THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
the ice would drift away, so that the vessel would be able 
to continue her voyage; a prediction which they always ended 
with a declaration, expressed both by words and gestures, that 
they would then bitterly lament, which they would also have 
had sufficient reason to do, considering the very friendly way in 
which they were treated by all on board the Vega, both officers 
and men. 
On New Year’s Day, in order to see the state of the ice farther 
out to sea, Lieut. Bove, accompanied by the hunter Johnsen, 
again made an excursion to the open water. Of this he gave 
the following account:— 
“ I left the vessel on the forenoon of 1st January and reached 
the open water after four hours’ steady walking. The deep 
loose snovs^ made walking very fatiguing, and three rows of 
torosses also contributed to this, mainly in consequence of the 
often snow-covered cracks, which crossed the ice-sheet in their 
neighbourhood. One of the torosses was ten metres high. The 
size of the blocks of ice, which were here heaped on each other, 
showed how powerful the forces were which had caused the 
formation of the torosses. These ice ramparts now afford a 
much needed protection to the Vegas winter haven. About 
halfway between the open water and the vessel the way was 
crossed by cracks running from east to west, and clearly indi¬ 
cating that the opening in the ice would have extended to the 
distance of a kilometre from the vessel, if the violent storm in 
December had lasted twelve hours longer. The Vega would 
thereby have been in great danger. The edge of the ice towards 
the open water was evenly cut, as with an immense knife, and 
was so strong that one could walk along it as on a rock. Even 
from the top of a five-metre-high ice-rampart no boundary of 
the open water could be seen to the north-east or north. Partly 
from this, partly from the extension of the water-sky in this 
direction, I draw the conclusion that the breadth of the open 
water was at least thirty-five kilometres. The “ clearing ” was 
bounded on the east by an ice-rampart running north, which at 
a distance of nine or ten kilometres appeared to bend to the 
east. Possibly farther to the east beyond this ice-rampart there 
was another open water basin. The depth at the edge of the 
ice was twenty-one metres, the temperature of the water 2° C. 
The water ran at a considerable speed right out from the 
