THE JOURNEY SOUTHWARD 509 



not be on Franz Josef Land (as I still thought might be 

 the case) ; but we could not see far in this hazy atmos- 

 phere, and then it was remarkable that the coast on 

 the east began to run in an easterly direction. I thought 

 it might agree with Leigh -Smith's map of Markham 

 Sound. \\\ that case we must have come south through 

 a sound which neither he nor Payer could have seen, 

 and we were therefore not so far out of our longitude, 

 after all. But no! in our journey southward we could 

 not possibly have passed right across Payer's Dove 

 Glacier and his various islands and lands without hav- 

 ing: seen them. There must still be a land farther west 

 of this, between Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen ; 

 Payer's map could not be altogether wrong. I wanted 

 to reach the land in the southwest, but had to stop on 

 the ice ; it was too far, 



"Our provisions are getting low; we have a little 

 meat for one more day, but there is no living thing to 

 be seen, not a seal on the ice, and no open water any- 

 where. How lono; is this o-oino; on } If we do not soon 

 reach open sea again, where there may be game to be 

 had, things will not look very pleasant. 



"Tuesday, June i6th. The last few days have been 

 so eventful that there has been no time to w^rite. I must 

 try to make up for lost time this beautiful morning, while 

 the sun is peeping in under the tent. The sea lies blue 

 and shining outside, and one can lie and fancy one's self 

 at home on a June morning." 



