300 THE VOYAGE OF THE " FRAM " 



and north-west; besides which, the masses of pressure- 

 ice that collect here must go to show that it encoimters 

 an obstruction, probably the Barrier. When we went 

 out in 1912 the ice lay in exactly the same place and in 

 the same way. 



Our course was still to the west along the pack-ice, 

 and it was not till the 20th that we could turn her nose 

 northward again. For a change we now had a stiff 

 breeze from the south-east, with thick snow, so we got 

 on very well. On the whole, the Fram goes much 

 more easily through the water now than on the way 

 south. Her bottom has probably been cleaned by the 

 cold water and all the scraping against the ice; besides 

 which, we have no more than a third of the load with 

 which we left Norway. 



On the night of the 20th we had to light the binnacle- 

 lamps again, and now the days grew rapidly shorter. 

 It may possibly be a good thing to have dark nights on 

 land, but at sea it ought always to be light, especially 

 in these waters, which are more or less unknown, and 

 full of drifting icebergs. 



At 4 p.m. on the 22nd we entered the drift-ice in 

 lat. 70-5° S., long. 177*5'' E. The ice was much 

 higher and uglier than when we were going south, 

 but as there was nothing but ice as far as we could 

 see both east and west, and it was fairly loose, we had 

 to make the attempt where there seemed to be the best 

 chance of getting through. 



