186 NORTHWARD 



months we had been staring at a dazzling sea of vv^hite, 

 where artificial means had constantly to be employed to 

 protect the eyes against the excessive flood of light. 

 As a rule, it was even necessary to limit the exposure of 

 the pupils to a mmimum, and to draw the eyelids 

 together. Now we could once more look on the world 

 with open eyes, literally " without winking "; even such 

 a commonplace thing as this is an experience in one's 

 life. Ross Sea showed itself again on its most favour- 

 able side. A cat's paw of south-westerly wind enabled 

 us to use the sails, so that after a lapse of two days we 

 were already about two hundred miles from the Barrier. 

 Modest as this distance may be in itself, when seen on 

 the chart it looked quite imposing in our eyes. It nmst 

 be remembered that, with the means of transport we 

 had employed on land, it cost us many a hard day's 

 march to cover a distance of two hundred geographical 

 miles. 



Nilsen had marked on the chart the limits of the belt 

 of drift-ice during the three passages the Fravi had 

 already made. The supposition that an available open- 

 ing is always to be found in the neighbourhood of the 

 150th meridian appears to be confirmed. The slight 

 changes in the position of the channel were only caused, 

 according to Nilsen's experiences, by variations in the 

 direction of the wind. He had found that it always 

 answered his purpose to turn and try to windward, if 

 the pack showed signs of being close. This mode of 



