before us; with a correspondingly high rise on the other side.  We went over it capitally; the surface was absolutely smooth, without a sign of fissure or hole anywhere.  Then we shall get them when we are on the top, I thought.  It was rather stiff work uphill, unaccustomed as we were to slopes.  I stretched my neck more and more to get a view.  At last we were up; and what a sight it was that met us!  Not an irregularity, not a sign of disturbance; quietly and evenly the ascent continued.  I believe that we were then already above land; the large crevasses that we had avoided down below probably formed the boundary.  The hypsometer gave 930 feet above the sea.

We were now immediately below the ascent, and made the final decision of trying it here.  This being settled, we pitched our camp.  It was still early in the day, but we had a great deal to arrange before the morrow.  Here we should have to overhaul our whole supply of provisions, take with us what was absolutely necessary for the remainder of the trip, and leave the rest behind in depot.  First, then, we camped, worked out our position, fed the dogs and let them loose again, and then went into our tent to have something to eat and go through the provision books.

We had now reached one of the most critical points of our journey.  Our plan had now to be laid so that we might not only make the ascent as easily as possible, but also get through to the end.  Our calculations had to be made carefully, and every possibility taken into account.  As with every decision of importance, we discussed the matter jointly.  The distance we had before us, from this spot to the Pole and back, was 683 miles.  Reckoning with the ascent that we saw before us, with other unforeseen obstructions, and finally with the certain factor that the strength of our dogs would be gradually reduced to a fraction of what it now was, we decided to take provisions and equipment for sixty days on the sledges, and to leave the remaining supplies —­ enough for thirty days —­ and outfit in depot.  We calculated, from the experience we had had, that we ought to be able to reach this point again with twelve dogs left.  We now had forty-two dogs.  Our plan was to take all the forty-two up to the plateau; there twenty-four of them were to be slaughtered, and the journey continued with three sledges and eighteen dogs.  Of these last eighteen, it would be necessary, in our opinion, to slaughter six in order to bring the other twelve back to this point.  As the number of dogs grew less, the sledges would become lighter and lighter, and when the time came for reducing their number to twelve, we should only have two sledges left.  This time again our calculations came out approximately right; it was only in reckoning the number of days that we made a little mistake —­ we took eight days less than the time allowed.  The number of dogs agreed exactly; we reached this point again with twelve.