712 APPENDIX 



and its further treatment will demand both time and patience. 

 It must therefore be left to subsequent scientific publica- 

 tions. 



Still less do I contemplate attempting to enter here into a 

 discussion on the numerous magnetic, astronomical, and meteo- 

 rological observations taken. At the end of this work I merely 

 give a table showing the mean temperatures for each month 

 during the drift of the Fraiii and during our sledging expedi- 

 tion. 



On the whole, it may probably be said that, although the 

 expedition has left many problems for the future to solve in 

 connection with the polar area, it has, nevertheless, gone far to 

 lift the veil of mystery which has hitherto shrouded those 

 regions, and we have been put in a position to form a tolerably 

 clear and reasonable idea of a portion of our globe that formerly 

 lay in darkness, which only the imagination could penetrate. 

 And should we in the near future get a bird's-eye view of the 

 regions around the Pole as seen from a balloon, all the most 

 material features will be familiar to us. 



But there still remains a great deal to be investigated, and 

 this can only be done by years of observation, to which end a 

 new drift, like that of the Frani, would be invaluable. Guided 

 by our experience, explorers will be in a position to equip them- 

 selves still better ; but a more convenient method for the scien- 

 tific investigation of unknown regions cannot easily be imagined. 

 On board a vessel of this kind explorers may settle themselves 

 quite as comfortably as in a fixed scientific station. They can 

 carry their laboratories with them, and the most delicate experi- 

 ments of all kinds can be carried out. I hope that such an ex- 

 pedition may be undertaken ere long, and if it goes through 

 Bering Strait and thence northward, or perhaps slightly to the 

 northeast, I shall be very much surprised if observations are not 

 taken which will prove of far greater scope and importance than 

 those made by us. But it will require patience : the drift will 

 be more protracted than ours, and the explorers must be well 

 equipped. 



There is also another lesson which I think our expedition has 



