20 FARTHES2' NORTH 



tion of two points and back again in so short a space 

 of time should not have been noticed and heard on 

 board. This theory, therefore, is entirely excluded, and 

 the whole matter seems to me, for the present, to be 

 incomprehensible. Blessing and I at once went on deck 

 to look at the sky. Certainly it was so light that we 

 could see the lanes in the ice astern quite plainly; but 

 there was nothing remarkable in that,- it happened often 

 enough. 



" Friday, November 30th. I found a bear's track on 

 the ice in front of our bow. The bear had come from the 

 east, trotting very gently along the lane, on the newly 

 frozen ice, but he must have been scared by something or 

 other ahead of the vessel, as he had gone off again with 

 Ions: strides in the same direction in which he had come. 

 Strange that living creatures should be roaming about in 

 this desert. What can they have to do here } If only 

 one had such a stomach one could at least stand a 

 journey to the Pole and back without a meal. We shall 

 probably .have him back again soon — that is, if I un- 

 derstand his nature aright — and then perhaps he will 

 come a little closer, so that we may have a good look at 

 him.* 



" I paced the lane in front of the port bow. It was 

 348 paces across, and maintained the same width for a 

 considerable distance eastward ; nor can it be much 



* He did not return, after all. 



