40 FARTHEST NORTH 



" It is, indeed, quite remarkable that the diatomous flora 

 on the ice-floes off Bering Strait and on the east coast 

 of Greenland should so completely resemble each other, 

 and should be so utterly unlike all others ; it points to 

 an open connection between the seas east of Greenland 

 and north of Asia." " Through this open connection," 

 I continued in my address, " drift-ice is, therefore, yearly 

 transported across the unknown Polar Sea. On this same 

 drift-ici\ ami by the same route, it must be no less possi- 

 ble to transport an expeditious 



When this plan was propounded it certainly met with 

 approval in various quarters, especially here at home. 

 Thus it was vigorously supported by Professor Mohn, 

 who, indeed, by his explanation of the drift of the 

 Jeannette relics, had given the original impulse to it. 

 But as might be expected, it met with opposition in the 

 main, especially from abroad, while most of the polar 

 travellers and Arctic authorities declared, more or less 

 openly, that it was sheer madness. The year before we 

 set out, in November, 1S92, I laid it before the Geo- 

 graphical Society in London in a lecture at which the 

 principal Arctic travellers of England were present. 

 After the lecture a discussion took place,* which plainly 

 showed hovv greatly I was at variance with the generally 

 accepted opinions as to the conditions in the interior of 

 the Polar Sea, the principles of ice navigation, and the 



* Both my lecture and the discussion are printed in T/ie Geographical 

 Journal. T.ondr)n, 1893, Vol. I., pp. 1-32. 



