200 FARTHEST NORTH 



alternately; between these places there are long, fiat 

 stretches of ice without lanes. These are often perfect- 

 ly even, almost like 'inland ice.' The direction of the 

 lanes is, as before, very often athwart our course, or a 

 little more southwesterly. Others, again, seem to go in 

 about the same direction as we do. This ice is extraor- 

 dinary; it seems to become more and more even as 

 we approach land, instead of the contrary, as we expected. 

 If it would only keep so! It is considerably flatter than 

 it was about the Fraiu, it seems to me. There are no 

 really impracticable places, and the irregularities there 

 are seen to be of small dimensions — rubble-ice, and so 

 forth ; no huge mounds and ridges, as we had farther 

 north. Some of the lanes here are narrow, and so far 

 new that the water was only covered with brash. This can 

 be deceptiv^e enough; it appears to be even ice, but thrust 

 one's staff in, and it goes right through and into the water. 

 " This morning I made out our latitude and longitude. 

 The former was (Sunday, May 5th) 84° 31' N., and the 

 latter 66 15' E. We were not so far south as I expected, 

 but considerably farther west. It is the drift which has 

 put us back and westward. I shall, therefore, for the 

 future, steer a more southerly course than before, about 

 due south (true), as we are still drifting westward, and, 

 above everything, I am afraid of getting too far in that 

 direction. It is to be hoped that we shall soon have 

 land in sight, and we shall then know where to steer. 

 We undoubtedly ought to be there now. 



