I could not but recall that rainy morning in June when I last set foot on this strand. More than three years had passed; we had toiled and we had sown, and now the harvest had come. In my heart I sobbed and wept for joy and thankfulness.

The ice and the long moonlit polar nights, with all their yearning, seemed like a far-off dream from another world—a dream that had come and passed away. But what would life be worth without its dreams?

The Mean Temperature of Every Month during Nansen and Johansen’s Sledge Journey

DateMean Temperature (Fahr.)MaximumMinimum
°°°
March (16–31), 1895-37-9-51
April, 1895-20-2-35
May, 1895-2428-11
June, 189530389
July, 1895323728
August, 1895293619
September, 1895+2041-4
October, 1895-116-13
November, 1895-1310-35
December, 1895-1312-37
January, 1896-1419-46
February, 1896-1030-40
March, 18961030-29
April, 1896827-16
May, 18961843-11
June (1–16), 1896293923

Original Map of the Kaiser Franz Josef Land

surveyed by Julius Payer