THE NANSEN POLAR EXPEDITION 
341 
ice several miles back to the northward. Toward the last of 
June they concluded to make a sort of camp and wait for the 
ice to break up somewhat. Their food was giving out and the}’’ 
had but two dogs left, so they began to depend on walrus and 
hear meat for their sustenance. It was a month of hardships, 
hut on the 23d of July they pushed on again, wdth health un- 
broken, toward land, Avhich they sighted the next day, July 24, 
at about 82° north latitude. 
At that time of the year the ice was considerably broken up, 
and, as it was unsafe in the boats, they were obliged to travel 
over the floating ice, leaping from one ice-field to another, and in 
this difficult and dangerous way proceeded towards the land they 
had sighted, and which was reached the 6th day of August, at 
81° 38' north latitude and about 63° east longitude, and ]>roved 
to ])e three snow-covered islands, to the west of which they found 
open water, and through this they made their way in a westerly 
and southwesterly direction until August 26th, at 81° 12' north 
latitude and about 56° east longitude, when they set foot upon 
land — Franz Josef land — where Dr Nansen considered it advis- 
able to prepare themselves for spending the dark winter months, 
as it w’as too late to continue the journey to Spitzbergen. Thus 
they had been more than five months wandering over the Arctic 
ice-fields and in the Polar sea without a roof to cover them, even 
without furs, which they had left in order to limit their impedi- 
menta to the strictest necessities. 
The hut they put up was constructed of stone and turf, cov- 
ered with walrus skins, and was twelve feet long and six feet 
wide, with a door made of hear skin. Here they spent nine 
dreary months, depending upon their own efforts for food, as 
their last dog had been killed Ijefore they reached land. They 
had started with twenty-eight dogs, hut as soon as the ]:>rovisions 
for them gave out they had to kill the weakest, one after an- 
other, in order to feed the remaining j)ack. 
During this terriljle winter hear meat was their main depend- 
ence — in fact, these two men shot nineteen l)ears during their 
adventurous fifteen months, 'i'he fat was used both as fuel and 
liglit, a lam)) having l)een constructed out of the metal work of 
the sleds. They were also obliged to make themselves sleej)ing 
])ags and winter clothing of furs. 
On the 19th of May, 189(), the days having become sulliciently 
bright, and with a su)>|)ly of hear meat and the ho])e of finding 
some game on the way and making a s))eedy journey homeward. 
