142 THE GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITIOX. 



ourselves in the latitude of Nukarbik. Was it on this 

 island that Graah wintered from the 3rd of September, 

 1829, to the 5th of April, 1830 ; and where his trouble- 

 some and dangerous boat journey to the north was 

 broken off ? We had long nourished the hope of starting 

 from here on a boat voyage to Friedrichsthal, the most 

 southerly settlement on the western coast, though the 

 ice lay so thick that two sailors asked permission to go 

 on land. Fortunately the captain refused his consent; 

 for a few hours later a change set in, which would have 

 rendered it fearfully difficult for the men to have reached 

 us again. On the evening of the 29th of March we 

 thought we saw a fire on shore, and conjectured that it 

 came from an Esquimaux settlement. We therefore 

 sent up some rockets, and the next day hoisted our flag ; 

 but eventually we saw nothing but some snow-buntings 

 and ravens. The latter came regularly every morning 

 from the land to the sea, and returned at sunset. In the 

 Bight of Nukarbik we had an unwilling stay of four 

 weeks. We found ourselves two to three nautical miles 

 from land. Whilst farther out the ice drifted southward 

 without interruption, our floe tacked now to the south, 

 now to the north. This was caused by the course of the 

 current which ran close under the coast. The wind did 

 not affect it, for we sometimes drove right against it. 

 The coast is here deeply indented by three important 

 Fjords. At the flood these land openings exert great 

 strength of attraction, and our floe neared them. The 

 ebb drew us back again; the next tide renewed the 

 forward motion, and thus for weeks together we were 

 the sport of the currents. At this time the spring flood 

 of the 3rd of April passed over without any remarkable 



