SECOND AUTUMN IN THE ICE 579 



be near to or more remote from the Pole. I said this be- 

 fore setting out, and I must keep it continually in mind. 

 Certainly there are many important observations to be 

 made on board during the further drift of the ship, many 

 which I would dearly like to carry on myself; but all the 

 more important of these will be made equally well here, 

 even though two of our number leave the ship ; and there 

 can scarcely be any doubt that the observations we shall 

 make farther north will not many times outweigh in value 

 those I could have made during the remainder of the 

 time on board. So far, then, it is absolutely desirable that 

 we set out. 



" Then comes the question : What is the best time to 

 start } That the spring — March, at the latest — is the only 

 season for such a venture there can be no doubt at all. 

 But shall it be next spring.^ Suppose, at the worst, we 

 have not advanced farther than to ^^^ north latitude and 

 110° east longitude; then something might be said for 

 waiting till the spring of'iS96; but I cannot but think 

 that we should thus in all probability let slip the pro- 

 pitious moment. The drifting could not be so wear- 

 ingly slow but that after another year had elapsed we 

 should be far beyond the point from which the sledge 

 expedition ought to set out. If I measure the distance 

 we have drifted from November of last year with the 

 compasses, and mark off the same distance ahead, by 

 next November we should be north of Franz Josef Land, 

 and a litde beyond it. It is conceivable, of course, that 



