JV£ MAKE A START 91 



bility have to be placed in other hands, and care must be 

 taken that nothing is forgotten in the way of instructions 

 to the men who remain, as the scientific observations 

 will have to be continued on the same lines as they have 

 been carried on hitherto, and other observations of all 

 kinds will have to be made, etc., etc." 



The last night we were to spend on board the Frani 

 eventually arrived, and we had a farewell party. In a 

 strange, sad way, reminiscences were revived of all that 

 had befallen us here on board, mingled with hope and 

 trust in what the future would bring. I remained up till 

 far into the night ; letters and remembrances had to be 

 sent to those at home, in case the unforeseen should hap- 

 pen. Among the last things I wrote were the following 

 instructions to Sverdrup, in which I handed over to him 

 the command of the expedition : 



" Captain Otto Sverdrup, Commander of the Frain : 



" As I am now leaving the Fram, accompanied by 

 Johansen, to undertake a journey northward — if possible, 

 to the Pole — and from there to Spitzbergen, most likely 

 via Franz Josef Land, I make over to you the command 

 of the remaining part of the expedition. From the day 

 I leave the Fram, all the authority \vhich hitherto was 

 vested in me shall devolve upon you to an equal extent, 

 and the others will have to render absolute obedience to 

 you, or to whomsoever you may depute as their leader. I 

 consider it superfluous to give any orders about what is 



