346 Chapter VI. 



have never been able to summon up energy for such a 

 heavy undertaking it meant knocking in four nails 

 and the picture has amused itself by constantly falling" 

 and guillotining whoever happened to be sitting on the 

 sofa below it. 



" Tuesday, January 3Oth. 79 49' N. lat., 134 57' E. 

 long., is the tale told by this afternoon's observations, 

 while by Sunday afternoon's we were in 79 50' N. lat., 

 and 133 23' E. long. This fall-off to the south-east 

 again was not more than I had expected, as it has been 

 almost calm since Sunday. I explain the thing to my- 

 self thus : When the ice has been set adrift in a certain 

 direction by the wind blowing that way for some time, it 

 gradually in process of drifting becomes more com- 

 pressed, and when that wind dies away, a reaction in the 

 opposite direction takes place. Such a reaction must, I 

 believe, have been the cause of Saturday's pressure, 

 which stopped entirely as suddenly as it began. Since 

 then there has not been the slightest appearance of 

 movement in the ice. Probably the pressure indicates the 

 time when the drift turned. A light breeze has sprung 

 up this afternoon from S.E. and E.S.E., increasing 

 gradually to almost ' mill wind.' We are going north 

 again ; surely we shall get the better of the 8oth degree 

 this time. 



"Wednesday, January 3ist. The wind is whistling 

 among the hummocks ; the snow flies rustling through 

 the air ; ice and sky are melted into one. It is dark ; our 



