ould require to interpret them!

"Silent, oh, so silent! You can hear the vibrations of your own
nerves. I seem as if I were gliding over and over these plains into
infinite space. Is this not an image of what is to come? Eternity and
peace are here. Nirvana must be cold and bright as such an eternal
star-night. What are all our research and understanding in the midst
of this infinity?

"Friday, November 16th. In the forenoon I went out with Sverdrup on
snow-shoes in the moonlight, and we talked seriously of the prospects
of our drift and of the proposed expedition northward over the ice in
the spring. In the evening we went into the matter more thoroughly in
his cabin. I stated my views, in which he entirely coincided. I have
of late been meditating a great deal on what is the proper course
to pursue, supposing the drift does not take us so far north by the
month of March as I had anticipated. But the more I think of it, the
more firmly am I persuaded that it is the thing to do. For if it be
right to set out at 85 deg., it must be no less right to set out at 82 deg.
or 83 deg.. In either case we should penetrate into more northerly regions
than we should otherwise reach, and this becomes all the more desirable
if the Fram herself does not get so far north as we had hoped. If we
cannot actually reach the Pole, why, we must turn back before reaching
it. The main consideration, as I must constantly repeat, is not to
reach that exact mathematical point, but to explore the unknown parts
of the Polar Sea, whether these be near to or more remote from the
Pole. I said this before setting out, and I must keep it continually
in mind. Certainly there are many important observations to be made on
board during the further drift of the ship, many which I would dearly
like to carry on myself; but all the more important of these will be
made equally well here, even though two of our number leave the ship;
and there can scarcely be any doubt that the observations we shall
make farther north will not many times outweigh in value those I
could have made during the remainder of the time on board. So far,
then, it is absolutely desirable that we set out.

"Then comes the question: What is the best time to start? That the
spring--March, at the latest--is the only season for such a venture
there can be no doubt at all. But shall it be next spring? Suppose,
at the worst, we have not advanced farther than to 83 deg. north latitude
and 110 d