OFF KERGUELEN 155 



to reckon with any likelihood of meeting icebergs, the 

 temperature of the water was also taken every two 

 hours during the night. 



As Kerguelen Island lay almost directly in the course 

 we intended to follow, it was decided for several reasons 

 that we should call there, and pay a visit to the Nor- 

 wegian whaling-station. Latterly many of the dogs 

 had begun to grow thin, and it seemed probable that 

 this was owing to their not having enough fatty sub- 

 stances in their food; on Kerguelen Island there would 

 presumably be an opportunity of getting all the fat we 

 wanted. As to water, we had, it was true, just enough 

 to last us with economy, but it would do no harm to 

 fill up the tanks. I was also hoping that there would 

 be a chance of engaging three or four extra hands, for 

 the Fram would be rather short-handed with only ten 

 men to sail her out of the ice and round the Horn to 

 Buenos Aires after the rest of us had been landed on 

 the Barrier. Another reason for the contemplated visit 

 was that it would be an agreeable diversion. We now 

 only had to get there as quickly as possible, and the 

 west wind helped us splendidly; one stiff breeze suc- 

 ceeded another, without our having any excessive 

 weather. Our daily distance at this time amounted 

 as a rule to about one hundred and fifty miles; in one 

 twenty-four hours we made one hundred and seventy- 

 four miles. This was our best day's work of the whole 

 voyage, and it is no bad performance for a vessel like 



