VOYAGE THROUGH THE KARA SEA 189 



clay and large and small stones strewn over moss and 

 grass flats. Before us we saw points and headlands, 

 with islands outside, and sounds and fjords between ; but 

 it was all locked up in ice, and we could not see far for 

 the fog. There was that strange Arctic hush and misty 

 light over everything — that grayish-white light caused by 

 the reflection from the ice being cast high into the air 

 against masses of vapor, the dark land offering a won- 

 derful contrast. We were not sure whether this was 

 the land near Taimur Sound or that by Cape Palander, 

 but were agreed that in any case it would be best to hold 

 a northerly course, so as to keep clear of Almquist's 

 Islands, which Nordenskiold marks on his map as lying 

 off Taimur Island. If we shaped our course for one 

 watch north, or north to west, we should be safe after 

 that, and be able again to hold farther east. But we 

 miscalculated, after all. At midnight w^e turned north- 

 eastward, and at 4 a.m. (August 2Sth) land appeared out 

 of the fog about half a mile off. It seemed to Sverdrup, 

 who was on deck, the highest that we had seen since we 

 left Norway. He consequently took it to be the main- 

 land, and wished to keep well outside of it, but was 

 obliored to turn from this course because of ice. We 

 held to the W.S.W., and it was not till 9 a.m. that we 

 rounded the western point of a large island and could 

 steer north again. East of us were many islands or 

 points with solid ice between them, and we followed 

 the edo;e of the ice. All the morninsf we went north 



