w such a remarkable
number of birds of various kinds. A flock of snipe or wading birds met
us, followed us for a time, and then took their way south. They were
probably on their passage from some land to the north of us. We could
see nothing, as the fog lay persistently over the ice. Again, later,
we saw flocks of small snipe, indicating the possible proximity of
land. Next day the weather was clearer, but still there was no land
in sight. We were now a good way north of the spot where Baron von
Toll has mapped the south coast of Sannikoff Land, but in about the
same longitude. So it is probably only a small island, and in any
case cannot extend far north.

On September 21st we had thick fog again, and when we had sailed
north to the head of a bay in the ice, and could get no farther, I
decided to wait here for clear weather to see if progress farther north
were possible. I calculated that we were now in about 78 1/2 deg. north
latitude. We tried several times during the day to take soundings,
but did not succeed in reaching the bottom with 215 fathoms of line.

"To-day made the agreeable discovery that there are bugs on board. Must
plan a campaign against them.

"Friday, September 22d. Brilliant sunshine once again, and white
dazzling ice ahead. First we lay still in the fog because we could
not see which way to go; now it is clear, and we know just as little
about it. It looks as if we were at the northern boundary of the
open water. To the west the ice appears to extend south again. To
the north it is compact and white--only a small open rift or pool
every here and there; and the sky is whitish-blue everywhere on the
horizon. It is from the east we have just come, but there we could
see very little; and for want of anything better to do we shall make
a short excursion in that direction, on the possibility of finding
openings in the ice. If there were only time, what I should like
would be to go east as far as Sannikoff Island, or, better still,
all the way to Bennet Land, to see what condition things are in there;
but it is too late now. The sea will soon be freezing, and we should
run a great risk of being frozen in at a disadvantageous point."

Earlier Arctic explorers have considered it a necessity to keep near
some coast. But this was exactly what I wanted to avoid. It was the
drift of the ice that I wished to get into, and what I most feared
was being blocked by land. It seemed as if we might do much worse