FARTHEST NORTH 



BEING THE NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGE 



AND EXPLORATION OF THE FRAM 1893-96 



AND THE FIFTEEN MONTHS' SLEDGE 



EXPEDITION BY DR. NANSEN AND 



LIEUT. JOHANSEN WITH AN 



APPENDIX BY OTTO 



SVERDRUP. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



" A time will come in later years when the Ocean will unloose the 

 bands of things, when the immeasurable earth will lie open, when 

 seafarers will discover new countries, and Thule will no longer be the 

 extreme point among the lands." SENECA. 



UNSEEN and untrodden under their spotless mantle of 

 ice the rigid polar regions slept the profound sleep of 

 death from the earliest dawn of time. Wrapped in his 

 white shroud, the mighty giant stretched his clammy 

 ice-limbs abroad, and dreamed his age-long dreams. 

 Ages passed deep was the silence. 



