230 FARTHEST NORTH 



be glad if we reached ^^^ ; but Sverdrup is less easily sat- 

 isfied ; he says over So' — perhaps 84 , 85'^. He even 

 talks seriously of the open Polar Sea, which he once read 

 about; he always comes back upon it, in spite of my 

 laughing at him. 



" I have almost to ask myself if this is not a dream. 

 One must have gone against the stream to know what 

 it means to 2:0 with the stream. As it was on the 

 Greenland expedition, so it is here. 



" ' Dort ward der Trauni ziir Wirklichkeit, 

 Hier wird die Wirklichkeit zuni Traum !' 



" Hardly any life visible here. Saw an auk or black 

 guillemot to-day, and later a sea-gull in the distance. 

 When I w^as hauling up a bucket of water in the even- 

 ing to wash the deck I noticed that it was sparkling with 

 phosphorescence. One could almost have imagined 

 one's self to be in the south. 



" Wednesday, September 20th. I have had a rough 

 awakening from my dream. As I was sitting at 1 1 a.m., 

 looking at the map and thinking that my cup would 

 soon be full — we had almost reached 78' — there was 

 a sudden luff, and I rushed out. Ahead of us lay the 

 edge of the ice, long and compact, shining through the 

 foo'. I had a strono- inclination to 2:0 eastward, on 

 the possibility of there being land in that direction ; 

 but it looked as if the ice extended farther south there, 

 and there was the probability of being able to reach a 



