and very slowly. We reached 88deg. 29' on December 9. On December 10, 88deg.
56'; December 11, 89deg. 15'; December 12, 89deg. 30'; December 13, 89deg. 45'.

Up to this moment the observations and our reckoning had shown a
surprising agreement. We reckoned that we should be at the Pole on
December 14. On the afternoon of that day we had brilliant weather --
a light wind from the south-east with a temperature of -10deg. F. The
sledges were going very well. The day passed without any occurrence
worth mentioning, and at three o'clock in the afternoon we halted,
as according to our reckoning we had reached our goal.

We all assembled about the Norwegian flag -- a handsome silken flag --
which we took and planted all together, and gave the immense plateau
on which the Pole is situated the name of "King Haakon VII.'s Plateau."

It was a vast plain of the same character in every direction, mile
after mile. During the afternoon we traversed the neighbourhood of
the camp, and on the following day, as the weather was fine, we were
occupied from six in the morning till seven in the evening in taking
observations, which gave us 89deg. 55' as the result. In order to take
observations as near the Pole as possible, we went on, as near true
south as we could, for the remaining 9 kilometres. On December 16 we
pitched our camp in brilliant sunshine, with the best conditions for
taking observations. Four of us took observations every hour of the
day -- twenty-four in all. The results of these will be submitted to
the examination of experts.

We have thus taken observations as near to the Pole as was humanly
possible with the instruments at our disposal. We had a sextant and
artificial horizon calculated for a radius of 8 kilometres.