NANSEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 373 



and scientific instruments placed to make complete records, and 

 later, a row of comfortable kennels was made for the accommoda- 

 tion of the dogs. 



These animals at first had been somewhat troublesome. They 

 were so savage that it was necessary to keep them all tied up on 

 deck, and during the voyage along the coast they were frequently 

 wet and miserable, and incessantly howling. Once, rope muzzles 

 were made, and when each dog was fitted they were allowed loose; 

 but an Arctic dog requires something stronger than a rope to keep 

 its jaws closed when let loose among a lot of other Arctic dogs. The 

 result of the experiment was not a success, except from a dog-fight 

 point of view; when at length the struggling, snarling, snapping 

 pack were separated, they were tied up again to the deck until the 

 ship was fast in the ice. By that time they were somewhat recon- 

 ciled to one another ; when they had been allowed to have a scamper 

 or two, with plenty of opportunity to find out who were the kings 

 and who were not, they settled down into a big happy family. 



It was in latitude 78 degrees 50 minutes north that the "Fram" 

 was first frozen in, and her course was watched with much anxiety 

 to see in what direction she would drift. To their dismay the course 

 was toward the southeast, and they feared that they had missed the 

 northward drift looked for. A few days later, however, the course 

 turned north and all were happy again. 



As for the ice, it steadily increased in thickness and there was 

 constant movement in the mass, the pressure causing it to heave 

 upward and pile into great rugged hummocks. The "Fram" had 

 vastly more resisting power than the " Jeannette ;"' but could any 

 work of man's hands withstand those jagged masses, which lifted 

 before the pressure behind them until they stood forty and fifty feet 

 high? Sometimes they were forced up so high that they over- 

 balanced and crashed down upon the lower masses with the roar 

 and rattle of thunder. 



It was during their second winter in the ice, on January 4 and 



