2IO FARTHEST NORTH 



by the passage of the ship. I ordered soundings to 

 be taken, and found, as I expected, shallower water — 

 first 8 fathoms, then 6i, then 5^. I stopped now, and 

 backed. Things looked very suspicious, and round us 

 ice-floes lay stranded. There was also a very strong cur- 

 rent running northeast. Constantly sounding, we again 

 went slowly forward. Fortunately the lead went on 

 showing 5 fathoms. Presently we got into deeper water 

 — 6 fathoms, then 6i — and now we went on at full speed 

 aorain. We were soon out into the clear, blue water on 

 the other side. There was quite a sharp boundary-line 

 between the brown surface water and the clear blue. 

 The muddy water evidently came from some river a little 

 farther south. 



From this point the land trended back in an easterly 

 direction, and we held east and northeast in the open 

 water between it and the ice. In the afternoon this 

 channel grew very narrow, and we got right under the 

 coast, where it again slopes north. We kept close along 

 it in a very narrow cut, with a depth of 6 to 8 fathoms, 

 but in the evening had to stop, as the ice lay packed 

 close in to the shore ahead of us. 



This land we had been coasting along bore a strong 

 resemblance to Yalmal. The same low plains, rising 

 very little above the sea, and not visible at any great 

 distance. It was perhaps rather more undulating. At 

 one or two places I even saw some ridges of a certain 

 elevation a little way inland. The shore the whole way 



