chap, xx SEVEN ISLANDS 275 



come much farther south. Out therefore into the mist and 

 the heaving sea we hastened, past Foul Point and Vogelsang. 

 Of this island, as well as of Cloven Cliff and the Norways, 

 we had a clear view. They resemble, in structure and 

 colouring, the other shores and islands of the neighbourhood. 

 It was their historic interest that affected me. How many 

 Arctic explorers have sighted them — Phipps (with young 

 Nelson), Scoresby, Franklin, Parry, Nordenskjold, Leigh 

 Smith, Lamont — oftener outposts of disappointment than of 

 surprise ! For in many years the ice-pack comes down to 

 these islands and remains fixed against them week after 

 week. How many skippers have in their turn climbed Cloven 

 Cliff, and gazed towards north and east, only to find ice 

 everywhere and no possible "lead" ! Thus far, at any rate, 

 the fortune of the year favoured us ; there was not a frag- 

 ment of floating ice in sight. 



In five hours' time, however, we ran into it, in latitude 

 8o° 13', and turned eastward along its edge, which forced 

 us somewhat south at first, then bent away northward, so 

 that after six hours' running we were in latitude 8o c 28', 

 almost north of Verlegen Hook. Here the edge of the 

 pack turned sharply to the south, and compelled a 

 change of course. We ran along it for another hour or 

 more, and then came to drift ice, broken up and scattered 

 over the surface of the sea as far as Verlegen Hook itself. 

 By twisting about, a way through was found into open 

 water again, at the mouth of Hinloopen] Strait, but the 

 pack was not far off, and was unmistakably coming down 

 on Verlegen Hook. 



The broken ice-sheet that fills the Polar Sea continually 

 drifts from the north-east on to Spitsbergen. Divided into 

 two parts by North-East-Land, it opens like two jaws, whereof 

 the north usually closes upon Verlegen Hook, the south 

 upon Wiche Land, where, subdividing, a branch goes to 



