396 Chapter VII. 



temper. It was a remarkable fact that during the whole 

 time, the Frams bow turned towards the south, generally 

 S. ^ W., and shifted but very little during the whole 

 drift. As I say on May i4th: " She went backwards 

 towards her o-oal in the north, with her nose ever turned 



O 



to the south. It is as though she shrank from increasing 

 her distance from the world ; as though she were longing 

 for southern shores, while some invisible power is draw- 

 ing her on towards the unknown. Can it be an ill omen, 

 this backward advance towards the interior of the Polar 

 Sea ? I cannot think it ; even the crab ultimately 

 reaches its goal." 



A statement of our latitude and longitude on different 

 days will best indicate the general course of our drift : 



May ist, 80 46' N. lat. ; May 4th, 80 50' ; May 6th, 

 80 49'; May 8th, 80 55' N. lat., 129 58' E. long. ; 

 May i2th, 80 52' N. lat.; May i5th, 129 20' E. 

 long. ; May 2ist, 81 20' N. lat, 125 45' E. long. ; May 

 23rd, 81 26' N. lat; May 2;th, 81 31'; June 2nd, 

 8i3i'N. lat, 121 47' E. long. ; June 1 3th, 8i46'; 

 June 1 8th, 81 52'. Up to this we had made fairly 

 satisfactory progress towards the north, but now came 

 the reaction: June 24th, 81 42'; July ist, 81 33'; 

 July loth, 81 20 ; July nth, 81 32'; July iSth, 81 

 26'; July 3 ist, 81 2' N. lat, 126 5' 5" E. long.; 

 August 8th, 81 8'; August 14th, 81 5' N. lat, 127 

 38' E. long.; August 26th, 81 i'; September 5th, 81 

 14' N. lat, 123 36' E. long. 



