double teams. These glaciers had an appearance of being very old,
and of having entirely ceased to move. There were no new crevasses to
be seen; those that there were, were large and wide, but their edges
were rounded off everywhere, and the crevasses themselves were almost
entirely filled with snow. So as not to fall into these on the return,
we erected our beacons in such a way that the line between any two
of them would take us clear of any danger. It was no use working in
Polar clothing among these hills; the sun, which stood high and clear,
was uncomfortably warm, and we were obliged to take off most of our
things. We passed several summits from 3,000 to 7,000 feet high;
the snow on one of them had quite a reddish-brown tint.

Our distance this first day was eleven and a half miles, with a rise of
2,000 feet. Our camp that evening lay on a little glacier among huge
crevasses; on three sides of us were towering summits. When we had
set our tent, two parties went out to explore the way in advance. One
party -- Wisting and Hanssen -- took the way that looked easiest from
the tent -- namely, the course of the glacier; it here rose rapidly
to 4,000 feet, and disappeared in a south-westerly direction between
two peaks. Bjaaland formed the other party. He evidently looked upon
this ascent as too tame, and started up the steepest part of the
mountain -- side. I saw him disappear up aloft like a fly. Hassel
and I attended to the necessary work round about and in the tent.

We were sitting inside chatting, when we suddenly heard someone come
swishing down towards the tent. We looked at each other; that fellow
had some pace on. We had no doubt as to who it was -- Bjaaland, of
course. He must have gone off to refresh old memories. He had a lot
to tell us; amongst other things, he had found "the finest descent"
on the other side. What he meant by "fine" I was not certain. If it