They had for some time been expecting to see land daily, but there was still no appearance of it. The open lanes of water were causing more and more trouble. On the 17th May a school of narwhals was seen in one of them, but none was obtained. On the 19th May the first bear-tracks were seen. On the 25th the latitude was found to be 82° 52′, and yet there was no land in sight. Payer had supposed Petermann Land to be in latitude 83°. The first bird was seen on 29th May, and seals made their appearance soon afterwards. On the last day of May only seven dogs remained. On the 2nd of June it was found that it was necessary to make use of the kayaks, and preparations were made to put them in proper order. The covers were patched and the frames relashed. It was not until the 8th of June that everything was ready for a fresh start, and then it was found that all the lanes had closed, so that the kayaks were not yet required. For the first time the temperature rose above the freezing-point on 6th June. The travelling was now extremely difficult, and they had to be satisfied with journeys of 1 and 2 miles daily. Sometimes it was found that they had drifted about as far northward as they had travelled southward, and it became a serious question whether they were likely to reach land. Although about the latitude of Cape Fligely, there was no appearance of land, and Nansen was in great difficulty over his longitude, due to the time when the chronometers ran down. He calculated and recalculated his observations without making the matter any more clear. Sometimes he thought he might be east of Cape Fligely, and sometimes that he might be to the west. About the middle of June, three months after they left the _Fram_, they began to see signs of returning life. Little auks were numerous, more bear-tracks were seen, and on the 22nd June they were fortunate enough to kill a seal. This seal was one of the large bearded variety (_Phoca barbata_), and supplied sufficient food and fuel to last a month.