27^ FARTHEST NORTH 



when he is to be seen throuo-h the driviiiQ^ clouds ; clear 

 he will never be. Yesterday afternoon, after an uncon- 

 scionable wait, and after having put up the instrument 

 in vain a couple of times, I finally got a wretched single 

 altitude. 



" Yesterday evening I reckoned out these observa- 

 tions and find that, contrary to our expectations, we 

 have drifted strongly westward, having come from 6i° 

 1 6' E., which was our longitude on June 4th, right to 

 about 57° 40' E. But then we have also drifted a 

 good way north again, up to 82° 26' N,, after being 

 down in 82° 17.8' on the same date, and we have been 

 pushing southward as hard as we could the whole time. 

 However, we are glad to see that there is so much move- 

 ment in the ice, for then there is hope of our drifting 

 out eventually towards open water; for that we can get 

 there by our own efforts alone over this shocking ice I 

 am beginning to doubt This country and this going 

 are too bad, and my hope now is in lanes and slack ice. 

 Happily, a northeast wind has sprung up. Yesterday 

 there was a fresh breeze from the north-northwest (mag- 

 netic), and the same again to-day. Only let it blow on; 

 if it has set us northwest it can also set us southwest, 

 and eventually out towards our goal — towards F'ranz 

 Josef Land or Spitzbergen. I doubt more than ever 

 our being east of Cape Fligely after this observation, 

 and I begin to believe more and more in the possibility 

 that the first land we shall see — if we see any, and I 



