, 1909-03-03

Wilderness Of tie inland ice showing glitter.
ing from behind the bastion- like rocks.
Myths Erichsen and some of the natur-
aIlsts went ashore and built Il cairn, where
they unfurIed the Danish colours. We had
reached as far north as we had ever dared
to hope, but we tried to 90 still further in
the shore-water. At Isle de France C77to
N. lat.) We were stopped by impenetrable
%pack-ice, and had to 90 back, after having
land Captain Koch and several other car
tographers, together with some big caches
OF provisions, at the most northerly point
Of the continent. The harbour place which
we chose was one we had previously found
inside the outer range of ice, and thus pro-
tected against the heavy pressure Of the
pack. We anchored the Uanmurk, the bow
pointing southwark, and with haWsers from
the stem to the shore. After that we built
some houses ashore, in which the various
branches of scientific research were to be
carried on, and the latter commenced.
Most of the men were only on board dur
ing the intervals between the slodge trips.
Even during the dark season the sledYes
were sent out, and when we had no more
dogs the men pulled the sledgos themselves.
Yet [ dare say that we should never havo
reached our final goal without our excellent
Greenland dogs. These dogs were almost
as dear to us as our comrades, and we had
q name for each of them. Ia the beginning
we had q hundred, but their number was
by-and-by greatly increased with numerous
puppies. Thus one day o single dog pre-
sonted us with a litter Of seven young ones,
For q moment we hardly knew how to find
names for all this wealth Of puppies, but
then one Of the sailors offered the really
brilliant suggestion that we should name
them Sunday, Monday, etc. These dogs
required a sgood dehl OF food, $50 lbs. a day,
and the feeding-time was usually O signal
for furious fights. For, timid us the dogs
we're in their relation to man, they were as
cruel in their relation TO each Other. Of
course the strongest had their way, and but
Cor our protection the feebler ones would
have been perfectly at their mercy A
sledge team consisted of eight to uIno dogs,
and the dogs were harnessed Eskimo fashion
before the sledges, Of the common Eskimo
type.
In the autumn Of 1906 depots had boen
established along the coast to 784o N. lat.
The ice was smooth, and the trips were
quickly finished. AS mentioned above, we
also made several trips during the dark sea-
son, one to the depot ut Shannon and Bass
rock and to Pendulum island, and in Fee
bruary depots were established farther north.
On March %, 1907, ten sledges left the
led n~orthward over Jokol bay, whore the ice
was very difficult to pass. The usual ford
ice was SO far pas-oblo enough, but here
they had to do with the inland ice, running
directly~into the sea, and everywhere there
were cracks and hummocks, which they had
to help the slodges over. Having passed
Lambert Land, they were, however, again
on the ford ice. In this place they met
several bears-mothers with their cubs. AS
soon as they came within sight, the Eskimo
Br0nIand and Tobias let go everything they
had on their sledgos, let loose some bear
dogs, and went in pursuit of the bears.
The dogs soon caught up with the bears,
and nipped the hind legs, while the sIedgos
coming up full speed from behind, some
timos tripped up their heels, SO that the
bears lost their footing and the men could
shoot them vt short range.
At the Malemuk mountain the sledges
had to stop for one night, waiting for the
new ice to folm. This beautiful mountain
presents an almost perpendicular front to
the sea, while the strong currents III the
sea frequently cause open water, Here
Bistrup and Ring went back to the ship
- I,,u ,Fk,r,vnrJ. TbpSFVun (SApOnI