Captain Hegherg told me today that if we maintain our current rate of progress, we would reach Etnyben in about a week. This is welcome news after being away from shore for so long. I’ve given up trying to understand the navigation system the captain uses, but he said we’re now at jimnevmim by dimnevchim. I realize these words each describe a number used to plot our position on the globe, but they don’t correlate to any numbers I know or any mathematics I learned as a boy. I also have the feeling that I won’t be able to learn this system anytime soon. Captain Hegherg said it took him several years before he figured it out.
I did manage to get the captain to tell me some interesting facts about the Barbidon navigation system. At the equator, each unit in the system is the equivalent of ten nura. This equivalency holds true when measuring distances between points along longitudes. However, it doesn’t work with points along latitudes except at the equator. The system also lacks precise latitude coordinates for the poles. Instead, it stops two and a half nura short of the poles with the latitude nimnevnim. Given enough time and plenty of parchment, I might be able to figure out this navigational system, but I’d rather save my parchment to record my observations during my expedition.