578 FARTHEST NORTH 



" Silent, oh, so silent ! You can hear the vibrations of 

 your own nerves. I seem as if I were gliding over and 

 over these plains into infinite space. Is this not an im- 

 age of what is to come.f^ Eternity and peace are here. 

 Nirvana must be cold and bright as such an eternal star- 

 night. What are all our research and understanding in 

 the midst of this infinity ? 



" Friday, November i6th. In the forenoon I went 

 out with Sverdrup on snow-shoes in the moonlight, and 

 we talked seriously of the prospects of our drift and of 

 the proposed expedition northward over the ice in the 

 spring. In the evening we went into the matter 

 more thoroughly in his cabin. I stated my views, in 

 which he entirely coincided. I have of late been 

 meditating a great deal on what is the proper course 

 to pursue, supposing the drift does not take us so far 

 north by the month of March as I had anticipated. But 

 the more I think of it, the more firmly am I persuaded 

 that it is the thing to do. For if it be right to set out 

 at 85°, it must be no less right to set out at 82" or 83". 

 In either case we should penetrate into more northerly 

 regions than we should otherwise reach, and this be- 

 comes all the more desirable if the Fi^am herself does not 

 get so far north as we had hoped. If we cannot actually 

 reach the Pole, why, we must turn back before reaching 

 it. The main consideration, as I must constantly repeat, 

 is not to reach that exact mathematical point, but to ex- 

 plore the unknown parts of the Polar Sea, whether these 



