NORWEGIAN DEEP-SEA EXPEDITION OF 1878. 250 



anchor and turned the prow to the east for our first ocean cruise. Tlie 

 fair weather still continued for some time, so that we dredged with ex- 

 cellent results on the same day at a distance of about forty miles from 

 the coast, where the water was found to be 148 fathoms deep. But the 

 rapidly falhng barometer warned us to look out for drizzly weather, 

 which was not long in coming. Toward evening it began to blow from 

 the west, and during the night we had a perfect gale with chopping sea, 

 which made our ship roll in a most disagreeable manner, so that it 

 finally was found expedient to lay the stem of the vessel against the 

 waves and thus await a change in the weather, a method of working 

 the ship with which we had become only too familiar on our lirst ex- 

 pedition. This state of things continued not only during the remaining 

 portion of the night, but also all of the next day, and while it lasted no 

 kind of investigations could be thought of. Under these circumstances 

 time naturally hung heavily on our hands, and we kept looking anx- 

 iously at the barometer to see whether no change might be expected. 

 But the barometer appeared very capricious. Now it would rise a little 

 and make our hopes rise correspondingly, then it fell again without 

 having advanced more than a few millimetres. The following day the 

 weather had cleared up a little, but a pretty stiff breeze was still blow- 

 ing, and it was so damp and cold that we fairly dreaded the idea of go- 

 ing on deck. Meanwhile we had been able to throw the lead early in 

 the morning and take a series of observations of the temperature, 

 whereby it became evident that we had already advanced within the cold 

 area. Having thus found the eastern boundary line between the Polar 

 and the Atlantic currents, and the manner in which they pass into each 

 other having been more carefully examined, we stopped here, and after 

 having undertaken a dredging we continued northward for the purpose 

 of further tracing the above-mentioned boundary line. The weather 

 continued drizzling and cold, very much like winter, with interchanging 

 showers of snow and sleet, aiid a temi^erature that fell even down to 

 33.8° Fahr. Thus it was not to be wondered at that we who came from 

 summer warmth of more than 08° Fahr., found it disagreeable, and, 

 though being in the midst of summer, we were obliged to put on winter 

 clothes from head to foot whenever we desired to breathe fresh air upon 

 deck. During tlie four following days the Polar current's boundary 

 was followed accurately. In so doing we first sailed to the north, then 

 to the west in the direction toward Beeren Island. On the way we also 

 undertook a couple of dredgiugs, whereby we gained a tolerably correct 

 idea of the character of the fauna, though the weather threw many ob- 

 stacles in the way of these investigations. On the evening of the 3d 

 of July we saw the first ice, which appeared in the form of quite small 

 detached blocks, of the most fantastic shapes, but later in the form of 

 connected floes. Birds increased in number and kind as we advanced. 

 Auks, fulmars ,and gulls flocked everywhere, and in the horizon were seen 

 a number of high columns of smoke as from a fleet of steamships. They 



