140 THE GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



medical advice, was of that kind that we were unable to 

 follow up any means of cure whatever. 



Middle of February, in 64° 40' N.L., and about twenty 

 nautical miles from land, we saw, in a westerly direction, 

 and running parallel with the coast for about eight 

 nautical miles, a strip of open water. It was evidently of 

 considerable breadth, and seemed to reach nearly to the 

 land, for with a westerly wind came up a strong swell. 

 AYith an east wind, on the contrary, it remained calm ; 

 and we might therefore conclude that towards the east 

 the ice lay densely packed. The coast landscape has 

 become less wild; it looks as though people might be 

 living there. The sun, which now stands seventeen 

 degrees high on the meridian, begins to have some power. 

 It begins to feel quite like summer. Off with the furs, 

 and the cramped up sleeves ! the men now go about with 

 bare throats and chests. 



Beautiful northern lights brighten the night. Like 

 the leaves of a fan or a flower, the sheaves of light unroll 

 themselves over the heavens. Its pole seems to lie 

 exactly over our house. 



March brought abundant snow, and gave us but few 

 cheerful days. Once we drifted within a short distance of 

 a small iceberg about sixty feet high, on the top plateau of 

 which we could see a seal family. The wife had evidently 

 in this retirement made her lying-in bed. At four p.m. on 

 the distant horizon, owing to the glistening ice-blink, the 

 " Kolberger-Heide " glacier became visible twenty-five 

 nautical miles from us. On approaching it we could see 

 from there, as far down as Cape Moesting, one unin- 

 terrupted row of glaciers, which seemed to reach down 

 to the sea. The intervening towering rocks wore about 



