IX.] 



SAILING AMONG ICE. 



333 



During the night before the 10th September, the surface 

 of the sea was covered with a very thick sheet of newly-frozen 

 ice, which was broken up again in the neighbourhood of the 

 vessel by blocks of old ice drifting about. The j^acZ; itself 

 appeared to have scattered a little. We therefore weighed 

 anchor to continue our voyage. At first a dMour towards the 

 west was necessary to get round a field of drift-ice. Here too, 

 however, our way was barred by a belt of old ice, which was 

 bound together so firmly by the ice that had been formed in the 

 course of the night, that a couple of hours' work with axes and 

 ice-hatchets was required to open a channel through it. On the 

 other side of this belt of ice we came again into pretty open 



IRKAIPI.r. 



(Aftor a drawing by O. Nordqnist ) 



water, but the fog, instead, became so dense that we had again 

 to lie-to at a ground-ice, lying farther out to the sea but more 

 to the west than our former resting-place. On the night before 

 the 11th there was a violent motion among the ice. Fortu- 

 nately the air cleared in the morning, so that we could hold on 

 our course among pretty open ice, until on the approach of night 

 we were obliged as usual to lie-to at a ground-ice. 



The following day, the 12th September, when we had passed 

 Irkaipij, or Cape North, a good way, we fell in with so close ice 

 that there was no possibility of penetrating farther. We were 

 therefore compelkd to return, and were able to make our way 



