me if I do not congratulate you. Crowds of people have the right to wear a ribbon; but the Victoria Medal is held by very few, and it's a devilish select company it brings you into.'

The Grand Cross is presumably in reserve for his return. from the Polar Seas. Hitherto Nansen has received the Knights' Cross of the St. Olaf Order (May 25, 1889) and of the Order of the Dannebrog. It can scarcely be indiscreet to add, that it pained him greatly to be the sole recipient of these distinctions. He felt strongly that his comrades who had risked their lives with him, and shared with him his toils and dangers, ought also to share with him the public recognition of their exploit. It was certainly no fault of his that he was the only member of the expedition who received the cross of St. Olaf.

Even before he returned from Greenland he had been elected a member of the Christiania Scientific Society. A whole host of evidences of the appreciation of his achievement in scientific circles streamed in upon him after his return, in the form of letters from the leading authorities on Arctic exploration. We shall here quote only a single expression from a letter addressed to him by the celebrated Arctic traveller, Sir Clements Markham, dated March 11, 1891. He says of the Greenland expedition: For my part I regard it as being, from the geographical point of view, one of the most remarkable achievements of our time, remarkable alike for intrepidity and for the importance of its scientific results.'

On June 24, 1891, Nansen was appointed Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, in succession to Nordenskiöld, who was promoted to the rank of Foreign Associate.

When he and his wife returned from Stockholm they lodged for two months with Martha Larsen, formerly housekeeper at Great Fröen, whom we have already had occasion to mention more than once. Her house, which revived all the memories of his childhood, was like a haven of rest where he could take refuge at any time. He had lived with her during the hard spring,' when he had to struggle both with his doctorial thesis and with his preparations for the Greenland Expedition. Here he would seek rest and refreshment of an evening in chatting over the old days at Fröen.

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Do you remember, Martha,' he would say all of a sudden, that time when I came to you streaming with blood from a cut in the leg?'

Indeed I do-you had fallen on some broken glass.'

No-I can tell you the truth now, Martha. You see we had got new sheath-knives, both Alexander and I; and as I was slashing the heads off thistles with my new knife, I ran it into my leg. But of course I couldn't tell you

that.'

It wasn't like you to tell me a lie,' says Martha, with mild reproach.

No, but there's a limit to everything, Martha; and I couldn't have the new sheath-knife taken from me.'

It has been the lot of Martha Larsen to sweeten the year-long toils of the polar explorers. Not that she, personally, took part in the expedition; but she was the self-appointed purveyor of jams and jellies to the Fram. In the course of his voyage northwards, when Nansen was sending his farewell greetings in letters to all who stood very near to him, or had played an important part in his life, he did not forget his faithful old friend. From Khabarova, Yugor

Strait, he writes to her on August 3, 1893: As I am on the point of leaving this last place from which letters can be despatched, I must send you a parting greeting, and thank you for all your friendship and goodness to me.' Her friendship he describes as untiring, and says that she is always finding opportunities to be of service to him and to his wife. We need not apologise for refer ring to this simple little letter. It is not every celebrated man whose memory is so alert at the critical moments of his life.

From Martha Larsen's the newly-married couple removed to the Drammen Road, where they set up house. But there was too little sun here, and too much town, too much civilisation. They determined to build for themselves, and bought a site at Svartebugta (the Black Bay), where Nansen, as a boy, had often lain in ambush for wild duck. While their building operations were in progress, they lived in a pavilion close to Lysaker railway station-a pavilion which has since been transformed by the painter, Otto Sinding, into a comfortable house with a splendid studio. But up to this time it had never been inhabited. The floor was close to the ground, and it was very cold; the water in the pitchers froze hard every night. That winter,' says Mrs. Nansen, cured me of the habit of feeling cold.' In this dog-hutch and in this biting cold, Nansen set himself down to his book upon Greenland-he had no difficulty in recalling the atmosphere of the inland ice.

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If he took an hour's holiday and became a human being again, he repented of it afterwards. But he was for ever going over to watch the progress of the new house, in the details and arrangements of which he took a keen interest. The 'high seat' and the bed, in the old Norwegian style, were

executed from his own designs by Borgersen, afterwards so well known as a wood-carver. The house, which was built by Mrs. Nansen's cousin, Architect Welhaven, was finished in March 1890, but they had moved into it long before that. It was Biörnstierne Biörnson who gave it its name. He rose from the high seat,' champagne-glass in hand, and said: Godthaab skal det hede!' (It shall be called, Good Hope!')

Godthaab lies in the bight formed by a little projecting ness, sheltered and secluded, and quite alone. In front of the house is a wooded and grassy slope, leading down to the shore, whence the fiord stretches wide and open right to Nesodland. Here Nansen had his foot on his own ground, and could keep his own boat for sailing on the fiord.

But in the autumn he set off on a long lecturing tour, accompanied by his wife. He spoke in Copenhagen, London, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Munich, and Hamburg. We have received from one of the most eminent geographers in Europe, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, a very valuable statement of the impression which Nansen at this time left behind him in scientific circles. We quote from a letter, dated May 17, 1896:

'As I have been confined to my room for several weeks, and am not yet permitted to do more than the most imperative work, I unfortunately cannot give myself the pleasure of entering upon a detailed account of Dr. Nansen's visit to Berlin. I hope, therefore, that you will accept in its stead the following brief notes.

Fridtiof Nansen was here in November 1890, two years. after his memorable crossing of Greenland, and a year and a half after his return to Norway. As he wanted to complete

his book describing the expedition, he had hitherto been unable to accept any of the repeated invitations he had received to visit Berlin. On November 8 he lectured before a meeting of the Geographical Society. He was warmly received, for we had all followed his daring journey with interest. The peculiar magic of his personality, which never

fails to affect those who stand face to face with him, was strongly felt during the delivery of this lecture. He took us all captive by the magnetism of his immovable will. We saw in him a strong man marching towards a clearly realised goal, and clinging with tenacious energy to a well weighed and carefully projected plan. We were strongly impressed with this feeling, even as he told of his crossing of Greenland,