BY SLEDGE AND KAYAK 2'Ji 



hope we may — will be Spitzbergen. In that case we 

 should not even get a glimpse of Franz Josef Land, 

 the land of which I have dreamed golden dreams 

 day and night. But still, if it is not to be, then well and 

 good. Spitzbergen is good enough, and if we are as far 

 west as we seem to be, I have greater hope than before 

 of finding slacker ice and open water ; and then for 

 Spitzbergen ! But there is still a serious question to 

 be faced, and that is to procure ourselves enough food 

 for the journey. 



" I have slept here some time on purpose, after hav- 

 ing spent a good while on my calculations and specula- 

 tions as to our drift and our future. We have nothing 

 to hurry for in this state of the snow; it is hardly better 

 to-day than it was yesterday, and then, on account of 

 the mild temperature, it is better to travel by night than 

 by day. The best thing to do is to spin out the time 

 as long as possible without consuming more than abso- 

 lutely necessary of the provisions; the summer cannot 

 but improve matters, and we have still three months 

 of it before us. The question is, can we procure our- 

 selves food during that time ? It would be strange, I 

 think, if we could not. There are birds about continu- 

 ally; I saw another large gull yesterday, probably the 

 herring or silver gull {Lams argcntatiis) ; but to sup- 

 port life for any length of time on such small fry we 

 have not cartridges enough. On seal or bear all my 

 hopes are fixed; just one before our provisions give 



II.— 18 



