CHAPTER LI 



DISCOVERY OF MEIGHEN ISLAND 



THE first hint that we might be approaching undiscovered land 

 we got from the fact that when there was a current shown in 

 our observations, it was running either southeast or north- 

 west and appeared therefore to be of tidal origin. The map as it 

 stood before our lands were placed upon it showed a big open bight 

 which Sverdrup named "Crown Prince Gustav Sea." A strong tide 

 current is found only in a strait, and were the "Prince Gustav Sea" 

 really free from land there would be nothing hereabouts having the 

 character of a strait. But alternating tide currents showed that 

 we must be in a strait, and that "Crown Prince Gustav Sea" does 

 not exist in the form assumed by Sverdrup. Our maximum sound- 

 ings were around four hundred meters, which was compatible with 

 this being either a sea or the mouth of a strait. 



I have always thought that the discovery of land which human 

 eyes have never seen is about the most dramatic of possible ex- 

 periences. I don't pretend to be used to it or past the thrills that 

 go with it. It is still my dearest dream to discover more lands or, 

 if there are found to be none, finally to establish that fact for the 

 half million and more square miles that still remain unexplored in 

 the north polar regions. But it is probably true that the first thrill 

 of any great new experience can never be quite duplicated, and it 

 seemed to me that after the currents began to hint of nearness of 

 land my companions were more excited about it than I was. At any 

 rate, they took every opportunity to climb the highest hummocks, 

 and I was glad to have them do it in my place, both because my 

 weak ankle was always in danger in climbing, even though I 

 crawled up and slid down instead of actually walking, and also 

 because I wanted one of them to have the pleasure of being the 

 first to sight land. 



The morning of June 12th Noice thought he could see land 

 from the top of an exceptionally high pressure ridge, and when I 

 got up there and could see nothing that resembled it Noice main- 

 tained this was because the fog banks had meanwhile shifted. That 



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