JF£ PREPARE FOR THE SLEDGE EXPEDITION ^7 



All were on the tiptoe of expectation. But when he 

 came down he had only observed one star, which, how- 

 ever, was so near the meridian that he could calculate 

 that, at any rate, we were north of 83^ 20' north 

 latitude, and this communication was received with 

 shouts of joy. If we were not yet in the most northerly 

 latitude ever reached by man, we were, at all events, 

 not far from it. This was more than we had expected, 

 and we were in high spirits. Yesterday, being 'the 

 Second Christmas-day,' of course, both on this account 

 and because it was Juell's birthday, we had a special 

 dinner, with oxtail soup, pork cutlets, red whortle- 

 berry preserve, cauliflowers, fricandeau, potatoes, pre- 

 served currants, also pastry, and a wonderful iced- 

 almond cake with the words ' Glaedelig Jul ' (A Merry 

 Christmas) on it, from Hansen, baker, Christiania, and 

 then malt extract. We cannot complain that we are 

 faring badly here. About 4 o'clock this morning the 

 vessel received a violent shock which made everything 

 tremble, but no noise of ice-packing was to be heard. 

 At about half-past five I heard at intervals the crack- 

 ling and crunching of the pack-ice which was surging in 

 the lane ahead. At night similar noises were also heard ; 

 otherwise the ice was quiet, and the crack on the port- 

 side has closed up tight again. 



" Friday, December 28th. I went out in the morning 

 to have a look at the crack on the port side which has 

 now widened out so as to form an open lane. Of 



