Second Autumn in the Ice. 467 



as Franz Josef Land must force the ice north (taking for 

 granted that all that comes from this great basin goes 

 round to the north of Franz Josef Land), it is probable 

 that our course will become more northerly the farther 

 on we go, until we are past Franz Josef Land, and that we 

 shall consequently reach a higher latitude than our drift 

 so far would indicate. I hope 85 at least. Everything 

 has come right so far ; the direction of our drift is exactly 

 parallel with the course which I conjectured to have been 

 taken by the floe with the Jeannette relics, and which I 

 pricked out on the chart prepared for my London 

 Address/" This course touched about 87^ N. lat. I 

 have no right to expect a more northerly drift than 

 parallel to this, and have no right to be anything but 

 happy if I get as far. Our aim, as I have so often tried 

 to make clear, is not so much to reach the point ' in 

 which the earth's axis terminates,' as to traverse and 

 explore the unknown Polar Sea ; and yet I should like 

 to get to the Pole, too, and hope that it will be possible 

 to do so, if only we can reach 84 or 85 by March and 

 why should we not ? " 



" Thursday, September 27th. Have determined that, 

 beginning from to-morrow, every man is to go out snow- 

 shoeing two hours daily, from 11 to i, so long as the 



* See Geographical Journal, London, 1893. See also the map in 

 Naturcn, 1890, and the Norwegian Geographical Society's Year Book, 

 I, 1890. 



2 II 2 



