SVERDRUP'S EXPEDITION (1902) 259 



as they were anxious to ascertain the extent of land to 

 the west they did not venture to its head. Next day 

 the land trended about due north, and when the weather 

 cleared land was seen to the north-west, and they recog- 

 nised they were in a bay. A straight line was made 

 for the part farthest off, which was reached on the 6 th 

 May. Sverdrup here ascended a height, and found that 

 he was on an island separated by a narrow sound from 

 the land in the east. From a point about 3 miles 

 north of the camp, the land turned to the north-east. 

 North and west of this land, only sea could be made 

 out. To the south was Axel Heiberg Land. Sverdrup 

 built a cairn to mark their farthest north, as he had 

 now decided to return. The latitude was found to 

 be 81° 40'. 



In returning, a course was made across Fridtjof Nansen 

 Sound to the northern extremity of Axel Heiberg 

 Land. In passing south they proved that Schei Island 

 was really an island, and not a peninsula. Some polar 

 oxen were shot and the dogs feasted, and the way south 

 was covered at a good speed. When Bay Fiord was 

 reached, they entered it and explored it to its head, 

 where they arrived on 29th May. 



The From was reached on 16th June, after an absence 

 of seventy-seven days. 



Isachsen, Fosheim, and Hassel had left the records as 

 arranged, and had returned to the ship on 18th April ; 

 and on the 23rd April, Baumann, Fosheim, and Raanes 

 started for Beechy Island, which was reached on 4th 

 May. It is really not an island, but constitutes the 

 south-west corner of North Devon. The depot was 

 found destroyed. The cutter Mary, which had been 

 left there, was ' a wreck ; whether the work of Eskimo or 

 seal-catchers could not be said with certainty. They 

 discovered that Arthur Strait was really a fiord. The 



