18 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



storm of wind and rain right in our teeth. On the 

 afternoon of the same day, when the wind had some- 

 what moderated, we continued our voyage. 



On the 12th we encountered drift-ice, but so 

 spread, that without too many deviations we con- 

 trived to go forward in a north-easterly direction. 

 The ice now began to be accompanied by fog, which 

 in the Arctic waters is more dense than anywhere 

 else in the world. As long as there is drift-ice in 

 the neighbourhood, so long can one almost with 

 certainty calculate upon having an impenetrable fog, 

 which only lifts for a few hours during the day, 

 usually immediately after noon, or early in the morn- 

 ing. Often when the fog disperses at mid-day, there 

 is brilliant sunshine, and one discovers that the 

 course taken in the drift-ice during the fog is wrong, 

 and there is nothing for it but to return the same 

 way and begin to push forward anew by another and 

 better route. The fog rises and falls very suddenly 

 without any premonitory signs, and might be com- 

 pared to a stage-curtain, which is alternately raised 

 and dropped. 



On the 13th of August, during a dense fog, we 

 found ourselves close upon land right ahead of us, as 

 well as on both sides. Fortunately we were proceeding 

 with such caution, that by backing we could come to 

 a stand-still before we had run ashore. We an- 

 chored, and when the atmosphere cleared somewhat 

 for a few moments, we found that the land beside 



