142 FARTHEST NORTH 



bright weather ; o-lorious for traveUino- in but somewhat 

 cold at nights, with the quicksilver continually frozen. 

 Patching Finn shoes in this temperature inside the tent, 

 with one's nose slowly freezing away, is not all pure en- 

 joyment. 



"Friday, March 22d. Splendid ice for getting over; 

 things go better and better. Wide expanses, with a few 

 pressure-ridges now and then, but passable everywhere. 

 Kept at it vesterday from about half -past eleven in 

 the morning to half-past eight at night; did a good 21 

 miles, I hope. We should be in latitude 85. The 

 only disagreeable thing about it now is the cold. Our 

 clothes are transformed more and more into a cuirass of 

 ice during the day, and wet bandages at night. The 

 blankets likewise. The sleeping-bag gets heavier and 

 heavier froni the moisture which freezes on the hair 

 inside. The same clear, settled weather every day. We 

 are both longing now for a change ; a few clouds and a 

 little more mildness would be welcome." The tempera- 

 ture in the night, -44.8 Fahr. (—42.7° C). By an 

 observation which I took later in the forenoon, our 

 latitude that day proved to be 85 9' N. 



"Saturday, March 23d. On account of observation, 

 lashing the loads on the sledges, patching bags, and 

 other occupations of a like kind, which are no joke in 

 this low temperature, we did not manage to get off yes- 

 terday before 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We stuck to it 

 till nine in the evening, when we stopped in some of the 



