side of the peninsula, while farther
east a lower and more rounded height stretches southward. This last
must be the one mentioned by Nordenskioeld, and, according to his
description, the real north point must lie out beyond it; so that
we were now off King Oscar's Bay; but I looked in vain through the
telescope for Nordenskioeld's cairn. I had the greatest inclination to
land, but did not think that we could spare the time. The bay, which
was clear of ice at the time of the Vega's visit, was now closed in
with thick winter ice, frozen fast to the land.

We had an open channel before us; but we could see the edge of the
drift-ice out at sea. A little farther west we passed a couple of small
islands, lying a short way from the coast. We had to stop before noon
at the northwestern corner of Chelyuskin, on account of the drift-ice
which seemed to reach right into the land before us. To judge by the
dark air, there was open water again on the other side of an island
which lay ahead. We landed and made sure that some straits or fjords on
the inside of this island, to the south, were quite closed with firm
ice; and in the evening the Fram forced her way through the drift-ice
on the outside of it. We steamed and sailed southward along the coast
all night, making splendid way; when the wind was blowing stiffest
we went at the rate of 9 knots. We came upon ice every now and then,
but got through it easily.

Towards morning (September 11th) we had high land ahead, and had
to change our course to due east, keeping to this all day. When
I came on deck before noon I saw a fine tract of hill country,
with high summits and valleys between. It was the first view of the
sort since we had left Vardoe, and, after the monotonous low land we
had been coasting along for months, it was refreshing to see such
mountains again. They ended with a precipitous descent to the east,
and eastward from that extended a perfectly flat plain. In the course
of the day we quite lost sight of land, and strangely enough did not
see it again; nor did we see the Islands of St. Peter and St. Paul,
though, according to the maps, our course lay close past them.

Thursday, September 12th. Henriksen awoke me this morning at 6 with
the information that there were several walruses lying on a floe
quite close to us. "By Jove!" Up I jumped and had my clothes on in a
trice. It was a lovely morning--fine, still weather; the walruses'
guffaw sounded over to us along the