2o8 FAR THE SI' NORTH 



however, we covered some ground yesterday, and if I 

 reckon 20 miles for yesterday and to-day together I do 

 not think I shall be very far out. We should thus have 

 only about 50 miles to the 83d parallel and the land 

 which Payer determined. We are keeping a somewhat 

 southerly course, about due south (true), as this continual 

 east wind is certainly driving us westward, and I do not 

 like the idea of drifting west past land. It is beginning 

 to be tolerably warm inside the bag at night now, and 

 last night I could hardly sleep for heat. 



"Tuesday, May 14th. +6.8" Fahr. (— i4°C.). Yes- 

 terday was a cozy day of rest. Just as we were about 

 to get under way after breakfast it clouded over, and a 

 dense snow-storm set in, so that to start out in such 

 weather, in the uneven ice we have now before us, w^ould 

 not have been worth while. I therefore made up my 

 mind to halt for the time being and get some trifles 

 done, and in particular the shifting of the load from the 

 birch sledge on to the two others, and so at last get rid 

 of this third sledge, for which we can no longer spare 

 any dogs. This took some time ; and as it was abso- 

 lutely necessary to do it, we lost nothing by stopping for 

 a day. 



" We had now so much wood from the sledge, to- 

 gether with broken snow-shoe staves and the results of 

 other casualties, that I thought we should be able to use 

 it as fuel for some time to come, and so save the petro- 

 leum. We accordingly made a fire of it to cook the 



