446 NANSEN — POLAE EXPEDITION, 1893-96. [Oct. 29, 



by forcing herself forward with the help of her steam engine. If 

 she had not done this slie would, of course, have been drifted 

 further in the same direction, and then she would as you see have 

 been drifted southward along the east coast of Greenland, and 

 might have drifted in that direction for a year more. 



Thus you see there would have been a broad belt of drift ice 

 drifting southward -between the Fram and the coast itself. It is 

 evident that this ice must have traveled by a route similar to that 

 of the Fram, but that route had been to the north of the Fram's. 

 All this ice (indicating) must therefore come from an extended sea 

 lying to the north of our route, and consequently there cannot be 

 any land in that region stopping the drift. Thus, we have good 

 reason to believe that the whole extent of this region on the 

 European and Asiatic side of the pole is nothing but sea, perhaps 

 with some small islands of no importance. In my opinion the pole 

 itself is situated in the same extended deep sea. 



This distribution of the land and water on the European side is, 

 I think, the most important feature of the geographical discov- 

 eries made by us on the expedition. There might, of course, be 

 found land on the American side of the polar region. It is not 

 probable that we should just now happen to have found the northern 

 limit of land on this side. Much still remains to be done by future 

 expeditions in geographical exploration. 



Before leaving the subject of geographical discoveries, I will 

 briefly mention the extent of Franz-Josef Land. You know 

 that the group of islands situated to the east of Spitzbergen, 

 called Franz- Josef Land, was discovered by the Austrian Teget- 

 hofft expedition in 1872-4. The expedition had only explored 

 the southern coast of this land and made a dash northward 

 through a narrow channel which was called Austria Sound. 

 Afterward the English explorer Leigh-Smith came two sum- 

 mers to this land and discovered the more western part of its 

 coast. The last time he came his ship was crushed and he spent 

 the winter there and came back in boats the next year. The north- 

 ern extension of this land was not at all known, and therefore it 

 was believed by some authorities that this land was only the south- 

 ern coast of a big continent extending poleward. I did not believe 

 this; I believed that Franz -Josef Land was only a group of islands. 

 Now with our discoveries and those of the English Jackson- Harms- 

 worth expedition it is an established fact that Franz-Josef Land 



