Voyage through the Kara Sea. 143 



the same formation as Yalmal, with steep sandbanks and 

 orass-Town above. The sea t^rew shallower as we 



O c> O 



nearecl it. Not far from us, small icebergs lay aground. 

 The lead showed steadily less and less water; by 11.30 

 a.m., there were only some 8 fathoms, then to our surprise 

 the bottom suddenly fell to 20 fathoms, and after that we 

 found steadily increasing depth. Between the land and 

 the blocks of stranded ice on our lee there appeared to 

 be a channel with rather deeper water and not so much 

 ice aground in it. It seemed difficult to conceive that 

 there should be undiscovered land here, where both 

 Nordenskiold and Edward Johansen, and possibly several 

 Russians, had passed without seeing anything. Our 

 observations, however, were incontestable, and we imme- 

 diately named the land Sverdrup's Island, after its 

 discoverer. 



As there was still a great deal of ice to windward, we 

 continued our south-westerly course, keeping as close tothe 

 wind as possible. The weather was clear, and at 8 o'clock 

 we sighted the mainland, with Dickson's Island ahead. 

 It had been our intention to run in and anchor here, in 

 order to put letters for home under a cairn, Captain 

 Wiggins having promised to pick them up on his w r ay to 

 the Yenisei. But in the meantime the wind had fallen 

 -it was a favourable chance, and time was precious. 

 So gave up sending our post, and continued our course 

 along the coast. 



The country here was quite different from Yalmal. 



