Part 2 (1/2)
31 July 5 o'cl. a.m. start. 'Tramp' on our knees in deep snow. 'Tramp tramp' on our knees. Discoverer of attractions of flopping = Nisse. Cut our way. The constant fog prevents us from choosing good road. Ever since the start we have been in very difficult country. The Polar dist. is certainly the birthplace of the principle of the greatest stumbling-blocks. 10 leads during the first 6 hours.
2 August 12 o'cl. midd. We broke camp. The last bear-meat was cut into small pieces so that it might at least look like being a lot. Thickness of ice 1.2 m (3.96 ft). Scarcely an hour after breaking camp we got a new bear. It was an old worn-out male animal with rotten teeth. I brought it down by a shot in the chest at a distance of 38 m (125 ft) S-g and Fr-l both fired outers. Clear calm and hot the whole day but the country extraordinarily difficult. I do not think we made 2 km (2,200 yds) in 10 hours. Axe destroyed. 1 skua visible and 2 gulls circling around the body of the bear. We did not get into our berths before 2 a.m. the 3 Aug. I washed my face for the first time since the 11 July and in the evening I mended a stocking. We hope that one bear will be enticed to follow us by the remains of the one shot, and so on so that we shall always have fresh meat at our heels. This time we took from the one we shot the fillet too (close in to the back) and the kidneys (1 kilo 3 lbs) and the tongue and ribs. The 3 Aug. at 12 o'cl. we rose after being much plagued by the heat in the tent. We have determined to 'lie outdoors' today . . . It is so warm that we do the pulling without any coats on. The ice horrible. Clothes-drying on a large scale. I made a fork for Fraenkel.
5 August Stocktaking of provisions.
Hard bread 11b. of 1.1 (2.4 lbs).
12.1 (20.4 lbs)
12 biscuits 12 bl of
15.5 (34.1 lbs)
5 Mellin's food
15.00 (33 lbs)
b.u.t.ter 17 b. of 900 (2 lbs)
15.30 (34 lbs)
Chocolate powder 9 b. of 1 (2.2 lbs)
9.00 (20 lbs)
extr.
Milk 10 b. of 250 ( lb)
2.5 (5 lbs)
Lact scr. 10 b. of
2.5 (5 lbs)
Pemmican
3.0 (6.5lbs)