With a fair wind we set sail on the foremast, and slowly but surely she pushed the heavy floes aside.

At lunch time we entered a long lead of open water, and for nearly half an hour we sailed along comfortably in it.

Entering the pack again, we found the floes much lighter and again pushed on slowly.

In all we may have made as much as three miles.
I have observed for some time some floes of immense area forming a chain of lakes in this pack, and have been most anxious to discover their thickness.

They are most certainly the result of the freezing of comparatively recent pools in the winter pack, and it follows that they must be getting weaker day by day.