Lieutenant Prestrud and I made a trip to the south to find a suitable place for ascending the Barrier on the other side of the bay.  The sea-ice was fairly even for this distance; only a few cracks here and there.  Farther up the bay there were, curiously enough, long rows of old hummocks.  What could this mean?  This part was really quite protected from the sea, so that these formations could not be attributed to its action.  We hoped to have an opportunity of investigating the conditions more closely later on; there was no time for it now.  The shortest and most direct way to the south was the one we were on now.  The bay was not wide here.  The distance from Framheim to this part of the Barrier was about three miles.  The ascent of the Barrier was not difficult; with the exception of a few fissures it was quite easy.  It did not take long to get up, except perhaps in the steepest part.  The height was 60 feet.  It was quite exciting to go up; what should we see at the top?  We had never yet had a real uninterrupted view over the Barrier to the south; this was the first time.  As it happened, we were not surprised at what we saw when we got up —­ an endless plain, that was lost in the horizon on the extreme south.  Our course, we could see, would take us just along the side of the ridge before mentioned —­ a capital mark for later journeys.  The going was excellent; a thin layer of conveniently loose snow was spread over a hard under-surface, and made it very suitable for skiing.  The lie of the ground told us at once that we had the right pattern of ski —­ the kind for level ground, long and narrow.  We had found what we wanted —­ an ascent for our southern journeys and an open road.  This spot was afterwards marked with a flag, and went by the name of “the starting-place.”  On the way back, as on the way out, we passed large herds of seals, lying asleep.  They did not take the least notice of us.  If we went up and woke them, they just raised their heads a little, looked at us for a moment, and then rolled over on the other side and went to sleep again.  It was very evident that these animals here on the ice have no enemies.  They would certainly have set a watch, as their brothers in the North do, if they had had anything to fear.

On this day we used skin clothing for the first time —­ reindeer-skin clothes of Eskimo cut —­ but they proved to be too warm.  We had the same experience later.  In low temperatures these reindeer clothes are beyond comparison the best, but here in the South we did not as a rule have low temperatures on our sledge journeys.  On the few occasions when we experienced any cold worth talking about, we were always in skins.  When we returned in the evening after our reconnoitring, we had no need of a Turkish bath.