.206 FARTHEST NORTH 



also wind, water, and thick weather — all of them equally 

 obdurate adversaries to overcome. 



"Sunday, May 12th. +0.6" Fahr. (—17.5° C). Yes- 

 terday we had a better time than we expected. Over- 

 cast and thick it was the whole time, and we felt our 

 way rather than saw it. The ice was not particularly 

 good either, but we pressed onward, and had the satis- 

 faction nov/ and then of travelling over several long 

 stretches of flat ice. A couple of channels which had 

 partly opened hindered us somewhat. Curiously enough 

 the strip of clear sky was still there in the S.S.W. (true), 

 and as we went along rose higher in the heavens. We 

 kept expecting it to spread, and that the weather would 

 clear; we needed it sorely to find our way; but the strip 

 never rose any higher, and yet remained there ecjually 

 clear. Then it sank again, and only a small rim was 

 left visible on the margin of the sky. Then this also 

 disappeared. I cannot help thinking that this strip must 

 have had something to do with land. At 7 o'clock this 

 morning we came to a belt of ice as bad, almost, as I have 

 ever seen it, and as I thought it unadvisable to make an 

 onslaught in such thick weather, we encamped. I hope 

 we did our 14 miles, and can reckon on only 90 more to 

 land, if it lie in 83 latitude. The ice is undoubtedly of 

 a different character from what it was previously : it is 

 less even, and old lanes and new ones, with ridges and 

 rubble, are more frec^uent — all seeming to point to the 

 vicinity of land. 



