230 FAR THE S 7' NORTH 



channels appeared in front. I climbed up on to a hum- 

 mock as quickly as possible, but the sight which met my 

 eyes was anything but enlivening — lane after lane, cross- 

 inQT and recrossino:, in front of us and on each side, as far 

 as the eye could reach. It looked as if it mattered little 

 what direction we chose : it would be of no avail in get- 

 ting- out of the maze. I made a lonq; excursion on ahead 

 to see if there might not be a way of slipping through 

 and over on the consecutive flat sheets as we had done 

 before ; but the ice appeared to be broken up, and so it 

 probably is all the way to land. It was no longer with 

 the compact, massive polar ice that w^e had to deal, but 

 with thin, broken-up pack-ice, at the mercy of every wind 

 of heaven, and we had to reconcile ourselves to the idea 

 of scrambling from floe to floe as best we might. What 

 would I not have given at this moment for it to be March, 

 with all its cold and sufferings, instead of the end of May, 

 and the thermometer almost above 32° Fahr. .r* It was just 

 this end of May I had feared all along, the time at which 

 I considered it of the greatest importance to have gained 

 land. Unhappily my fears proved to be well founded. I 

 almost began to wish that it was a month or more later; 

 the ice would then perhaps be slacker here, with more 

 open pools and lanes, so that in a measure one could 

 make one's way in a kayak. Well, who could tell } 

 This miserable thin young ice appeared to be utterly 

 treacherous, and there was a water-sky in every direction, 

 but mostly far, far ahead. If only we were there ! if only 



