The Spring and Summer of 1894. 409 



of the ice in summer and winter was apparent also to 

 the ear, as the ice-packing in winter was always accom- 

 panied by the frequently mentioned loud noises, while 

 the packing of the tough summer ice was almost noiseless, 

 so that the most violent convulsions might take place 

 close to us without our noticing them. 



In the immediate vicinity of the Fram the ice remained 

 perfectly at rest the whole year through, and she was 

 not at this time exposed to any great amount of pressure ; 

 she lay safe and secure on the ice-floe to which she was 

 firmly frozen ; and gradually as the surface of the ice 

 thawed under the summer sun she rose up higher and 

 higher. In the autumn she again began to sink a little, 

 either because the ice gave way under her weight, or 

 because it melted somewhat on the under surface, so 

 that it no longer had so much buoyancy as before. 



Meanwhile, life on board went on in its usual way. 

 Now that we had daylight there was of course more 

 work of various descriptions on the ice than had been 

 the case during the winter. I have already alluded more 

 than once to our unsuccessful endeavours to reach the 

 bottom by sounding. Unfortunately we were not pre- 

 pared for such great depths, and had not brought any 

 cleep-sea sounding apparatus with us. We had, there- 

 fore, to do the best we could under the circumstances ; 

 and that was to sacrifice one of the ship's steel cables in 

 order to make a lead-line. It was not difficult to find 

 sufficient space on the ice for a rope walk, and although 



