182 THE JE ANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



About the middle of February we were found to be about 

 fifty miles from the place where we had entered, and Herald 

 Island was said to have been in sight during one day. Dur- 

 ing these five months we bad drifted over an immense area, 

 approaching and receding from the 180th meridian, but I do 

 not think we crossed it at that time. We continued to drift 

 in this uncertain manner. We noticed that the ship always 

 took up a rapid drift with southeast winds, and a slow drift 

 with northeast winds, owing, doubtless, to Wrangel Island 

 being under our lee. Southwest winds were not frequent. 



At times land was reported to the northeast, but nothing 

 trustworthy. Some observers were constantly eeeing land at 

 all points of the compass, and many was the trip that the 

 navigator and the ice-pilot had to make to the crow's-nest in 

 vain. We were very much disappointed at not being able to 

 shift for ourselves, and up to this time we had only demon- 

 strated to our satisfaction that Dr. Peterman's theory in re- 

 gard to Wrangel Land being a portion of Greenland was no 

 longer tenable, for its insularity was evident, as subsequently 

 proved. 



March and April, 1880, were passed quietly, and we were 

 surprised at not having any March gales. The geese and 

 wild fowl that some of us expected to see on their spring 

 migration, did not put in an appearance. One poor eider 

 duck fell exhausted near the ship, and one of our sportsmen 

 shot at it, and after administering chloroform it succumbed. 

 There were some birds seen later in the season, moving to 

 the westward, but they were not numerous. A great many 

 mussel-shells and quantities of mud were often found on the 

 ice, which indicated that it had been in contact with land 

 or shoals. Our hunters ranged far and wide, and often 

 brought in small pieces of wood on one occasion a codfish 

 head, and on another some stuff that was very much like 

 whale-blubber, all of which had been found on the ice. 



On May 3d, fresh southeast winds began, and the ship 

 took up a rapid and uniform drift to the northwest. Now 

 Mr. Collins began to predict, and told me several times, that 



