The Spring- and Summer of 1894. 435 



and could, without feeling any yearning baulked, have 

 refrained from taking part in an expedition like this. 

 Why should any human being renounce life to be wiped 

 out here ? ' 



" Sunday, June 24th. The anniversary of our depar- 

 ture from home. Northerly wind ; still drifting south. 

 Observations to-day gave 81 41 7" N. lat., so we are 

 not going at a breakneck speed. 



"It has been a long year a great deal has been gone 

 through in it though we are quite as far advanced as I 

 had anticipated. I am sitting, and look out of the 

 window at the snow, whirling round in eddies as it is swept 

 along by the north wind. A strange Midsummer Day ! 

 One mishit think we had had enough of snow and ice ; I 



o o 



am not, however, exactly pining after green fields at all 

 events, not always. On the contrary, I find myself 

 sitting by the hour laying plans for other voyages into 

 the ice after our return from this one. . . . Yes, 

 I know what I have attained, and, more or less, 

 what awaits me. It is all very well for me to sketch 

 plans for the future. But those at home. . . . No, 

 I am not in a humour for writing- this evenino- ; I will 



O O ' 



turn in." 



"Wednesday, July nth. Lat. 81 18' 8". At last 

 the southerly wind has returned, so there is an end of 

 drifting south for the present. 



" Now I am almost longing for the polar night, for the 

 everlasting wonderland of the stars with the spectral 



2 F 2 



