1 88 FARTHEST NORTH 



not be classed with the Norwegian one, is yet of the 

 kind that it would be difficult to find except off glacier- 

 formed coasts. This tends to strengthen the opinion I 

 had formed of there having been a glacial period in the 

 earlier history of this part of the world also. Of the 

 coast itself, we unfortunately saw too little at any dis- 

 tance from which we could get an accurate idea of its 

 formation and nature. We could not keep near land, 

 partly because of the thick weather, and partly because 

 of the number of islands. The little I did see was 

 enou2:h to sfive me the conviction that the actual coast 

 line differs essentially from the one we know from maps; 

 it is much more winding and indented than it is shown 

 to be. I even several times thought that I saw the 

 openings into deep fjords, and more than once the sus- 

 picion occurred to me that this was a typical fjord coun- 

 try we were sailing past, in spite of the hills being com- 

 paratively low and rounded. In this supposition I was 

 to be confirmed by our experiences farther north. 



Our record of August 27th reads as follows: "Steamed 

 among a variety of small islands and islets. Thick fog 

 in the morning. At 12 noon we saw a small island right 

 ahead, and therefore changed our course and went north. 

 We were soon close to the ice, and after 3 in the after- 

 noon held northeast along its edge. Sighted land when 

 the fog cleared a little, and were about a mile off it at 

 7 r.M. 



It was the same striated, rounded land, covered with 



