232 FARTHEST NORTH 



are bugs on board. Must plan a campaign against 

 them. 



" Friday, September 2 2d. Brilliant sunshine once 

 again, and white dazzling ice ahead. First we lay still 

 in the foo: because we could not see which way to oro; 

 now it is clear, and we know just as little about it. It 

 looks as if we were at the northern boundary of the 

 open water. To the west the ice appears to extend 

 south again. To the north it is compact and white — 

 only a small open rift or pool every here and there ; and 

 the sky is whitish-blue everywhere on the horizon. It is 

 from the east we have just come, but there we could see 

 very little ; and for want of anything better to do we 

 shall make a short excursion in that direction, on the 

 possibility of finding openings in the ice. If there were 

 only time, what I should like would be to go east as far 

 as Sannikoff Island, or, better still, all the way to Bennet 

 Land, to see what condition things are in there ; but it 

 is too late now. The sea will soon be freezing, and we 

 should run a great risk of being frozen in at a dis- 

 advantageous point." 



Earlier Arctic explorers have considered it a necessity 

 to keep near some coast. But this was exactly what I 

 wanted to avoid. It was the drift of the ice that I 

 wished to get into, and what I most feared was being 

 blocked by land. It seemed as if we might do much 

 worse than give ourselves up to the ice where we were 

 — especially as our excursion to the east had proved that 



