1 1 8 FAR THE ST NOR TH 



Khabarova. According to what Trontheim told us, this 

 was the work of the monks — about the only work, prob- 

 ably, they had ever taken in hand. The soil here was a 

 soft clay, and the channel was narrow and shallow, like a 

 roadside ditch or gutter ; the work could not have been 

 very arduous. On the hill above the lake stood the flag- 

 staff which we had noticed on our arrival. It had been 

 erected by the excellent Trontheim to bid us welcome, 

 and on the flag itself, as I afterwards discovered by 

 chance, was the word " Vorwarts." Trontheim had been 

 told that was the name of our ship, so he was not a little 

 disappointed when he came on board to find it was Fram 

 instead. I consoled him, however, by telling him they 

 both meant the same thing, and that his welcome was 

 just as well meant, whether written in German or Nor- 

 wegian. Trontheim told me afterwards that. he was by 

 descent a Norwegian, his father having been a ship's 

 captain from Trondhjem, and his mother an Esthonian, 

 settled at Riga.. His father had been much at sea, and 

 had died early, so the son had not learnt Norwegian, 



Naturally our first and foremost object was to learn 

 all we could about the ice in the Arctic Sea. We had 

 determined to push on as soon as possible; but we must 

 have the boiler put in order first, while sundry pipes and 

 valves in the engine wanted seeing to. As it would take 

 several days to do this, Sverdrup, Peter Henriksen, and I 

 set out next morning in our little petroleum launch to 

 the eastern opening of the Yugor Strait, to see with our 



