204 FARTHEST NORTH 



satisfied. There was some chance, indeed, that this wind 

 might loosen the ice farther north, and yesterday's ex- 

 periences had given me the hope of being able, in case 

 of necessity, to force a way through this strait ; but now 

 the wind was steadily driving larger masses of ice in past 

 us; and this approach of winter was alarming — it might 

 quite well be on us in earnest before any channel was 

 opened. I tried to reconcile myself to the idea of winter- 

 ing in our present surroundings. I had already laid all 

 the plans for the way in which we were to occupy our- 

 selves during the coming year. Besides an investigation 

 of this coast, which offered problems enough to solve, 

 we were to explore the unknown interior of the Taimur 

 Peninsula right across to the mouth of the Chatanga. 

 With our dogs and snow-shoes we should be able to go 

 far and wide ; so the year would not be a lost one as 

 regarded geography and geology. But no ! I could not 

 reconcile myself to it! I could not! A year of one's life 

 was a year; and our expedition promised to be a long 

 one at best. What tormented me most was the reflec- 

 tion that if the ice stopped us now we could have no 

 assurance that it would not do the same at the same 

 time next year; it has been observed so often that sev- 

 eral bad ice-years come together, and this was evidently 

 none of the best. Though I would hardly confess the 

 feeling of depression even to myself, I must say that it 

 was not on a bed of roses I lay these nights until sleep 

 came and carried me off into the land of forgetful n ess. 



