400 FARTHEST NORTH 



emptied them out in the cook's galley by lamplight 

 To my astonishment the net- line pointed northwest, 

 though from the wind there ought to be a good northerly 

 drift. To clear this matter up I let the net down in 

 the afternoon, and as soon as it got a little way under 

 the ice the line pointed northwest again, and continued 

 to do so the whole afternoon. How is this phenome- 

 non to be explained } Can we, after all, be in a current 

 moving northwest } Let us hope that the future will 

 prove such to be the case. We can reckon on two 

 points of variation in the compass, and in that case the 

 current would make due N.N.W. There seems to be 

 strong movement in the ice. It has opened and formed 

 channels in several places. 



"Thursday, February 22d. The net-line has pointed 

 west all day till now, afternoon, when it is pointing 

 straight up and down, and we are presumably lying 

 still. The wind slackened to-day till it was quite calm 

 in the afternoon. Then there came a faint breeze from 

 the southwest and from the west, and this evening the 

 long-dreaded northwester has come at last. At 9 p.m. 

 it is blowing pretty hard from N.N.W. An observa- 

 tion of Capella taken in the afternoon would seem to 

 show that we are in any case not farther north than 80° 

 II^ and this after almost four days' south wind. What- 

 ever can be the meaning of this .? Is there dead-water 

 under the ice, keeping it from going either forward or 

 backward ? The ice to starboard cracked yesterday, 



