it is lovely at home today i am sure with everything in bloom and the fjord quivering in the sunlight and you are sitting out on the point with leave perhaps or are on the water in your boat and then once i wanders out through the door again and i am reminded there is many a nice flow between now and then before the time when i shall see it all again here we lie far up in the north two grim black sustained barbarians stirring a mess of soup in a kettle and surrounded on all sides by ice by ice and nothing else shining and white possessed of all the purity we ourselves lack alas it is all too pure once i searched to the very horizon for a dark spot to rest on but in vain when will it really come to pass now we have waited for it two months all the birds seem to have disappeared today not even a cherry little oak to be seen they were here until yesterday and we have heard them flying north and south probably to and from land where they have gone i suppose now that there is so little water about in these parts if only we could move as easily as they when say july 3rd why write again what have i to commit to these pages nothing but the same overpowering longing to be home and away from this monotony one day just like the other with the exception perhaps that before it was warm and quiet while the last two days there has been a south wind blowing and we are drifting northward found from a meridian altitude yesterday that we have drifted back to eighty two degrees eight point four minutes north while the longitude is about the same both yesterday and the day before we had to a certain extent really brilliant sunshine and this for us is a great rarity the horizon in the south was fairly clear yesterday which it had not been for a long time but we searched it in vain for land i do not understand it we had a fall of snow last night and it dripped in here so that the bag became wet this constant snowfall which will not turn to rain is enough to make one despair it generally takes the form of a thick layer of new snow on top of the old and this delays the thaw this wind seems to have formed some lanes in the ice again and there is a little more birdlife we saw some little ox again yesterday they came from the south probably from land saturday july 6th plus 3.38 degrees fahrenheit plus one degree centigrade rain at last after a fortnight we seem to have got the weather we have been waiting for it has rained the whole night and forenoon and is still at it real good rain so now perhaps this everlasting snow will take itself off it is as soft and loose as gum if only this rain would go on for many days but before we have time to look round there will be a cold wind with snow a crust will form and again we must wait i am too used to disappointment to believe in anything this is a school of patience but nevertheless the rain has put us in good spirits the days drag weirdly by we work in an intermittent way at the kayak grips of wood for our sledges and at caulking and painting our kayaks to make them watertight the painting however causes me a good deal of trouble i burned bones here for many days till the whole place smelled like the bone dust works at lisaker then came the toilsome process of pounding and grating them to make them perfectly fine and even the bone dust was there upon mixed with train oil and at last i got as far as a trial but the paint proved uncompromisingly to be perfectly useless so now i must mix it with soot as i had first intended and add more oil i am now occupied in smoking the place out in my attempts to make soot but all my exertions when it comes to collecting it only result in a little pinch although the smoke towered in the air and they might have seen it in spitsbergen there is a great deal to do battle with when one has not a shop next door what would i not give for a little bucket of oil paint only common lamp black well well we shall find a way out of the difficulty eventually but meanwhile we are growing like sweeps on wednesday evening haran was killed poor beast he has not been good for much laterally but he had been a first rate dog and it was hard i fancy for yohansen to part with him he looked sorrowfully at the animal before it went to the happy hunting grounds or wherever it may be draft dogs go to perhaps to places where there are planes of level ice and no ridges and lanes there are only two dogs left now sugan and kyphus and we must keep them alive as long as we can and have use for them the day before yesterday in the evening we suddenly discovered a black hillock to the east we examined it through the glass and it looked absolutely like a black rock emerging from the snows it also somewhat exceeded the neighboring hummocks in height i scrutinized it carefully from the highest ridge hereabouts but could not make it out i thought it too big to be only a piled up hummock mixed with black ice or earthy matter and i had never seen anything of the kind before that it is an island seems highly improbable for although we are certainly drifting it remains in the same position in relation to us we saw it yesterday and see it still today in the same quarter i think the most reasonable supposition is that it is an iceberg no sooner does the horizon clear in the south than one of us may be seen taking his customary walk to the watchtower a hummock beside the tent to scan for land sometimes with a glass sometimes without it but there is nothing to be seen but the same bear horizon every day i take a turn around the ice in our neighborhood to see if the snow has decreased but it always seems to be about the same and sometimes i have moments of doubt as to whether it will clear away at all this summer if not our prospects will be more than dark the best we can hope for will then be a winter somewhere or other on francos of land but now the rain has come it is pouring down the tent walls and dripping on the ice everything looks hopeful again and we are picturing the delights of the autumn and winter at home wednesday july 10th it is a curious thing that now when i really have something of a little more interest than usual to relate i have less inclination to write than ever everything seems to become more and more indifferent one longs only for one single thing and still the ices lying out there covered with impassable snow but what was it i had to say oh yes that we made ourselves such a good bed yesterday with bearskins under the bag that we slept the clock round without knowing it and i thought it was six in the morning when i turned out when i came out of the tent i thought there was something remarkable about the position of the sun and pondered over it for a little while until i came to the conclusion that it was six in the evening and that we had slumbered for 22 hours we have not slept much of late as we have been broken on the wheel so to speak by the snowshoes we had to place under the bag in order to keep it clear of the pools of water under us the apologies for hair still existing here and there on the skin at the bottom of the bag did not afford much protection against the sharp edges of the snowshoes this beneficent rain continued the whole day on saturday doing away with a fair amount of snow and we rejoiced to hear it to celebrate the good weather we determined to have chocolate for supper otherwise we live entirely on our catch we had the chocolate accordingly and served with raw blubber it tasted quite excellent it was the cause of a great disappointment however for after having looked forward immoderately to this now so rare treat i managed clumsily to upset my whole cup so that all the precious contents ran out over the ice while i was lying waiting for a second cup it was boiling over the train oil lamp kiafus began to bark outside not doubting but that he had seen an animal i jumped up to hurry off to the lookout hammock to scan the ice not a little surprised was i when i poked my head out of the tent door to see a bear come jogging up to the dogs and begin sniffing at kiafus i sprang to the gun which stood ready in the snow beside the tent and pulled off the case the bear meanwhile standing astonished and glaring at me i sent it a ball through the shoulder and chest certain that it would drop on the spot it half staggered over and then turned round and made off and before i could extract a new cartridge from my pocket which was full of everything else was away among the hummocks i could not get a shot at it where it was and set off in pursuit i had not gone many steps before we saw yohansen had followed me two more heads appearing a little way farther on they belonged to two cubs which were standing on their hind legs and looking at their mother who came reeling towards them with a trail of blood behind her then off they went all three over a lane and a wild chase began over planes and ridges and lanes and every kind of obstacle but it made no difference to their pace a wonderful thing this love of sport it is like setting fire to a fuse where at other times it would be laborious work to get on at all where one sinks to the knees in the snow and where one would hesitate before choosing away over the lane let only the spark be kindled and one clears every obstacle without thinking about it the bear was severely wounded and dragged her left foreleg she did not go fast but always so fast that i had my work cut out to keep near her the cubs ran round her in their solicitude and generally a little way in front as if to get her to come with them they little knew what was the matter with her suddenly they all three looked back at me as i was crashing after them as fast as i could i had been within range many times but the bear had had her hind quarters toward me and when i fired i meant to be sure of making an end of her as i only had three cartridges with me one for each of them at last on the top of a huge hummock i got a sight of her broadside on and there too she dropped the cubs hurried anxiously up to her when she fell it made one sorry to see them they sniffed at and pushed her and ran round and round at a loss what to do in their despair meanwhile i had put another cartridge in the rifle and picked off the other cub as it was standing on a projection it fell over the declivity with a growl and down on to its mother still more frightened than before the other cub hastened to its sucker but poor thing what could it do while its brother rolled over growling it stood there looking sorrowfully sometimes at it sometimes at the mother who lay dying in a pool of blood when i approached it turned its head away indifferently what did it care about me now all its kindred everything it held dear lay there mutilated and destroyed it no longer knew whether to go and did not move from the spot i went right up to it and with a spherical ball through the breast it fell dead beside its mother yohansen soon came up a lane had detained him so that he had lost ground we opened the animals took out the entrails and then went back to the tent to fetch the sledges and dogs and proper flaying knives our second cup of chocolate in the tent tasted very good after this interruption when we had skinned and cut up the two bears we left them in a heap covered over with the skins to protect the meat from the gulls the third one we took back with us the next day we fetched the others and now have more meat food than we shall be able to consume i hope it is a good thing though that we can give the dogs as much raw meat as they will eat they certainly require it southern poor thing is in a very bad way and it is a question whether we can get any more work out of him when we took him with us after the bears the first day he could not walk and we had to place him on the sledge but then he howled so terrifically as much to say as it was beneath his dignity to be transported in this way that yohansen had to take him home again the dogs seemed to be attacked with the paralysis of the legs they fall down and have the greatest difficulty in rising it has been the same with all of them from ghoul and downward kyphus however is as fresh and well as ever it is remarkable how large these cubs were i could hardly imagine that they were born this year and should without hesitation have put them down as a year old if the she bear had not been in milk and it is hardly to be supposed that the cubs would suck for a year and a half those we shot by the from on november fourth last year were hardly half the size of these it would seem as if the polar bear produces its young at different times of the year in the punches of the cubs were pieces of skin from a seal monday july 15th as we were working at the kayaks yesterday a rossus gull rhodostethia rosea came flying by it was a full grown bird and made a turn when just over us showing its pretty rose-colored breast and then disappeared again in the mist southward on thursday i saw another adult rossus gull with a black ring around its neck it came from the northeast and flew in a southwesternly direction otherwise it is remarkable how all the birds have disappeared from here the little awk is no longer to be seen or heard the only birds are an ivory gull now and then and occasionally a fulmar wednesday july 17th at last the time is drawing near when we can be off again and start homeward in earnest the snow has decreased sufficiently to make advance fairly easy we are doing our utmost to get ready the grips on the sledges are nicely arranged and provided with cushions of bare skin on yohansons and of cloth on mine this is in order to give the kayaks a firm and soft bed and prevent chafing the kayaks are painted with soot and train oil and have been cocked with pastels for drawing crushed and also mixed with train oil that is to say as far as these various ingredients would go we are now using a mixture of steering pitch and resin to finish up with a thorough revision of our equipment will take place and everything not absolutely invaluable will be left behind we must say goodbye here to the sleeping bag and tent our days of comfort our past and henceforth until we are on board the sloop we will live under the open sky meanwhile we have lain here longing camp as we call it and let the time slip by we have eaten bare meat morning noon and night and so far from being tired of it have made the discovery that the breast of the cubs is quite a delicacy it is remarkable that this exclusive meat and fat diet has not caused us the slightest discomfort in any way and we have no craving for ferocious food although we might perhaps regard a large cake as the acme of happiness every now and then we cheer ourselves up with lime juice grog a blood pancake or some stewed hortel berries and let our imaginations run riot over all the amenities of civilization which we mean to enjoy to the full when we get home perhaps it will be many a long day before we get there perhaps there will be many a hard trial to overcome but no i will believe the best there are still two months of summer left and in them something can be done friday july 19th two full grown rossus gulls flew over here from the northeast and went west this morning when far off they uttered cries which reminded me of that rhino and which at first thought came from a little awk they flew quite low just over my head and the rose color of their underparts could be seen plainly another rossus gull flew by here yesterday it is strange that there should be so many of them where are we tuesday july 23rd yesterday four noon we at last got clear of longing camp and now i am thankful to say we are again on the move we have worked day and night to get off first we thought it would be on the 19th then the 20th and then the 21st but something always cropped up that had to be done before we could leave the bread which had been soaked in seawater had to be carefully dried in the frying pan over the lamp and this took several days then the socks had to be patched and the kayaks carefully looked over etc we were determined to start on our last journey home in good repair and so we did everything goes like wildfire the chances of progress are better than we expected although the ice is anything but even the sledges are lighter to draw now that everything that can be dispensed with is left behind and the snow too has decreased considerably on the last part of the journey yesterday we could even go without snowshoes and as a matter of course progress among the ridges and irregularities where they are difficult to manage is quicker without them Johansson performed a feat by crossing a lane alone in his kayak with Sugg and lying on the four-deck while he himself knelt on the after-deck and balanced the craft as he paddled I began to try the same with mine but found it too cranky to risk the attempt and preferred to tow it over with kayafas on the deck while I went carefully alongside and jumped over on some pieces of ice we have now the advantage of finding drinking water everywhere we are also eating our old provender again but curiously enough neither Johansson nor I think the Ferenaceous food as good as one might suppose after a month of meat diet it is good to be underway again and not the least pleasant part about it is our lighter sledges but then we certainly left a good deal behind at longing camp in addition to a respectable amount of meat and blubber we left three fine bear skins our friend the bag two is lying on the top of the bears a quantity of wood consisting of the boards from under the sledges the snowshoes and other things more than half of blessings fine medicaments plaster of pairs bandages soft steam sterilized gauze bandages hygroscopic cotton wadding to say nothing of a good aluminum horizon glass rope our combined frying pan and melter half an aluminum cap belonging to the cooker sheets of german silver a train oil lamp of the same bags tools sailcloth fin shoes our wolfskin fingerless gloves also woollen ones a geological hammer half a shirt socks and other sundries all strewn about in chaotic confusion instead of all these we have an augmentation in the form of a sack of dried seals and bears flesh and the other half of the aluminum cap full of blubber we are now thoroughly divested of all superfluous articles and there is hardly so much as a bit of wood to be had if one should want to stick to slip through the end of the hauling rope end of file 10