NANSEN'S EXPEDITION (1895) 225 



of Payer's map at this point greatly confused Nansen, 

 and he was not yet certain whether the land reached was 

 part of Franz-Josef Land. A sound to the west, which 

 he at first supposed to be Rawlinson's Sound, did not at 

 all agree with the description given by Payer. Nothing 

 was to be seen of Dove Glacier, which was supposed to 

 bound the Sound on one side. Nansen reasoned that if 

 they were in Rawlinson's Sound they must have traversed 

 the glacier and Wilczek Land without seeing any trace of 

 either, for they had travelled westwards a good half- 

 degree south of Cape Buda-Pesth. Nansen, therefore, 

 was inclined to believe that the land was new, and 

 must be to the west of Franz-Josef Land. But the 

 next puzzle was that if this was the case, the new land 

 must be very far to the west, for nothing had been seen 

 of Oscar's Land. For the present the question was left 

 in a state of doubt. 



When they rounded the headland to the west, they 

 were delighted to find open water as far as they could 

 see, and that the land was trending south-west. Their 

 hopes of getting home now ran high, but soon afterwards 

 a storm delayed them four days and three nights, and the 

 ice packed close along the coast. This, at one blow, 

 destroyed all hope of getting home that year. While 

 camping during the storm, a bear came to the tent and 

 was shot by Nansen. As food was becoming; scarce, this 

 was a fortunate occurrence. 



From the 24th of August till 6th December there was 

 a gap in Nansen's diary. On the latter date he began to 

 fill up the blank. 



After being stopped by the storm, and then drifted out 

 to sea on the ice, they sailed for a whole day in open 

 water in their kayaks. On the following day the weather 

 became stormy, and they were obliged to land. Scarcely 

 had they reached the shore when a bear was seen and 

 i5 



