 CHAPTER 9 THE JOURNEY SOUTHWORD, PART I At last on Tuesday, May 19th, we were ready for the start. Our sledges stood loaded and lashed. The last thing we did was to photograph our hut, both outside and inside, and to leave in it a short report of our journey. It ran thus. Tuesday, May 19th, 1896. We were frozen in north of Kotolnoi at about 78 degrees, 43 minutes north latitude, September 22nd, 1893. Drifted northwestward during the following year, as we had expected to do. Johansen and I left the Fram, March 14, 1895, at about 84 degrees, 4 minutes north latitude, and 103 degrees east longitude, to push on northward. The command of the remainder of the expedition was transferred to Sverdrup. Found no land northward. On April 6th, 1895, we had to turn back at 86 degrees, 14 minutes north latitude, and about 95 degrees east longitude. The ice having become impassable. Shaped our course for Cape Fligley, but our watch is having stopped. We did not know our longitude with certainty, and arrived on August 6th, 1895, at four glacier-covered islands to the north of this line of islands, at about 81 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude, and about 7 degrees east of this place. Reached this place, August 26, 1895, and thought it safest to enter here. Lived on bear's flesh. Are starting to day southwestward along the land, intending to cross over to Spitzbergen at the nearest point. We conjecture that we are on Gilly's land. Freechof Nansen. This earliest report of our journey was deposited in a brass tube which had formed the cylinder of the air pump of our primus. The tube was closed with a plug of wood and hung by a wire to the roof-tree of the hut. At length on Tuesday the 19th of May we were ready, and at 7 p.m. left our winter layer and began our journey south. After having so little exercise all the winter, we were not much disposed for walking, and thought our sledges with the loaded kayaks heavy to pull along. In order not to do too much at first but make our joints supple before we began to exert ourselves seriously, we walked for only a few hours the first day, and then well satisfied, pitched our camp. There was such a wonderfully happy feeling in knowing that we were at last on the move, and that we were actually going homeward. The following day, Wednesday, May 20, we also did only a short day's march. We were making for the promontory to the south-west of us that we had been looking at all the winter. Judging from the sky it was on the farther side of this headland that we should find open water. We were very eager to see how the land lay ahead of this point. If we were north of Cape Loughley the land must begin to trend to the southeast. If on the other hand the trend of the coast was to the southwest, then this must be a new land farther west and near Gilly's land. The next day, Thursday, May 21, we reached this promontory and pitched our camp there. All through the winter we had called it the Cape of Good Hope as we expected to find different conditions there which would facilitate our advance, and our hopes were not to be disappointed. From the crest of the mountain I saw open water not far off to the south, and also two new snowlands, one large in front in the south forty degrees west and one not much smaller in the west, south eighty-five degrees west. It was completely covered with glacier and looked like an evenly vaulted shield. I could not see clearly how the coast ran on account of a headland to the southward, but it did not seem to trend to the southeast so that we could not be near Cape Loughley. We now hoped that we might be able to launch our kayaks the very next day and that we should then make rapid progress in a southwesternly direction, but in this we were disappointed. The next day there was a snowstorm and we had to stay where we were. As I lay in the bag in the morning preparing breakfast, I all at once cut side of a bear walking quietly past us at a distance of about twenty paces. It looked at us and our kayaks once or twice, but could not quite make out what we were as the wind was in another direction and it could not get sent of us so it continued its way. I let it go unharmed. We still had food enough. On Saturday May twenty-third the weather was still bad, but we went ahead a little way to examine our road onward. The point to be found out was whether we ought at once to make for the open water that lay on the other side of an island to the west, or whether we ought to travel southward upon the shore-ice along the land. We came to a headland consisting of uncommonly marked columnar basalt, which on account of its peculiar form we called the castle. We here saw that the land stretched farther in a southerly direction and that the open water went the same way, only separated from the land by a belt of shore-ice. As the latter appeared to be full of cracks we decided to go over to the island and in the west and put to sea as quickly as possible. We therefore returned and made already. Our preparations consisted first and foremost in carefully caulking the seams of our kayaks by melting steering over them and then restowing the cargo so as to leave room for us to sit in them. The following day, Sunday May twenty-fourth, we moved on westward towards the island and as the wind was easterly and we were able to employ sails on the sledges we got on pretty quickly across the flat ice. As we approached the island however a storm blew up from the southwest and after the sledges had upset several times we were obliged to take down our sails. The sky became overcast, the air grew misty, and we worked our way against the strong wind in towards the land. The thing was to get to land as quickly as possible as we might evidently expect bad weather. But now the ice became treacherous. As we approached the land there were a number of cracks in every direction and these were covered with a layer of snow so that it was difficult to see them. While Johansson was busy lashing the sail and mast securely to the deck of his kayak so that the wind should not carry them away, I went on ahead as fast as I could to look for a camping-ground, but all of a sudden the ice sank beneath me and I lay in the water in a broad crack which had been concealed by the snow. I tried to get out again, but with my snowshoes firmly fastened it was not possible to get them through all the rubble of snow and lumps of ice that had fallen into the water on the top of them. In addition to this I was fastened to the sledge by the harness so that I could not turn round. Suddenly in the act of falling I had dug my pike-staff into the ice on the opposite side of the crack and holding myself up by its aid and the one arm that I had got above the edge of the ice I lay waiting patiently for Johansson to come and pull me out. I was sure he must have seen me fall in but could not turn enough to look back. When I thought a long time had passed and I felt the staff giving way and the water creeping farther and farther up my body I began to call out but received no answer. I shouted louder for help and at last heard a, Hello! Far behind. After some little time when the water was up to my chest and it would not have been long before I was right under Johansson came up and I was pulled out. He had been so occupied with his sledge that he had not noticed that I was in the water until the last time I called. This experience had the effect of making me careful in the future not to go on such deceitful ice with my snowshoes firmly attached. By observing a little more caution we had length reached the land and found a camping place where there was a certain amount of shelter. To our surprise we discovered a number of walruses lying along the shore here, herd upon herd beside the cracks, but we took no notice of them either for the present. We thought we still had a sufficient supply of food and blubber to draw upon. During the succeeding days the storm raged and we could not move. The entry for Tuesday May 26th is as follows. We have lain weather bound yesterday and today beneath the glacier cliff on the north side of this island. The snow is so wet that it will be difficult to get anywhere, but it is to be hoped that the open channel outside is not far off and we shall get on quickly there when once the storm abates. We shall then make up for this long delay. But our stay was to be longer than we thought. On Thursday May 28th the journal says, We were up on the island yesterday and saw open sea to the south, but are still lying weather bound as before. I only moved our tent place a little on account of the cracks. The ice threatened to open just beneath us. There are a great many walruses here. When we go out over the ice the fellows follow us and come up in the cracks beside us. We can often hear them grunting as they go and butting at the ice under our feet. That day however the storm so far abated that we were able to move southward along the east side of the island. On the way we passed a large open pool in the shore ice between this island and the land. It must have been shallow here for there was a strong current which was probably the cause of this pool being kept open. We passed two or three herds of walruses lying on the ice near it. Concerning these I wrote that evening. I went up to one herd of about nine to take photographs of the animals. I went close up to them behind a little mound and they did not see me, but directly I rose up not more than twenty feet away from them a female with her young one plunged into the water through a hole close by. I could not get the others to stir however much I shouted. Johansen now joined me and although he threw lumps of snow and ice at them they would not move. They only struck their tusks into the lumps and sniffed at them while I kept on photographing them. When I went right up to them most of them at last got up and floundered away towards the hole and one plunged in, but the other stopped and composed themselves to sleep again. Soon too the one that had first disappeared came back and crept on to the ice. The two that lay nearest to me never stirred at all. They raised their heads a little once or twice, looked contemptuously at me as I stood three paces from them, laid their heads down and went to sleep again. They barely moved when I pricked them in the snout with my pike staff, but I was able to get a pretty good photograph of them. I thought I now had enough, but before I went I gave the nearest one a parting poke in the snout with my pike staff. It got right up, grunted discontentedly, looked in astonishment at me with its great round eyes, and then quietly began to scratch the back of its head, and I got another photograph whereupon it again lay quietly down. When we went on they all immediately settled themselves again and were lying like immovable messes of flesh when we finally rounded the promontory and lost sight of them. Once more we had snowstorms and now lay weatherbound on the south side of the island. Friday May 29th lying weatherbound Saturday May 30th lying weatherbound stopping up the tent against the driving snow while the wind flits round us, attacking first one side and then another. It was all we could do to keep ourselves tolerably dry during this time, with the snow drifting in through the cracks on all sides, on us and our bag, melting and saturating everything. Monday June 1st. Yesterday it at last grew a little calmer and cleared up so that we had bright sunshine in the evening. We rejoiced in the thought of moving on, got our kayaks and everything ready to launch and crept into our bag to turn out early this morning for a fine day as we thought. The only thing that made it a little doubtful was that the barometer had ceased rising, had fallen again one millimetre in fact. In the night the storm came on again, the same driving snow, only with this difference that now the wind is going round the compass with the sun so there must soon be an end of it. This is beginning to be too much of a good thing. I am now seriously afraid that the Fram will get home before us. I went for a walk inland yesterday. There were flat clay and gravel stretches everywhere. I saw numerous traces of geese and in one place some white eggshell undoubtedly belonging to a goose's egg. We therefore called the island goose island. Tuesday June 2nd, still lay weather bound last night and today it has been windier than ever. But now towards evening it has begun to abate a little with a brightening sky and sunshine now and again so we hope that there will really be a change for the better. Here we lie in a hollow in the snow, getting wetter and wetter and thinking that it is June already and everything looks beautiful at home while we have got no farther than this. But it cannot be much longer before we are there. Oh, it is too much to think of. If only I could be sure about the Fram, if she arrives before us, ah, what will those poor waiting ones do? At length on Wednesday June 3rd we went on, but now the west wind had driven the ice landward so that there was no longer open sea to travel south upon and there was nothing for it but to go over the ice along the land. However the wind was from the north and we could put up a sail on our sledges and thus get along pretty fast. We still saw several walruses on the ice and there were also some in the water that were continually putting their heads up in the cracks and grunting after us. The ice we were crossing here was remarkably thin and bad and as we got farther south it became even worse. It was so weighed down with the masses of snow that lay upon it that there was water beneath the snow wherever we turned. We had to make towards land as quickly as possible as it looked still worse farther south. By going on snowshoes however we kept fairly well on top of the snow, though often both sledge and snowshoe sank down into the water below and stuck fast and no little trouble would be caused in getting everything safely on to firmer ice again. At last however we got in under a high perpendicular basaltic cliff which swarmed with ox. This was the first time we had seen these birds in any great quantity, hitherto we had only seen one or two singly. We took it as a sign that we were approaching better known regions. Alongside of it to the southeast there was a small rocky knoll where numbers of fulmar prosolaria glacialis seemed to be breeding. Our supply of food was now getting very low and we had been hoping for a visit from some bear or other, but now that we needed them they of course kept away. We then determined to shoot birds but the ox flew too high and all we got was a couple of fulmar's. As we just then passed a herd of walruses we determined to take some of this despised food and we shot one of them killing it on the spot. At the report the others raised their heads a little but only to let them fall again and went on sleeping. To get our price skinned with these brutes lying around us was not to be thought of and we must drive them into the water in some way or other. This was no easy matter, however. We went up to them, shouted and hallowed, but they only looked at us lazily and did not move. Then we hit them with snowshoe staves, they became angry and struck their tusks into the ice until the chips flew but still would not move. At last, however, by continuing to poke and beat we drove the whole herd into the water but it was not quick work. In stately dignified procession they drew back and shambled slowly off, one after the other, to the water's edge. Here they again looked round at us, grunting discontentedly, and then plunged into the water one by one. But while we were cutting up their comrade they kept coming up again in the crack beside us, grunting and creeping half up on the ice as if to demand an explanation of our conduct. After having supplied ourselves with as much meat and blubber as we thought we needed for the moment, as well as a quantity of blood, we pitched our tent close by and boiled a good mess of blood porridge which consisted of a wonderful mixture of blood, powdered fish, Indian meal, and blubber. We still had a good wind and sailed away merrily with our sledges all night. When we got to the promontory to the south of us we came to open water which here ran right up to the edge of the glacier-covered land and all we had to do was to launch our kayaks and set off along by the glacier cliff in open sea for the first time this year. It was strange to be using paddles again and to see the water swarming with birds, and little ox and kitty-wakes all round. The land was covered with glaciers, the basaltic rock only projecting in one or two places. There were moreanes, too, in several places on the glaciers. We were not a little surprised after going some way when we discovered a flock of eiderducks on the water. A little later we saw two geese sitting on the shore and felt as if we had come into quite civilized regions again. After a couple of hours paddling our progress south was stopped by shore ice while the open water extended due west toward some land we had previously seen in that direction but which was now covered by mist. We were very much in doubt as to which way to choose whether to go on in the open water westward which must take us toward Spitzbergen or to leave it and again to take our sledges over the smooth shore ice to the south. Although the air was thick and we could not see far we felt convinced that by going over the ice we should at last reach open water on the south side of these islands among which we were. Perhaps we might there find a shorter route to Spitzbergen. In the meantime morning was far advanced, June 5th, and we pitched our camp well pleased at having got so far south. As it was still so hazy the following day, Saturday June 6th, that we could not see any more of our surroundings than before and as there was a strong north wind which would be inconvenient in crossing the open sea westward we determined on going southward over the shore ice. We were once more able to use a sail on our sledges and we got on better than ever. We often went along without any exertion. We could stand on our snowshoes each in front of our sledge holding the steering pole, a bamboo cane bound firmly to the stem of the kayaks and letting the wind carry us along. In the gusts we often went along like feathers. At other times we had to pull a little ourselves. We made good progress and kept on until far into the night as we wanted to make as much use of the wind as possible. We crossed right over the broad sound we had had in front of us and did not stop until we were able to pitch our camp by an island on its southern side. Next evening, Sunday June 7th, we went on again, still southward, before the same northerly wind and we could sail well. We had hoped to be able to reach the land before we again pitched our camp but it was farther than we had thought and at last, when morning, Monday June 8th, was far advanced, we had to stop in the middle of the ice in a furious storm. The numerous islands among which we now were seemed more and more mysterious to us. I find in my journal for that day, are continually discovering new islands or lands to the south. There is one great land of snow beyond us in the west and it seems to extend southward a long way. This snow land seemed to us extremely mysterious. We had not yet discovered a single dark patch upon it, only snow and ice everywhere. We had no clear idea of its extent as we had only caught glimpses of it now and then when the mist lifted a little. It seemed to be quite low but we thought that it must be of a wider extent than any of the lands we had hitherto traveled along. To the east we found island upon island and sounds and fjords the whole way along. We mapped it all as well as we could but this did not help us to find out where we were. They seemed to be only a crowd of small islands and every now and then a view of what we took to be the ocean to the east opened up between them. The ice over which we were now traveling was remarkably different from that which we had had farther north near our winter hut. It was considerably thinner and covered too with very thick snow so that it was not in a good condition for traveling over. When therefore the following day, Tuesday, June 9th, it also began to stick in lumps to our snowshoes and the sledge runners, they both worked rather heavily but the wind was still favourable and we sailed along well notwithstanding. As we were sailing full speed flying before the wind and had almost reached the land, Johansson and his sledge suddenly sank down and it was with difficulty that he managed to back himself and his things against the wind and on to the firmer ice. As I was rushing along I saw that the snow in front of me had a suspiciously wet colour and my snowshoes began to cut through but fortunately I still had time to luff before any further misfortune occurred. We had to take down our sails and make a long detour westward before we could continue our sail. Next day also the snow clogged but the wind had freshened and we sailed better than ever. As the land to the east now appeared to trend to the southeast we steered for the southernmost point of a land to the southwest. It began to be more and more exciting. We thought we must have covered about fourteen miles that day and reckoned that we must be in eighty degrees, eight minutes north latitude and we still had land in the south. If it continued far in that direction it was certain that we could not be on Franz Josef land, as I still thought might be the case, but we could not see far in this hazy atmosphere and then it was remarkable that the coast on the east began to run in an easterly direction. I thought it might agree with Lee Smith's map of Markham Sound. In that case we must have come south through a sound which neither he nor Payer could have seen and we were therefore not so far out of our longitude after all. But no, in our journey southward we could not possibly have passed right across Payer's Dove Glacier and his various islands and lands without having seen them. There must still be a land farther west of this, between Franz Josef land and Spitzbergen. Payer's map could not be altogether wrong. I wanted to reach the land in the southwest but had to stop on the ice, it was too far. Our provisions are getting low. We have a little meat for one more day but there is no living thing to be seen, not a seal on the ice and no open water anywhere. How long is this going on? If we do not soon reach open sea again where there may be to be had things will not look very pleasant. Tuesday June 16th. The last few days have been so eventful that there has been no time to write. I must try to make up for last time this beautiful morning while the sun is peeping in under the tent. The sea lies blue and shining outside and one can lie and fancy oneself at home on a June morning. On Friday June 12th we started again at 4 a.m. on our sledges. There had been frost so the snow was in much better condition again. It had been very windy in the night too so we hoped for a good day. On the preceding day it had cleared up so that we could at last see distinctly the lands around. We now discovered that we must steer in a more westerly direction than we had done during the preceding days in order to reach the south point of the land to the west. The lands to the east disappeared eastward so we had said good-bye to them the day before. We now saw too that there was a broad sound in the land to the west and that it was one entire land as we had taken it to be. The land north of this sound was now so far away that I could only just see it. In the meantime the wind had dropped a good deal. The ice too became more and more uneven. It was evident that we had come to the drift ice and it was much harder work than we had expected. We could see by the air that there must be open water to the south and as we went on we heard to our joy the sound of breakers. At six a.m. we stopped to rest a little and on going up onto a hammock to take a longitude observation I saw the water not far off. From a higher piece of glacier ice we could see it better. It extended towards the promontory to the southwest. Even though the wind had become a little westerly now we still hoped to be able to sail along the edge of the ice and determined to go to the water by the shortest way. We were quickly at the edge of the ice and once more saw the blue water spread out before us. We soon had our kayaks lashed together and the sail up and put to sea. Nor were our hopes disappointed. We sailed well all day long. At times the wind was so strong that we cut through the water and the waves washed unpleasantly over our kayaks but we got on and we had to put up with being a little wet. We soon passed the point we had been making for and here we saw that the land ran westward, that the edge of the unbroken shore ice extended in the same direction and that we had water in front of us. In good spirits we sailed westward along the margin of the ice. So we were at last at the south of the land in which we had been wandering for so long and where we had spent a long winter. It struck me more than ever that in spite of everything this south coast would agree well with Lee Smith's map of Franz Joseph land and the country surrounding their winter quarters but then I remembered Peier's map and dismissed the thought. In the evening we put into the ice so as to stretch our legs a little. They were stiff with sitting in the kayak all day and we wanted to get a little view over the water to the west by ascending a hammock. As we went to shore the question arose as to how we should moor our precious vessel. Take one of the braces said Johansson, he was standing on the ice but is it strong enough? Yes he answered, I have used it as a halyard on my sledge sale all the time. Oh well it doesn't require much to hold these like kayaks said I a little ashamed of having been so timid and I moored them with a halyard which was a strap cut from a raw walrus hide. We had been on the ice a little while moving up and down close to the kayaks. The wind had dropped considerably and seemed to be more westerly making it doubtful whether we could make use of it any longer and we went up on to a hammock close by to ascertain this water. As we stood there Johansson suddenly cried, I say the kayaks are a drift. We ran down as hard as we could they were already a little way out and were drifting quickly off the painter had given way. Here take my watch I said to Johansson giving it to him and as quickly as possible I threw off some clothing so as to be able to swim more easily. I did not dare to take everything off as I might so easily get cramp. I sprang into the water but the wind was off the ice and the light kayaks with their high rigging gave it a good hold. They were already well out and were drifting rapidly. The water was icy cold. It was hard work swimming with clothes on and the kayaks drifted farther and farther often quicker than I could swim. It seemed more than doubtful whether I could manage it but all our hope was drifting there. All we possessed was on board. We had not even a knife with us and whether I got cramp and sank here or turned back without the kayaks it would come to pretty much the same thing. So I exerted myself to the utmost. When I got tired I turned over and swam on my back and then I could see Johansson walking restlessly up and down on the ice. Poor lad he could not stand still and thought it dreadful not to be able to do anything. He had not much hope that I could do it but it would not improve matters in the least if he threw himself into the water too. He said afterwards that these were the worst moments he had ever lived through. But when I turned over again and saw that I was nearer the kayaks my courage rose and I redoubled my exertions. I felt however that my limbs were gradually stiffening and losing all feeling that in a short time I should not be able to move them but there was not far to go now if I could only hold out a little longer we should be saved and I went on. The strokes became more and more feeble but the distance became shorter and shorter and I began to think I should reach the kayaks. At last I was able to stretch out my hand to the snowshoe which lay across the sterns. I grasped it myself into the edge of the kayak and we were saved. I tried to pull myself up but the whole of my body was so stiff with cold that this was an impossibility. For a moment I thought that after all it was too late. I was to get so far but not be able to get in. After a little however I managed to swing one leg up onto the edge of the sledge and in this way managed to tumble up. There I sat but so stiff with cold that I had difficulty in paddling. Nor was it easy to paddle in the double vessel where I first had to take one or two strokes on one side and then step into the other kayak to take a few strokes on the other side. If I had been able to separate them and row in one while I towed the other enough but I could not undertake that piece of work for I should have been stiff before it was done. The thing to be done was to keep warm by rowing as hard as I could. The cold had robbed my whole body of feeling but when the gusts of wind came they seemed to go right through me as I stood there in my thin, wet, woollen shirt. I shivered, my teeth chattered and I was numb almost all over and I still used the paddle and I should get warm when I got back onto the ice again. Two ox were lying close to the bow and the thought of having ox for supper was too tempting. We were in want of food now. I got hold of my gun and shot them with one discharge. Johansson said afterwards that he started at the report thinking some accident had happened and could not understand what I was about out there to pick up two birds he thought I had gone out of my mind. At last I managed to reach the edge of the ice but the current had driven me a long way from our landing place. Johansson came along the edge of the ice, jumped into the kayak beside me and we soon got back to our place. I was undeniably a good deal exhausted and could barely manage to crawl on land. I could scarcely stand and trembled all over. Johansson had to pull off the wet things I had on, put on the few dry ones I still had in reserve and spread the sleeping bag out upon the ice. I packed myself well into it and he covered me with the sail and everything he could find to keep out the cold air. There I lay shivering for a long time but gradually the warmth began to return to my body. For some time longer however my feet had no more feeling in them than icicles for they had been partly naked in the water. While Johansson put up the tent and prepared supper consisting of my two oaks I fell asleep. He let me sleep quietly and when I awoke supper had been ready for some time and stood simmering over the fire. Ock and hot soup soon effaced the last traces of my swim. During the night my clothes were hung out to dry and the next day were all nearly dry again. As the tidal current was strong here and there was no wind for sailing we had to wait for the turn of the tide so as not to have the current against us and it was not until late the following evening that we went on again. We paddled and got on well until towards morning, June 14th when we came to some great herds of walrus on the ice. Our supply of meat was exhausted but for some oaks we had shot and we had not many pieces of blubber left. We would rather have had a bear but as we had seen none lately it was perhaps best to supply ourselves here. We put in and went up to one herd behind a hammock. We preferred young ones as they were much easier to manipulate and there were several here. I first shot one quite small and then another. The full grown animals started up at the first report and looked round and at the second shot the whole herd began to go into the water. The mothers, however, would not leave their dead young ones. One sniffed at its young one and pushed it evidently unable to make out what was the matter. It only saw the blood spreading from its head. It cried and wailed like a human being. At last when the herd began to plunge in the mother pushed her young one before her towards the water. I now feared that I should lose my booty and ran forward to save it but she was too quick for me. She took the young one by one foreleg and disappeared with it like lightning into the depths. The other mother did the same. I hardly knew how it had all happened and remained standing at the edge looking down after them. I thought the young ones must rise to the surface again but there was nothing to be seen. They had disappeared for good. The mothers must have taken them a long way. I then went towards another herd where there were also young ones and shot one of them but made wiser by experience I shot the mother, too. It was a touching sight to see her bend over her dead young one before she was shot and even in death she lay holding it with one foreleg. So now we had meat and blubber enough to last a long time and meat, too, that was delicious for the side of young walrus tastes like loin of mutton. To this we added a dozen ox so our larder was now well furnished with good food and if we needed more the water was full of oxen other food so there was no dearth. The walruses here were innumerable. The herds that had been lying on the ice and had now disappeared were large but there had been many more in the water outside. It seemed to see with them on every side great and small and when I estimate their number to have been at least three hundred it is certainly not over the mark. At one-thirty the next morning June fifteenth we proceeded on our way in beautifully calm weather as walruses swarmed on all sides we did not much like paddling singly and for some distance lashed the kayaks together for we knew how obtrusive a gentleman could be. The day before they had come pretty near popped up close beside my kayak and several times followed us closely along distance but without doing us any harm. I was inclined to think it was curiosity and that they were not really dangerous but Johansson was not so sure of this. He thought we had had experience to the contrary and urged that at any rate caution could do no harm. All day long we saw herds that often followed us a long way pressing in round the kayaks. We kept close to the edge of the ice and if any came too near we put in if possible on an ice-foot. We also kept close together or beside one another. We paddled past one large herd on the ice and could hear them a long way off lowing like cows. We glided quickly along the coast but unfortunately a mist hung over it so that it was often impossible to determine whether they were channels or glaciers between the dark patches which we could just distinguish upon it. I wanted very much to have seen a little more of this land. My suspicion that we were in the neighborhood of the Lee Smith winter quarters had become stronger than ever. Our latitude as also the direction of the coastline and the situation of the islands and sounds seemed to agree far too well with the commitment of the possibility of imagining that another such group of islands could lie in the short distance between Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen. Such a coincidence would be altogether too remarkable. Moreover, we caught glimpses of land in the far west which in that case could not lie far from northeast land but Payer's map of the land north of this Johansson maintained with reason that Payer would have made such mistakes as we should in that case be obliged to assume. Towards morning we rode for some time without seeing any walrus and now felt more secure. Just then we saw a solitary rover pop up a little in front of us. Johansson, who was in front at the time, put in to a sunken ledge of ice and although I really thought that this was caution carried to excess I was on the point of following his example. I had not got so far, however, when suddenly the walrus shot up beside me, through itself onto the edge of the kayak, took hold farther over the deck with one foreflipper and as it tried to upset me aimed a blow at the kayak with its tusks. I held on as tightly as possible so as not to be upset into the water and struck at the animal's head with a paddle as hard as I could. It took hold of the kayak once more and tilted me up so that the deck was almost underwater then let go and raised itself right up. I seized my gun but at the same moment it turned round and disappeared as quickly as it had come. The whole thing had happened in a moment and I was just going to remark to Johansson that we were fortunate in escaping so easily from that adventure when I noticed that my legs were wet. I listened and now heard the water trickling into the kayak under me. To turn and run her in onto the sunken ledge of ice was the work of a moment but I sank there. The thing was to get out and onto the ice the kayak all the time getting fuller. The edge of the ice was high and loose but I managed to get up and Johansson by tilting the sinking kayak over to starboard so that the leak came above the water managed to bring her to a place where the ice was low enough to admit of our drawing her up. All I possessed was floating about inside soaked through. What I most regret is that the water has got into the photographic apparatus and perhaps my precious photographs are ruined. So here we lie with all our worldly goods spread out to dry and a kayak that must be mended before we can face the walrus again. It is a good big rent that he has made at least six inches long but it is fortunate that it was no worse how easily he might have wounded me in the thigh with that tusk of his and it would have fared ill with me if we had been farther out and not just at such a convenient place by the edge of the ice where there was a sunken ledge. The sleeping bag was soaking wet we rung it out as well as we could turned the hair outside and have spent a capital night in it. On the evening of the same day I wrote Today I have patched my kayak and we have gone over all the seams in both kayaks with steering so now we hope we shall be able to go on in quite sound boats. In the meantime the walruses are lying outside staring at us with their great round eyes grunting and blowing and now and then clamoring up on the edge of the ice as though they wanted to drive us away. End of File 15 File 16 of Farthest North Volume 2 this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Sharon Riscadal Farthest North by Freetjof Nansen Volume 2 Chapter 9 The Journey southward, Part 2 Tuesday, June 23rd Deep do I dream, do I wonder and doubt are things what they seem or are visions about? What has happened? I can still scarcely grasp it how incessant are the vicissitudes in this wandering life a few days ago swimming in the water for dear life attacked by walrus living the savage life which I have lived for more than a year now and sure of a long journey before us over ice and sea through unknown regions before we should meet with other human beings a journey full of the same ups and downs the same disappointments that we have become so accustomed to and now living the life of a civilized European surrounded by everything that civilization can afford of luxury and good living with abundance of water, soap, towels clean soft woolen clothes books and everything that we have been sighing for all these weary months it was past midday on June 17th when I turned out to prepare breakfast I had been down to the edge of the ice to fetch salt water, had made up the fire cut up the meat and put it on the pot and had already taken off one boot preparatory to creeping into the bag again when I saw that the mist over the land had risen a little since the preceding day I thought it would be as well to take the opportunity of having a look round so I put on my boot again and went up on to a hammock near to look at the land beyond a gentle breeze came from the land bearing with it a confused noise of thousands of bird voices from the mountain there as I listened to these sounds of life and movement watched flocks of ox flying to and fro above my head and as my eye followed the line of coast stopping at the dark naked cliffs glancing at the cold icy plains and glaciers in a land which I believed to be unseen by any human eye and untrodden by any human foot reposing in arctic majesty behind its mantle of mist a sound suddenly reached my ear so like the barking of a dog that I started it was only a couple of barks but it could not be anything else I strained my ears but heard no more only the same bubbling noise of thousands of birds I must have been mistaken after all it was only birds I had heard and again my eye passed from sound to island in the west then the barking came again first single barks then full cry there was one deep bark and one sharper there was no longer any room for doubt at that moment I remembered having heard two reports the day before which I thought sounded like shots but I had explained them away as noises in the ice I now shouted to Johansson that I heard dogs farther inland Johansson started up from the bag where he lay sleeping and tumbled out of the tent dogs he could not quite take it in but had to get up and listen with his own ears while I got breakfast ready he very much doubted the possibility of such a thing yet fancied once or twice that he heard something which might be taken for the barking of dogs but then it was drowned again in the bird noises and everything considered he thought that what I had heard was nothing more than that I said he might believe what he liked but I meant to set off as quickly as possible and was impatient to get breakfast swallowed I had emptied the last of the Indian meal into the soup feeling sure that we should have ferocious food enough by the evening as we were eating we discussed who it could be whether our countrymen or Englishmen if it was the English expedition to Franz Josefland which had been in contemplation when we started what should we do oh we'll just have to remain with them a day or two said Johansson and then we'll have to go on to Spitzbergen else it will be too long before we get home we were quite agreed on this point but we would take care to get some good provisions for the voyage out of them while I went on Johansson was to stay behind and mine the kayaks so that we should run no risk of their drifting away with the ice I got out my snowshoes, glass and gun and was ready before starting I went up once more to listen and look out a road across the uneven ice to the land but there was not a sound like the barking of dogs only noisy ox, harsh-toned little ox and screaming kitty-wakes was it these after all that I had heard? I set off in doubt then in front of me I saw the fresh tracks of an animal they could hardly have been made by a fox for if they were the foxes here must be bigger than any I had ever seen but dogs? could a dog have been no more than a few hundred paces from us in the night without barking or without our having heard it? it seemed scarcely probable but whatever it was it could never have been a fox a wolf then? I went on my mind full of strange thoughts hovering between certainty and doubt was all our toil, were all our troubles, privations and sufferings to end here? it seemed incredible and yet? out of the shadow land of doubt certainty was at last beginning to dawn again the sound of a dog helping reached my ear more distinctly than ever I saw more and more tracks which could be nothing but those of a dog among them were foxes' tracks and how small they looked a long time passed and nothing was to be heard but the noise of the birds again arose doubt as to whether it was all an illusion perhaps it was only a dream but then I remembered the dog's tracks they at any rate were no delusion but if there were people here we could scarcely be on Gilly's land or a new land as we had believed all the winter we must after all be on the south side of Franz Josefland and the suspicion I had had a few days ago was correct namely that we had come south through an unknown sound and out between Hooker Island and Northbrook Island and we're now off the ladder in spite of the impossibility of reconciling our position with Payor's map it was with a strange mixture of feelings that I made my way in towards land among the numerous hummocks and inequalities suddenly I thought I heard a shout from a human voice a strange voice the first for three years how my heart beat and the blood rushed to my brain as I ran up onto a hummock and hallowed with all the strength of my lungs behind that one human voice in the midst of the icy desert this one message from life stood home and she who was waiting there and I saw nothing else as I made my way between bergs and ice ridges soon I heard another shout and saw too from an ice ridge a dark form moving among the hummocks farther in it was a dog but farther off came another figure and that was a man who was it? was it Jackson or one of his companions or was it perhaps a fellow countryman we approached one another quickly I waved my hat he did the same I heard him speak to the dog it was English and as I drew nearer I thought I recognized Mr. Jackson whom I remembered once to have seen I raised my hat we extended a hand to one another with a hearty how do you do above us a roof of mist shutting out the world around beneath our feet the rugged packed drift ice and in the background a glimpse of the land all ice glacier and mist on one side the civilized European in an English Czech suit and high rubber water boots well shaved well groomed bringing with him a perfume of scented soap perceptible to the wild man's sharpened senses on the other side the wild man clad in dirty rags black with oil and soot with long uncombed hair and shaggy beard black with smoke a face in which the natural fair complexion could not possibly be discerned through the thick layer of fat and soot which a winter's endeavors with warm water moss, rags and at last a knife had sought in vain to remove no one suspected who he was or whence he came Jackson I'm immensely glad to see you thank you I also have you a ship here my ship is not here how many are there of you I have one companion at the ice edge as we talked we had begun to go in towards land I took it for granted that he had recognized me or at any rate understood who it was that was hidden behind this savage exterior not thinking that a total stranger would be received so heartily suddenly he stopped looked me full in the face and said quickly aren't you nonsense yes I am by Jove I am glad to see you and he seized my hand and shook it again while his whole face became one smile of welcome and delighted the unexpected meeting beamed from his dark eyes where have you come from now he asked I left the from in 84 degrees north latitude after having drifted for two years 86 degrees 15 minutes parallel where we had to turn and make for Franz Josef Land we were however obliged to stop for the winter somewhere north of here and are now on our route to Spitzbergen I congratulate you most heartily you have made a good trip of it and I am awfully glad to be the first person to congratulate you on your return once more he seized my hand and shook it heartily I could not have been welcomed more warmly that handshake was more than a mere form in his hospitable English manner he said at once that he had plenty of room for us and that he was expecting his ship every day by plenty of room I discovered afterwards that he meant that there were still a few square feet on the floor of their hut that were not occupied at night by himself and his sleeping companions but heart room makes house room and of the former there was no lack as soon as I could get a word in I asked how things were getting on at home and he was able to give me the welcome intelligence that my wife and child had both been in the best of health when he left two years ago then came Norway's turn and Norwegian politics but he knew nothing about that and I took it as a sign that they must be all right too he now asked if we could not go out at once and fetch Johansson and our belongings but I thought that our kayaks would be too heavy for us to drag over this packed-up ice alone and that if he had many enough it would certainly be better to send them out if we only gave Johansson notice by a salute from our guns he would wait patiently so we each fired two shots we soon met several men Mr. Armitage, the second in command Mr. Child, the photographer and the doctor, Mr. Kotlitz as they approached Jackson gave them a sign and let them understand who I was and I was again welcomed heartily we met yet others the botanist, Mr. Fisher Mr. Burgess and the Finn Bloomquist his real name was Millennius Fisher has since told me that he had once thought it must be me when he saw a man out on the ice but he quite gave up that idea when he met me for he had seen me described as a fair man and here was a dark man with black hair and beard when they were all there Jackson said that I had reached eighty-six degrees, fifteen minutes north latitude and from seven powerful lungs I was given a triple British cheer that echoed among the hummocks Jackson immediately sent his men off to fetch sledges and go out to Johansson while we went on towards the house which I now thought I could see on the shore Jackson now told me that he had letters for me from home and that both last spring and this he had had them with him when he went north on the chance of our meeting we now found that in March he must have been at no great distance south of our winter hut but had to turn there as he was stopped by open water the same open water over which we had seen the dark atmosphere all the winter only when we came up nearly to the houses did he inquire more particularly about the from and our drifting and I briefly told him our story he told me afterwards that from the time we met he had believed that the ship had been destroyed and that we too were the only survivors of the expedition he thought he had seen a sad expression in my face when he first asked about the ship and was afraid of touching on the subject again indeed he had even quietly warned his men not to ask it was only through a chance remark of mine that he found out his mistake and began to inquire more particularly about the from and the others then we arrived at the house a low Russian timber hut lying on a flat terrace an old shoreline beneath a mountain and fifty feet above the sea it was surrounded by a stable and four circular tent houses in which stores were kept we entered a comfortable warm nest in the midst of these desolate wintry surroundings the roof and walls covered with green cloth on the walls hung photographs, etchings photolithographs and shelves everywhere containing books and instruments under the roof clothes and shoes hung drying and from the little stove in the middle of the floor of this cozy room the warm coal fire shone out a hospitable welcome a strange feeling came over me as I seated myself in a comfortable chair in these unwanted surroundings at one stroke of changing fate all responsibility all troubles were swept away from a mind that had been oppressed by them during three long years I was in a safe haven in the midst of the ice and the longings of three years were lulled in the golden sunshine of the dawning day my duty was done my task was ended now I could rest, only rest and wait a carefully soldered tin packet was handed to me and it contained letters from Norway it was almost with a trembling hand and a beating heart that I opened it and there were tidings, only good tidings from home a delightful feeling of peace settled upon the soul then dinner was served and how nice it was to have bread, butter, milk, sugar, coffee and everything that a year had taught us to do without and yet to long for the height of comfort was reached when we were able to throw off our dirty rags have a warm bath and get rid of as much dirt as was possible in one bout but we only succeeded in becoming anything like clean after several days and many attempts then clean soft clothes from head to foot haircut and the shaggy beard shaved off and the transformation from savage to European was complete and even more sudden than in the reverse direction how delightfully comfortable it was to be able to put on one's clothes without being made greasy but most of all to be able to move without feeling them stick to the body with every movement it was not long before Johansson and the others followed with the kayaks and our things Johansson related how these warm hearted Englishmen had given him and the Norwegian flag a hearty cheer when they came up and saw it waving beside a dirty woolen shirt on a bamboo rod which he had put up by my orders so that I could find my way back to him on the way hither they had not allowed him to touch the sledges he had only to walk beside them like a passenger and he said that of all the ways in which we had travelled over drift ice this was without comparison the most comfortable his reception in the hut was scarcely less hospitable than mine and he soon went through the same transformation that I had undergone I no longer recognize my comrade of the long winter night and search in vain for any trace of the tramp who wondered up and down that desolate shore beneath the steep talus and the dark basalt cliff outside the low underground hut the black sooty troglodyte has vanished and in his place sits a well-favoured healthy-looking European citizen in a comfortable chair puffing away at a short pipe or a cigar and with a book before him doing his best to learn English it seems to me that he gets fatter and fatter every day with an almost alarming rapidity it is indeed surprising that we have both gained considerably in weight since we left the from when I came here I myself weighed about fourteen and a half stone or nearly twenty-two pounds more than I did when I left the from while Johansson weighs over eleven stone, eleven pounds having gained a little more than thirteen pounds in the world of a winter's feeding on nothing but bear's meat and fat in an Arctic climate it is not quite like the experiences of others in parallel circumstances it must be our laziness that has done it and here we are living in peace and quietness waiting for the ship from home and for what the future will bring us while everything is being done for us to make us forget a winter's privations we could not have fallen into better hands and it is impossible to describe the unequaled hospitality and kindness we meet with on all hands and the comfort we feel is it the year's privations and want of human society is it common interests that so draw us to these men in these desolate regions I do not know but we are never tired of talking and it seems as if we had known one another for years instead of having met for the first time a few days ago Wednesday June 23rd it is now three years since we left home as we sat at the dinner table this evening Heyward the cook came rushing in and said there was a bear outside we went out, Jackson with his camera and I with my rifle we saw the head of the bear above the edge of the shore it was sniffing the air in the direction of the hut while a couple of dogs stood at a respectful distance and marked as we approached it came right up over the edge to us stopped, showed its teeth and hissed then turned round and went slowly back down towards the shore to hinder it enough for Jackson to get near and photograph it I sent a bullet into its hind quarters as it disappeared over the edge this helped and a ball in the left shoulder still more surrounded by a few dogs it now made a stand the dogs grew bolder and a couple of shots in the muzzle from Jackson's revolver made the bear quite furious it sprang first at one dog, misery, cut hold of it by the back and flung it a good way out over the ice then sprang at the other seizing it by one paw and tearing one toe badly then found an old tin box, bit it flat and flung it far away it was wild with fury but a ball behind the ear ended its sufferings it was a she-bear with milk in the breast but there was no sign of any embryo and no young one was discovered in the neighborhood Sunday, July 15th this evening when Jackson and the doctor were up on the mountain shooting ox the dogs began to make a tremendous row especially the bear dog Nimrod which is chained outside the door and howled and whined in a suspicious manner Armitage went out, coming back a little while after and asking if I cared to shoot a bear I accompanied him with my rifle and camera the bear had taken flight to a little hammock out on the ice south of the house and was lying at full length on the top of it with misery and a couple of puppies round it standing at a little distance and barking persistently as we approached it fled over the ice the range was long but nevertheless we sent a few shots after it thinking we might perhaps retard its progress with one of these I was fortunate enough to hit it in the hind quarters and it now fled to a new ice hill here I was able to get nearer to it it was evidently very much enraged when I came under the hammock where it stood it showed its teeth and hissed at me and repeatedly gave signs of wanting to jump down onto the top of me on these occasions I rapidly got ready my rifle instead of the camera it scraped away the loose snow from under its feet to get a better footing for the leap which however it never took and I re-exchanged my rifle for my camera in the meantime Jackson had arrived with his camera on the other side and when we had taken all the photographs we wanted we shot the bear it was an unusually large she-bear one of the first things we did when we came to Mr. Jackson's station was of course to make a close comparison of our watches with his chronometer and Mr. Armitage was also kind enough to take careful time observations for me it now appears that we had not been so far out after all we had put our watches about 26 minutes wrong making a difference of about six and a half degrees in longitude a protracted comparison undertaken by Mr. Armitage also showed that the escapement of our watches was very nearly what we had assumed with the help of this information I was now enabled to work out our longitude observations pretty correctly and one of the first tasks I hear said about now that we once more had access to paper writing and drawing materials and all that we had longed for so much during the winter was to prepare a sketch map of Franz Josefland as our observations led me to conclude that it must actually be Mr. Jackson very kindly allowed me to consult the map he had made of that part of the land which he had explored this enabled me to dispense with the labour of reckoning out my own observations in these localities furthermore I have to thank Mr. Jackson for aid in every possible way with navigation tables, nautical almanacs, scales and all sorts of drawing material it is by a comparison of Peir's map Jackson's map and my own observations that I have made out the sketch map reproduced on page 599 I have altered Peir's and Jackson's map only at places where my observations differ essentially from theirs I make no pretense to give more than a provisional sketch I had not even time to work out my own observations with absolute accuracy when this has been done and if I can gain access to all Peir's material no doubt a considerably more trustworthy map can be produced the only importance which I claim for the accompanying map is that it shows roughly how what we have hitherto called France-Joseph land is cut up into innumerable small islands without any continuous and extensive mass of land much of Peir's map I found to coincide well enough with our observations but the enigma over which we had pondered the whole winter still remained unsolved where was Dove Glacier and the whole northern part of Vilcek land where were the islands which Peir had named Braun Island, Hoffman Island and Frieden Island the last might no doubt be identified with the southernmost island of Fittenland Whiteland but the others had completely disappeared I pondered for a long time over the question how such a mistake could have crept into a map by such a man as Peir an experienced topographer whose maps as a rule bear the stamp of great accuracy and care and a polar traveller for whose ability I have always entertained a high respect I examined his account of his voyage and there I found that he expressly mentions that during the time he was coasting along this Dove Glacier he had a great deal of fog which quite concealed the land ahead but one day it was April 7th 1874 he says at this latitude 81 degrees 23 minutes it seemed as if Vilcek land suddenly terminated but when the sun scattered the driving mists we saw the glittering ranges of its enormous glaciers the Dove glaciers shining down on us towards the northeast we could trace land trending to a cape lying in the grey distance Cape Budapest as it was afterwards called the prospect thus opened to us of a vast glacier land conflicted with the general impression we had formed of the resemblance between the newly discovered region and Spitsbergen for glaciers of such extraordinary magnitude we suppose the existence of a country stretching far into the interior I have often thought over this description and I cannot find in Peir's book any other information that throws light upon the mystery although according to this it would appear as if they had clear weather that day there must nevertheless have been fog banks lying over Witten land uniting it with Vilcek land to the south toward Crown Prince Rudolf land the sun shining on these fog banks must have glittered so that they were taken for glaciers along a continuous coast I can all the more easily understand this mistake as I was myself on the point of falling into it as before related if the weather had not cleared on the evening of June 11th enabling us to discern the sound between Northbrook Island and Peterhead Alexander land we should have remained under the impression that we had here continuous land and should have represented it as such in mapping this region Mr. Jackson and I frequently discussed the naming of the lands we had explored I asked him whether he would object to my naming the land on which I had wintered Frederick Jackson's island as a small token of our gratitude for the hospitality he had shown us we had made the discovery that this island was separated by sounds from the land farther north which Peor had named Carl Alexander land for the rest I refrained from giving names to any of the places which Jackson had seen before I saw them the country around Cape Flora proved to be very interesting from the geological point of view and as often as time permitted I investigated its structure either alone or more frequently in company with a doctor and geologist of the English expedition Dr. Kotlitz many an interesting excursion did we make together up and down those steep moraines in search of fossils which in certain places we found in great numbers it appeared that from the sea level up to a height of about 500 or 600 feet the land consisted of a soft clay mixed with lumps of a red-brown clay sandstone in which lumps the fossils chiefly abounded but the earth was so overstrewn with low stones which had rolled down from the basalt walls above that it was difficult to reach it for a long time I maintained that all this clay was only a comparatively late strand formation but the doctor was indefatigable in his efforts to convince me that it really was an old and very extensive formation stretching right under the superimposed basalt at last I had to yield when we arrived at the topmost stratum of the clay and I saw it actually going under the basalt and found some shallower strata of basalt lower down in the clay an examination of the fossils which consisted for the most part of ammonites convinced me that the whole of this clay formation must date from the Jurassic period at several places Dr. Kotlitz had found thin strata of coal in the clay petrified wood was also a common occurrence but over the clay formation lay a mighty bed of basalt 600 or 700 feet in height which was certainly not the least interesting feature of the country distinguished by its coarse-grained structure from the majority of typical basalts and seemed to be closely related to those which are found in Spitsbergen and northeast land the basalt however seems to vary a good deal in appearance here in Franz Joseph land that which we found farther north for example at Kate McClintock and on Goose Island was considerably more coarse grained than that which we found here the situation of the basalt here on Northbrook Island and the surrounding islands was also very different from that which we had observed farther north it is here met with as a rule only at a height of 500 or 600 feet above the sea while on the more northerly islands from 81 degrees northward it reached right to the shore thus it dropped in an almost perpendicular wall straight into the sea at Jackson's Cape Fisher in 81 degrees it was the same at Kate McClintock at our winter cabin at the headland of Column or Basalt where we passed the night of August 25th, 1895 at Cape Clemens Markham and at the sharp point of rock where we landed on the night between August 16th and 17th the structure seemed to be similar to so far as we had seen on the south side of Crown Prince Rudolph's land wherever we had been to the northward I had kept a sharp lookout for strata whose fossils could give us any information as to the geological age of this country according to what I here found at Cape Flora it appeared as if a great part at least of this basalt dated from the Jurassic period as it lay immediately above and was partly intermixed with strata of this age moreover on the top of the basalt where it presently appear vegetable fossils were found dating from the latter part of the Jurassic period it thus seems as though Franz Joseph's land were of a comparatively old formation all these horizontal strata of basalt stretching over all the islands at about the same height seemed to indicate that there was once a continuous mass of land here which in the course of time being exposed to various disintegrating forces such as frost, damp snow glaciers and the sea has been split up and worn away and has in part disappeared under the sea so that now only scattered islands and rocks remain separated from each other by fjords and sounds as these formations bear a certain resemblance to what has been found in several places in Spitzbergen and northeast land we may plausibly assume that these two groups of islands originally belong to the same mass of land it would therefore be interesting to investigate the as yet unknown region which separates them the region which we should have had to traverse had we not fallen in with Jackson and his expedition there is doubtless much that is new and especially many new islands to be found in this strait possibly a continuous series of islands so that there may be some difficulty in determining where the one archipelago ends and the other begins the investigation of this region is a problem of no small scientific importance which we may hope that the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition will succeed in solving how far the Franz-Joseph land archipelago stretches towards the north cannot as yet be determined with certainty according to our experience indeed it would seem improbable that there is land of any great extent in that direction it is true that Peyer when he was upon Crown Prince Rudolf's land saw Petermann's land and Oscar's land the first to the north and the second to the west but that Petermann's land at any rate cannot be of any size seems to be proved by our observations since we saw no land at all as we came southward a good way east of it the ice seemed to drift to the westward practically unimpeded when we were in its latitude that King Oscar's land also cannot be of any great extent seems to me evident from what we saw in the course of the winter and spring as the wind swept the ice unhindered away from the land so that there can scarcely be any extensive and continuous mass of land to the north or northwest to keep it back it is perhaps even more difficult to determine how far the Franz Josef's land archipelago stretches to the eastward from all we saw I should judge that Vilcek land cannot be of any great extent but there may nevertheless be new islands farther to the east this seems probable indeed from the fact that in June and July 1895 we remained almost motionless at about 82 degrees five minutes north latitude in spite of a long continuance of northerly winds whence it seemed that there must be a stretch of land south of us obstructing like a long wall the farther drift of the ice to the southward but it is useless to discuss this question minutely here as it too will doubtless be answered authoritatively by the English expedition another future of Northbrook Island which greatly interested me was the evidence it presented of changes in the level of the sea I have already mentioned that Jackson's hut lay on an old strand line or terrace about 40 to 50 feet high but there were also several other strand lines both lower and higher thus I found that Lee Smith who also had wintered on this headland had built his hut upon an old strand line 17 feet above the sea level in other places I found strand lines at a height of 80 feet I had already noticed such strand lines at different elevations when I first arrived in the previous autumn at the more northern part of this region for example on Toreps Island indeed we had lived all winter on such a terrace Jackson had found whales skeletons at several places about Cape Flora close to his hut for instance at a height of 50 feet there lay the skull of a whale a Belyna possibly a Greenland whale Belyna mysticatus at a point farther north there lay fragments of a whole skeleton probably of the same species the under jaw was 18 feet 3 inches long but these bones lay at an elevation of not more than 9 feet above the present sea level I also found other indications that the sea must at a comparatively recent period have risen above these low strand terraces for instance they were at many points strewn with muscle shells this land then seems to have been subjected to changes of level analogous to those which have occurred in other northern countries of which as above mentioned I had also seen indications on the north coast of Asia one day when Mr. Jackson and Dr. Kotlitz were out on an excursion together they found on a nanotok or spur of rock projecting above a glacier on the north side of Cape Flora two places which were strewn with vegetable fossils this discovery of course aroused my keenest interest and on July 17th Dr. Kotlitz and I set out for the spot together the spur of rock consisted entirely of basalt at some points showing a marked columnar structure and projected in the middle of the glacier at a height which I estimated at 600 or 700 feet above the sea unfortunately there was no time to measure its elevation exactly at two points on the surface of the basalt there was a layer consisting of innumerable fragments of sandstone in almost every one of these impressions were to be found for the most part of the needles and leaves of pine trees but also of small fern leaves we picked up as many of these treasures as we could carry and returned that evening heavily laden and in high contentment on a snowshoe excursion some days later Johansson also chanced unwittingly upon the same place and gathered fossils which he brought to me since my return home this collection of vegetable fossils has been examined by Professor Nothhorst and it appears that Mr. Jackson and Dr. Kotlitz have here made an extremely interesting find Professor Nothhorst writes to me as follows in spite of their very fragmentary condition the vegetable fossils brought home by you are of great interest as they give us our first insight into the plant world in regions north of the 80th degree of latitude during the latter part of the Jurassic period the most common are leaves of a fir tree Pinus which resembles the Pinus Nordenscholdi here found in the Jurassic strata of Spitzbergen east Siberia and Japan but which probably belongs to a different species there occur also narrower leaves of another species and furthermore male flowers and fragments of a pine cone with several seeds figures one through three one of which figure one suggests the Pinus Machiana here from the Jurassic strata of Siberia among traces of other pine trees may be mentioned those of a broadleaved taxatis resembling taxatis griminius here specially found in the Jurassic strata of Spitzbergen and Siberia which has leaves of about the same size as those of the cephalotaxis fortunii at present existing in China and Japan it is interesting too to find remains of the genus Fildinia figures four and five which has at yet been found only in the polar regions it was first discovered by Nordenschold in the tertiary strata near Cape Starachgen on Spitzbergen in 1868 and was described by here under the name of Torelia it was subsequently found by Fildin in the tertiary strata at Discovery Bay in Grinnell land during the English polar expedition of 1875-76 and here now changed the generic name to Fildinia as Torelia had already been employed as the name of a muscle this species has since been found by me in 1882 in the upper Jurassic strata of Spitzbergen the leaves remind one of the leaves of the subspecies nagea of the existing genus Potocarpus the finest specimens of the whole collection are the leaves of a small ginkgo of which one is complete figure six this genus with plum-like seeds and with leaves which unlike those of other pine trees have a real leaf blade is found at present in one single species only in Japan but existed in former times in numerous forms and in many regions during the Jurassic period it flourished especially in East Siberia and has also been found on Spitzbergen in East Greenland at Scorsby Sound and at many places in Europe etc during the Cretaceous and the tertiary periods it was still found on the west coast of Greenland at 70 degrees north latitude the leaf here reproduced belongs to a new species which might be called Ginko Polaris and which is most closely related to the G flablata here from the Jurassic strata of Siberia it bears a certain habitual resemblance to Ginko Digitata, Lindley and Hutton particularly is found in the brown Jurassic strata of England and Spitzbergen but its leaves are considerably smaller besides this species one or two others may also occur in this collection as well as fragments of the leaves of the genus Chekinowskia related to the Ginko family but with narrow leaf blades resembling pine needles ferns are very scantily represented such fragments as there are belong to four different types but the species can scarcely be determined one fragment belongs to the genus Cladoflubus, common in Jurassic strata another suggests the Thyrosopterus found in the Jurassic strata of East Siberia and of England a third suggests the Onychopsis characteristic of the upper Jurassic strata the fourth again seems to be closely related to the Esplanium Petrochanens which here has described found in the Siberian Jurassic strata the specimen is remarkable from the fact that the epidermis cells of the leaf have left a clear impression on the rock with its wealth of pine leaves its poverty of ferns and its lack of psychodesy this Franz Josephland flora has somewhat the same character as that of the upper Jurassic flora of Spitzbergen although the species are somewhat different like the Spitzbergen flora it does not indicate a particularly genial climate although doubtless enormously more so than that of the present day the deposits must doubtless have occurred in the neighborhood of a pine forest so far as the specimens enable one to judge the flora seems to belong rather to the upper white Jurassic system than to the middle brown system it was undeniably a sudden transition to come straight from our long entered life in our winter layer where one's scientific interests found little enough stimulus right into the midst of this scientific oasis where there was plenty of opportunity for work where books and all necessary apparatus were at hand and where one could employ one's leisure moments in discussing with men of similar tastes all sorts of scientific questions connected with the Arctic zone in the botanist of the expedition Mr. Harry Fisher I found a man full of the warmest interest in the fauna and flora of the polar regions and the exhaustive investigations which his residence here has enabled him to make into the plant life and animal life especially the former of the locality both by sea and land will certainly augment in a most valuable degree our knowledge of its biological conditions I shall not easily forget the many pleasant talks in which he communicated to me his discoveries and observations they were all eagerly absorbed by a mind long deprived of such sustenance I felt like a piece of parched soil drinking in rain after a drought of a whole year End of file 16