VOYAGE THROUGH THE KARA SEA 227 



according to my calculations, ought to set north from 

 this coast, and which indeed we ourselves have felt. 

 And it is such hard, thick ice — has the appearance of 

 being several years old. Does it come from the east- 

 ward, or does it lie and grind round here in the sea 

 between the ' north-going ' current of the Lena and the 

 Taimur Peninsula? I cannot tell yet, but anyhow it is 

 different from the thin, one-year-old ice we have seen 

 until now in the Kara Sea and west of Cape Chelyuskin. 



"Saturday, September i6th. We are keeping a 

 northwesterly course (by compass) through open water, 

 and have got pretty well north, but see no ice, and the 

 air is dark to the northward. Mild weather, and water 

 comparatively warm, as high as 35° Fahr. We have 

 the current against us, and are always considerably west 

 of our reckoning. Several flocks of eider-duck were 

 seen in the course of the day. We ought to have land 

 to the north of us ; can it be that which is keeping back 

 the ice T' 



Next day we met ice, and had to hold a little to the 

 south to keep clear of it ; and I began to fear that we 

 should not be able to get as far as I had hoped. But in 

 my notes for the following clay (Monday, September iSth) 

 I read: "A splendid day. Shaped our course north- 

 ward, to the west of Bielkoff Island. Open sea ; good 

 wind from the west ; good progress. Weather clear, and 

 we had a little sunshine in the afternoon. Now the de- 

 cisive moment approaches. At 12.15 shaped our course 



