1 66 Chapter V. 



clown considerably, and the current was not so strong. 

 A boat would almost be able to row against it ; anyhow 

 one could be eased away by a line from the stern, and 

 keep on taking soundings there, while we " keclged " 

 the Frain with her anchor just clear of the bottom. 

 But before having recourse to this last expedient, I 

 would make another attempt to go against the wind 

 and the current. The engineers were ordered to put 

 on as much pressure of steam as they dared, and the 

 Frain was urged on at her top speed. Our surprise 

 was not small when we saw that we were making way, 

 and even at a tolerable rate. Soon we were out of 

 the sound or " Knipa " (nipper) as we christened it, 

 and could beat out to sea with steam and sail. Of 

 course, we had, as usual, contrary wind, and thick 

 weather. There is ample space between every little 

 bit of sunshine in these quarters. 



Next day we kept on beating northward between the 

 edge of the ice and the land. The open channel was 

 broad to begin with, but farther north it became so 

 narrow that we could often see the coast when we put 

 about at the edge of the ice. At this time we passed 

 many unknown islands and groups of islands. There 

 was evidently plenty of occupation here, for any one 

 who could spare the time, in making a chart of the 

 coast. Our voyage had another aim, and all that we 

 could do was to make a few occasional measurements 

 of the same nature as Nordenskiold had made before us. 



