200 FARTHEST NORTH 



that it seemed unlikely they could have escaped us if 

 thev lay where Nordenskiold's sketch-map places them. 

 On the other hand, we saw several islands in the offing. 

 These, however, lay so far out that it is not probable that 

 Nordenskiold saw them, as the weather was thick when 

 he was here ; and, besides, it is impossible that islands 

 lying many miles out at sea could have been mapped 

 as close to land, with only a narrow sound separating 

 them from it. Farther south we found a narrow open 

 strait or fjord, wliich we steamed into, in order if possible 

 to get some better idea of the lay of the land. I sat up 

 in the crow's-nest, hoping for a general clearing up of 

 matters ; but the prospect of this seemed to recede 

 farther and farther. What we now had to the north of 

 us, and what I had taken to be a projection of the main- 

 land, proved to be an island ; but the fjord wound on 

 farther inland. Now it got narrower — presently it 

 widened out again. The mystery thickened. Could 

 this be Taimur Strait, after all ? A dead calm on the 

 sea. Fos: evervwhere over the land. It was wellni^h 

 impossible to distinguish the smooth surface of the water 

 from the ice, and the ice from the snow-covered land. 

 Everything is so strangely still and dead. The sea rises 

 and falls with each twist of the fjord through the silent 

 land of mists. Now we have open water ahead, now 

 more ice, and it is impossible to make sure which it is. 

 Is this Taimur Strait? Are we getting through? A 

 whole year is at stake ! . . . No I here we stop — nothing 



