Our German shipmate, the oceanographer Schroer, left us at Bergen.  On July 23 the Fram left Bergen, and arrived on the following day at Christiansand, where I met her.  Here we again had a series of busy days.  In one of the Custom-house warehouses were piled a quantity of things that had to go on board:  no less than 400 bundles of dried fish, all our ski and sledging outfit, a waggon-load of timber, etc.  At Fredriksholm, out on Flekkero, we had found room for perhaps the most important of all —­ the passengers, the ninety-seven Eskimo dogs, which had arrived from Greenland in the middle of July on the steamer Hans Egede.  The ship had had a rather long and rough passage, and the dogs were not in very good condition on their arrival, but they had not been many days on the island under the supervision of Hassel and Lindstrom before they were again in full vigour.  A plentiful supply of fresh meat worked wonders.  The usually peaceful island, with the remains of the old fortress, resounded day by day, and sometimes at night, with the most glorious concerts of howling.  These musical performances attracted a number of inquisitive visitors, who were anxious to submit the members of the chorus to a closer examination, and therefore, at certain times, the public were admitted to see the animals.  It soon turned out that the majority of the dogs, far from being ferocious or shy, were, on the contrary, very appreciative of these visits.  They sometimes came in for an extra tit-bit in the form of a sandwich or something of the sort.  Besides which, it was a little diversion in their life of captivity, so uncongenial to an Arctic dog; for every one of them was securely chained up.  This was necessary, especially to prevent fighting among themselves.  It happened not infrequently that one or more of them got loose, but the two guardians were always ready to capture the runaways.  One enterprising rascal started to swim over the sound to the nearest land —­ the object of his expedition was undoubtedly certain unsuspecting sheep that were grazing by the shore —­ but his swim was interrupted in time.

After the Fram’s arrival Wisting took over the position of dog-keeper in Hassel’s place.  He and Lindstrom stayed close to the island where the dogs were.  Wisting had a way of his own with his four-footed subjects, and was soon on a confidential footing with them.  He also showed himself to be possessed of considerable veterinary skill —­ an exceedingly useful qualification in this case, where there was often some injury or other to be attended to.  As I have already mentioned, up to this time no member of the expedition, except Lieutenant Nilsen, knew anything of the extension of plan that had been made.  Therefore, amongst the things that came on board, and amongst the preparations that were made during our stay at Christiansand, there must have been a great deal that appeared very strange to those who, for the present, were only looking forward to