566 THE GEliMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



From tins, one may judge how little can be done witli 

 a sailing-ship in so short a time. 



The next morning, the 17th of August, dawned Avitli 

 a dense fog, which did not lift until noon, when we 

 weighed anchor homeward-bound. Wo steamed due 

 east, as the Captain intended if possible to force the 

 barrier in that latitude, instead of going further south. 

 After a few hours the boiler-pipes again began to leak, 

 so as there was a calm and thick fog, we were obliged to 

 anchor by a small field. 



The whole coast of Greenland was hidden from our 

 sight, and we had seen the last of that land which for 

 a whole year had been our home. The machinery was 

 repaired in the night, though with but little hope of its 

 durability, and we started once more. 



On the 18th the wind blew from the south, and the fog 

 was thicker than ever, falling wet around us, so we 

 preferred remaining by our field instead of advancing 

 blindly into the pack. 



We remained pretty stationary, the astronomical ob- 

 servations at noon showing but a slight change in the 

 position of our ice-field, though it had turned upon its 

 axis ten points of the compass, and that with the sun. 



We had paid particular attention to the revolving of 

 the ice-fields, and found that by far the greater number 

 turned against the sun. Our observations were, how- 

 ever, not numerous enough to warrant our assuming this 

 to be the rule. 



On the morning of the 19th of August, as the fog was 

 lighter, we steamed forward in an easterly direction, only 

 a few floes at first drifting in our way. But, as might 

 be expected, the ice became denser as we advanced into 



