The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



the question of diffusion or a general escape 

 of the gas through the fabric on account of the 

 extreme difficulty of making any material com- 

 paratively gas-tight. Andree considered that a 

 week at the utmost should find him on terra 

 firma once more, having crossed the Pole en 

 route. He did not seem to care where he landed 

 so long as his main object of approaching the 

 Pole was attained. He hoped that he could land 

 somewhere in Siberia. To this end, and for his 

 help and protection, the Russian Government 

 had distributed thousands of leaflets amongst 

 the natives in this locality describing the expedi- 

 tion, so that he might have whatever assistance 

 they could afford him. Andree put it quite 

 tersely to me one day when I guessed his 

 probable landing-place, and said, " I shan't land, 

 in any case, anywhere near a telegraph office." 

 Given that the balloon kept afloat, there was 

 the question of the direction of the wind, for, 

 of course, the whole success or failure depended 

 upon this factor. In the spring the prevailing 

 winds are from the south, veering south-east, 

 south-west. As the summer advances the winds 

 become more easterly and westerly, until in late 

 summer the prevailing winds become northerly, 

 north-easterly, or north-westerly. It was there- 

 fore essential that if success was to attend his 

 efforts a very early start in the spring must be 

 made, to take advantage of this tendency of 



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