THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF i8g4 50i 



" It is all very well that he who has hatched a plan, 

 be it never so wild, should go with it to carry it out ; he 

 naturally does his best for the child to which his thoughts 

 have given birth. But they — they had no child to tend, 

 and could, without feeling any yearning balked, have 

 refrained from taking part in an expedition like this. 

 Why should any human being renounce life to be wiped 

 out here ? 



"Sunday, June 24th. The anniversary of our depart- 

 ure from home. Northerly wind ; still drifting south. 

 Observations to-day gave 81° 41' 7" north latitude, so 

 we are not going at a breakneck speed. 



" It has been a long year — a great deal has been gone 

 through in it — though we are quite as far advanced as I 

 had anticipated. I am sitting, and look out of the 

 window at the snow whirling round in eddies as it is 

 swept along by the north wind. A strange Midsummer- 

 day ! One might think we had had enough of snow and 

 ice ; I am not, however, exactly pining after green fields 

 — at all events, not always.- On the contrary, I find 

 myself sitting by the hour laying plans for other voy- 

 ages into the ice after our return from this one. . . . 

 Yes, I know what I have attained, and, more or less, 

 what awaits me. It is all very well for me to sketch 

 plans for the future. But those at home. . . . No, I 

 am not in a humor for writing this evening; I will 

 turn in. 



"Wednesday, July nth. Lat. 81' 18' 8". At last the 



