C., and generally from -1.5 deg. (29.3 deg. Fahr.) to
-1.7 deg. C. (28.94 deg. Fahr.) right to the bottom. Moreover, the bottom
temperature of the whole sea north of the 60th degree of latitude is
under -1 deg. C., a strip along the Norwegian coast and between Norway and
Spitzbergen alone excepted, but here the temperature is over -1 deg. C.,
from 86 fathoms (160 metres) downward, and 135 fathoms (250 metres)
the temperature is already +0.55 deg. C. (32.99 deg. Fahr.), and that, too,
be it remarked, north of the 80th degree of latitude, and in a sea
surrounding the pole of maximum cold.

This warm water can hardly come from the Arctic Sea itself, while the
current issuing thence towards the south has a general temperature
of about -1.5 deg. C. It can hardly be anything other than the Gulf
Stream that finds its way hither, and replaces the water which in its
upper layers flows towards the north, forming the sources of the East
Greenland polar current. All this seems to chime in with my previous
assumptions, and supports the theory on which this expedition was
planned. And when, in addition to this, one bears in mind that the
winds seem, as anticipated, to be as a rule southeasterly, as was,
moreover, the case at the international station at Sagastyr (by the
Lena mouth), our prospects do not appear to be unfavorable.

Frequently, moreover, I thought I could detect unmistakable symptoms
of a steadily flowing northwesterly current under the ice, and then, of
course, my spirits rose; but at other times, when the drift again bore
southward--and that was often--my doubts would return, and it seemed
as if there was no prospect of getting through within any reasonable
time. Truly such drifting in the ice is extremely trying to the mind;
but there is one virtue it fosters, and that is patience. The whole
expedition was in reality one long course of training in this useful
virtue.

Our progress as the spring advanced grew somewhat better than it
had been during the winter, but on the whole it was always the same
sort of crab-like locomotion; for each time we made a long stretch
to the north, a longer period of reaction was sure to follow. It was,
in the opinion of one of our number, who was somewhat of a politician,
a constant struggle between the Left and Right, between Progressionists
and Recessionists. After a period of Left wind and a glorious drift
northward, as a matter of course the "Radical Right" took the helm,
and we