414 FARTHEST NORTH 



and massive. It seems strange to me that there is so 

 much northwest wind, and hardly any from the northeast, 

 though the latter is what the rotation of the earth would 

 lead one to expect. As a matter of fact, the wind merely 

 shifts between northwest and southeast, instead of be- 

 tween southwest and northeast, as it ought to do. Unless 

 there is land I am at a loss to find a satisfactory expla- 

 nation, at all events, of this northwest direction. Does 

 Franz Josef Land jut out eastward or northward, or does 

 a continuous line of islands extend from Franz Josef 

 Land in one or other of those directions ? It is by no 

 means impossible. Directly the Austrians got far enough 

 to the north they met with prevailing winds from the 

 northeast, while we get northwesterly winds. Does the 

 central point of these masses of land lie to the north, 

 midway between our meridian and theirs ? I can hardly 

 believe that these remarkably cold winds from the north 

 are engendered by merely passing over an ice -covered 

 sea. If, indeed, there is land, and we get hold of it, then 

 all our troubles would be over. But no one can tell what 

 the future may bring forth, and it is better, perhaps, not 

 to know. 



"Saturday, March loth. The line shows a drift 

 northward ; now, too, in the afternoon, a slight southerly 

 breeze has sprung up. As usual, it has done me good to 

 put my despondency on paper and get rid of it. To-day 

 I am in good spirits again, and can indulge in happy 

 dreams of a large and high land in the north with moun- 



