274 FARTHEST NORTH 



are drifting slowly southward. Towards evening the 

 ice packed together again with much force ; but the 

 Frani can hold her own. In the afternoon I fished in 

 a depth of about 27 fathoms (50 metres) with Murray's 

 silk net,* and had a good take, especially of small crusta- 

 ceans {Copepoda, Ostracoda, Amphipoda, etc.) and of a 

 little Arctic worm {Spadelld) that swims about in the sea. 

 It is horribly difficult to manage a little fishing here. No 

 sooner have you found an opening to slip your tackle 

 through than it begins to close again, and you have to 

 haul up as hard as you can, so as not to get the line 

 nipped and lose everything. It is a pity, for there are 

 interesting hauls to be made. One sees phosphores- 

 cence! in the water here whenever there is the smallest 

 opening in the ice. There is by no means such a scarc- 

 ity of animal life as one might expect. 



"Friday, October 13th. Now we are in the very midst 

 of what the prophets would have had us dread so much. 

 The ice is pressing and packing round us with a noise 

 like thunder. It is piling itself up into long walls, and 

 heaps high enough to reach a good way up the Frams 

 rigging; in fact, it is trying its very utmost to grind the 

 Fram into powder. But here we sit quite tranquil, not 



* This silk bag-net is intended to be dragged after a boat or ship to 

 catch the living animals or plant organisms at various depths. We used 

 them constantly during our drifting, sinking them to different depths 

 under the ice, and they often brought up rich spoils. 



tThis phosphorescence is principally due to small luminous Crus- 

 tacea iCopcpoda). 



