Voyage through the Kara Sea. 199 



the New Siberian Islands, now that there is a good oppor- 

 tunity, and really bright prospects. 



" The ice here puzzles me a good deal. How in the 

 world is it not swept northwards by the current which, 

 according to my calculations, ought to set north from 

 this coast, and which indeed we ourselves have felt. And 

 it is such hard, thick ice has the appearance of being 

 several years old. Does it come from the eastward, 

 or does it lie and grind round here in the sea between 

 the ' north-going ' current of the Lena and the Taimur 

 Peninsula ? I cannot tell yet, but anyhow it is different 

 from the thin one-year-old ice we have seen until now in 

 the Kara Sea and west of Cape Chelyuskin. 



" Saturday, September i6th. We are keeping a 

 north-easterly course (by compass) through open water, 

 and have got pretty well north, but see no ice, and the 

 air is dark to the northward. Mild weather and water 

 comparatively warm, as high as 35 Fahr. We have 

 the current against us, and are always considerably west 

 of our reckoning. Several flocks of eider-duck were seen 

 in the course of the day. We ought to have land to the 

 north of us ; can it be that which is keeping back the 



-\ 

 ice r 



Next day we met ice, and had to hold a little to the 

 south to keep clear of it ; and I began to fear that we 

 should not be able to get as far as I had hoped. But in my 

 notes for the following day (Monday, September i8th) I 

 read : " A splendid day. Shaped our course northwards, 



