Introduction. 35 



unknown land up by the Pole and remain lying fast there, 

 how will you extricate yourselves ? ' To this I would 

 merely reply, as concerns the backwater, that we must 

 get out of it just as surely as we got into it, and that we 

 shall have provisions for five years. And as regards the 

 other possibility, we should hail such an occurrence with 

 delight, for no spot on earth could well be found of 

 greater scientific interest. On this newly discovered 

 land we should make as many observations as possible. 

 Should time wear on and find us still unable to get our 

 ship into the set of the current again, there would be 

 nothing for it but to abandon her, and with our boats 

 and necessary stores to search for the nearest current in 

 order to drift in the manner before mentioned. 



" How long may we suppose such a voyage to occupy ? 

 As we have already seen, the relics of the Jeannette 

 Expedition at most took two years to drift along the same 

 course down to the 8oth degree of latitude, where we 

 may, with tolerable certainty, count upon getting loose. 

 This would correspond to a rate of about two miles per 

 clay of twenty-four hours. 



" We may therefore not unreasonably calculate on 

 reaching this point in the course of two years ; and it is 

 also possible that the ship might be set free in a higher 

 latitude than is here contemplated. Five years' pro- 

 visions must therefore be regarded as ample. 



" But is not the cold in winter in these regions so 

 severe that life will be impossible ? There is no pro- 



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