[4] See on this point Dr. Y. Nielsen, in Forhandlinger i Videnskabsselskabet i Christiania. Meeting held June 11, 1886.
[5] Since writing the above I have tried to make such a calculation, and have come to the conclusion that the aggregate rainfall is not so large as I had at first supposed. See my paper in The Norwegian Geographical Society’s Annual, III., 1891–92, p. 95; and The Geographical Journal, London, 1893, p. 5.
[6] The discovery during our expedition of a great depth in the polar basin renders it highly probable that this assumption is correct.
[7] The experience of our expedition, however, does not point to any such eastward-flowing current along the Siberian coast.
[8] I first thought of choosing the route through Bering Strait, because I imagined that I could reach the New Siberian Islands safer and earlier in the year from that side. On further investigation I found that this was doubtful, and I decided on the shorter route through the Kara Sea and north of Cape Cheliuskin.
[9] As subsequently stated in my lecture in London (Geographical Society’s Journal, p. 18), I purposed to go north along the west coast of the New Siberian Islands, as I thought that the warm water coming from the Lena would keep the sea open here.
[10] See the Society’s Annual, III., 1892, p. 91.
[11] Both my lecture and the discussion are printed in The Geographical Journal, London, 1893, Vol. I., pp. 1–32.
[12] After our return home, Admiral Nares, in the most chivalrous fashion, sent me a letter of congratulation, in which he said that the Fram’s remarkable voyage over the Polar Sea proved that my theory was correct and his scepticism unfounded.
[13] With reference to his statement that Leigh-Smith had observed such icebergs on the northwest coast of Franz Josef Land, it may be remarked that no human being has ever been there.