THE EXPLORATION OF KAISER FRANZ-JOSEF LAND.

THE SLEDGE JOURNEYS.

Transcriber’s Note: The map is clickable for a larger version, if the device you’re reading this on supports that.

ORIGINAL MAP
of the
KAISER FRANZ JOSEF LAND
surveyed by
JULIUS PAYER.

CHAPTER I.
THE EXPLORATION OF KAISER FRANZ-JOSEF LAND RESOLVED ON.

1. The necessity of returning home admitted of no question; but the exploration of the Land of which we had seen hardly anything, beyond the cliffs that lay in our immediate neighbourhood, was also felt to be a necessity. That land, which we were all predisposed to imagine as stretching far beyond this wall of rocks,—of what did it consist? Was it an island or a group of islands? And those white masses lying on these lofty ranges, were they glaciers? To these questions no one as yet could give an answer. But of this there could be neither doubt nor question, that we could not count on our floe for a moment, and that those were lost who were not on board the ship if the floe with the ship began to drift. On the 1st of March the Tyrolese announced, that a fissure had appeared half-way between the ship and the shore, and the danger of being cut off became the chief subject of talk, both in the cabin of the officers and in the quarters of the men. When, however, we considered the importance of the venture, all hesitation disappeared, and there was not a man in the ship who would not have made his apprehensions subordinate to the necessity of exploration.

2. As the commander of the expedition on shore, I explained to the council we held on the 24th of February, my plan for the projected sledge-journeys, namely: that the sledge-parties count on the means of escape being left behind to supplement those they may have at their command, and that the depositing of these means be completed before the sledge-parties start; that the expeditions shall begin between the 10th and 20th of March, be continued for six or seven weeks, and take, if possible, the following directions:—one along the coast towards the North, a second towards the West, and a third into the interior, and each to be concluded by the ascent of a dominating height; that in the event of the sledge-parties not finding the ship on their return, they should attempt to go back at once to Europe, and only under the most urgent circumstances pass a third winter in the ice, though the superfluous stores, which were to be transported to the land, would to a certain extent enable them to do this. I engaged also not to extend these journeys to a date which would prevent the men recruiting their strength before the return of the whole expedition to Europe.

3. The exploration of the strange land having been resolved on, the greatest activity reigned in the ship. There was not a man on board the Tegetthoff who was not eager to prepare for the sledge-journeys, though all knew that besides the two Tyrolese only four men were to accompany me. Every one longed to take part in the exploration of the unknown land, and the monotony of our life was now exchanged for a state of great excitement; a great venture had been resolved on, and expectations rose with the possibility of discoveries. The comparatively short period for which our stores had now to last enabled us to indulge in what, under the circumstances, might be called luxury. We could thus dispose of more than two hundred bottles of wine, which had been reserved for the sick in the event of a third winter being passed in the ice. Three-and-twenty men now in three months drank two hundred bottles of wine and smoked like chimneys the superfluous stores of cigars and tobacco. Potatoes, preserved vegetables and fruit, were daily on our table. Our allowance of rum was increased; lights were freely burnt in every corner, and the novel sensation of luxury was universal.

4. While we were all living as if the oppressive load under which we had lain so long had suddenly been removed, in these days of general hilarity and amid the excitement of new plans, our comrade Krisch drew toward his sad and melancholy end. From the beginning of February his malady had made great progress. His body was covered with scorbutic spots; but in spite of all this the hope of speedy recovery constantly animated our afflicted companion, who set us a lofty example of the fulfilment of duty by his zealous activity. In the summer, though already under the influence of his mortal disease, he had been busy in the construction of new ice-saws and borers, in order that he might contribute something to the liberation of the ship, and when he heard of the projected expeditions to Franz-Josef Land, he gathered sufficient strength to extort from me the assurance that I would take him with me. But his end was surely though slowly drawing on; his nights were sleepless, and pain left him neither day nor night. At the beginning of March a state of unconsciousness supervened, and the action of his diseased lungs was now to be heard in an uninterrupted rattling in his throat. Moments of mental clearness became more infrequent in his delirium; help had become impossible; all the care of our physician and of the watchers, who never left him, was now directed merely to the alleviation of his sufferings. He lingered till we returned from our first sledge expedition on the 16th of March.

KRISCH, THE ENGINEER.

CHAPTER II.
OF SLEDGE TRAVELLING IN GENERAL.

1. The sledge is pre-eminently the means of geographical exploration in high latitudes, and as discovery now forms the main purpose of Polar expeditions, it may be important to describe clearly and precisely the system we followed, that others may either adopt or improve on our methods. Thus I will enter into many details, not in order to dwell on the inconveniences incident to this mode of travelling, but to show how the greatest amount of safety and protection may be secured to the sledge-party.

2. Sledge-journeys presuppose that the ship is safe and secure in a winter harbour. A ship which has not yet completed its summer voyage should avoid them as exceedingly hazardous; and as a principle such expeditions are to be absolutely declined by a ship which is beset in the ice; the success which may have attended some must by no means stimulate others to imitate them. Their object is the exploration of lands still unknown or imperfectly known. They presuppose also the existence of ice, closely adhering to a coast, on which the journeys are performed, and this coast-line must run in a northerly direction, if the North Pole be the goal of discovery. Though sledge-parties follow the coast-line they actually travel on the frozen sea; for it is never safe to abandon that line and make for pack-ice at a distance from it. The crossing of glaciers, however small may be their inclination, is always attended with danger; and if the route be stopped by a stretch of land whose extent forbids dragging, it is of course impossible to proceed. The roughness of the land and its insufficient covering of snow even in winter sufficiently explain this. A sledge cannot, for any considerable length of time, be dragged up an inclination exceeding two or three degrees.

3. The season of the year for sledging must depend on the climate of particular Arctic localities, and the capacity of the men to endure low temperatures during the night-camping, and driving snow during the march. It is advisable, when more than one year is to be spent in the ice, to begin the more extended sledge-journeys in the first year, because the capacities of Europeans to endure cold rather decrease than increase. Sir John Ross, for example, says that his people at the beginning of a third winter were incapable of bearing hardships, especially those of travelling on the ice. The best season for sledging must always be that time of the year when snow-storms are infrequent, for even a healthy and seasoned party will more easily confront a very low temperature than driving snow-storms. As a rule, these conditions are found most perfectly in autumn; and I do not understand the objection which Hayes makes to this season as being the most damp; whereas as a matter of fact it is the least so. Autumn journeys are preferable to those in spring, both with respect to climate and the state of the road; only they must be commenced early, on account of the rapidly decreasing length of the days.[27] The darkness of winter puts an end to all sledging, and the excessive cold of spring renders it difficult. Summer makes it impossible by breaking up the land-ice, or impedes it by transforming the snow into thaw-water and sludge. Next to autumn, therefore, the latter part of March, all April, and a part of May, are most adapted for this purpose. It must at the same time be remarked, that Captain Lyon (1822) and Dr. Kane regarded March as peculiarly dangerous on account of the prevalence of storms.

4. Next to the season, the state of the snow road, depending on the hardening action of wind and cold, has to be considered. The cold should not vary more than from -2° to -24° F., because greater frost transforms the smooth evaporating surface of snow into a rough plain, bestrewed with sharp pointed crystals, so that the sledge instead of gliding along encounters the friction, as if of a sandstone surface, and stops at the least obstacle. Snow of an ivory-like smoothness rarely occurs; on the contrary, we find the snow in deep layers as fine as powder, into which we sink knee-deep, or among barriers of hummocks, miles in extent, which impose enormous détours in the transport of the baggage. During the journey from 2° to 13° below zero F. constitutes the pleasantest temperature, and even the nights, under this condition, are passed without inconvenience by a party inured to exposure. Snow-storms, however, in their mildest form—snow-drifting—are, at this moderate temperature, distressing and dangerous. In fact, among all the contingencies which may occur during a Polar expedition, there is no severer test of enduring perseverance than dragging a sledge in the face of drifting snow at a temperature from 13° to 35° below zero F.

5. The ship in its winter harbour is the only place of refuge, in all cases where a meeting with Eskimos cannot be counted on. Except for the accidents of hunting, on which no dependence should be placed, the country itself affords no kind of means of subsistence; hence all the necessaries of life must be carried in the sledges. The heavily laden sledge becomes in truth a ship of the icy wastes, and its loss involves the destruction of the whole party. In order to lighten its load and yet prolong the journey as much as possible, supplies of provisions are often deposited along the routes to be traversed. This may be done, either by previous shorter journeys, or by leaving behind a part of the provisions which have been taken from the ship, or by burying the product of the chase in the manner adopted by fur-hunters and Indians. The danger to such stores from the inroads of bears or the breaking up of the ice must be guarded against by a careful selection of localities; and the place being chosen, the provisions should either be buried four feet deep in snow between steep rocks, somewhat above the level of the sea, or the bags containing them should be suspended on the inaccessible faces of the rocks. The choice of an elevated point is some security against visits from bears. But it is never advisable to build confidently on finding the depôt, or to make the possibility of return dependent on this contingency. A small stock of the necessaries of life should always be kept in reserve, as a prudent precaution in case the depôt should be destroyed. If however the depôts remain untouched and uninjured, and their numbers be considerable, the duration of the journey, which can be prolonged for thirty or forty days only where provisions are carried in the sledges, may thus be doubled in extent. The depôts for journeys in the spring are often formed in the preceding autumn, though their preservation is of course exposed to great risk.

6. Sledges are dragged sometimes by men and dogs conjointly, sometimes by men without dogs, or by dogs alone. Reindeer are found to be unfit for sledge dragging; although Parry in former days, and Nordenskjöld more recently, frequently attempted to employ them in this service. Though a reindeer is able to make with a sledge as many as 120 miles in three days, it cannot continue such efforts without long periods of repose, nor drag the heavy loads which are requisite in longer journeys. Besides this, he who has had any experience in this mode of travelling, knows the unaccountable capriciousness of these animals, their stubbornness, and the difficulty of feeding them. Natives alone are able to manage them, while to strangers they refuse subjection. When the sledges are dragged by men alone, unexpected contingencies are less to be apprehended, but at the same time their rate of progress is diminished. In an expedition calculated to last a month, ten miles constitute the average day’s march, when circumstances are favourable. If the length of the journey be prolonged, this average will be considerably diminished. The combination of men and dogs in the work of dragging accelerates the speed. With regard to the men employed in this work, it is advisable to engage experienced mountaineers[28] of great bodily strength, such men being able to do work for which, it is admitted, sailors have neither training nor inclination.

7. No form of sledge travelling, when measured by results, can be compared with sledging by the help of dogs alone; for this method enables us to compass the greatest possible distance, and diminishes the dead-weight of the load in the sledge. Besides this, dogs are not only active but tractable; they show no fear; they can endure hunger longer than men, even while making great exertions; they neither drink nor smoke; neither fuel for the stove to liquefy the snow, nor tent, nor sleeping bag, need be taken for them; none, in fact, of those many little things which are indispensable for men. In extreme necessity they may be even used for food. And since a strong dog is able to drag, even for a long journey, double of what he needs for his own support, the surplus falls to the share of the man who accompanies him, and who is able, therefore, to prolong his absence from the ship. Without considering the forced marches which Englishmen, Americans, and Russians have frequently made on the ice with a number of dogs, the employment of a few dogs in sledge expeditions has such conspicuous advantage over teams of men, that I would earnestly recommend the following method of procedure: two teams of dogs, each of two or four strong Newfoundlands, should be employed, one to be driven by the leader of the expedition and the other by one of the most experienced and trustworthy of the party. Each sledge should carry at starting, a weight of from 4 to 7 cwt., i.e. provisions for thirty to fifty days, only needing a slight supplement from the products of the chase. Sixteen miles a day, on an average, may easily be thus accomplished, especially if the rest of the party attached to each sledge walk on before their respective teams. Distances varying from 500 to 800 miles may thus be reached, while 300 or at the most 500 miles are all that men alone in the same time can perform. Journeys of this kind require much experience, so that those men only are serviceable who have much practical acquaintance with life in the Arctic wastes, and not merely with life as it is in the ship, but who are inured to fatigues and skilled in the use of those precautions which distance from the ship imperatively demands during the prevalence of extreme cold. With regard to the route itself, whenever the object is the reaching of higher latitudes and the exploration of a still unknown country, it is advisable to choose one from four to eight miles distant from the land. The search for a route is greatly facilitated whenever we can ascend dominating heights to enable us to determine our position. Such a course not only saves us from the necessity of making détours, but affords the only possibility of being able to touch the land at desirable points and of ascertaining the character of the intervening districts. A survey may be made either by triangulation, the base being measured by those who remain behind in the ship and the summits of the mountains serving as the points of the triangles, or by the determination of the geographical latitude and longitude of the different spots. The combination of both methods is of course most desirable.

8. The following instruments may be employed in sledge journeys, according to the degree of exactness which is required: a small universal instrument, a sextant with an artificial horizon, a pocket chronometer, an azimuth compass, a boat compass of simple construction, an alcohol and mercurial thermometer, and two small aneroids.

CHAPTER III.
THE EQUIPMENT OF A SLEDGE EXPEDITION.

1. The equipment of a sledge expedition on a large scale demands an amount of circumspection and precision which experience alone can give, and its safety and success may be endangered by the neglect of apparently trifling precautions. At a distance from the ship the most formidable dangers may arise, from allowing the matches to become damp, from the leaking or the loss of a vessel containing spirit, from the setting fire to a tent, which only too probably may happen from the carelessness of the cook, to say nothing of those yet greater perils,—the inability of some of the party to march, the destruction of depôts of provisions by bears, or the breaking in of the sea. The first principle in fitting out such an expedition should be the rejection of everything not absolutely necessary for the support of life, the instruments only excepted; and the second, that the whole of the travelling gear should be of the most perfect and convenient form. The departure from these rules contributed, among other things, to the melancholy issue of the Franklin expedition. McClintock speaks most emphatically of the evils of over-loading with things not absolutely necessary. The success of an undertaking may be defeated by the neglect even of things apparently insignificant. Mojsejew’s sledge expedition along the coast of Novaya Zemlya in 1839 was a proof and illustration of this. It was wrecked within a few days by the snow-blindness of the entire party, caused by their want of snow-spectacles. If we except the journeys of the Russian explorers of the Siberian coast, carried out, however, at the sacrifice of the whole nomad population, and of all the dogs and reindeer of North Asia—from which to this day the exhausted country has not recovered—the merit of the organization of sledge expeditions belongs pre-eminently to the English. It was by Parry and James Ross that those experiments with sledges were begun, which have since been brought nearly to perfection by McClintock.[29] The method thus perfected serves to this day as a pattern to be imitated, as it enables a party of men, inured to hardships and fatigues, to pass many weeks without the help of those resources which only a ship in such icy wastes can afford. I will now endeavour to describe with sufficient detail the equipment of our sledges in the journeys we carried out.

2. The changeableness of the weather during the season for sledging, and the character of our expeditions, required the employment of three sledges of different sizes. The smallest of these was a dog-sledge, and the two others were larger and intended to be drawn by men. The runners were respectively 6, 8 and 11 feet long, and 1½, 2 and 2¾ inches broad[30]—gently curved at each end—and about one foot high, so as to raise the lading above the snow. The sledges were constructed of the best ash, and carried loads amounting to 7, 12, and 20 cwts. respectively. The two runners were fastened together by two strong front boards, and by four cross-pieces of wood firmly lashed to the upright standards of the sledge, which were themselves dovetailed into the runners. Screws were sparingly used, and chiefly in the fittings of the two horns of the sledge, and of the rail on which the rifles were suspended, and which also was used to push and guide the sledge. The rail was, therefore, of considerable strength, in order to withstand the pressure of a man’s force. The runners were shod with steel carefully riveted on. The accompanying sketch shows the manner in which a sledge is drawn by a team of men and dogs combined. Those who take the longest steps in the march should precede, and the less active should be placed in the middle, so that any slackness may be easily detected; for in a sledge journey it is disgraceful to draw a weight less than the weight of what we can eat. The centre trace should never be grasped, as this diminishes the force of the pull.

TEAM OF SEVEN MEN AND THREE DOGS.

THE COOKING APPARATUS.

3. The proper construction of the cooking apparatus is of the greatest importance, the great principle being to develop heat and prevent its escape as much as possible. The accompanying woodcut represents an apparatus which excellently well fulfils this condition. A, is the inner compartment; B, the holder containing about a bottle of spirit, with seven wicks; C, the covered pan for cooking; D, the outer case; and E, a pan filled with snow and fitted with a moveable handle, which, being placed over an opening in the outer case, utilizes the ascending heat, which would otherwise escape, to liquefy the snow. The apparatus should be made of sheet iron, each of its parts of one piece, and there should be no soldering, in order to diminish the risk of breakage and the setting fire to the tent by the escape of the spirit in a state of combustion. These cooking machines should be of different sizes, according to the number of men in the expedition. The largest of those used by us consumed ¾lb. of spirits of wine to convert snow, with a thermometer from 13° to 22° below zero F., into three gallons of boiling water. On account of the smaller consumption of alcohol, it is better to use ice than snow for the purpose of cooking.

4. Alcohol of the greatest purity and strength is the best fuel, and is most easily transported in vessels containing about ten gallons. Next to alcohol, stearine is most to be recommended, on account of its great heating powers; and then train-oil, though the smoke and dirt produced by it in the tent are almost unbearable evils. Petroleum ought not to be employed, on account of its dangerous character and its being prejudicial to health. Wood and coals generate too little heat in proportion to their bulk. Parry was the first who, in his journey of 1827, employed spirits of wine; he still used wood and coals in 1820 and Lyon in 1822.

5. The nights are passed either in snow huts, or in tents. If tents be used, the climate must determine their material, whether cotton or sailcloth. A mackintosh floor-cloth should always be spread over the ground of the tent. It is indispensable to make the walls of the snow huts two or three feet high, in order to allow room for movement, and the closed side, i.e. the side opposite the entrance, must be made double, as it is always exposed to the direction of the wind. The tent entrance must be carefully closed with hooks and rings, and should not reach to the ground. A tent formed by two poles, about eight feet long, crossed at each end, with another to rest on these supports, is the most simple and secure form of erection. During the journey, a small sail may be advantageously used, whenever the wind is favourable; one of the tent-poles may be used as a mast, and an “Alpine stock” may serve as a yard for the sail.

6. The sledge party passes the night in a common sleeping bag, in which there may be, under propitious circumstances, smaller separate bags for each. When the temperature is not below -13° F., the sleeping bag may be made out of a warm strong quilt; but when the cold is more intense, it must be made of buffalo-skin, and to prevent its being pulled off during the night it should be buttoned at the top in the middle. Sheep-skins cannot be recommended for this purpose, as they are far heavier than buffalo-skins; and as they more easily collect moisture, so they freeze more quickly. The sleeping bag should always be wrapped up in the tent and packed with it on the sledge, so that it may come as little as possible in contact with the snow. If the temperature should fall below -35° F., the travelling party suffers greatly from the frost even in such a sleeping bag, and it would then be advisable to lay an inflated india-rubber mattress under the bag, so that only the legs of the sleepers should be exposed to the influence of the cold.

7. As for arms, it is enough to have three double-barrelled Lefaucheux rifles and one revolver; and even in districts where encounters with bears may be daily expected, three cartridges a day are a sufficient stock of ammunition. These should be explosive shells, with steel points. Small shot cartridges are indispensable on sledge expeditions, as birds are not unfrequently met with. When the cold is excessive, great caution must be used with the cock of the lock, as the brittleness of the metal then causes it to be easily broken; and from the same cause the hammer will often not stand at half-cock. The guns must not be oiled, as it sometimes happens that the hammer on full-cock will not go down where the lock is smeared with oil. Light woollen gloves should be worn for shooting, in order that the fingers may not be frozen in handling the guns.

8. A chest, fixed on the fore-part of the sledge, contains the instruments used in surveying and in the determination of localities; also a thermometer and an aneroid barometer, lucifer matches and cartridges, packed in tin boxes and carefully protected from damp; a supply of nails and screws, wind-screens for the travellers, sewing materials, the spoons of the party, extra soles of felt for shoes, medical stores, brushes, sketch-book, flags, and a supply of light cord. The pocket-chronometer must be worn in close contact with the body of the leader of the party, to guard it against the hurtful influences of the cold.

9. The provisions should be placed below everything, when the sledge is loaded. The daily allowance for each man ought to be increased by half a pound above the usual rations on board ship, so that about 2½ lbs. or 2¾ lbs. of solid food fall to the share of each man, and about an equal weight to each dog. McClintock allowed 2½ to 3 lbs. a head for the men; but only 1 lb. pemmican a day for the Eskimo dogs. Hayes calculates provisions for fourteen dogs for twelve days at 300 lbs.—almost 2 lbs. a day; and, on another occasion, for fifteen dogs for thirty-eight days, at 800 lbs; and considers 1½ lbs. for Eskimo dogs as too little, when great demands are made on their strength and endurance. From my own experience, I should say, that the least diminution of this quantity of nourishment reduces the capacity to endure great cold and excessive exertions, and produces, after even a few days, a feeling of lassitude both in the men and the dogs, harder to endure than even the sensation of hunger. Parry, in his sledge and boat expedition of 1827, found that 10 oz. of biscuit and 9 oz. of pemmican were hardly sufficient to sustain a man’s strength. “It may be useful,” he observes,[31] “to remark, as the result of absolute experience, that our daily allowance of provisions, although previously tried for some days on board the ship, and then considered to be enough, proved by no means sufficient to support the strength of men living constantly in the open air, exposed to wet and cold for at least twelve hours a day, seldom enjoying the luxury of a warm meal, and having to perform the kind of labour to which our people were subject. I have before remarked, that, previously to our return to the ship, our strength was considerably impaired, and, indeed, there is reason to believe, very soon after entering upon the ice the physical energies of the men were gradually diminishing, although for the first few weeks they did not appear to labour under any specific complaint. This diminishing of strength, which we considered to be owing to the want of sufficient sustenance, became apparent, even after a fortnight, in the lifting of the bread bags; and I have no doubt that, in spite of every care on the part of the officers, some of the men, who had begun to fail before we quitted the ice, would, in a week or two longer, have suffered very severely, and become a serious incumbrance, instead of an assistance, to our party; and we were of opinion, that in order to maintain the strength of men thus employed, for several weeks together, an addition would be requisite of at least one-third more to the provisions we daily issued.”

10. To facilitate inspection, it is advisable to portion off the stock of provisions for each week in separate sacks, and never to open a fresh sack till the previous one has been emptied. The contents of the sacks for the latter weeks should be increased a fifth-part at least above the normal weight; because hunger with its accompanying loss of strength generally grows in a distressing manner. The provisions should consist of boiled beef, hard bread, extract of meat, chocolate, grits, pea-sausages, sugar, rice, condensed milk, and coffee. Tea and the two last mentioned articles of food have an indescribably reviving effect, especially in the morning, and enable the party to make long forced marches, warding off the great enemy of such expeditions—thirst. Pemmican and fatty substances, however, when the temperature is very low, must be used in moderation, inasmuch as they tend to promote this evil. The fact that we require more carbon in our food in winter than in summer, and that the colder a country is, the more of this element should be found in its nourishment, may, indeed, be true for life in settled abodes or on board an Arctic ship, but does not hold good of sledge journeys. As fresh meat affords, under all circumstances, the strongest nourishment, the business of hunting must not be left to chance. In order to diminish the weight, all preserved foods—with the exception of milk—are turned out of their tin cases, and kept in small bags. Wherever there is a certainty of finding drift-wood, I would recommend, as Back does, vermicelli or macaroni, which can then be properly prepared. Good strong tea is of the greatest importance, though at first we set little store by it. A small ration of rum daily is almost indispensable in sledge journeys, especially when the temperature is very low. Franklin (1819) and John Ross (1829) both pronounce in favour of the moderate use of this spirit, though they were of opinion that rum, when the crews were leading an inactive life on board ship, promoted scurvy. The provisions we have specified do not altogether correspond with the views of earlier Polar navigators. Pachtussow and Ziwolka provided themselves in their sledge journeys (1835) with the following stores:—Salted meat, barley-meal, grits, biscuit, butter, tea and sugar; and Parry’s provisions, in 1827, consisted of pemmican, wheat-meal, sweet cocoa-powder, biscuit, and 300 lbs. of concentrated rum.[32] Hayes preferred dried meat, beef-soup, and potatoes to the usual pemmican.

11. The equipment should be supplemented by the following articles:—A small cask of strong rum, a funnel, an india-rubber bottle to measure out the daily allowance of spirit, a snow-shovel, and a stand for surveying purposes. The sketch given below exhibits a sledge laden and packed for a long journey.

THE SLEDGE WITH ITS LOAD.

12. To obviate the danger of being cut off from the ship by the breaking up of the ice, or to enable the party to push on further, boats have frequently been taken in sledge expeditions. For such purposes, boats of thin metal or of wood are not to be commended; those made of leather, india-rubber, or waterproof sailcloth, are preferable. But even when their wooden frame-work is made as light as possible, their weight is not less than 300 or 400 lbs. The addition of this weight, and the difficulty of lading them, are so much felt on such journeys, that the boat is usually left behind at a little distance from the ship, as was the case in Kane and Hayes’ journeys up Smith’s Sound. The case is different, however, in journeys which have to be carried out partly on the ice and partly—and, indeed, chiefly—on the sea. In such cases, boats of sufficient size to carry both the crews and the baggage are requisite. The whale boat of the Norwegian whalers, carrying seven or eight men, is best adapted for this purpose; although, in long reaches of deep snow, they have their inconveniences, as almost double the number of men is then needed to drag them along. The boats in such expeditions are transported over the ice when the snow road is good, or only passably good, by means of the largest of the sledges we have described; but, if the snow be very deep, it would be advisable to use sledges with three runners underneath, boarded over, so as to prevent the load from sinking into the snow.[33]

13. As the sledge party has to endure for several weeks all the horrors of Arctic weather, the article of clothing demands special care and consideration. Abundance of woollen under-garments and light furs best answer this purpose. The woollen under-garments should not fit too closely, so as to hinder the circulation of the blood; and the fur coat should be wide, and reach half-way down the leg. It would be a great mistake to take the clothing of the northern nomad as our pattern. Our powers of enduring the severities of Arctic climate are inferior to theirs, so that we cannot attempt to imitate their hardihood; but our own industries enable us to surpass all their resources. During the march, a long garment of lamb’s-wool, to which a belly-band is sewn, two stout linen shirts, one or two pairs of woollen drawers, strong cloth trousers, a pair of common mittens, and a light hood, are sufficient for all temperatures. Wind, especially if it be accompanied with drifting snow, necessitates fur coats, with hoods attached, two pairs of woollen gloves, and a band of flannel to protect the nose, buttoned on to the hood. Wind-guards, made of strong leather serving to protect the face against wind and frost, must not be neglected. Flannel masks, with holes cut for nose and mouth, are of little use, as they are completely frozen in a few hours. A shawl wrapped round the mouth is, after all, the best protection against cold wind, and the least hindrance to respiration. As the shortest beard is converted at once into a glacier by the freezing of the breath, it is necessary to cut it off. The accompanying figure exhibits the Arctic sledger prepared for the eventualities of cold. It need scarcely, however, be remarked, that no absolutely general rules can be laid down in the matter of clothing, which depends on the different capacities of resistance in individuals, and also on the variations of the weather. When the temperature is not more than 2° or 13° below zero F., some diminution of the garments enumerated above may safely be allowed. Knitted woollen hoods are sufficient protection for the head in almost all cases. Gloves, not intended to be used in drawing and in handling the instruments, should be made of lamb’s-wool, and the fingers lined with flannel. The stockings also should be strengthened with flannel at the heels and toes, and should be kept as dry as possible; because wet feet are inevitably frozen when the cold is excessive. Hence, also, the stockings must be changed at night and dried, by being laid on the chest during sleep.

THE DRESS OF THE ARCTIC SLEDGER.

14. In the matter of furs, no better can be selected than buffalo-skin, or wash-leather made of bear’s hide; though no covering can surpass that which is made from the skins of birds—Eider-ducks, for example—which is equally good for either summer or winter, during the march, or even during sleep, and which need be exchanged for furs only when the temperature during a night-camping falls 35° to 58° below zero F. Sheep-skin and wolf-skin are too heavy; and the reindeer-skin, though so light and warm, is not suitable, as it at once loses the hair when exposed to damp, and does not last a winter with constant use; but of these, the best are those of the young reindeer killed in autumn. Some Arctic travellers, in the absence of furs, have used an extra covering of light sailcloth, as a protection against the drifting snow, which penetrates the clothes and stiffens them. We have tried this experiment, but were not convinced of its success. In Parry’s second expedition, his people are said to have worn their furs next to their bodies, and to have found this warmer than the wearing of woollens next the skin; but this I am inclined to regard as a mistake. When furs are worn during the march, their congelation and consequent increase of weight are diminished by wearing the furs sometimes inside and sometimes outside. The inhabitants of Lapland and Kamschatka constantly wear the fur outside; and some Eskimo tribes wear double furs—one turned inside, the other outside. If cloth clothes are worn, their surface should be smooth, so as not to harbour the driving snow; and all buttons should be of a large size, as frozen fingers find it easier to manage them.

15. The covering for the feet of a sledge-party should be sailcloth boots, lined with flannel, and soled with stout felt; and it is not advisable to strengthen the soles by plaiting them with string, as the boot thereby loses that perfect pliability which is indispensable to preserve the foot from the danger of frost-bite. Hence also any covering of india-rubber is objectionable. Leather boots must not be used in sledging; because they become utterly unpliable at a low temperature, and make frost-bites inevitable; and when once put on they cannot be pulled off without being cut to pieces. All boots should be so large and their legs so wide, that they may be put on conveniently over the trousers; and sailcloth boots especially, because of their shrinking from frost, should be so wide, that they can be put on easily over three pairs of strong woollen stockings. The Eskimo, the inhabitants of Lapland, Kamschatka, and other northern nomad tribes, wear the dried grass of Cyperacites as their foot-coverings; and this might be recommended, if it did not also involve the use of skin-coverings for the feet, in which no European can make long marches, without their being inflamed. Because, in the Arctic regions, the condensation of moisture in the shape of ice is an enemy constantly to be guarded against, all stuffs are to be avoided which tend to harbour moisture, especially the linings of coats, pockets, and so forth, made of cotton instead of pure wool. India-rubber garments must never be used, as they prevent evaporation from the body.

16. If dogs are used to draw the large sledges along with men, they ought to be harnessed in the way which the sketch on a preceding page represents. The dog-sledge should be laid across the hinder part of the principal sledge, and made fast to it. If, however, dogs alone are employed, and at walking-pace, they are harnessed in pairs, one pair behind the other. Each dog should draw by a single trace, as we can only thus avoid the constant entangling of the rope-traces. If more than four dogs be employed, they cannot well go in pairs one before the other, but must be harnessed to the sledge in a row, side by side, and the traces must be long, so as to enable the most powerful and best-trained dogs, which are placed in the middle, to be somewhat in advance of the others. The dogs should be selected according to the special purpose for which they are to be employed; for, while an Eskimo dog will run, but shirks the effort of drawing heavy loads, a Newfoundland submits to its load, but, goes at a foot’s-pace. In the Hudson’s Bay territory a cross between a wolf and a dog is regarded as the best animal for draught, because it surpasses the dog proper in strength and courage. Newfoundlands of pure breed are, on the whole, most to be recommended, and next to them, the Eskimo dog, which has a good deal of the character of the wolf, though he is difficult to hold. These dogs, too, although they are indescribably, thievish, voracious, and ill-tempered, in consequence of their harsh treatment and bad feeding, have this further distinguishing quality, that they will stick to a retreating bear with wonderful pertinacity till the hunter comes up to kill it. European dogs are only to be taken when an expedition has not the opportunity of procuring dogs of the kinds we have mentioned; but, if they be employed, they should be strong and hardy, with long hair and thick coat. The purity of their breed is of less consequence than their being good-tempered, as fights between large dogs end in the destruction of the weaker. The Ostjaks, in the neighbourhood of Obdorsk, are the nomad tribes nearest Europe who use dogs for sledges; and their breed of dogs is far superior to any other, either in Lapland or Northern Russia. The dogs of Russia in Europe were employed in the expedition (1839) of Ziwolka and Mojsejew to Novaya Zemlya; but it does not appear that they answered the expectations which had been formed. In sledge-expeditions the dogs are allowed to sleep in the open air; but they must be fastened to stakes, lest the scenting some animal should tempt them to run off. We ourselves, however, allowed a small tent, weighing little, for the few dogs which accompanied us. Dogs whose paws have not been early hardened by long marches on the ice, easily hurt their feet, which do not heal during the journey; and wounds can only be prevented from getting worse by a daily application of collodion and brandy, and by a protection of flannel; and this is the treatment we pursued to Jubinal in the journey we are about to describe. Whenever a dog is exhausted by dragging, it is generally blooded in the tail or ear after the fashion followed by the Siberian tribes.

TOROSSY IN HARNESS.

CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRST SLEDGE JOURNEY

1. From the preceding remarks on the equipment of a sledge, the reader will, perhaps, have gained a pretty clear notion of the procedure by which we are enabled to travel for weeks in Arctic wastes. This description will have shown him the various and manifold contingencies against which a leader has to provide, if he is to conduct an expedition safely and successfully, especially if he commands a body of men, who are neither so careful nor so observant as those who accompanied me in the sledge journeys I am about to describe.

2. I now pass to the first of these, the object of which was to determine the position and general relations of the new Land, which still remained a mystery to us, to reconnoitre a route for its exploration towards the north, and to ascertain what we could of the character of the intervening regions. I regarded the ascent of the high mountain—Cape Tegetthoff—which we had seen before us for months, as the preliminary step towards the attainment of these ends. Its great distance from the ship had rendered abortive all the attempts to reach it which had been made at the end of last autumn. With the beginning of March (1874) the sledging was now to commence in reality. Though the sun had returned on the 24th of February, it was seldom visible in the remaining days of that month; a heavy water-sky overspread the southern heavens, and the only cheerful precursors of spring were the birds which once more appeared in our neighbourhood. The snow had been distressingly soft, but the north-east winds which prevailed during the first days of March hardened it. When these winds fell, the temperature also fell, and although the beginning of March is regarded as a time little favourable for sledge travelling on account of the excessive cold, our impatience for action overcame all doubts and fears, and on the 9th one of our larger sledges stood ready, laden and packed for an expedition, equipped for a week. It carried an extra quantity of provisions, which were intended to form depôts. From the general store we took 39 lbs. of hard bread, 5 lbs. of pemmican, 16 lbs. of boiled beef, 6½ lbs. of lard, 1 lb. of pea-sausage, ½ lb. of salt and pepper, 6 lbs. of rice, 2 lbs. of grits, 5 lbs. of chocolate, 5 gallons of rum, 1 lb. of extract of meat, 2 lbs. of condensed milk, and 8 gallons of alcohol. The rest of the baggage consisted of such articles as we have described above. We had besides 3 breech-loaders and 100 cartridges, of which 40 were fired away.

3. I selected for my party six men and three dogs, Gillis, Torossy and Sumbu. As I reserved the picked men of our crew for the contemplated longer journey towards the north, some of the above were not altogether adequate to the work. My two Tyrolese, however, Haller and Klotz, possessed great endurance, Lukinovich and Cattarinch in a lesser degree; as for Pospischill and Lettis, they would have done credit to Falstaff’s corps. As Pospischill suffered from lung disease, Lukinovich from palpitation of the heart, Haller from chronic rheumatism, and Lettis from a tendency to bronchial catarrh, it may be inferred how necessity alone enabled them to do what they did, when the temperature fell lower than we expected.

4. On the morning of the 10th of March we left the ship, and the “Flag of the sledge journeys,” which had hung for so long a time over my berth, now fluttered in the fresh breeze which blew from the north-west. So much had this “at last,” excited me, that I could not sleep a wink, and those who were starting on the expedition as well as those who remained behind were as much agitated, as if the conquest of Peru or Ophir were contemplated, and not the exploration of lands buried under snow and ice. With indescribable joy we began the mechanical drudgery of dragging the sledge, each of us at first wearing a mask, like the members of the “Vehmgericht,” until we became habituated to the withering effects of the wind. As we moved along the level surface of the land ice of the preceding autumn, after forcing our way through the hummocky ice, which had formed itself on the north of the ship, we saw behind us some black spots approaching at full speed. These were the dogs we had left behind, which insisted on travelling with us, and much craft and force, supplemented by the logic of a few shots, were needed to force them to return to the ship. My companions interpreted the conduct of the dogs refusing to remain with the ship as a sign foreboding the death of our engineer. As the lading of our sledge amounted to about 6 or 7 cwts. and the snow was favourable for sledging, we were able to advance at the unusual rate of 100 paces in a minute, and in two hours we passed the south-west Cape of Wilczek Island. Close to this Cape we saw an iceberg which had fallen on the ice and crushed it all round, and sheltering ourselves from the wind under the lee of another, we took our mid-day rest, with the thermometer at -15° F. As the sun at noon was so little above the horizon that we got uncertain results for the determination of the latitude, I preferred during this journey to begin the surveying and, at the same time, the determination of the localities of Franz-Josef Land, by a triangulation of elevated points, to which the measurement of a base was afterwards to be added. Hence the ascent of high mountains formed part of our programme.

5. We continued our march till the ship disappeared from our eyes, and the route now lost its level character and assumed the appearance of a very chaos of ice. In the evening we reached a high rocky promontory of Wilczek Island, near which rose some stranded icebergs, and against which the ice-sheet of the sea, impelled by the waves, was dashed and broken. Close in shore the ice was in violent motion, and as we passed over the “ice-foot,” to the amazement of all, three of our men fell into a fissure. All through the night we heard in our tent, which we erected on the land, the cracking and crashing sounds emitted by the ice. Next day—March 11th—making a very early start, the thermometer at -14° F., we saw a water-sky to the south, and, after ascending a height, close before us lay the sea, covered with young ice. Heavy mists were ascending from fissures, and the level surface of the young ice glowed with the colours of the morning. Immediately under the coast of the island lay a narrow band of piled-up ice, with traces of recent pressures, and thinking that the interior was impassable to a laden sledge, we began our toilsome march along its rocky coasts.

6. We were in no mood to observe the picturesque character of our route, for our labours in dragging the sledge over the hummocky ice were excessive. We had frequently to unload the sledge or dig away an obstacle which could not be evaded. The conduct of the dogs was not quite faultless; and as for my companions, if one of them turned round, or if a bird flew past, this was enough to make the rest pause in their pulling, with the ready excuse of surprise at the circumstance. If in such cases Klotz failed to exert his strength, the sledge at once came to a standstill. We pressed on through icebergs on each side of us, shattered by the frost, and amid a constant noise of cracking and splitting produced by the increasing cold. At length, after several hours, we came out on an open level and crossed the gentle slope of a snow-covered spit of land. The rugged mountainous front of Hall Island, and the long glacier walls of M’Clintock Island, now rose before us. Our course lay clearly marked out: it ran in a north-westerly direction over a snow-covered level of old ice towards Cape Tegetthoff. Soon, however, the mist began to rise, and floated over the wide expanse of ice, and so obscured every object that we were able to continue our journey in the twilight only by means of the compass. We determined our course by the aid of small hummocks of ice, which rose above the general level surface, but so great was the difficulty of keeping a definite line in the mist, that we were compelled to halt every four hundred paces, and correct our route by the larger compass, which often showed that we had deviated 20° to 40° in azimuth from the true line, and in some cases the error amounted to even 90°. To add to all this, snow began to fall, so that we were almost blinded, and hence it was that a bear for some time followed our footsteps, unseen by any of the party. When we first sighted him, though he was at a little distance off, he looked enormously large in the mist. We quickly seized our rifles, and one of our men firing precipitately, the bear disappeared, leaving no track of blood to show whether it had been wounded. But bears, even when severely wounded, often leave no such trace; hence doubtless the origin of the assertion, that a wounded bear can dress its own wound, using its paw to apply snow to the injured part.

7. It was our practice in this, as well as in the following expeditions, to rest at noon for an hour or two, and putting up the tent take a meal of hot boiled beef. But the inferiority of an untrained to a well-trained sledge party was seen even in such operations. Much time was wasted; in like manner and from the same cause, the coffee-making in the morning, the preparation for the march, the taking down of the tent, the loading of the sledge, occupied my party for hours, and the smallest snow-drifting sufficed to blow away all their moral force. As we left the tent, the bear stood again before us, but disappeared as suddenly when we seized our rifles. In the course of a few hours we passed some icebergs shaped like huge tables, and when the wind rose and lifted up the mist for a few moments, we saw the rocky heights of Cape Tegetthoff towering above us at no great distance. The snow began to drive directly in our faces, and meanwhile the bear had followed our steps, often hidden from our sight by the vehement gusts of snow, sometimes on our flank, sometimes in our rear, keeping at about 200 paces distance from us. By feigning unconcern we hoped to stimulate his courage to attack us, reckoning on converting him into food. Suddenly, however, he ran towards us, and our apparent indifference disappeared. In a moment we stood ready to receive him; the sledge was drawn across the line of his advance, and each casting off his drag-rope, knelt and aimed over the sledge. The directions were to aim at the lower part of the skull, and to fire only when he was quite close to us. The dogs were moved to the further side of the sledge, and covered with its sail. Of the other four men, two held the dogs, a third laid hold of a revolver, and the fourth provided himself with some cartridges ready for contingencies. After the completion of these preparations, no one either moved or spoke. The bear meanwhile, moved steadily towards us, stopping for a moment at the spot where a piece of bread had intentionally been placed. Just as he stopped to examine it, three shots in rapid succession went off, and the bear, hit in the head and chest, lay dead on the ground. The dogs, being let loose, rushed on their fallen foe and began to tear his shaggy skin. While we were cutting the bear up, they sat down and watched us, occasionally dipping their tongues in the warm red blood and snapping up the morsels which were thrown to them. The bear we had shot was a female, six feet in length; and after cutting off the tongue and the best portions for meat, we continued our march in the teeth of the driving snow. One of our people had cut his finger badly in dressing the bear, and as the application of chloride of iron did not suffice to stop the violent bleeding, we were compelled to halt and erect our tent about six o’clock in the evening.

8. When we set out again on the morning of the 12th (the thermometer marking -26° F.) all round us was a red undulating waste, and the driving gusts of snow, which hid from our view the nearest rocky heights, pricked us as if with countless sharp-pointed darts. Such drifting snow, although it greatly impedes travelling, cannot be compared with the tremendous snow-storms I had experienced in Greenland. The same precursory signs were, however, common to both—extraordinary refractions, brilliant auroras, perfect calms, and a dull close atmosphere. In taking down the tent, which was covered with wreaths of snow, every article which fell in it was at once buried under its drifting waves. Of all the tests of endurance in Arctic journeys none exceeds that of continuing the march amid driving snow at a low temperature. Some of my company who had not been accustomed to walk in such tremendous weather, in attempting to button on their wind-screens and nose-bands and fasten up their coats after we had left the tent, at once had their fingers frozen. Our sail-cloth boots were as hard as stone, and every one took to stamping to preserve his feet from frost-bite. Under such circumstances the sledge is not packed with that precision which is the only preservative against the loss of the various articles of its contents. To watch against this contingency is the special business of the man who pushes the sledge from behind. Hurry and confusion were visible in the bag of provisions being left open. At last everything was ready: the march began, men and dogs, dragging the sledge along, all coated with snow and entirely covered except the eyes. In a momentary lull of the wind, we discovered that our march the day before had led us far too much to the south, and Cape Tegetthoff now lay before us directly north. Thither we now directed our steps, and as the wind still came from the north-west, we struck our sledge sail. As a consequence of this marching against the wind, which is most severely felt by the leaders of the team, all, even Klotz, had their noses frost-bitten. We had much difficulty in persuading him to rub his with snow, urging that his nose did not belong to himself alone, but that seven noses and fourteen feet were under the general supervision of the leader, and that each had a share in this general property.

9. As we came under the land, the violence of the snow-drifting somewhat abated, and in about two hours a calm set in. Close before us lay the plateau of Cape Tegetthoff, with its steep precipitous sides. From its summit a line of basalt rocks descended towards the east, ending in two columns, each about two hundred feet high. We reached them just before noon, and the weather being propitious we determined the latitude by observation and found it to be 80° 6′ N.L. The force of the tide not being able to raise or burst the bay-ice, the thaw-water of the spring collects itself on the coast-edge in small lakes. Close under one of these towers of dark-coloured basalt, we set up our tent; and while our cook was preparing our dinner of bear’s flesh we lay in the sun under the rocks in order to dry our clothes, which were coated all over with ice.

CAPE TEGETTHOFF.

10. About one o’clock I set off with the Tyrolese to the plateau of Cape Tegetthoff. Those who remained behind spent their time in rubbing their feet with snow. Lettis had reserved for us the unpleasant surprise that his feet had been frost-bitten for three hours, and that he had lost all feeling in them. We marched for an hour on the snow, which lay in tender azure-blue shadow under the long line of basalt rocks, and after climbing for another hour over rosy-coloured masses of snow lying between crystallized rocks, we reached the highest point of the undulating plateau. No ascent could be more interesting, made, as it was, in a country so utterly unknown. Haller and Klotz were born mountaineers, and during my surveys in Tyrol I had made a hundred ascents of mountains of 10,000 feet, without the tension of expectation I now experienced, as I mounted this summit. The ascent was not without difficulty, and it taxed the extraordinary dexterity of the two Tyrolese to climb up steep icy precipices in their sail-cloth boots. It was about three o’clock in the afternoon when we reached the summit; the temperature had fallen to -30° F. (in the tent the thermometer at the same time marked -24° F. and in the ship -20° F.). By a barometrical measurement we found the height to be 2,600 feet. Contrary to expectation the view from the top proved to be limited. In a northerly direction, the atmosphere, laden with innumerable ice crystals, possessed so little transparency that Cape Berghaus, at no distance off, appeared to be covered with a thick veil, and all distant objects were enveloped in a dense mist. Fogs lay over the interior to the west, and banks of reddish vapour covered the icy ocean to the south. Some narrow strips of open water sparkled in the sun. After making a sketch of all that could be distinctly seen, and determining the bearings of some points, we returned to the tent. Here we found Lettis and Cattarinch engaged in rubbing with snow the hands of Lukinovich, which had been frost-bitten, while he was occupied in rubbing the feet of Lettis.

11. Nothing except the wind makes men so sensitive to cold as the want of exercise. The fall of the temperature had been felt far more by those who remained behind, than by ourselves. Even the wonderful beauty of the snow-clad summit bathed in rosy light failed to modify their severe judgment of Franz-Josef Land. Instead of greeting us with supper ready at the appointed hour, which he ought to have prepared without the use of spirit, the bewildered cook was vainly endeavouring to roast bear’s flesh over smoky chips and sticks, and we got our supper only after I had served out a bottle of alcohol. We then went to rest in the common sleeping bag, but soon began to shake with cold, which threw Pospischill, who took oil twice a day for lung-disease, into a fever. When I left the tent to look at the thermometers, the mercury in one had gone down into the bulb and was frozen, and the spirits of wine in the other showed 41° below zero (C.). Some hot grog, for which a whole bottle of strong rum was used, put us all right, raising the temperature of our bodies by one or two degrees. After this refreshment we all fell into a deep sleep, which was incommoded only by the increasing dampness of our clothes.

12. We started again about six o’clock on the morning of March 13. The sun had not risen, the spirit of wine thermometer indicated nearly 44° (C.) below zero, and a piercingly cold breeze met us from the land. Even on board the ship the temperature at the same time marked 37° (C.) below zero, a difference to be ascribed to the influence of the land in lowering the temperature. In Greenland we observed still greater deviations of this nature, which seem to show that climatical influences are subject to great variations, even in places which are in close proximity. Cape Berghaus was our goal. From its summit a general view of the distribution of the land under 80° N. lat. was reasonably to be expected. Long before the rise of the sun, the hard snowy plains were tinted with a pale green reflected light, and the icebergs wore a dull silvery hue, while their outlines constantly changed and undulated. Our road was formed from millions of glittering snow crystals, so hard that the sledge glided over them with difficulty and with a creaking noise, and after three hours, the exertion of dragging had so exhausted us that we determined to unload the sledge, and, after melting some snow, to wet its runners with water. A layer of ice was immediately formed on them, which greatly facilitated the labour of dragging, till it was rubbed off. A broad inlet surrounded by picturesque mountains—Nordenskjöld Fiord—had opened out on our left, and as a large glacier formed the background of this fiord, we took a westerly direction in order to study the ice-formation. The heights surrounding this fiord seemed equally as well fitted as Cape Berghaus for the object we had in view. The further we penetrated into it, the deeper became the layer of fine powdery snow which the wind had deposited in this hollow. At noon we reached the high precipitous termination of Sonklar-Glacier, and pitched our tent by an iceberg.

MELTING SNOW DURING A HALT NEAR CAPE BERGHAUS.

13. In the afternoon, accompanied by the Tyrolese, I ascended a mountain—Cape Littrow—whose height, by means of an aneroid barometer, we ascertained to be 2,500 feet. From its summit we had a view of the mountains of Hall Island, and of the islands which lay to the east. Not a breath of wind was stirring, and the atmosphere was clearer than usual, so that, without suffering in the least degree from cold, I could work for three hours, first in sketching our surroundings and then in taking observations. From south-west to north-east the peaks of distant mountains rose above the summits of those in the foreground. This view, while it assured us that the land we had named after our monarch must be of great extent, stimulated our impatience to know its extent, and the nature and relation of its constituent parts. The Wüllersdorf Mountains were the extreme limits of what could be known for the present, and their three peaks glowed in the setting sun above the dark edges of the terraces of the Sonklar-Glacier, whose broad terminal front over-hung the frozen bay of Nordenskjöld Fiord. It was eight o’clock in the evening when we returned to our tent, not, however, before we had made suitable preparations for the observation of the movement of the glacier. Sumbu and Torossy were our companions; but we had to tie them with a rope both in going up and coming down, and we ourselves only mastered the great steepness of the cone of the mountain by steps which Klotz, who went on before, hewed with incomparable dexterity and precision in the ice. During the night the temperature fell to 46° below zero (C.) (-47° F. in the ship), and I do not believe that we could have passed through it without the help of grog. We drank it as we lay close together muffled up in our sleeping bag. It was boiling hot, and so strong, that under other circumstances it must have made us incapable of work, yet in spite of the grog, we suffered much all through the night from cold and our frozen clothes.

CHAPTER V.
THE COLD.

1. THE coldest day we had during this expedition was the 14th of March. By six o’clock on the morning of that day the Tyrolese and I stood on the summit of the precipitous face of the Sonklar-Glacier. The others remained behind to clear the tent of snow, and to bury a small depôt of provisions in an iceberg which was close at hand. The sun had not yet risen, though a golden gleam behind the glaciers of Salm Island indicated his near approach. At last the sun himself appeared, blood-red, glowing with indistinct outline through the mists, and surrounded with parhelia, which generally occur when the cold is great. The tops of the high snowy mountains were first touched with rosy light, which gradually descended and spread over the icy plains, and the sun like a ball of fire shone at length clearly through the frosty mist, and everything around seemed on fire. As the sun even at noon was but a few degrees above the horizon, this wonderful colouring lasted throughout the day, and the mountains, whose steepest sides were covered with a frosty efflorescence, shone like glass in this radiant light. The alcohol thermometer soon after we came on the glacier fell to 59° 1′ (F.) below zero,[34] and a light breeze blowing from the interior, which would have been pleasant enough on a March day in Europe, exposed me, while engaged in the indispensable work of drawing and measuring, to such danger, that though I worked under the shelter of my Tyrolese companions as a protection against the cold, I was constantly compelled to rub my stiffened and benumbed hands with snow. We had taken some rum with us, and as each took his share, he knelt down and allowed another to shake it into his mouth, without bringing the metal cup in contact with his lips. This rum, though it was strong, seemed to have lost all its strength and fluidity. It tasted like innocent milk, and its consistence was that of oil. The bread was frozen so hard that we feared to break our teeth in biting it, and it brought blood as we ate it. The attempt to smoke a cigar was a punishment rather than an enjoyment, because the icicles on our beards always put them out, and when we took them out of our mouths they were frozen. Even the shortest pipes met the same fate. The instruments I used in surveying seemed to burn when I touched them, and the medals which my companions wore on their breasts felt like hot iron.

ON THE SONKLAR-GLACIER.

2. The phenomena of cold which we had the opportunity of observing during this journey, and which I immediately recorded, will perhaps justify a short break in my narrative while I attempt to describe them. The horrors of a Scythian winter are an ancient belief, and it used to be counted wisdom to shun the zones where men were frozen, as well as the zones where men were scorched. But it has been assumed, with great exaggeration, that a hot climate makes men sensual and timid, while a cold climate renders them virtuous and bold. There is far more truth in the opinion held by some observers, and especially by Polar navigators, that cold is depressing in its influence, and enfeebles the powers of the will. At first it stimulates to action, but this vigour is quickly followed by torpidity; exertion is soon succeeded by the desire to rest. Persons exposed to these alternations of increased action and torpor feel as if they were intoxicated. From the stiffness and trembling of their jaws they speak with great effort, they display uncertainty in all their movements and the stupor of somnambulists in their actions and thoughts. Most of the circumpolar animals escape, as much as they can, the horrors of the frost: some migrate; others, burying themselves in holes, sleep throughout the winter. The fish, which are found in the small pools of sweet water on the land are frozen in when these pools freeze, and awake to life and movement again only when the pools are thawed.

3. The human body, with an inner warmth amounting to 95°-100° F., is exposed in the wastes of North America and Siberia to frightful cold, the extremes of which have been noted by many different observers. Back recorded in Fort Reliance, Jan. 17, 1833, the temperature -67° F.; Hayes, March 17, 1861, -69° F.; Nevérow, in Jakutzk, Jan. 31, 1838, -74° F.; Kane, -69° F.; Maclure, Jan. 1853, -73° F.; John Ross, 1831, -56° F.; and Parry, 1821, -55° F.; while the lowest temperature which has hitherto been observed in the Alpine countries of Europe is only -24° F. In consequence of the difficulty of observing the extremes of cold, lower temperatures than these can scarcely ever have been registered.

4. In order to illustrate the effect of an extraordinarily low temperature on the human frame, the best point to start from is the imagination of a man exposed without clothes to its influence. At 37° or 50° (C.) of cold a misty halo would encompass him, the edges of which would have, under certain circumstances, the colours of the rainbow. It is evident that the moisture of the body rapidly coming forth and becoming visible in the cold air would cause this mist, which would decrease with the heat of the body, and disappear on the death of the frozen man. The purpose of clothing is to counteract as much as possible this twofold loss of warmth and moisture, which is the principal cause of the fearful Arctic thirst. But even clothed men exposed to so low a temperature present a strange appearance. When they are dragging a sledge on the march their breath streams forth like smoke, which is soon transformed into a mass of needles of ice, almost hiding their mouths from view; and the snow on which they tread steams with the heat which it receives from the snow beneath. The countless crystals of ice, which fill the air and reduce the clearness of day to a dull yellow twilight, make a continual rustling noise; their fall in the form of fine snow-dust, or their floating as frosty vapour, is the cause of that penetrating feeling of damp which is so perceptible when the cold is intense, and which receives accretions from the vapours issuing from the open places of the sea. Notwithstanding all this, there is an indescribable dryness in the atmosphere, strongly contrasting with the feeling of dampness. Heavy clouds are impossible; the heavens are covered only by mists, through which the sun and the moon, surrounded by halos, glow blood-red. Falls of snow, as we understand the expression, altogether cease; the snow crystals, under the influence of cold, are so minute as to be almost invisible. The land, the real home and source of cold, acts as the great condenser of vapour, and snow and moisture of every kind, and lies under a deep covering of frozen snow till the colour of its walls and precipices reappears in April. The soil, in the stricter sense of the word, is frozen as hard as iron wherever it appears through the snow, and the mean temperature of Franz-Josef Land (about 3° F.) makes it highly probable, that the frost penetrates to the depth of a thousand feet. Great cold, calm weather, and clear atmosphere combined, are the characteristics of the interior of Arctic countries. The nearer we approach the sea, the rarer is this combination. Light breezes sometimes occur with a temperature 37° (C.) below zero,[35] but the atmosphere is then less transparent.

5. It is well known that sound is propagated far more freely in Polar regions than with us. When the cold was great, we could hear conversations, carried on in the usual tone of voice, distinctly at the distance of several hundred paces. Parry and Middendorf both assert that the voice is more audible at a distance in cold weather. The propagation of sound seems to find less hindrance from the irregular masses of ice and cushions of snow, than from the curtains of our woods and the carpets of our vegetation. In the mountainous districts of Europe many of the characteristics of Polar regions, besides intense cold, are met with; yet it is a fact, that the report of a gun can scarcely be heard in those situations. Cold, however, can scarcely be regarded as the essential condition of this phenomenon; for the propagation of sound, though in a less striking degree, may be observed even in the summers there.[36] It would seem rather that the amount of moisture in the atmosphere has a more decided influence in the production of this phenomenon.

6. When the snow becomes hard as rock, its surface takes a granular consistence like sugar. Where it lies with its massive wreaths frozen in the form of billows, our steps resound, as we walk over them, with the sound as of a drum. The ice is so hard that it emits a ringing sound; wood becomes wonderfully hard, splits, and is as difficult to cut as bone; butter becomes like stone; meat must be split, and mercury may be fired as a bullet from a gun.[37]

7. If cold thus acts on things without life, how much more must it influence living organisms and the power of man’s will! Cold lowers the beat of the pulse, weakens the bodily sensations, diminishes the capacity of movement and of enduring great fatigue. Of all the senses, taste and smell most lose their force and pungency, the mucous membrane being in a constant state of congestion and excessive secretion. After a time a decrease of muscular power is also perceptible. If one is exposed suddenly to an excessive degree of cold, involuntarily one shuts the mouth and breathes through the nose; the cold air seems at first to pinch and pierce the organs of respiration. The eyelids freeze even in calm weather, and to prevent their closing we have constantly to clear them from ice, and the beard alone is less frozen than other parts of the body, because the breath as it issues from the mouth falls down as snow. Snow-spectacles are dimmed by the moisture of the eyes, and when the thermometer falls 37° (C.) below zero they are as opaque as frost-covered windows. The cold, however, is most painfully felt in the soles of the feet, when there is a cessation of exercise. Nervous weakness, torpor, and drowsiness follow, which explains the connection which is usually found between resting and freezing. The most important point, in fact, for a sledge party, which has such exertions to make at a very low temperature, is to stand still as little as possible. The excessive cold which is felt in the soles of the feet during the noon-day rest is the main reason why afternoon marches make such a demand on the moral power. Great cold also alters the character of the excretions, thickens the blood, and increases the need of nourishment from the increased expenditure of carbon. And while perspiration ceases entirely, the secretion of the mucous membranes of the nose and eyes is permanently increased, and the urine assumes almost a deep red colour. At first the bowels are much confined, a state which, after continuing for five and sometimes eight days, passes into diarrhœa. The bleaching of the beard under these influences is a curious fact.

8. Although theoretically, the fat endure cold better than the lean, in reality this is often reversed. Somewhat in the same way it might be argued that the negro would have an advantage over the white man, for the former as a living black bulb thermometer is more receptive of the warmer waves of heat. But blackening the face or smearing the body with grease are experiments which could only be recommended by those who have never been in a position to try them. The only protection against cold is clothing carefully chosen, and contrivances to avoid the condensation of moisture. All articles of dress are made as stiff as iron by the cold. If one puts off his fur coat and lays it down for a few minutes on the ground, he cannot put it on again till it be thawed. The fingers of woollen gloves become as unpliable as if they belonged to mailed gauntlets, and therefore Arctic travellers, except when engaged in hunting, prefer to use mittens.

9. Constant precautions are needed against the danger of frost-bite, and the nose of the Arctic voyager especially becomes a most serious charge. But no sooner has its safety been secured, than the hands which have rubbed it with snow are threatened with the same fate. The ears, however, are well protected from frost by the hood. Frost-bite, which is caused by the stoppage of blood in the capillaries, evinces itself by a feeling of numbness, which, if not immediately attended to, increases to a state of complete rigidity. Slight cases are overcome by rubbing the part affected with snow. When the cold is excessive, feeling accompanied with a prickling sensation only returns after rubbing for hours. Under all circumstances, freezing water with an infusion of hydrochloric acid is the best means of restoring circulation. When the frost-bitten member is immersed in this, it is at once overspread with a coating of ice, but as the temperature of the water slowly rises the frozen limb is gradually thawed. The longer persons are exposed to a low temperature, the greater becomes their sensitiveness under it. Their noses, lips and hands swell, and the skin on those parts becomes like parchment, cracks, and is most sensitive to pain from the least breath of wind. In cases of neglected frost-bite, the violet colour of a nose or hand is perpetuated, in spite of all the efforts made to banish it. Frost-bites of a more severe character will not yield to mere rubbings with snow, but should be treated with the kind of cold bath we have described, continued for some days. The formation of blisters, the swelling of the parts affected, great sensitiveness and liability to a recurrence of the malady, are the consequences. In many cases a sensitiveness to changes of temperature lasts for several years. Amputation is inevitable in severe and neglected cases. When circulation has been restored, a mixture of iodine and collodion—10 grains to an ounce—may, according to the experience of Dr. Kepes, be advantageously applied to reduce the inflammation which generally results.

10. It is remarkable that great heat as well as great cold should generate the great evil—thirst. It is also remarkable how rapidly the demoralisation produced by thirst extends when any one of the party begins to show signs of suffering from it. Habit, however, enables men to struggle against thirst more successfully than against hunger. Many try to relieve it by using snow; which is especially pernicious when its temperature falls considerably below the point of liquefaction. Inflammation of the mouth and tongue, rheumatic pains in the teeth, diarrhœa, and other mischiefs, are the consequences, whenever a party incautiously yields to the temptation of such a momentary relief. It is in fact a mere delusion, because it is impossible to eat as much snow—say a cubic foot—as would be requisite to furnish an adequate amount of water. Snow of a temperature of 37° to 50° (C.) below zero feels in the mouth like hot iron, and does not quench, but increases thirst, by its inflammatory action on the mucous membranes of the parts it affects. The Eskimos prefer to endure any amount of thirst rather than eat snow, and it is only the Tschuktschees who indulge in it as a relish with their food, which is always eaten cold. Snow-eaters during the march were regarded by us as weaklings, much in the same way as opium-eaters are. Catarrhs of every kind are less frequent in Polar expeditions, and the chills to which we are exposed by passing suddenly from the cold of the land journey to the warmer temperature of the ship, have no evil consequences. It deserves to be investigated whether this arises from the difference of the amount of ozone in the atmosphere of the respective latitudes.—Now let us return to our journey.

11. After crossing over the Sonklar-Glacier and measuring its slight inclination of 1° 6′, we climbed an elevation to ascertain the most promising route for penetrating in a northerly direction; and none seemed better suited than that which lay over its back, which seemed free from crevasses. But we looked in vain for the fancied paradise of the interior, which had existed only in our desire to clothe in glowing colours the Land, from which we had been so long held back. The true character, however, of Kaiser Franz-Josef Land, so far as it could be explored in this and the following sledge expeditions, will be the subject of the next chapter. The accompanying sketch represents a block of snow, about the height of a man, at the foot of the Sonklar-Glacier, to which the winds had given a fanlike shape. In the afternoon, after inspecting the stakes which we had fixed for measuring the motion of the glacier, we came back to the tent and began our return march to Cape Tegetthoff and the ship. A cutting wind compelled us to make constant efforts against frost-bites. With a heavy creaking noise the sledge was dragged over the hard snow, and to our reduced strength it seemed to be laden with a double load. The night is generally the hardest part of such expeditions, and our camping out during the night under the cliffs of Cape Tegetthoff was especially bitter. Happy was he who, exhausted by the labour of dragging, fell asleep at once. As usual, we dug a deep hole in the snow and loosened it as much as possible, so that we might profit by its property of being one of the worst conductors of heat. In a short time the inside of the tent was covered with rime frost, and we ourselves with ice. The tongue only seemed to recover its former mobility with those who bewailed their loss of knives, stockings, gloves—yea, of everything, even their place in the tent. They ate their portion of bear’s flesh much as if they had been chloroformed, and dropping asleep in their stiffened icy coat of mail, they were awoke by its gradual thawing, to reiterate without cessation how cold it was; a fact which no one present was prepared to dispute. The alcohol thermometer stood at -56° F. (-48° on board the ship), and when the warmth produced by the exercise we had taken and by the effects of supper was gone, the feeling of cold was so intense that it seemed far more probable that we should be frozen to death than that we should sleep. The cook therefore received orders to brew some strong grog, and forthwith six spirit-flames burnt under the kettle filled with snow; but to make snow of such extreme coldness boil quickly we should have had to place the kettle over Vesuvius itself in the height of an eruption.

BLOCK OF SNOW.

12. We now slept without stirring a limb, and about five o’clock in the morning of the 15th of March we started to compass the twenty miles which lay between us and the ship in one march, without encountering the suffering of another night’s camping out in the snow. The weather was as clear as it is possible to be at a temperature of -52° F., and going along with a light breeze from the north, we made use of our sledge sail to such advantage that we reached the gentle ascent of the west point of Wilczek Island after a march of seven hours. We formed a second depôt of provisions on the summit of a rocky promontory, whence we discerned with a telescope the masts and yards of the ship lying behind an iceberg, and our fears and anxieties lest it should have drifted away in our absence were dissipated by this glad view. Our return to the ship could no longer be a matter of choice; it had become a necessity. Lettis had been unable for some days to take any share in the labour of dragging, and walked along in shoes made of reindeer hide, on account of his frost-bitten feet. Haller also wore similar shoes to save his swollen feet; Cattarinch’s face was frost-bitten, and he too suffered from lameness; Pospischill, who could no longer wear his shrunk-up fur coat, so suffered from frost-bite in both hands, that I sent him on to the ship, that he might have the help of the doctor as soon as possible. It was with much effort that we made the last six hours’ march; and when at length, stiff with ice, we passed between the hummocks that lay around the ship, Weyprecht, Brosch, Orel, and eight sailors came to meet us, who, alarmed at the inability of Pospischill to speak in answer to their questions, had set out from the ship in order to find us.

THE BURIAL OF KRISCH.

13. As I entered my berth I heard the hard breathing of our poor comrade Krisch. For more than a week he had lain without consciousness; yet death had not come to relieve him. On the afternoon of the 16th of March a sudden cessation of all sound told us that he was no more! Next day, his body, placed in a coffin, was brought on deck, and our flag hoisted half-mast high. On the 19th, when the thermometer was at -13° F., the body was committed to its lonely grave in the far north. A mournful procession left the ship, with a sledge, on which rested the coffin covered with a flag and cross, and wended its way to the nearest elevation on the shore of Wilczek Island. Silently struggling against the drifting snow, we marched on, dragging our burden through desolate reaches of snow, till we arrived, after a journey of an hour and a half, at the point we sought on the island. Here, in a fissure between basaltic columns, we deposited his earthly remains, filling up the cavity with stones, which we loosened with much labour, and which the wind, as we stood there, covered with wreaths of snow. We read the prayer for the dead over him who had shared in our sufferings and trials, but who was not destined to return home with us with the news of our success; and close by the spot, surrounded with every symbol of death and far from the haunts of men, we raised as our farewell a simple wooden cross. Our sad and solemn task done, there rose in our hearts the thought, whether we ourselves should be permitted to return home, or whether we too should find our resting-place in the unapproachable wastes of the icy north. The wind blowing over the stiff and stark elevation where we stood, covered us all with a thick coating of snow, and caused the appearance of frost-bite in the faces and hands of some of our party. The decoration of the grave of our comrade with a suitable inscription was therefore deferred till the weather proved more favourable. We found considerable difficulty in returning to the ship through an atmosphere filled with snow.[38]

CHAPTER VI.
A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF KAISER FRANZ-JOSEF LAND.

In now presenting a general view of those parts of Kaiser Franz-Josef Land which were explored by us, I must be allowed to anticipate the order of my narrative which describes the subsequent sledge expeditions, by which our knowledge of the discovered country was so considerably enlarged.

1. The country, even in its already ascertained extent, is almost as large as Spitzbergen, and consists of two main masses—Wilczek Land on the east, and Zichy Land on the west, between which runs a broad sound called Austria Sound, extending in a northerly direction from Cape Frankfort till it forks at the extremity of Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land, 80° 40′ N. L. One branch of it, a broad arm running to the north-east—Rawlinson Sound—we traced as far as Cape Buda-Pesth. Wilczek and Zichy Lands are both intersected by many fiords, and numerous islands lie off their coasts.

2. A continuous surface of ice extends from the one land to the other. At the time of our exploration, this expanse was formed of ice, for the most part not more than a year in growth, but crossed in many places with fissures and broad barriers of piled-up ice. Throughout its whole extent we saw many icebergs, which we never did in the Novaya Zemlya seas; whence it is to be inferred that they sail away in a northerly direction.[39] Our track lay over this ice-sheet. As long as it remains unbroken, every fiord might serve as a winter harbour; but if it should break up, not a single locality suitable to form one presented itself along the coasts we visited, which had no small indentations.[40]

3. The map of this country, which we present, was designed and constructed from fifteen observations of latitude, from many observations made with the azimuth compass, from drawings, and from a system of triangulation, which, from the nature of the circumstances under which it was formed,[41] makes no pretensions to absolute exactitude. The heights of the mountains were determined by the aneroid barometer. Near the ship a base of 2170·8 metres was measured by Weyprecht and Orel, and connected trigonometrically with the nearest promontories. This work of theirs formed the basis of my surveys.

4. It has always been a principle and a practice with Arctic explorers to name their discoveries either after the promoters of their special expeditions, or after their predecessors in the work of discovery. Though they are never likely to become important to the material interests of mankind, the naming the lands we discovered after those who promoted our expedition, was, we considered, the most enduring form by which we could express our gratitude for their efforts in furtherance of a great idea. The localities, I may add, were named during the work of surveying.

5. As I have had the privilege of visiting all the Arctic lands north of the Atlantic, I have been able to compare them and observe their resemblances as well as their differences. West Greenland is a high uniform glacier-plateau; East Greenland is a magnificent Alpine land with a comparatively rich vegetation and abundant animal life. How and where the transition between these opposite characters takes place in the interior is as yet utterly unknown. We may form some notion of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, if we imagine a mountain-range, like that of the Oetzthal with its glaciers, rising from the level of the sea, if that level were raised about 9,000 feet. There is more softness, however, in both these countries than is usual in the regions of the high north. But Franz-Josef Land has all the severity of the higher Arctic lands; it appears, especially in spring, to be denuded of life of every kind. Enormous glaciers extend from the lofty solitudes of the mountains, which rise in bold conical forms. A covering of dazzling whiteness is spread over everything. The rows of basaltic columns, rising tier above tier, stand out as if crystallized. The natural colour of the rocks was not visible, as is usually the case: even the steepest walls of rock were covered with ice, the consequence of incessant precipitation, and of the condensation of the excessive moisture on the cold faces of the rock. This moisture in a country whose mean annual temperature is about 3° F., seems to indicate its insular character, for Greenland and Siberia are both remarkable for the dryness of their cold, and it was singular that even north winds occasioned a fall of temperature in Franz-Josef Land. In consequence of their enormous glaciation, and of the frequent occurrence of plateau forms, the new lands recalled the characteristic features of West Greenland, in the lower level of the snow-line common to both, and in their volcanic formation. Isolated groups of conical mountains and table-lands, which are peculiar to the basaltic formation, constitute the mountain-system of Franz-Josef Land; chains of mountains were nowhere seen. These mountain forms are the results of erosion and denudation; there were no isolated volcanic cones. The mountains, as a rule, are about 2,000 or 3,000 feet high, except in the south-west, where they attain the height of about 5,000 feet.

6. The later Arctic expeditions have established the existence of vast volcanic formations in the high north, and of very recent deposits in their depressions. In fact, a vast volcanic zone seems to extend from East Greenland, through Iceland, Jan Mayen and Spitzbergen, to Franz-Josef Land. The geological features of the latter are at any rate in harmony with those of North-east Greenland. The tertiary Brown-coal sandstone of East Greenland is also found in Franz-Josef Land, though Brown-coal itself is met with only in small beds, which, nevertheless, may be reckoned among the many indications that the climate of Polar lands must once have been as genial as the climate of Central Europe at the present day. The kind of rock which predominates is a crystalline aggregation called by the Swedes “Hyperstenite” (Hypersthene), identical with the Dolerite of Greenland; but the Dolerite of Franz-Josef Land is of a coarser-grained texture, and of a dark yellowish green colour; according to Professor Tschermak (the Director of the Imperial Mineralogical Museum at Vienna), it consists of Plagioclase, Augite, Olivine, titaniferous Iron and ferruginous Chlorite. The mountains of this system forming table-lands, with precipitous rocky sides, give to the country we discovered its peculiar physiognomy.

7. The Dolerite of Franz-Josef Land greatly resembles also the Dolerite of Spitzbergen. After the return of the expedition I saw in London some photographic views of the mountains of North-East Land, Spitzbergen, taken by Mr. Leigh-Smith, and I was at once struck with the resemblance between their forms and those of Franz-Josef Land. I learnt also from Professor Nordenskjöld, the celebrated explorer of Spitzbergen, as I passed through Sweden, that the rock of North-East Land was this same Hyperstenite (Hypersthene). Hence the geological coincidence of Spitzbergen and Franz-Josef Land would seem to be established; and this geological affinity, viewed in connection with the existence of lands more or less known, appears to indicate that groups of islands will be found in the Arctic seas on the north of Europe, as we know that such abound in the Arctic seas of North America. Gillis’ Land and King Karl’s Land are, perhaps, the most easterly islands of the Spitzbergen group; for it is not probable that these and the lands we discovered form one continuous uninterrupted whole.

8. Amygdaloids, so common in Greenland, were never found by us in Franz-Josef Land; and while the rocks in the southern portions of the country were often aphanitic and so far true basalt, in the north they were coarse-grained and contained Nepheline. The other rocks consisted of a whitish quartzose sandstone, with a clayey cement, and of another finely-grained sandstone, containing small granules of quartz and greenish-grey particles of chlorite, and also of yellowish finely-laminated clay slate. Erratics, so far as my opportunities permitted me to judge, were of rare occurrence; but we found many smaller pieces of petrified wood, allied to lignite.

9. Some of the islands of the Spitzbergen and Franz-Josef Land group must be of considerable extent, because they bear enormous glaciers, which are possible only in extensive countries. Their terminal precipices, sometimes more than 100 feet high, form generally the coast-lines. The colour of all the glaciers we visited inclined to grey, we seldom found the dull green-blue hue; the granules of their ice were extraordinarily large; there were few crevasses; and the moraines were neither large nor frequent. Their movement was slow; and the snow-line commences at about 1,000 feet above the level, whereas on the glaciers of Greenland and Spitzbergen the like limit is generally 2,000 or even 3,000 feet, and in these countries also, all below that line is free from snow in summer. Franz-Josef Land, on the contrary, appears even in summer to be buried under perpetual snow, interrupted only where precipitous rock occurs. Almost all the glaciers reach down to the sea. Crevasses, even when the angle of inclination of the glacier is very great, are much less frequent than in our Alps, and in every respect the lower glacier regions of Franz-Josef Land approach the character of the névés of our latitudes. There only was it possible to determine the thickness of the annual deposits of snow and ice. In these lower portions, the layers were from a foot to a foot-and-a-half thick; fine veins, about an inch wide, of blue alternating with streaks of white ice ran through them, which occurred with peculiar distinctness at the depth of about a fathom. On the whole, this peculiar structure of alternating bands or veins was not so distinctly marked as it is in the glaciers of the Alps, because the alternations of temperature and of the precipitations are very much less in such high latitudes.

10. The glacier ice of Franz-Josef Land was far less dense than the glacier ice of East Greenland; whence it appears that movement, as a factor in the structure of the glacier, predominates in Franz-Josef-Land more than the factor of regelation. Even at the very end of the glaciers, granules an inch long are distinctly traceable in its layers, and in the névé region especially the glacier ice is exceedingly porous. The great tendency of the climate of Franz-Josef Land to promote glaciation is manifested in the fact, that all the smaller islands are covered with glaciers with low rounded tops, so that a section through them would present a regular defined segment of a circle; hence many ice-streams descending from the summits of the plateaus spread themselves over the mountain-slopes and need not to be concentrated in valleys and hollows in order to become glaciers. Yet many glaciers occur—the Middendorf Glaciers, for example—whose vertical depth amounts to many hundred feet. Their fissures and the height of the icebergs show this. It was unfortunately impossible for us to explore the Dove Glacier, the largest of all we saw, owing to its great distance from the line of our route. Evaporation from the surface of the glacier goes on with great intensity during those summer months when the daylight is continual, and deep water-courses show that streams of thaw-water then flow over it.

11. The comparison of the temperature of the air within the crevasses of the glaciers with the external air, invariably proved, that within the crevasses the temperature was higher. The traces of liquefaction in the glacier during winter, arising from the warmth of the earth, could not be observed, because the sides and under-edge of the glaciers were inaccessible from the enormous masses of snow, and the icicles of the terminal arches and precipices could be ascribed only to the freezing of the thaw-water of the preceding summer.

12. The plasticity of the glaciers was so great, that branches of them, separated by jutting-out rocks, flowed into each other again at their base, without showing any considerable crevasses. We could only in a few cases judge of their movement by direct measurement, and we had never more than one day to test it. One observation made on the Sonklar Glacier in the month of March did not seem to support the notion of the advance of the glaciers; but the repetition of similar experiments, some weeks later, made on two glaciers on the south of Austria Sound, gave the mean of two inches as the daily movement. It is very probable that their movement begins in the Arctic regions somewhat later than in our latitudes, perhaps at the end of July or beginning of August, because the period of the greatest liquefaction then ends, while it is at its minimum in March and the beginning of April. The signs of glacier-movement were apparent in the detachment of icebergs in the month of March, but more frequently in the month of May—as at the Simony Glacier—and in the crashing-in of the ice-sheet at their base in the month of April—as at the Middendorf Glacier; and the appearance of “glacier dirt,” where there is no material to furnish a moraine,—as on the Forbes Glacier—must be regarded as a sign of its onward movement or lateral extension. The infrequency of moraines may be explained by the resistance which Dolerite offers to weathering, and may also be regarded as a sign of the slow movement of the glaciers. Red snow was seen once only, in the month of May, on the precipices westward of Cape Brünn. We never met with glacier insects, although they are common in Greenland; and however diligently I looked for them I never saw unmistakable traces of the grinding and polishing of rocks by glacier action.

13. It is well known that the north-east of Greenland as well as Novaya Zemlya and Siberia are slowly rising from the sea, nay, that all the northern regions of the globe have for ages participated in this movement. It was, therefore, exceedingly interesting to observe the characteristic signs of this upheaval in the terraced beaches, covered with débris containing organic remains along the coast of Austria Sound. The ebb and flow, which elevates and breaks up the bay-ice only at the edge, is to be traced on the shores of Austria Sound by a tidal mark of two feet.

14. The vegetation was everywhere extremely scanty, crushed, not so much by the intensity of the cold as by its long continuance, and is far below the vegetation of Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Novaya Zemlya. It resembled, not indeed in species but in its general character, the vegetation of the Alps at an elevation of 9,000 or 10,000 feet, while the Alpine region corresponding to the vegetation of East Greenland lies a thousand feet lower. We found neither the stunted birches and willows, nor the numerous phænogamous plants of East Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Novaya Zemlya. The rare appearance of soil chiefly contributes to this extremely sparse vegetation, the detritus of the country resembling the meagre “dirt” layer on an old moraine, here and there enlivened by a small patch of green. Although we visited Franz-Josef Land at the season in which vegetation begins to stir, nowhere could there be seen a patch of sward, even a few feet square, to recall the features of our latitudes, although we examined depressions very favourably situated and free from snow. Some level spots showed patches of thin meagre grasses of Catabrosa algida (Fries), a few specimens of Saxifraga oppositifolia and of Silene acaulis, rarely Cerastium alpinum or Papaver nudicale (L.). Thick, cushion-like tufts of mosses were more frequently discovered. There were abundance of lichens: Imbricaria stygia (Acharius), Buellia stigmatea (Körber), Gyrophora anthracina (Wulfen), Cetraria nivalis (Acharius), Usnea melaxantha (Acharius), Bryopogon jubatus (Körber), Rhizocarpon geographicum (Körber), Sporastatia Morio (Körber)—and the Umbilicaria arctica of winter, which we found in Greenland at an elevation of 7,000 feet. These specifications I owe to the kindness of Professor Fenzl, director of the Botanical Garden in Vienna, and of Professor Reichhardt. The museum of this institution accepted the small collection of plants I was able to bring to Europe. Of some of these there remained nothing but withered roots, so that it was impossible to determine their character. Nature in those regions, unable to deck herself with the colours of plants, produces an imposing effect by her rigid forms, and in summer by the glare of the ice and snow; and as there are lands which are stifled by the excess of Nature’s gifts and blessings, so as even to defy efforts of civilization, here in the high North another extreme is displayed—absolute barrenness and nakedness, which render it quite uninhabitable.

15. Drift-wood, chiefly of an old date, we frequently found, but in small quantities. On the shore of Cape Tyrol, we once saw a log of pine or larch one foot thick and several feet long, lying a little above the water-line, and which might have been driven thither by the wind, as the Tegetthoff was. The fragments of wood we found—the branches on which showed that they did not come from a ship—were of the pine genus (Pinus picea, Du Roy), and must have come from the southern regions of Siberia, as the large broad rings of growth showed.

16. Franz-Josef Land is, as may be supposed, entirely uninhabited, and we never came on any traces of settlements. It is very questionable whether Eskimos would have been able to find there the means of subsistence, and if anywhere most likely on the western side of Wilczek Island, where an “ice-hole” of considerable extent remained open for a great part of the year.

17. In the southern parts it is destitute of every kind of animal life, with the exception of Polar bears and migratory birds. North of Lat. 81°, the snow bore numberless fresh tracks of foxes, but though their footmarks were imprinted on the snow beyond the possibility of mistake, we never saw one. Once we found their excrements, and on Hohenlohe Island those of an Arctic hare. The scanty vegetation forbade the presence of the reindeer and musk-ox. It is not, however, impossible that there may be reindeer in the more westerly parts of the country, which we did not visit. The character of that particular region approximates to that of King Karl’s Land and Spitzbergen, on the pastures of which herds of these animals live and thrive.

LIPARIS GELATINOSUS.

18. Of the great marine Mammalia, seals only (Phoca grœnlandica and Phoca barbata) abounded; although we saw some White Whales. Walruses we saw twice, but not close to the shore; it is, however, probable that the absence of open water prevented us from seeing the walrus nearer the shore, for the character of the sea-bottom would present no obstacle to its existence.

19. Of fish we saw only the species Liparis gelatinosus (Pallas) and a kind of cod (Gadus), which were taken with the drag-net.

20. The birds, which we found in the region between Novaya Zemlya and Franz-Josef Land were of the following species:—the long-tailed Robber Gull (Lestris, K.); the black Robber Gull without the long tail-feathers; the Burgomaster Gull (Larus Glaucus, B.); the Ice or Ivory Gull (Larus eburneus); the Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla, L.); the Sea-swallow (Sterna macrura, N.); the Arctic Petrel or Mallemoke (Procellaria glacialis); Ross’s Gull (Rhotostetia rosea); two species of Auks (Uria arra, P., and Uria mandtii, L.); the Greenland Dove (Grylle columba, Bp.); the Rotge (Mergulus alle, V.); the Lumme (Mormon arcticus); the Eider-duck (Somateria mollisima, L.); the Snowy Owl (Strix nivea); the Iceland Knot (Tringa canutus); the Snow-bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis, M.). Most of these occurred also on the coasts of Franz-Josef Land.

21. We can here only allude generally to those forms of animal life which were taken by the drag-net on the south of Franz-Josef Land, and brought to Europe in the collection of Dr. Kepes, and of which I made seventy-two drawings. To Professor Heller, of Innspruck, and Professor Marenzeller, of Vienna, the expedition is indebted for the naming and arrangement of those specimens, and while I refer my readers to their fuller account in the Mittheilungen of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna, I limit myself here to a few of the results of their observations. The investigation of the invertebrate Fauna of the sea through which we passed was necessarily limited from the moment that the course of the Tegetthoff ceased to be under our control. We had, in the first place, no zoologist on board, and from the drifting ship nothing more could be done than letting down the net almost daily during the weeks of summer—which Lieutenant Weyprecht did—and dragging it for some hours. The greater part of the animals so taken were immediately sketched by me, in order that, in the event of the loss of the original objects, some sort of representation of the animal world of a region never before investigated might be preserved. The issue justified a caution which must always be kept in view in Polar expeditions.

Of the abundant shrimp-family of the Arctic seas there are four species among the collections we formed, namely:—Hippolyte payeri, Heller, n. sp., Hippolyte turgida (Kröyer), Hippolyte polaris (Sabine), and Hippolyte borcalis (Owen). The Hippolyte payeri was found at the depth of 247 metres, and was of a beautiful pink colour and had blue-black eyes. There were found besides: Crangou boreas and Pandalus borealis (Kröyer).

HIPPOLYTE PAYERI.

The group of Amphipoda was, comparatively, largely represented among the Crustacea of the Arctic waters; we often called these Floh-krebse—flea-crabs—because many of them used their hind legs to hop along. Eleven species of this genus were brought home in our collections; among these were Amathillopsis spinigera, a new species, Cleïppides quadricuspis, also a new species, both described by Professor Heller; Acanthozone hystrix (Owen), &c. The group—Isopoda—is represented by the interesting Munnopsis typica (Sars), the Idothea sabini (Kröyer), and by a new variety, Paranthura arctica.

HYALONEMA LONGISSIMUM.

Of the group Pycnogonida, our collection contained three varieties, of which two are new.

UMBELLULA.

Sponges were common; but we were obliged to leave behind the specimens of the larger kinds on account of the room they took up. Among the silicious sponges, those of the genus Hyalonema were the largest in size, and included the forms described as Hyalonema boreale (Lovèn), and Hyalonema longissimum (Sars). There was one specimen of the horny sponge, so rare in those parts. The drag-net often brought up Actiniæ, Bryareum grandiflorum (Sars), and June 2, 1873, from a depth of 110 fathoms, a specimen of the extremely rare Umbellula described by Mytius and Ellis, 1753. Since that date this animal had been lost sight of, until it was found again by the Swedes—Gladans expedition 1871—in Baffin’s Bay, and by the Challenger, 1873, between Portugal and Madeira and between Prince Edward’s Island and Kerguelen’s Land. It may be assumed that our Umbellula is identical with the form first described, 1758, by Linnæus as Isis encrinus. I regret to say that this, the most interesting of all the objects we had collected, was left behind in the Tegetthoff. The sketch of it made from life will facilitate a comparison with the forms known in other regions and variously named.

KORETHRASTES HISPIDUS.

NEPHTHYS LONGISETOSA.

Hydroid polypes, widely distributed in several varieties in the Atlantic Ocean,—Asteridæ and Ophiuridæ, the Korethrastes hispidus (Wyv. Thomson), a new variety discovered by the Porcupine expedition between the Faroe and Shetland islands, Crinoidæ, represented by two species never before found so far north, and several Holothuriæ, were also among the acquisitions brought home. Our collection was rich in Annelides, containing seven-and-twenty varieties found in Greenland and Spitzbergen. Fourteen varieties of Bryozoa were found, and single specimens of Turbellaria and Gephyrea.

CHAPTER VII.
THE SECOND SLEDGE EXPEDITION.—AUSTRIA SOUND.

1. The first sledge journey enabled me to draw up a plan for a more extended expedition towards the north. It was not only a cherished scheme of my own, but it became also the dominating interest on board the Tegetthoff, although the other scientific investigations were carried on uninterruptedly. Weyprecht and Brosch continued with admirable perseverance the laborious observation of the Magnetic Constants, and measured on the ice close to the ship a base of 2170·8 metres, which served for all my trigonometrical surveys. The meteorological observations also were carried on with the usual regularity.

2. For some days the weather had been bad; its increasingly stormy character excited our fears, lest the ice should break up and the floe drift away with the ship. The danger of leaving her, in order to explore the extent of the new country, increased also with the longer duration of our proposed second journey. We were convinced, too, that the sea within a few days had broken up the ice almost as far as Wilczek Island, and a heavy water-sky was seen in the south at no great distance from us. Discoveries of importance could only be expected from an expedition of a month’s duration. But withal the venture must be made, and leaving the dangers and perils to the chances of the future, I gathered together the picked men who were to accompany me, to lay before them my plans. I explained to them my design of penetrating in a northerly direction as far as possible, and I put before them the danger of our being cut off from the ship. But while I showed the perils, I stimulated them also by the hope of reward. If the eighty-first degree of latitude were reached, I guaranteed to them the sum of £100; if we attained the eighty-second degree, £250; and I declared that merit, and merit alone, should regulate the distribution of these sums. In order to make sure of reticence on the part of my company and thus obviate ill-feeling among the rest of the crew, which might easily have been called forth by this apparent preference, they were told that the rewards would be forfeited, if any of those who stayed behind in the ship should hear of these rewards. The assembled company agreed also to my request never to mention dangers during the journey, and, in the event of our not finding the ship on our return, to take the whole blame of such an issue on our own shoulders. With regard to the rewards, I must add that never was a secret better kept. Immediately began on board a packing, a tailoring, a preparation as if for a campaign, and under the tent-roof of the ship the rusty runners of the sledges were polished, till they were as smooth as glass.

3. Before we started, there was an interesting interruption in the monotony of our lives, occasioned by a family of bears. While we were absent in our first journey a bear had been shot from the ship, and little Pekel had been wounded in the neck. On the 19th of March another bear came close to us, which was scared away after some unsuccessful shots had been fired at it. Three days afterwards a she-bear appeared accompanied by her two cubs, of a darker colour than their mother, rolling on after her. It was exceedingly interesting to watch the actions of this family. The mother frequently stopped and snuffed the air with uplifted snout; then she would lick her cubs, who fondly crept up to their mother, behaving exactly like young poodles, which they also resembled in size. Six shots were fired at seventy paces distance, and the mother-bear, after running for about forty paces, fell dead. Amazed at the reports of the rifles and the actions of their mother, the little bears sat as if they were rooted in the snow, and looked with astonishment at the dark forms which rushed out from the ship. One of them suffered itself to be shaken by Pekel; and only when they were seized by the nape of the neck and carried on board did they seem to entertain the least surmise of mischief. At first they were shut up separately in casks set on their end, and growled long and impatiently till they were put together in the same cask. Sumbu alone was slow to understand our suddenly-excited pity for his hereditary foes, and scratched and barked at the cask for hours together, while the cubs growled and threatened retaliation with their little paws. After looking at this for some time, Gillis was moved to side with the bears, and a battle ensued between him and Sumbu, in which the latter got the worst of it. The little animals afforded us much amusement, and the crew were seriously considering the feasibility of training them to draw in the sledge, in the meditated return expedition to Europe. They ate bread, sauerkraut, bacon—in short, everything that was given them. One morning, however, the little rascals eluded the eye of the watch and got away. They were immediately caught and killed, and appeared roasted on our dinner-table.

THE DOGS DIFFER AS TO THE TREATMENT OF YOUNG BEARS.

4. On the 25th of March our preparations for the extended journey northwards were brought to an end. The sledge with its load weighed about 14 cwt.

lbs.
The large sledge150
The dog sledge37
The provisions, including packing620
The tent, sleeping bags, tent-poles, alpine stocks320
Alcohol and rum128
Fur coats and fur gloves140
Instruments, rifles, ammunition, shovel, two cooking-machines, drag-ropes, dog-tent, &c.170
Total1565

Each of the four sacks of provisions—calculated for seven days and seven men—contained 51 lbs. of boiled beef, 48 lbs. of bread, 8 lbs. of pemmican, 7 lbs. of bacon, 2 lbs. of extract of meat, 4 lbs. of condensed milk, 2 lbs. of coffee, 4 lbs. of chocolate, 7 lbs. of rice, 3 lbs. of grits, 1 lb. of salt and pepper, 2 lbs. of peas-sausage, 4 lbs. of sugar, besides a reserve bag with 20 lbs. of bread. We took boiled beef for the dogs. We counted also on the produce of our guns as a considerable supplement both for ourselves and them.

5. The sledge party consisted of myself, Orel, Klotz and Haller, and of three sailors, Zaninovich, Sussich, and Lukinovich; and we had with us three dogs, Jubinal, Torossy, and Sumbu, and men and dogs together dragged the large sledge. The duties were thus divided: Zaninovich managed the packing and the giving out of the spirit and rum, Haller served out the provisions, Klotz attended to the dogs and the arms, Sussich was responsible for keeping everything in working order, and at night Lukinovich acted as a wind-protector close to the door of the tent. We started on the morning of the 26th of March with the thermometer 6° F. below zero, and amid snow driving from the north-west. For some distance we were accompanied by Weyprecht and the rest of the crew. We had scarcely gone a thousand paces from the ship, before the snow began to drive to such an extent, that we could scarcely see our comrades close to us and keep together. As it was impossible to go on until the storm laid, we preferred, instead of returning to the Tegetthoff, which would have been the simpler course, to erect the tent out of sight of the ship behind some ice-hummocks, and pass twenty-four hours in it. Our only employment except sleeping was to thaw the snow, which filled our clothes and especially our pockets. On the 27th of March (the thermometer varying between 2° and 22° F. below zero) we continued our journey amid a slight fall of snow, and made an early start, in order that our halt of yesterday should remain unknown to the crew of the ship. When we reached the south-eastern point of Wilczek Island we lost sight of the ship, and the driving snow with a falling thermometer increased to such an extent, that Sussich’s hands were frost-bitten, and we were compelled to halt for an hour to rub them with snow. Starting again, we all ran the risk of having our faces frost-bitten, meeting as we did a strong wind. The heavily-laden sledge, too, compelled us to make such exertions that our faces were bathed in perspiration. On the 28th of March the wind fell to a calm, and as we passed over the Sound between Salm and Wilczek Islands in a north-westerly direction we advanced at the rate of eighty paces a minute. The track, which we followed, consisted partly of bay-ice a year old and partly of old floes, these together forming a continuous surface, here and there broken by barriers of hummocks, miles in length, due to ice-pressures. After we had passed the headlands south-west of Salm Island, we came in sight of the Wüllersdorf mountains, which we had hitherto seen only from a great distance, hoping from their summits to determine the route which we should take northwards.

6. At the distance of some miles right ahead of us lay several rocky islands, with their outlines scarcely discernible owing to the dull thick state of the atmosphere; but as they lay in the direction of our course, we made for them. We now passed some icebergs and saw on their southern sides the first signs of the process of liquefaction—new icicles. By and by a wind from the south-west set in, raising the temperature gradually to 6° F. and bringing with it fogs and then heavy snow-storms. Covered with snow and running before the wind with a large sledge-sail set, we came under the glacier-walls of Salm Island, among icebergs frozen fast together, trudging along through wind and whirling snow. Occasionally the wind was so strong, that the sail alone sufficed to impel the heavy sledge, while a man in front, guided by a whistle from those behind, kept it in its proper course. After a march of sixteen hours, the wind having increased to a storm, which rendered it impossible to keep the track, we determined to halt. Our clothes appeared to consist of nothing but snow, our eyes were iced up, and our strength exhausted. In great haste we erected the tent and took refuge within it; but our misery now properly began. One scraped the thawing snow from the clothes of another, or turned inside-out the pockets of his own trousers, filled with dissolving snow-balls. At last the cooking-machine was lighted, and we began to steam, and heartily wished that our miseries had arisen from cold instead of moisture. The temperature in the tent rose at the distance of three feet from the flame to 80°F., and twenty minutes after the production of this artificial heat it fell seven degrees below zero. Early in the morning of the 29th of March (Palm Sunday) the wind abated and the temperature rose to 24·5°F., so that it began to rain in the tent as we were preparing our breakfast. During the march of that day we ascended the rocky heights of Koldewey Island, at the foot of which we had put up the tent for the purpose of surveying. These rocks consisted of Dolerite, over-spread with a close network of Lichens (Cetraria nivalis) and in the clefts we found Silene acaulis.

7. From the summit of this island we suddenly beheld, in the field of view of the telescope of the theodolite, a bear, which had seized Torossy and severely wounded him. But almost immediately again the bear disappeared in the snow, and when we came to the place of his disappearance, we discovered the winter retreat of a family of bears. It was a cavity hollowed out in a mass of snow lying under a rocky wall. The bear had shown herself only once, but resisted all our efforts to seduce her to leave the shelter she had chosen, nor had we any special desire to creep on all fours into the narrow dark habitation. Sumbu only was bold enough to follow her, but he too saw things which led him to return very quickly. From the snow which had been thrown up at the entrance of this hole, we inferred that this had been the work of the bear in her efforts to close the approach to her abode. It was the first time that we came upon a family of bears in their winter quarters, or had the chance of adding anything to our scanty knowledge as to the winter sleep of those animals. Middendorff does not admit that they sleep during the winter; he considers the bear far too lean to be able to do so. According to Dr. Richardson it is only pregnant females who hibernate in a snow-hole, while the males roam over the Arctic seas in search of places free from ice.

THE WINTER HOLE OF A BEAR.

8. As we advanced further, we went round Schönau Island[42] so remarkable for its columnar structure and environed by ice which had been raised up by pressure. In a cleft of its precipitous rocky walls we buried a depôt of provisions and a supply of alcohol for two days, together with some articles of clothing, covering them up with four feet of snow. We could not, however, conceal from ourselves the danger of placing a depôt within sight of a bear’s hole, and greatly deplored that we were not able, like the fox in the fable, to obliterate the marks of our footsteps. Towards evening the temperature fell to -10° F., and the tent was frozen as stiff as a board. On the 30th of March the temperature fell to -22° F., and a strong north wind was blowing as we came out of the tent, and curling billows of snow, reddened by the rising sun, rolled round us, hiding from us at last even the sun himself. A march in the teeth of a wind at so low a temperature is quite useless and only exposes to the great danger of frost-bite. This was now clearly seen when, the tent being taken down as usual immediately after breakfast, the laggards, imperfectly clad, faced the wild weather. One was binding a stocking round his face with his braces, because his frozen fingers would not permit him to button on his nose-band and wind-guard; another had put on reindeer shoes instead of boots after a vain attempt to thaw them; a third had put on the wrong boot, and I myself was obliged to wind a long rope round my body, because I was unable to fasten my coat. Such a state of things is opposed to order and safety, and may degenerate into serious mischief. There was nothing for it therefore but to set up the tent again and to get back into our sleeping-bag. But the damp tent was frozen hard, and we felt much as if we were lying between two plates of cold metal. It would be difficult to say whether we suffered more from cold than from vexation. Zaninovich spread the sail over us, and shovelled down the snow from the walls of the tent;—who could be so serviceable as this comrade of ours, who on every occasion displayed such hardihood against cold? Orel and I made vain attempts to shorten the time by reading a volume of Dessing which we had brought with us; but we soon renounced the effort, finding that we could not fix our attention in such a situation. We had some compensation, however, in the amusement of listening to the Dalmatians learning to speak German with Klotz, who was far from the weakness of uttering a single word in Italian. As usual, when the weather was bad, the dogs gathered close to the wind-sheltered side of our tent. Sumbu forcing himself in among us had to be driven out, for he growled if he had the faintest suspicion that we meant to move or to smoke; but failing to make himself comfortable among the other dogs, he avenged himself by again rushing in among us, shaking the snow from his coat, and forced us to admit him.

LIFE IN THE TENT.

9. On the 31st of March, the weather having cleared, we continued our journey northwards, halting as usual at noon to refresh ourselves with soup. We measured the meridian altitude of the sun with a theodolite, and surveyed and sketched our surroundings. When we came to 80° 16′ N.L. we found a broad barrier of hummocks piled one upon another. This was succeeded by older ice, whose undulating surface was broken by numerous icebergs and high black basaltic cliffs. Here ended the possibility of determining the route to be taken; for although there was an opening between Cape Frankfurt and the Wüllersdorf mountains, we could not enter it, until we ascertained whether it led northwards. In order to settle this point Haller and I left the sledge and made a forced march to Cape Frankfurt, whence we hoped to discover the direction of our course. Meanwhile Orel and the rest of the party dragged the sledge with great exertions between hummocks and icebergs towards the north-east. Cape Frankfurt is a promontory of Hall Island, 2,000 feet high and surrounded with glaciers. The small difference of level in the sea-ice at the base of its cliffs showed that the tide did not rise high. Its glaciers flowed towards Markham Sound and Nordenskjöld fiord. When we arrived at the summit everything lay steeped in the rosy mists of evening. Flocks of birds flew from its massive basaltic crown, and as it was evident that they had not come there to breed, we inferred that open water was not far off.

CAPE FRANKFURT, AUSTRIA SOUND, AND THE WÜLLERSDORF MOUNTAINS.

10. Our attention was directed, however, especially to the configuration of the country, and great was our delight when we beheld beneath us a broad inlet, which promised to be of considerable extent and to run towards the north. This inlet was covered with icebergs and could be traced up to the faint outlines of a distant promontory (Cape Tyrol). It now appeared certain, that we could reach the eighty-first degree of latitude on an ice-covered sea, and the measurement of some angles furnished us with a provisional guidance for penetrating into these new regions. The coasts of Wilczek Land appeared to run in a northerly direction, and then to trend gradually to the north-east. At a great distance below us we saw a dark point moving over the dimly-seen plain of sea-ice. Its advance was discernible only when for a short time it disappeared behind an iceberg, and again reappeared. It was Orel with the large sledge; but neither the snowy mountains bathed in carmine light, which surrounded our point of view with picturesque effect, nor the crimson veil spread over them, nor the profound solitude of the wastes that lay around us, could so rivet our attention as that little point in which lodged forces apparently so insignificant, but yet made potent by human will. With pain and toil we descended the mountain in our canvas boots between steep precipices of ice, and pressed on for six miles in the rapidly-waning light over hummocky-ice to rejoin our companions, whose position we had marked by the stars, from the elevation we had ascended. We reached our friends before midnight and our news excited great joy.

11. On the 1st of April (the thermometer marking -20°F.) we penetrated by Cape Hansa into the newly-discovered passage, which was covered with heavy ice; I called it Austria Sound. The nearer we approached the coast of Wilczek Land, the more unquestionable did it appear that the Wüllersdorf mountains extended far into the interior; but it would have cost more time than the attempt was worth to ascend them. The latitude taken at noon was 80° 22′. Nothing can be more exciting than the discovery of new countries. The combining faculty never tires in tracing their configuration, and the fancy is restlessly busy in filling up the gaps of what is as yet unseen, and though the next step may destroy its illusions, it is ever prone to indulge in fresh ones. Herein lies the great charm of sledge expeditions, as compared with the tiresome monotony of life on board ship—a charm which is only then diminished when we have to wander for days over wastes of snow, with the coasts at such a distance, that they do not change sufficiently rapidly, or leave scope for indulging in surmises and fancies of what is coming. The discomforts incident to this mode of travelling are in this case doubly felt. The sledge is dragged with great difficulty in the hours of the early morning, for the hard edges of the snow crystals have not yet felt the smoothing effects of evaporation under the power of the sun. The goal itself appears as if it were never to be reached, because the limited horizon of the travellers constantly retreats. Thirst and languor then set in. The small quantity of water which we were able to prepare during the march had no more effect than a drop on a plate of hot iron. Klotz felt unwell to-day, and cured himself by swallowing his ration of rum at one gulp. Even the dogs seemed languid, and crept along with drooping heads and their tails between their legs.

12. The land on our right was a monotonous waste of ridges and terraces of parallel raised beaches, partially covered with snow. Following its line as we marched onwards, we passed iceberg after iceberg. Towards evening I ascended one of these, and made the joyful discovery that Austria Sound stretched in a northerly direction at least as far as a cape—afterwards called Cape Tyrol. In the midst of my observations Orel called to me from below that a bear was coming near us. We awaited his approach with the greed of cannibals, for his flesh would be priceless while we were making such great exertions and had only the insufficient nourishment of boiled beef. I promised Haller and Klotz the bear-money of 30 gulden, usual in Tyrol, if the bear should be bagged. The animal received three shots at the same moment and at first stood stock still, but then began to drag himself slowly off. We rushed after him, and to save our cartridges struck him with the butts of our rifles, and finished him by thrusting our long knives into his body. We appropriated 50 lbs. of his flesh to our own use, and gave the rest of his carcase to the dogs, and deposited 50 lbs. of boiled beef on the iceberg, close by which we erected our tent.

13. On the 2nd of April (the thermometer marking -11 F.) we again started with renewed vigour, though in the face of a strong north wind. I myself left the sledge in order to examine the raised beach for some distance. It was for the most part bare of snow, and exhibited laminæ of brown-coal sandstone amid the Dolerite. Close beside the scanty remains of some drift-wood, I was surprised to find a circle of large stones resembling those erections which I had seen in East Greenland in deserted Eskimo villages. As, however, there were no other marked traces of former settlements, this circle of stones was no doubt something accidental. The magnitude of Franz-Josef Land seemed to grow before our eyes, as we saw the broad Markham Sound opening up towards the west, and ranges of high mountains stretching away towards Cape Tyrol. The coasts abounded in fiords, and glaciers were everywhere to be seen. Wilczek Land disappeared under ice-streams, and only reappeared again in the rocky heights of Cape Heller and Cape Schmarda, opposite Wiener-neustadt Island. In the evening we reckoned that we had reached latitude 80° 42′.

14. On the 3rd of April (the thermometer standing at -9° F.) we should have reached Cape Tyrol, had not snow-storms from the south kept us in the afternoon in our tent: a delay with which Lukinovich was by no means displeased, for this being Good Friday he had counted on a day of complete rest,—for our friend Lukinovich was prone to turn his eyes to heaven, spoke constantly of the saints, could mention their festivals as they occurred in the calendar; but, alas! was a snow-eater, and could march not a whit better than Falstaff. On the 4th of April the temperature, with constant driving storms of snow from the south, rose from -4° to 23° F.; and the snow accumulated to such an extent even in the tent, that it had to be shovelled out. It was towards the afternoon before we could continue our march, the delay made being not so much on account of the cold, as from dread of the moisture. Our start proved, however, useless, for the snow began to drive so furiously, that, as we dragged, those behind could scarcely see the men in front. We again travelled by the compass and used our sledge-sail; but we constantly deviated from the right course, though we pressed on, passing Cape Tyrol without seeing it, and entered an unknown region in which we were guided by mere chance—expecting every moment to stumble on a fissure in the ice or open water. This day we sustained a painful loss—the loss of my dog Sumbu. For two long years he had been almost our only source of amusement by his cunning and his impudence. He had long been the rival of the frolicsome Torossy, in dragging the sledge; and it was often almost touching to see how at evening he would sink down exhausted in the snow, in the very spot where he was unharnessed. It cannot well detract from the merit of such services—and after all they were rendered in the interests of science!—that they were those of an animal and sprang from attachment.[43] To this vigorous lively animal, what more natural than that he should be almost beside himself if in one of these vast solitudes he should get sight of a living creature? So it happened to-day. A gull flew over his head, and Sumbu burst away from the sledge. In hot pursuit of the bird he disappeared from our sight and never returned again. All our shouts were thrown away. Our track was soon covered over by the drifting snow, and there cannot be a doubt that our faithful companion, after wandering about for days, either died of hunger or fell a victim to a bear.

HOW SUMBU WAS LOST.

15. April 5, after a short rest, we again started about midnight in order to economize our time (the thermometer being at 19° F.). The weather had greatly improved. Klotz, who was the first to step out of the tent, startled us by the information that some high land barred our further progress. But when we followed him into the open air, we found that Klotz had looked to the west instead of to the north, and we discovered the true state of things, that Zichy Land ran on our left in a northerly direction, while Wilczek Land trended towards the north-east. We pursued, therefore, our course on the vast icy wastes, over which hung Cape Easter (81° 1′), and Cape Hellwald shining in the sun, and hoisted the flag on the sledge to celebrate our passage of the eighty-first degree of north latitude, and in commemoration of Easter Sunday.

CAPE EASTER AND STERNEK SOUND.

HOW WE RECEIVED BEARS. CAPE TYROL IN THE BACKGROUND.

16. During our march, spying us at a great distance, a bear approached us at a rapid pace, but when he came within forty paces he fell, receiving three bullets in his head. The accompanying illustration shows how we received bears when they attacked us on our journey; it represents also the fine forms of Cape Tyrol in the background. A few hours afterwards, we observed a she-bear about 400 yards from us, apparently diligent in burrowing in the snow; but as soon as she got wind of us she suddenly turned, reared herself on her hind legs, and began to snuff the air. She then came towards us, but as she advanced she rolled herself over with evident pleasure on her back several times, then pushed on with her snout and belly close to the ground, perfectly unconscious of the three rifles which were levelled at her. At fifty paces distance we fired, and brought her down. We immediately examined the place where we had seen her so busy. We did not find poor Sumbu, as we half expected, but a partially-consumed seal, and close to it a hole in the ice, into which the creature no doubt would plunge when danger threatened; but the bear had been sharper and cleverer than the seal, and had probably seized it when asleep on the ice. Bear-flesh now formed our principal food, and the sledge was heavily laden with it. We ate it both raw and cooked, and when the flesh was badly cooked—especially if it were the flesh of an old bear—it was less palatable than when uncooked. It may be tolerable food for sea-gulls, but it is a diet hardly fit even for devils on the fast-days of the infernal regions. Arctic lands certainly do not furnish delicacies to gratify a refined taste; the best things they have to offer are coarse and oily, and if ever they are eaten with relish, it is a relish which comes from hunger alone. The desolate shores of these lands are truly the very home of hunger, and nowhere else are the calculations of travellers so much influenced and determined by the stomach and its needs. Remains or fragments are unknown in Arctic regions. The dead are consumed by the living, and the living find their never-ceasing occupation in the toilsome search for food. In my three Arctic expeditions, I very seldom indeed found the remains of animals, never the remains of a bear or a fox. The man who visits these wastes must do homage to the principle of eating everything, and throwing away nothing. Franklin was unsurpassed in this, but I believe we were little behind him. Franklin and his people found the flesh of a white fox as pleasant to the taste as young geese—a proof how entirely they had forgotten how geese taste. They preferred foxes, too, to lean reindeer; and they considered the flesh of a grey bear exceedingly palatable, though even the Eskimos eat it only in dire necessity. Reindeer marrow, even raw, was to them a great delicacy, and they ate animals in a state of decomposition. Barentz and his crew were very modest in their tastes; they compared whale-flesh to beef, and foxes to rabbits, as articles of diet; bears’ meat they utterly detested. Once only it seems they partook of the liver of a bear, and three of his men became exceedingly ill in consequence, their skin peeling off from head to foot. Kane was prejudiced against bear, notwithstanding the great straits to which he was reduced, and complains of this food as being absolutely uneatable. The testimony of Dunér is more favourable. “If,” says he, “a bear has not been eating walrus or seal in a state of semiputrefaction before he is killed, his flesh, though somewhat coarse, is yet palatable, and not at all prejudicial to health.” Parry thought whale-flesh and walrus-flesh equally distasteful: he makes an exception in favour only of the heart of the walrus; but he speaks of the tenderness and excellence of the flesh of young seals. As for ourselves, we disdained nothing that we could get hold of, after the manner of Sir John Ross, who thought the fox the best of all food, better than the gull (Larus tridactylus).

DINING ON BEARS’ FLESH.

17. The continued moisture of the last few days had completely saturated our canvas boots; and those of several of us were besides nearly worn out, and in the morning when completely frozen, to put the foot into one was as bad as putting it into an ice-hole, so that we were obliged to thaw them over a spirit-flame, and to knock their heels with a hammer continually during the march. Sussich had made himself a pair of new boots out of a cloth jacket. It would, however, be a mistake to think that we should have been any better off with leather boots. In fact, we could not have put them on, and in the increasing cold of the following weeks our feet would certainly have been frost-bitten. Our clothes were completely saturated in like manner, and whenever the temperature fell they became stiff with ice. I suffered the least of any, for my bird-skin garments were the best preservatives against the penetration of moisture.

18. No kind of snow opposes such hindrances to sledge-dragging as the snow with the thermometer not much below freezing-point, for at this temperature it balls. This impediment we now encountered. The air, too, became oppressively heavy; land and sky were suddenly overspread with darkness; and, from behind thunderlike clouds, red rays of the sun fell on the conical mountains of Kane Island. Falls of snow, calms, and violent gusts of wind rapidly succeeded one another, and just before we erected our tent it again became clear. Far to the north we saw two white masses—Becker and Archduke-Rainer Islands, and an extensive inlet—Back Inlet; but only within Austria Sound could we count on pursuing our journey northwards without making any détours. On Easter Monday, April 7th (the thermometer varying between 9° and 19° below zero (C.)), we approached Becker Island; but the atmosphere was on this day so moist and thick, though without mist in the proper sense, that its existence might be asserted or disputed according as the light changed; and it was only when we were not further off than 100 paces that we could be positive of the existence of land, rising gently at an angle of 1° 7′. Over this ice-covered island we now dragged, and, full of expectation, mounted its highest point. To the north lay an indescribable waste, more utterly desolate than anything I had ever seen, even in the Arctic regions, interspersed with snow-covered islands, all, big and little, of the same low, rounded shape. The whole, at a distance, presented the appearance of a chaos of icehills and icebergs scattered over a frozen sea. One thing only in this view gave us much satisfaction. Austria Sound still stretched uninterruptedly towards the north. Could we have forgotten how the Tegetthoff had drifted towards Franz-Josef Land, that Sound would have seemed to us the true road to the Pole. Nor could we doubt that in the immediate north open water would be found, for in no other way could we interpret the indications we had observed in the course of the last few days—the great moisture and high temperature, the dark colour of the northern sky, the frequent flights of Auks, and Divers, grey and white Gulls, which flew from the north southward, or vice versâ.

19. After crossing Becker Island, we went on again on the frozen sea, which was rough and undulating for some distance. From behind one of the hummocks a bear suddenly emerged, and came towards us without any fear or hesitation, his yellow colour forming a strong contrast with the gleaming hills of ice. When he was thirty paces off we fired; but though severely wounded he managed to get away. On the 7th of April (the thermometer varying between 16° and 25° below zero (C.), and with a light south-west wind), we passed close to Archduke-Rainer Island, a heavy rime frost seriously impeding our progress. We were able, however, to turn to good account the clear sunny weather of this day. We dried our clothes and tent furniture, spreading them out in the sun over the sledge or suspending them to its mast and yard. We had almost reached Cape Beurmann at noon, and having taken our observations, we found our latitude to be 81° 23′. We had consequently gone beyond the latitude reached by Morton; Hayes only having reached a slightly higher latitude than this. About this time of the day the horizon towards the north became exceedingly clear, and the steep rocks of Coburg Island were distinctly visible, and behind them now rose the faint outlines of mountains—Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land.

20. At this latitude it seemed as if Wilczek Land suddenly terminated, but when the sun scattered the driving mist we saw the glittering ranges of its enormous glaciers—the Dove[44] Glaciers—shining down on us. Towards the north-east we could trace land trending to a cape lying in the grey distance—Cape Buda Pesth, as it was afterwards called. The prospect thus opened to us of a vast glacier land, conflicted with the general impression we had formed of the resemblance between the newly-discovered region and Spitzbergen; for glaciers of such extraordinary magnitude presuppose the existence of a country stretching far into the interior. As it appeared to us that Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land and Karl Alexander’s Land formed a continuous whole, we left Austria Sound and diverged into Rawlinson Sound, and directed our course towards Cape Rath. It was my intention, if this headland should be reached, to leave behind the remainder of the party and push on with the dog-sledge and two companions. We could count on finding deep snow-wreaths behind the hummocks, and to dig out a snow-house would have been the labour of an hour for three men. Previous experience had convinced us that such a night encampment is warmer than the shelter which a tent can afford. But though we were filled with zeal to extend our discoveries as much as possible, we now felt that the excessive exertions we had made had reduced our strength. We had slept on an average but five hours a day, and marched the rest of the day, or at any rate had been occupied with all manner of work. Our appetite too had increased with our labours, and the partaking of bears’ flesh began to tell on some of us. The restricted use of bread-stuff was especially felt, and the almost exclusive, use of flesh produced diarrhœa and general debility. Nothing is more prejudicial to those engaged in extended sledge journeys than great exertion with insufficient sleep. The urgent reasons we had for losing no time in order that we might return as soon as possible to the ship, constrained us to depart from the rule of a ten hours’ sleep to a seven hours’ march on sledge journeys. In consequence of our persistent adherence to this principle during our return to Europe after abandoning the Tegetthoff, the labours incident to it were far more easily performed. We did not lose but gained strength; and some of us even grew stouter during it.

CUTTING UP THE BEARS.

21. On the 8th of April we continued our journey, making an early start as usual. Our track lay between countless hummocks, some of which were forty feet high, while the depressions between them were filled with deep layers of snow, and as we advanced into Rawlinson Sound, high icebergs towered over a monotonous chaos of ice-forms. The ice resembled that which surrounded the Tegetthoff during our first winter, and indicated a periodical, perhaps even an annual, breaking up. There was nothing, however, to entitle us to infer that Rawlinson Sound was navigable in summer. Like many of the passages of the northern coast of North America, Austria and Rawlinson Sounds are too narrow for the purposes of navigation. They are, however, well calculated for sledge travelling. For some time we made use of our sledge-sail; but when the wind shifted to E.S.E., it drove the sledge so much from its true course, that we took it down. Our noses had become so susceptible, that we were glad to put on our wind-protectors to save them from frost-bite. Then followed snow-storms, alternating with brilliant sunshine which, however, illuminated, partially only, some reaches of the hummocky ice, while the distant land lay in shadow. It cost us excessive labour to get the sledge on; we had occasionally to dig a lane for it, and we ran some risk of breaking it. Our advance was one continual zig-zag, due to the confused character of the ice on which we travelled and the untrustworthiness of the compass in high latitudes. It seemed too, as if the declination of the magnetic needle had considerably diminished since we left the ship. Our labours were diversified by the visit of a bear, who, when we first observed him, was standing on the top of one of the many ice-hummocks about 300 paces distant. He then approached us, as was usually the case, under the wind, and we at once drew up to receive him. He took no notice of the bread we had laid down to gain his attention, but still pressed on till he received three bullets in his head. Notwithstanding this he ran for about seventy yards and then fell. To make sure, another bullet was fired into his body, and thinking him dead, we forthwith began to cut him up; but when his belly was being opened, he raised his head in a fury, seized the butt-end of my rifle with his teeth and tore it from my hand. My companions soon despatched him. The bear was eight feet long, and therefore of unusual size. We might have cut off two or three cwt. of flesh from his carcase, but in consideration of the heavy lading of the sledge, we contented ourselves with appropriating sixty pounds. Both Rawlinson and Austria Sounds were equally rich in fresh traces of bears, which seemed to be those of whole families and not of individual animals.

22. Our latitude from a meridian observation was found to be 81° 38′—and though the sun shining dimly through the clouds might account for an error of two or three minutes, we had certainly passed beyond the latitude 81° 35′ reached by Hayes in Smith’s Sound in 1861.[45] Having no conception at the time that Hall’s American expedition had penetrated, the year before we achieved this result, to 82° 9′ on the land and 82° 22′ at sea, we hoisted our sledge-flag to commemorate our success. The character of the ice now became so wild and confused that we wandered 45° from one point of the compass to the other. We constantly expected to come upon open fissures, and could not conceal from ourselves how easily its loose connection might be broken up by a storm, and our return to the ship exposed to great risks. The transport of our travelling gear became increasingly difficult, and great were our fears lest, through the constant heavy shocks which the sledge encountered, the case of spirit should be crushed and destroyed. The difficulties too to be overcome amid the multitude of hummocks were more depressing than the occurrence of snow-storms, inasmuch as their number almost destroyed the possibility of progress; and the monotonous uniformity which tired the eye tended also to depress the spirits.

23. On the 9th of April (the thermometer standing at 10° F., and a light breeze blowing from the east) we continued our work of dragging between the hummocks till noon. We then ascended an iceberg, and discovered that the hummocks of ice in Rawlinson’s Sound appeared to stretch on without end. We therefore altered our course and took a north-westerly direction, in order to come under Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land, whose noble mountain forms and mighty glaciers shone forth in the light of the sun. We expected to find smoother ice on its coast-line; but we were deceived in this expectation, for the character of the ice remained unchanged. We were compelled therefore to cross this Sound in a westerly direction to Hohenlohe Island, and to select the rocky pyramid—visible from a great distance—of Cape Schrötter as the point where our expedition should divide into two parties; the larger party to remain behind, the smaller to penetrate further towards the north over the glaciers of Rudolf’s Land. By noon of this day we reached 81° 37′ N. L. and in the evening arrived at Cape Schrötter. All the labours and efforts of the last few days had consequently been without result.

CHAPTER VIII.
IN THE EXTREME NORTH.

1. Immediately after reaching Cape Schrötter, the east end of Hohenlohe Island, we ascended the summit of this Dolerite rock, which was quite free from snow, and covered with a sparse vegetation. We were surprised to find here the excrement of a hare. The prospect which lay before us convinced us of the necessity of our proposed temporary separation. The mountains of Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land, separated from us by an arm of the sea covered with level ice, were so high (about 3,000 feet) that we saw at once that we could pass over them only with the small dog-sledge. The walking powers, moreover, of two of my companions had greatly deteriorated, and for them rest was not an indulgence, but a necessity. Austria Sound appeared to stretch still further to the north, but its western coasts turned sharply to the left in the precipitous cliffs of Cape Felder and Cape Böhm. The blue jagged line of mountains, towering above snow-fields lying in the sun, stretched away to the north-west till they were lost in dark streaks on the horizon, which our experience led us to interpret as a water-sky above open spaces of the sea.

2. I was greatly delighted by Orel’s readiness, though he was suffering from inflamed eyes, to take part in the expedition to the extreme north; and it only remained for us to select the fittest among the party and to calm the apprehensions of those who were to remain behind. On our return to the foot of the rocks, where the tent was already pitched, we found the rest of the party sitting close to each other at the rocky wall on which the sun was shining, in order to warm themselves,—like crickets on the wall of a house. The success of an expedition like that we projected depends chiefly on the mutual good feeling among its members, and he who commands it, besides participating personally in all the labours to be endured, must show himself a sympathetic friend even in cases where strict duty does not enjoin it, so that confidence in him may grow into a kind of belief in his infallibility. There could not be more devoted or enduring men than those who were here lying in the sun, and whom we now joined, in order to decide the question of the hour. I explained to them the plans I meant to follow,—that I should be absent from five to eight days, that if I should not return to them within fifteen days they should march back to the ship with the sledge—sawn through the middle—and the stock of provisions which should be placed at their disposal would suffice for this emergency. I then asked each of them whether he could dismiss fear, and remain behind in this desolation. Sussich answered: “Se uno de lori resta indietro, mi non go paura:” so said the rest. By the expression, however, “uno de lori” they meant Orel or one of the two Tyrolese, and specially with an eye to the bears which might be prowling about. I left it free to Klotz and Haller to decide which of them was the fittest and most serviceable to accompany me: “You,” answered Haller, “you, Klotz, are the better man to drag the sledge and endure fatigue.” Accordingly Sussich and Lukinovich remained under Haller’s command. These three were ordered not to go more than 300 yards from Cape Schrötter, to remain on the defensive if attacked by bears, to spend their time in drying their clothes and repairing their torn boots, and to go about in wooden shoes to save wear and tear. Haller received as Governor of Hohenlohe Island a pocket-compass, a watch, an aneroid barometer, and a thermometer, and to them we left also our little medicine-chest. If Dr. Kepes had once tried to make a doctor of me in one hour, in now repeating the experiment on Haller I confined myself to ten minutes.

3. On the morning of the 10th of April (the thermometer standing at 5° F.) we divided the tent; one half was put on the dog-sledge, the other was pitched, with its open side close under the rock. Before a caravan takes the desert, the camels are watered, and we too, though in a very different kind of desert, exposed to the constant evil of thirst, would gladly have been treated in like fashion. But we had to content ourselves with a pint of boiling water, served out to each of us every morning, reminding us, indeed, of coffee, for 2 lbs. of it were boiled in 105 gallons of water in the course of thirty days. The provisions were divided, and enough for eight days was dealt out to the party starting to the north, Orel, Zaninovitch, Klotz, myself, and two dogs. The special requirements of our expedition, among which were a rifle and a revolver, raised the weight of our sledge to about 4 cwt., which it was the business of the dogs to draw without any assistance from us, and this they did over the level snow with such zeal, that we had some trouble in keeping up with them.

4. The merits of our dogs I have hitherto left unnoticed, in order emphatically to assert that we owed the passing beyond the eighty-second degree of north latitude not to our own exertions, but to the endurance and courage of these animals. No kind of life among dogs is comparable for hardships with the life of a dog in an Arctic sledge. His tent is scarcely the pretext of a shelter, and his natural coat is generally covered by a thick rime. The snow when it drifts completely covers him, though he constantly but vainly seeks to shake it off. He draws his breath with difficulty, hunger gnaws at his bowels, and his wounded feet colour the snow with blood. Often, too, these poor animals amid the great cold must keep still; then they lift up their paws alternately, to prevent frost-bite. The two dogs, which accompanied us to the extreme North, were the noblest animals ever employed in a sledge expedition, and when I recall the great services they rendered us, both now and afterwards in the return to Europe, their sad end fills me with sincere sorrow. Jubinal and Torossy were dogs of remarkable size and strength, and escaped the epidemic diseases[46] which attacked the dogs of Hayes and Kane; and though it has been thought that the dogs of the Eskimo and of the Siberian people were alone adapted for Arctic expeditions, our experience with our own dogs most of them brought from Vienna, proves that they were not a whit less useful. Our dogs had only one defect: they had not been trained to sledge-drawing from their youth, but had been broken to it only during our expedition, and were therefore not always amenable to discipline. When left to themselves in dragging the sledge they went on, without turning to the right or left, from cape to cape, and if they found themselves on a wide plain of ice, and far from all striking landmarks, they ran either towards the sun or moon, or some remarkable star. It was against the grain with them to have to drag in the teeth of the wind, and if they had to push on amid hummocks of ice, they immediately began to growl. They were fed in the morning, and more particularly in the evening, and they showed a delicacy of taste in discriminating between bear’s flesh and the despised seal’s flesh. While they carefully avoided coming near us before our start, provided they were not very hungry, in order to escape being harnessed, yet when harnessed nothing could exceed their vigour and persistence in dragging.

ICEBERGS AT THE BASE OF THE MIDDENDORF GLACIER.

5. As we approached the promontory on the south of Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land, we came upon innumerable icebergs, from one hundred to two hundred feet high, which made an incessant cracking and snapping sound in the sunshine. The Middendorf glacier, with an enormous sea-wall, ran towards the north to a great distance. Deep layers of snow and great rents in the sea-ice, the consequence of the falling-in of icebergs, filled the intervening spaces between them. Into these fissures we were continually falling, drenching our canvas boots and clothes with sea-water. But the aspect of these colossal fragments of glaciers engrossed us to such an extent, that we wandered a long time with unflagging interest among these pyramids, tables, and cliffs. It was only when I sent on Klotz to mark out by his footsteps a path by which we might ascend the Middendorf glacier, that we came to a more open region, and, all putting their strength to the work of dragging, we gained its summit, crossing in our progress many crevasses bridged over with snow. Three of these yawned across the lower part of the glacier, needing but a slight movement of the ice to detach them and transform them into icebergs. Further on, the glacier appeared smooth and free from crevasses, although its inclination amounted to several degrees. Towards the north it seemed as if it might be crossed without excessive exertion, if all took part in the work of dragging. But before we began this part of the day’s work we rested, and recruited ourselves with dinner, and setting up our little tent at about 400 paces above the edge of the glacier, we looked down with feelings of delight on its semi-circular terminal precipice and the gleaming host of icebergs which filled the indentations of the coast. While we were sitting in the tent Klotz made the fatal communication to me, that he was not the man he should be, that for some days his foot had swollen and ulcerated, so that he could walk only in shoes made of hide. However vexatious this mishap, there was nothing for it but to send him back to Hohenlohe Island. Laden with a sack and carrying a revolver, he set off, and soon disappeared from our eyes in the labyrinth of icebergs beneath us.

THE SLEDGE FALLS INTO A CREVASSE ON THE MIDDENDORF GLACIER.

6. We had meanwhile again packed the sledge, harnessed the dogs, and fastened the traces round us, when, just as we were setting off, the snow gave way beneath the sledge, and down fell Zaninovich, the dogs, and the sledge, and from an unknown depth I heard a man’s voice mingled with the howling of dogs. All this was the impression of a moment, while I felt myself dragged backwards by the rope. Staggering back, and seeing the dark abyss beneath me, I could not doubt that I should be precipitated into it the next instant. A wonderful providence arrested the fall of the sledge; at a depth of about thirty feet it stuck fast between the sides of the crevasse, just as I was being dragged to the edge of the abyss by its weight. The sledge having jammed itself in, I lay on my stomach close to the awful brink, the rope which attached me to the sledge tightly strained, and cutting deep into the snow. The situation was all the more dreadful as I, the only person present accustomed to the dangers of glaciers, lay there unable to stir. When I cried down to Zaninovich that I would cut the rope, he implored me not to do it, for if I did, the sledge would turn over, and he would be killed. For a time I lay quiet, considering what was to be done. By and by it flashed into my memory, how I and my guide had once fallen down a wall of ice in the Ortler Mountains, 800 feet high, and had escaped. This inspired me with confidence to venture on a rescue, desperate as it seemed under the circumstances. Orel had now come up, and although he had never been on a glacier before, this gallant officer dauntlessly advanced to the edge of the crevasse, and, laying himself on his stomach, looked down into the abyss, and cried to me, “Zaninovich is lying on a ledge of snow in the crevasse, with precipices all round him, and the dogs are still attached to the traces of the sledge, which has stuck fast.” I called to him to throw me his knife, which he did with such dexterity, that I was able to lay hold of it without difficulty; and as the only means of rescue, I severed the trace which was fastened round my waist. The sledge made a short turn, and then stuck fast again. I immediately sprang to my feet, drew off my canvas boots, and sprang over the crevasse, which was about ten feet broad. I now caught sight of Zaninovich and the dogs, and shouted to him, that I would run back to Hohenlohe Island to fetch men and ropes for his rescue, and that rescued he would be, if he could contrive for four hours to keep himself from being frozen. I heard his answer: “Fate, Signore, fate pure!” and then Orel and I disappeared. Heedless of the crevasses which lay in our path, or of the bears which might attack us, we ran down the glacier back to Cape Schrötter, six miles off. Only one thought possessed us—the rescue of Zaninovich, the jewel and pride of our party, and the recovery of our invaluable store of provisions, and of the book containing our journals, which, if lost, could never be replaced. But even apart from my personal feeling for Zaninovich, I keenly felt the reproaches to which I should be exposed of incautious travelling on glaciers; and it gave me no comfort to think that my previous experiences in this kind of travelling over the glaciers of Greenland appeared to justify my proceedings. Stung with these reflections, I pressed on at the top of my speed, leaving Orel far behind me. Bathed in perspiration, I threw off my bird-skin garments, my boots, my gloves, and my shawl, and ran in my stockings through the deep snow. After passing the labyrinth of icebergs I saw the rocky pyramid of Cape Schrötter before me in the distance. The success of my venture depended on the weather. If snow-driving should set in, and footprints should be obliterated, it would be impossible to find Hohenlohe Island. All around me it was fearfully lonely. Encompassed by glaciers, I was absolutely alone. At last I saw Klotz emerge from behind an iceberg at some distance off, and though I continued to shout his name till I almost reached him, I failed to rouse him from his usual reverie. When at last he saw me breathlessly pushing on, scarcely clothed, and constantly calling, his sack slipped from his back, and he stared at me as if he had lost his senses. When the hardy son of the mountains came to understand that Zaninovich with the sledge was buried in the crevasse, he began to weep, in his simplicity of heart taking the blame of what had happened on himself. He was so agitated and disturbed, that I made him promise that he would do himself no mischief, and then, leaving him to his moody silence, I ran on again towards the island. It seemed as if I should never reach Cape Schrötter; with head bent down I trudged on, counting my steps through the deep snow; when I raised it again, after a little time, it was always the same black spot that I saw on the distant horizon. At last I came near it, saw the tent, saw some dark spots creep out of it, saw them gather together, and then run down the snow-slope. These were the friends we had left behind. A few words of explanation, with an exhortation to abstain from idle lamentation, were enough. They at once detached a second rope from the large sledge, and got hold of a long tent-pole. Meantime I had rushed upon the cooking-machine, quickly melted a little snow to quench my raging thirst, and then we all set off again—Haller, Sussich, Lukinovich, and myself—to the Middendorf glacier. Tent and provisions were left unwatched; we ran back for three hours and a half; fears for Zaninovich gave such wings to my steps, that my companions were scarcely able to keep up with me. Ever and anon, I had to stop to drink some rum. At the outset we met Orel, and rather later Klotz, both making for Cape Schrötter, Klotz to remain behind there, and Orel to return with us at once to Middendorf glacier. When we came among the icebergs under Cape Habermann I picked up, one by one, the clothes I had thrown away. Reaching the glacier, we tied ourselves together with a rope. Going before the rest, I approached with beating heart the place, where the sledge had disappeared four hours and a half ago. A dark abyss yawned before us; not a sound issued from its depths, not even when I lay on the ground and shouted. At last I heard the whining of a dog, and then an unintelligible answer from Zaninovich. Haller was quickly let down by a rope; he found him still living, but almost frozen, on a ledge of snow forty feet down the crevasse. Fastening himself and Zaninovich to the rope, they were drawn up after great exertion. A storm of greetings saluted Zaninovich, stiff and speechless though he was, when he appeared on the surface of the glacier. I need not add that we gave him some rum to stimulate his vital energies. It was a noble proof how duty and discipline assert themselves, even in such situations, that the first word of this sailor, saved from being frozen to death, was not a complaint, but thanks, accompanied with a request that I would pardon him if he, in order to save himself from being frozen, had ventured to drink a portion of the rum, which had fallen down in its case with the sledge to his ledge of snow. Haller again descended, and fastened the dogs to the rope. The clever animals had freed themselves from their traces in some inexplicable way, and had sprung to a narrow ledge, where Haller found them, close to where Zaninovich had lain. It was astonishing how quickly they discerned the danger of the position, and how great was their confidence in us. They had slept the whole time, as Zaninovich afterwards told us, and he had carefully avoided touching them, lest they should fall down deeper into the abyss. We drew them up with some difficulty, and they gave expression to their joy, first by rolling themselves vigorously in the snow, and then by licking our hands. We then raised Haller by the rope some ten feet higher than the ledge on which Zaninovich had lain, so that he might be able to cut the ropes which fastened the loading of the firmly wedged-in sledge. At this moment Orel arrived, and with his help we raised one by one the articles with which the sledge was loaded. It was ten o’clock before we were convinced that we had lost nothing of any importance in the crevasse.

KLOTZ’S AMAZEMENT.

THE ALARM OF THE HOHENLOHE PARTY.

7. We now left the glacier and the icebergs, and by midnight had reached Cape Habermann. Here we slept, and the dogs with us, as uncomfortably as possible. On the morning of the 11th of April (the thermometer marking 3° F.), we started at an hour when we would much rather have continued to sleep. Our thirst was so great that we felt ourselves equal to drinking up a stream. Haller, Sussich, Lukinovich had during the night returned to Cape Schrötter. Before they started Haller earnestly besought me to come back as soon as possible; for the recent event, he said, had not been without its disquieting effects on the men. On the whole, we might congratulate ourselves on being able to continue our journey, without having received any serious damage, though no longer over the treacherous glacier.

HALT UNDER CROWN-PRINCE RUDOLF’S LAND.

8. A sharp turn to the left brought us to the west coast of Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land, along which we pursued our route northwards. When we reached Cape Brorock, where by an observation we found our latitude at noon to be 81° 45′, the weather became wonderfully bright, and the warm sunlight lay on the broken summits of the Dolerite mountains, which, though covered with gleaming ice, were free from snow. To the north-west we saw at first nothing but ice up to the horizon; even with the telescope of the theodolite I could not decide for the existence of land, which Orel’s sharp eye discovered in the far distance. In the Arctic regions, it often happens that banks of fog on the horizon assume the character of distant ranges, for the small height to which these banks rise in the cold air causes them to be very sharply defined. It is very common also to make the same mistake in the case of mists arising from the waste water of enormous glaciers. We marched on northward close under the land, and for the first time over smooth undulating ice, in high spirits at the increasing grandeur of the scenery and at the happy issue of our adventure of yesterday. Thirst compelled us frequently to halt in order to liquefy snow;[47] sometimes we melted it as we marched along, and our sledge with smoke curling up from the cooking-machine then resembled a small steamer.

9. By and by we came to more snow, and the ice, through which many fissures ran, became gradually thinner, but when we reached the imposing headland, which we called Cape Auk, the ice lay in forced-up barriers. A strange change had come over the aspect of nature. A dark water-sky appeared in the north, and heavy mists rolled down to the steep promontories of Karl Alexander Land; the temperature rose to 10° F.,[48] our track became moist, the snow-drifts collapsed under us with a loud noise, and if we had previously been surprised with the flight of birds from the north, we now found all the rocky precipices of Rudolf’s Land covered with thousands of auks and divers. Enormous flocks of birds flew up and filled the air, and the whole region seemed alive with their incessant whirring. We met everywhere with traces of bears and foxes. Seals lay on the ice, but sprang into the water before we got within shot of them. But notwithstanding these signs of a richer animal life, we should not be justified in inferring, from what we saw in a single locality, that life increases as we move northwards. It was a venial exaggeration, if amid such impressions we pronounced for the nearness of an open Polar sea, and without doubt all adherents of this opinion, had they come with us to this point and no further, would have found in these signs fresh grounds to support their belief. In enumerating these observations, I am conscious what attractions they must have for every one who still leans to the opinion that an open ocean will be found at the Pole; subsequent experience, however, will show how little is their value in support of this antiquated hypothesis.

CAPE AUK.

10. Our track was now very unsafe; it was only the icebergs which seemed to keep the ice in the bays. A strong east wind would certainly have broken it up and cut off our return, at least with the sledge. There were no longer the connected floes of winter, but young ice only, covered with saline efflorescence, dangerously pliable, and strewn over with the remains of recent pressures. The ice was broken through in many places by the holes of seals. It was expedient therefore to tie ourselves together with a long rope, and each of us, as he took his turn in leading, constantly sounded the ice. Passing by Cape Auk, which resembled a gigantic aviary, we followed the line of Teplitz Bay, into which a stream of glaciers, descending from the high mountains in the interior, discharged itself. Icebergs lay along the terminal glacier wall which formed its shore. Ascending one of these masses, we found granite erratics on its surface and saw the open sea stretching far to the west. There seemed to be ice only on the extreme horizon. As the ice-sheet over which our track lay became thinner and more pliable, and constantly threatened to give way under us, the height and length of its piled-up barriers increased also, and because the high glacier walls made it impossible to travel over the land, we had no other resource than to open up a track through the hummocky ice by pick and shovel. At last even this expedient failed to help us; our sledge, constantly damaged, and as constantly repaired, had to be unloaded, the dogs unharnessed, and everything transported separately. Evening had now arrived; ahead of us lay the two rock-towers, which we called Cape Säulen, and open coast-water here began.

CAPE SÄULEN.

11. Beautiful and sublime was this far-off world. From a height we looked over a dark “ice-hole,” studded with icebergs like pearls, and over these lay heavy clouds through which the sunbeams fell on the gleaming water. Right over the true sun shone a second, though somewhat duller sun; the icebergs of Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land, appearing enormously high, sailed through the still region amid rolling mist and surrounded by vast flocks of birds. Close under Cape Säulen (the Cape of Columns) we came upon the steep edge of the glaciers and dragged up our baggage with a long rope. While Orel got ready our encampment for the night in the fissure of a glacier, and completed as usual his meteorological observations and soundings, I ascended a height to reconnoitre our track for the next day. The sun was setting amid a scene of majestic wildness; its golden rays shot through dark banks of mist and a gentle wind, playing over the “ice-hole,” formed ever-widening circles on its mirror-like surface. Land was no longer visible towards the north, it was covered with a dense “water-sky.” A bird flew close past me; at first I took it for a ptarmigan, but it was probably a snipe. It ought to be remarked that during the two days which we spent near this “ice-hole” we never once saw a whale. As soon as with half-closed eyes we had eaten our supper, we fell fast asleep, for our longing to sleep was yet greater than our exhaustion and our thirst. The dogs availed themselves of this opportunity to devour several pounds of bear’s flesh and empty a tin of condensed milk, which, however, did not prevent them from barking impudently the next morning for more.

12. The 12th of April was the last day of advance in a northerly direction. Though the weather was not clear, yet it was clearer than it had been for some time. When we started we buried our baggage in the fissure of the glacier where we had slept, in order to protect it from bears, which roamed about on all sides. Our march lay over snowy slopes to the summits of the coast range—from 1,000 to 3,000 feet high. The masses of mist lying on the horizon had retreated before the rays of the morning sun, and all the region with its lines of ice-forms was bathed in light; and southward, open water stretched to the shores of Cape Felder. As we followed this lofty coast range, mountains with glaciers sloping down their sides towards the sea seemed to rise before us. An hour before noon we reached a rocky promontory 1,200 feet high, afterwards called Cape Germania. Here we rested, and from a meridian observation we found our latitude to be 81° 57′. Following the coast as it trended towards the north-east, we came on a glacier with a steep inclination and frequent crevasses, which compelled us to leave the sledge behind before we attempted to cross it. But the increasing insecurity of our track over fissures, our want of provisions, and the certainty that since noon we had reached 82° 5′ N. L. by a march of five hours, at last brought our advance northward to a close. With a boat we might certainly have gone some miles further.

THE AUSTRIAN FLAG PLANTED AT CAPE FLIGELY.

13. We now stood on a promontory about 1,000 feet high, which I named Cape Fligely, as a small mark of respect and gratitude towards a man of great distinction in geographical science. Rudolf’s Land still stretched in a north-easterly direction towards a cape—Cape Sherard Osborne—though it was impossible to determine its further course and connection. The view we had from this height was of great importance in relation to the question of an open Polar sea. Open water there was of considerable extent and in very high latitudes: of this there could be no question. But what was its character? From the height on which we stood we could survey its extent. Our expectations had not been sanguine, but moderate though they were, they proved to be exaggerated. No open sea was there, but a “Polynia” surrounded by old ice, within which lay masses of younger ice. This open space of water had arisen from the action of the long prevalent E.N.E. winds. But of more immediate interest than the question of an open Polar sea was the aspect of blue mountain-ranges lying in the distant north, indicating masses of land, which Orel had partially seen the day before, and which now lay before us with their outlines more defined. These we called King Oscar Land and Petermann Land; the mountainous extremity on the west of the latter lay beyond the 83rd degree of north latitude. This promontory I have called Cape Vienna, in testimony of the interest which Austria’s capital has ever shown in geographical science, and in gratitude for the sympathy with which she followed our wanderings, and finally rewarded our humble merits.

14. Proudly we planted the Austro-Hungarian flag for the first time in the high North, our conscience telling us that we had carried it as far as our resources permitted. It was no act asserting a right of possession in the name of a nation, as when Albuquerque or Van Diemen unfurled the standards of their country on foreign soil, yet we had won this cold, stiff, frozen land with no less difficulty than these discoverers had gained those paradises. It was a sore trial to feel our inability to visit the lands lying before us, but withal we were impressed with the conviction that this day was the most important of our lives, and ever since the memory of it has recurred unbidden to my recollection.

15. The Dolerite of this region was of a very coarse-grained character, and its rocks rose in terraces from out of the white mantle of snow; Umbilicaria arctica, Cetaria nivalis, and Rhyzocarpon geographicum were the sole ornaments of its scanty vegetation. The following document we inclosed in a bottle and deposited in a cleft of rock:—

“Some members of the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition have here reached their highest point in 82·5° N. L., after a march of seventeen days from the ship, lying inclosed in ice in 79° 51′ N. L. They observed open water of no great extent along the coast, bordered by ice, reaching in a north and north-westerly direction to masses of land, whose mean distance from this highest point might be from sixty to seventy miles, but whose connection it was impossible to determine. After their return to the ship, it is the intention of the whole crew to leave this land and return home. The hopeless condition of the ship and the numerous cases of sickness constrain them to this step.

“Cape Fligely, April 12th, 1874.

“(Signed)

CHAPTER IX.
THE RETURN TO THE SHIP.

1. This done, our thoughts now turned to the ship, between which and ourselves lay 160 miles. But, the Tegetthoff—did she lie still where we had left her, or had she drifted away? Fastened together by a rope, we began our return by re-crossing the glaciers, and on reaching the stores we had deposited at Cape Germania, the first thing we did was to prepare some water, for the beverage we had taken with us in an india-rubber bottle, made of coffee, rum, and extract of meat, had only aggravated thirst, without adding to our strength. It was late in the evening when we reached our night-encampment near Säulen Cap (Cape Columns), in a state of great exhaustion, cheered and alleviated by the thought of our success. The utter loneliness of our position could not suppress the satisfaction we felt. After digging up our still untouched stores, we went to rest for three hours. Longer we dared not sleep; the least breeze might break up the ice and drive it out of the bight on the north of Cape Auk. The insecurity of our position therefore impelled us to make a very early start on the morning of the 13th of April, with the thermometer at 12° F. As we started, we awoke also to the extreme difficulties of the return route, difficulties which the excitement of our advance had made light of. Orel, suffering from snow-blindness, marched along with closed eyes, and want of sleep now began to tell on us all. Even our dogs were all worn out, and whenever a halt was made they lay down exhausted in the snow. The sledge had constantly to be unloaded and reloaded, and its fractures repaired. The surface of the smooth ice, encumbered by the snow-slush which had accumulated on it, rendered our progress very burdensome. The dull dreary weather, however, did not prevent the sea-birds from gathering and wheeling around us in enormous flocks. During our noon-day halt, utterly distraught, I cooked our dinner with sea-water; not one of us could touch it. Our road through wastes of snow from Cape Brorock to Cape Schrötter, seemed as if it would never end. However rapidly we advanced, constantly counting our steps as we went along, that Cape remained for hours the same dark spot on the gloomy and snowy horizon. It was evening before we approached it, and as we came within 300 paces of his frontier, we were received and welcomed by ambassadors from Haller. It was curious and also characteristic to observe how a few days without active employment and without discipline had demoralised our old companions; the party we left behind were scarcely recognisable. Blackened by the oil used in cooking, wasted with diarrhœa, these men crept out of their tent listlessly to greet us on our arrival; a few more days would have sufficed to prostrate them with sickness. Yet they had strictly followed the directions I had given them, and had used with moderation their stock of provisions. As I have already mentioned, I had furnished them, before I started on my expedition northward, with all the means of ascertaining their position by observations, and of enabling them to begin their return to the ship, in the event of my failing to appear at the end of fifteen days; but when I now asked them what direction they would have taken in order to reach the Tegetthoff, to my horror they pointed, not to Austria, but to Rawlinson Sound![49]

MELTING SNOW ON CAPE GERMANIA.

2. The observations of temperature which Haller furnished me with, scrawled in hieroglyphics on a peas-sausage case, showed a difference of about 4½° in favour of the extreme north, and this difference was still more marked, when we came to compare the readings which had been recorded on board ship. The open water to the north was doubtless the cause of this. But the same influence extended southward, and as the snow-drifts over which we walked broke under us with a dull, heavy sound, we began to fear lest the season when the snow suddenly thaws and the land-ice breaks up had begun, and that our return would be a matter of extreme difficulty. If there had been nothing else, this would have sufficed to quicken our movements, but to this was added the discovery that our stock of provisions, independent of depôts, would last only ten days more. By ridding ourselves of all but absolutely necessary baggage, and leaving behind our common sleeping bag and the tent for the dogs, we lightened our sledge, so as to enable us to extend our day’s march considerably.

3. On the 14th of April, the thermometer marking 4° F., we left Hohenlohe Island in very bad weather, and made for the Coburg Islands, which were scarcely visible. Our route ran between hummocks, which gave the dogs an opportunity they were not slow to use, of taking it easy after their recent exertions. It had been our intention that the large sledge should keep the same line which we had taken in our journey northward, while I with the dog-sledge should visit places to the right and left. This plan, however, was found unfeasible; for in addition to the difficulties and impediments incident to the march, we had an accumulation of evils to contend with. Klotz’s foot had become much worse, and all those who had been left behind at Cape Schrötter were more or less snow-blind, though hitherto our party had suffered little from eye diseases. It was surprising that our dogs did not suffer from this affection, close as they were to the glare of the snow and without any protection against it. Snow-blindness occurs even in Alpine regions. The severity of the attack depends on the character of the snow; the harder and smoother it is, the greater is the reflection and the danger of inflammation; the retina of the eye is at last injured by the dazzling whiteness of the snow. Various remedies have been employed to mitigate this evil; even the rough-and-ready one of throwing snuff into the eyes has been tried. In Europe, snow-blindness is cured in a day or two by wet applications, but in the low temperatures of the high North such a remedy cannot be applied; poultices are hardly possible in the tent, and a simple bandage worn during the march is no preservative against the constant burning sensations common to this affection. It is clear that the range of remedies during a sledge expedition must be very limited. The crew of Sir James Clark Ross suffered in an unusual manner from this cause in their land expeditions. Richardson and Nordenskjöld dropped a weak tincture of opium twice a day into the eye, and in about twenty-four hours the patient recovered, provided he were not compelled to march. Parry on board ship used a solution of sugar of lead and cold water, applied constantly for three or four days—a somewhat questionable remedy, as it is apt to injure the cornea of the eye. Another mode of treatment, which should take effect in six hours, is unhappily not available in a North Pole expedition, as it requires white of egg, sugar, and camphor, beaten up till it becomes frothy, and laid as a compress on the eye. Some tribes of North America use the steam of hot water, the Creek Indians a decoction from the resinous buds of the Tacamahac—an application which causes much suffering. The only real preservative is the constant use of coloured spectacles, the metal mountings of which should be covered with wool, on account of the cold. The ordinary network at the side should be avoided, as this dims the glasses even when the cold is not considerable; whereas open spectacles are only exposed to this inconvenience at very low degrees of temperature, and can easily be cleared by the hand.

ENCAMPING ON ONE OF THE COBURG ISLANDS.

4. But to return to our journey. It was evening when the Coburg Islands (81° 35′ N. L.) were reached. The Dolerite rock of this small cluster of islands was of a remarkably coarse-grained crystalline texture. We had frequently come across the traces of bears and foxes during the march of this day, though we actually saw neither bear nor fox. On the 15th of April, after a severe march, we got clear of the region of ice-hummocks, and continued our southerly course with our sledge-sail before the wind. We encountered a bear this day, which, being allowed to approach within the distance of thirty paces, fell dead under our fire. In a few minutes we loaded the sledge with fresh meat, and again pursued our journey. But excessive exertion, the want of sleep, and the exclusive use of a meat diet, were meanwhile telling their tale of reduced strength, though our appetites were great almost beyond belief. The excessive consumption of animal food[50] without bread-stuff excited hunger and lowered our muscular power, while it irritated our nervous system. Our supply of bark was rapidly decreasing, and Haller, Sussich, and Lukinovich, who could not endure bear-flesh, were often attacked with giddiness during the march, and placed on “half-diet.” In the following week our miseries were intensified by insufficiency of sleep; in fact, we could not spare time to sleep it out. Hence the afternoon hours of the march were especially oppressive, and though the sledge with its load was positively lighter, our strength to drag it had diminished in still greater measure. It would be a great mistake to imagine that exercise of itself, without necessary rest, increases the capacity of marching. The loss of strength is almost suddenly experienced, especially in return journeys, when the excitement of discovery has passed away, and nothing is left but the animal-like employment of dragging.

5. Our course lay under Andrée Island; we crossed over the flat ice-dome of Rainer Island, and on the west saw Back’s Inlet filled with many icebergs. From this elevation we once more beheld the snowy ranges of Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land in the far distance, which soon, however, disappeared in an ocean of mist, whose white waves rolled over the intervening ice-levels. As we again descended to the icy surface of the sea, to our great astonishment we fell into a hole covered over with snow, and got thoroughly wet, and, after much wandering about, we found, towards evening, a dry place (81° 20′ N. L.) on which to pitch our tent. On the 16th of April we found our latitude by an observation taken at noon to be 81° 12′, and when we reached, in the evening, a point four miles to the north of Cape Hellwald, those whose appetite had failed them could not march a step further.

6. On the 17th of April, Orel, with the large sledge, continued the march southwards, while I went on with the dog-sledge, in order to ascend Cape Hellwald. The temperature had fallen in the morning to -18° F., and the outlines of the icebergs vibrated and undulated under the influence of refraction. Ice-hummocks, on the distant horizon, insignificant in size, were magnified into gigantic proportions; then again many of these phantasmagoria seemed to form a long line, which broke up at the next step forward. Unyoking the dogs on the shore of the island, I left the sledge behind, and climbed the steep sides of a precipice of clay-slate, with its laminæ firmly frozen into a mass, and reached the summit of the lofty promontory—Cape Hellwald—about 2,200 feet above the level of the sea. On the tops of its basaltic columns great flocks of divers congregated, which flew round me without fear as I set up my theodolite, and then settled close to me on the snow. I might have killed half-a-dozen of them at a single shot. By and by, these birds, scared by the appearance of the dogs, who soon joined me, took refuge on some inaccessible rocks, but were not in the least disturbed when I fired at them. My lofty point of view enabled me to have a general survey of the mountainous country lying on the north-west, and to ascertain that I stood on an island separated from lands on the west by Sternek Fiord. Meantime Orel, far below me, was moving on with the sledge, but so great is the advantage of dog-sledging, that I descended and arrived at the same time as he did at Cape Easter. By an observation taken at noon we found our latitude to be 81°. In the afternoon the dogs in their own sledge dragged half of our baggage, and notwithstanding got on more quickly than we did with the large sledge. Henceforward the order of the day was fasting, more or less absolute; for our stock of provisions consisted of bread and bear’s flesh for two days and a half, and the dogs could no longer be favoured as they had been.

7. At a few miles’ distance there rose before us the rocky cones of Wiener Neustadt Island, with large glaciers descending their sides. As it was beyond a doubt that the ascent of one of these conical heights would open up an extensive prospect, I fixed on the imposing Cape Tyrol as the most promising for an ascent. Accordingly, on the 18th of April Haller and I started, and after a toilsome march over glaciers, reached its dark, weather-worn summit, 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. Even here we perceived the traces of excrements of the fox, from whose craft the birds were protected by the inaccessibility of the places where they bred. Though we had cut up some bullets into slugs, we refrained from shooting at the auks and divers perched on the rocks, as we saw that our game could not be bagged even if we killed them. Over our heads was spread the bright sky, below us a very sea of mist, in which, though invisible to us, Orel was wending his way towards the south. The distant glacier wastes of Wilczek Land towered aloft on the east; a cloudy shade separated the heights of the peninsula of La Roncière from the colourless icy wastes of Lindemann Bay, and beyond the picturesque Collinson Fiord there seemed to be a maze of inlets and bights, bare rocks and broad table-lands. We bitterly deplored that the necessity of returning to the ship prevented us from penetrating into this labyrinth of mountains and sounds.

THE VIEW FROM CAPE TYROL. COLLINSON FIORD—WIENER NEUSTADT ISLAND.

8. In our descent we passed over three basaltic terraces, and came upon a rocky ledge covered with a thick carpet of Usnea melaxantha—a fresh example of the great capability of lichens to bear extremes of temperature, the great cold of winter and the burning heat of the rock in summer. The mists now began to rise, and for the first time a greenish landscape without snow gleamed out of the depth, on which lay the warm glow of the sun. The scenery seemed to belong to the Alps, and not the 81st degree of North Latitude. The contrast became the more striking, when the mists rolled away and unveiled the icebergs and the ice-filled sound. When we reached these green mountain slopes we found ourselves among grasses, the lower stalks of which were already beginning to be green; the few flowering plants (Saxifraga oppositifolia, Silene acaulis, Papaver nudicale) were clustered together in dense masses. We were now able to form some conception of what summer might be here. Countless streams issuing from the snow would force these spots to put on the livery of summer, and rapid torrents would precipitate themselves down gorges of snow and rock; but at present all was stiff and stark, save that stunted green herbage seemed to show that we were in the fancied paradise of Franz-Josef Land, though when compared even with other Arctic lands it was but a scene of desolation. Closer to the shore above the level of the sea, in a belt of yellow sandstone, we found much lignite firmly frozen in the ground, resembling drift-wood a century old.

9. The search for our companions was for some time fruitless; and a driving snow might have separated us from them for ever. At last, however, we found them gathered together in the tent near Forbes’ Glacier, in about 80° 58′ N. L., and as the party had been without tobacco for a fortnight, they greeted Haller’s collection of lichens as a welcome substitute.

10. During the last few days the cold had sensibly increased, and we therefore determined to sleep during the day, and to walk during the night. Our march in the night of April 18 was a memorable one to us. We were trudging along in the face of a strong south-wester—which was extremely distressing to our highly sensitive frozen noses—and striving to protect the soles of our feet by the rapidity of our movement from being frost-bitten. After succeeding to a certain extent in this, we began to find the snow very deep, and so soft that we sank in at every step. This grew worse and worse; water rose in the deeper layers of snow and penetrated our boots, and as this could not be explained by the state of the temperature, we had to step with distrust and hesitation, in constant fear of unseen depths. At first we believed that the water arose from streams flowing from underneath the glaciers, or from the movement of these glaciers breaking up the surface of the ice. Hence we kept at a distance from their terminal walls. But that the ice-sheet of the sea itself had broken up, that unseen fissures surrounded us, and that the water under the snow was nothing but the water of the sea forcing its way in—of this we had not the least conception, till the sudden immersion of the leader of the party left no doubt about the matter. Once Haller would have utterly disappeared unless he had been quickly rescued. As we picked our way along, even with a long pole we found every now and then no bottom. Klotz now took the lead with a long “alpenstock,” guiding us with the greatest dexterity among these fissures, though often himself falling in. Greatly did we rejoice when we reached unbroken footing. Some of the party on this occasion were frost-bitten in the feet, but we could do little more for them than rub their feet with snow and improve as we could their foot-covering. The sun was now visible at midnight, and the mountains of Markham Sound were tinged with rosy light.

BREAKING IN.

11. Ahead of us in the south lay a dark water-sky, while the land on either side was veiled in mist and fog. We tried to persuade ourselves that this phenomenon might be explained otherwise than by open water. Soon, however, we heard the unambiguous sound of ice-pressure and of the beating of the surf at no great distance, and when we went to rest, in 80° 36′ N. L., it was with the feeling that we needed new strength to meet the dangers which unquestionably awaited us. We slept soundly for some hours in spite of all our anxious fears, till we were aroused by the increasing noise. We now advanced along the old sledge-track upon which we had fallen. Orel and I went first, and after we had gone a few hundred paces the truth burst upon us: we saw the sea ahead of us and no white edge beyond. Walls of forced-up ice surrounded this water, which, stirred by a heavy wind, threw up crested waves; the spray of its surf dashed itself for a distance of thirty yards over the icy shore. Forthwith ascending an iceberg, we looked over the dark waste of water, in which the icebergs, under which we had passed a month before, were now floating; the more distant of them stood out against the arch of light on the horizon, and those nearer to us shone with a dazzling brilliancy under the dark water-sky. That on which lay our depôt of provisions was floating in the midst of them; and here we were, without a boat, almost without provisions, and fifty-five miles distant from the ship! A strong current was running southwards at the rate of three or four miles an hour; fragments of ice were driving before the wind, as if they meant to delight us by their movements, and as if there were no change for the worse to a handful of men, who stood in reality before an impassable abyss.

ARRIVAL BEFORE THE OPEN SEA.

12. But what were we to do; what direction were we to follow? If we killed and ate our dogs and broke up our sledge to find wood to melt the snow, we might live for eight days longer. In this case we must ourselves carry our baggage. But the most important question was, Whither? In what direction did the ice lie still unbroken? Did the land on the west afford a connected route to the ship? Did the sea before us communicate further south with the sea where the Tegetthoff lay? There was but one alternative—escape by land and over land; and because open water could be traced to the north-west beyond the bare reefs of the Hayes Islands, and heavy clouds over Markham Sound seemed to indicate that the ice had broken up in it also, I decided to try the way over the glaciers of Wilczek Land. Everything depended on the unbroken state of the ice in the southern parts of Austria Sound. Dejected as I was, I finished my sketch of this dreadful scene, while Orel went back to caution the men against venturing on the young ice and to tell them to keep to the old ice under the land. While the men were struggling with the great sledge in the snow, I descended from my higher point of view, and, soaked through by the surf, went along the ice-strand in a south-easterly direction towards Wilczek Land. The others followed, and though we came on many fissures merely covered with snow, we yet reached terra firma in safety, Orel skilfully guiding the movements of the sledge according to the signs agreed on.

DRAGGING THE SLEDGE UNDER THE GLACIERS OF WILCZEK LAND.

13. But soon afterwards everything was veiled in mist; the temperature rose to 7° F., then came driving snow, which gradually increased to a snow-storm, and in order not to be cut off we were obliged once more to keep together. Dreadful as the weather was, we could not venture to put up the tent; march we must, in order to escape before the wind destroyed the ice-bridges on the way back. We trudged along under enormous glacier walls, enveloped in whirling snow. Sounding all round, we escaped the abysses with difficulty. We could scarcely even breathe and make head a against the wind. Our clothes were covered with snow, our faces were crusted with ice, eyes and mouth were firmly closed, and the dark sea beneath us was hidden from our view. We ceased to hear even its roar, the might of the storm drowning everything else. Haller, a few paces ahead, continually sounded, so as to keep us clear of fissures. We could scarcely follow him or recognise his form. We saw nothing even of the enormous glacier walls under which we toiled along, except that at times we caught a glimpse of them towering aloft. At every hundred paces we halted for a few minutes to remove the ice which formed itself on our eyes and round our mouths. We stilled our hunger with the hope, that we should find and dig out the body of the bear which we had shot a month ago. But we dared not rest, nor await the abatement of the storm, until we had crossed the glacier and felt the firm ground, free from ice, beneath our feet. This we compassed after a march of seven hours. Utterly exhausted, we then put up the tent on a stony slope, got beneath it, white with snow, wet through and stiffened with ice; notwithstanding our hunger, we lay down to sleep without eating. Not a morsel of bread could we venture to serve out from the small stock of provisions that remained. Our prospects were gloomy in the extreme. If open water, or even a broad fissure at Cape Frankfort, separated us from the ship, we must inevitably perish on the shores of Wilczek Land.

THE SLEDGE IN A SNOW-STORM.

14. The snow-storm still continued to rage; hunger, cold, and moisture forbade sleep, and the dogs, covered with snow, lay in front of the tent. On the 20th of April (the thermometer marking 3° F.), after a breakfast more suited for a patient under typhus fever than for men hungry as wolves, we left the tent in our still wet clothes, and while standing on its sheltered side to wait till it was cleared, our clothes froze into coats of mail. As we went on, the terrible weather blew out of us almost all that remained of our courage and resolution. It was evening before the storm abated, but we had the good fortune to find the iceberg with our last depôt in its former position close to the shore. There were the 45 lbs. of boiled beef, and there, too, the bear lying two feet deep in snow. It took us an hour to dig him out and load our sledge with this frozen mass, which we were glad to call provision. After each of us had devoured 3 lbs. of boiled beef and bear’s flesh, on we went. To our inexpressible joy the open water had retreated to the west, and we were able to get round it by making a considerable bend. The numerous fissures which crossed our path we succeeded in evading, and by ascending icebergs were able to pick our way, till at last we arrived safely at Cape Frankfort (80° 20′ N. L.). At its base we found, to our great satisfaction, the land-ice running without break towards the ship. This amounted, in fact, to deliverance, and we celebrated our joy at the event by a glass of grog. The next thing to be done was to search for the depôt of provisions on Schönau Island.

DIGGING OUT THE DEPÔT.

15. On the 21st of April (the thermometer marking -7° F.) Orel led with the large sledge, while I remained behind with the dog-sledge, in order, from an elevation at Cape Frankfort, to complete the measurement of certain angles indispensable for the maps I was constructing. We joined company again nearly opposite Cape Berghaus, and together crossed a broad reach covered with ice-hummocks. The weather was clear, and brilliantly-marked parhelia hung over the dark blue background of the mountains. We again came on very deep snow, and as we advanced with much difficulty and great exertion, we got rid of the bear, after we had cut off from it every portion that could be used for food. The relief, however, was not great, and we were repeatedly compelled to halt and rest. Lukinovich and the much-enduring Zaninovich were taken with fainting-fits, the consequence of their excessive exertions. Indeed we were all more or less faint and emaciated. During one of these halts, in order to quicken their failing energies, I held forth to them on the astonishing example of MacClintock’s sledge journeys. The Dalmatians freely expressed their admiration of those Englishmen, but the Tyrolese were rather slow to believe.

THE MIDNIGHT SUN BETWEEN CAPE BERGHAUS AND KOLDEWEY ISLAND.

16. Soon after midnight on the 22nd of April (the thermometer standing at -6° F.) we reached Schönau Island, round which the ice had broken up, so that we frequently fell into the fissures. As we erected our tent, the sun was setting behind the violet-coloured edges of the ice-hummocks, while the lofty pinnacle of Cape Berghaus stood out sharply marked against the sky. The situation of the island we had reached being extremely favourable, on the highest point of it, I took some observations, which completed the surveys which I had made during this expedition. Close to the eastward of us, the ice had broken up round Hochstetter Island. Orel had meanwhile put up the tent, and Klotz had dug out the depôt of provisions, which, to our great joy, we found had not been disturbed by bears. The danger of starvation was at an end, and after satisfying the claims of hunger we enjoyed a delicious sleep of seven hours, and again set forth. We were still twenty-five miles from the ship. This distance I now determined to compass with the dog-sledge with all the speed possible, in order to ascertain whether the Tegetthoff remained where we left her. Orel was to follow close with the large sledge. The day was of unusual brightness. All the land, which a month ago had been the home of storms and enveloped in snow, now shone in the sunlight, and the walls of rock wore their natural brown colour. My route lay close under Koldewey and Salm Islands. At first every fragment which had fallen from a glacier on either of these islands was used as a pretext by the dogs for turning out of the course, and the trail of a bear seemed quite to distract them. It was to little purpose that I went on first to show them the way. No sooner was the least liberty allowed them, than they used it to make now for Cape Tegetthoff, then for Cape Berghaus, and, in preference to every other point, for the sun! Ever and anon Torossy dragged Jubinal out of the road, and this unruliness lasted till we came on the old sledge track, which was almost obliterated by the snow. Suddenly they seemed to feel as if they had entered on a familiar region. With their heads raised, and tails in the air, they now rushed along at the rate of 180 paces in a minute, though I had now taken my place on the sledge. The south-west corner of Salm Island was beset by a crowd of apparently stranded icebergs. Under the sheltered side of one of these colossal masses I made a short halt, and lighted the cooking-machine to thaw some boiled beef, and enjoy a meal in common with my canine companions, who regarded all my movements with fixed attention. Just as I was intently observing a small dark point on the horizon advancing in my direction—it was Orel and his party—the iceberg, in whose stability I was placing complete confidence, suddenly capsized, and, rolling on to the ice, shivered into fragments. In an instant I was surrounded by fissures, pools of water, and rolling pieces of ice. Seizing the cooking-machine, which I had lighted, I escaped with great difficulty. I had often observed, that icebergs were surrounded by circles of shattered surface-ice, with sea-water standing in their fissures. The overturning of icebergs, which occurs, I apprehend, more frequently than is generally imagined, easily accounts for the fact. It is therefore advisable to shun the immediate neighbourhood of an iceberg when the tent has to be erected, and to avoid using the iceberg itself as a place for a depôt of provisions.

THE “TEGETTHOFF” DESCRIED.

17. When I turned into the narrow passage between Salm and Wilczek Islands, Orgel Cape, visible at a great distance, was the only dark spot in the scene. At once the dogs made for it, and about midnight I arrived there. A few hundred steps further, and I should stand on the top of it, and see the ship, if ship were there. With an anxious, heavy heart, I then began the ascent. A stony plateau stretched before me. With every advancing step, made with increasing difficulty, the land gradually disappeared, and the horizon of the frozen sea expanded before me—an immeasurable white waste. No ship was to be seen—no trace of man for thousands of miles, save a cairn, with the fragments of a flag fluttering in the breeze, and a grave covered with snow-drifts. Still I climbed on. Suddenly three slender masts emerged—I had found the ship: there she lay about three miles off, appearing on the frozen ocean no bigger than a fly. The snow-drifts and icebergs around her had hitherto concealed her from my eye. I directed my telescope towards her, and every spar and sail I saw seemed to promise a happy conclusion to our expedition. I held the heads of the dogs towards the ship, and pointed with my arm to where she lay, that they might share in my joy. We soon descended, and took our way towards her. At about a hundred yards off the watch detected us. All on board but the men who composed it were asleep, for it was night. At first they were exceedingly alarmed to see me alone, but having calmed their apprehensions, I went down at once into the cabin to awaken the sleepers. Great was the joy caused by the account of the high latitude we had reached, and of the discoveries we had made, which I endeavoured to explain by the rough outline of a map which I sketched. In a few hours the stock of questions was answered and exhausted, and everyone now left the ship to welcome the approaching party, which was soon descried with the sledge-flag flying. Hearty and joyful were the mutual greetings; and the appetite of the emaciated adventurers occupied this night and for a week afterwards, all the attention of the rest of the crew.[51] We formed a strange group to look upon, but Klotz carried off the palm from us all. He had never shown any weakness in counteracting the effects of weather and exposure on his motley garments. His cap, a wondrous piece of patchwork, resembled the winged helmet of a knight-errant, and of his boots nothing remained but the feet, over which hung the legs of them in shreds and tatters. Carlsen, when he saw him stepping along proudly and silently, forgot for a moment his walruses, and compared him to Saint Olaf, who could find only one horse in “Gulbrandsdalen” strong enough to carry him.

KLOTZ.

18. During our absence the greatest activity had reigned on board ship. Weyprecht and Brosch had finished their magnetical observations, and measured on the ice the base, which I have already mentioned, for the trigonometrical portion of my surveys. The crew had begun the equipment of the boats for our return to Europe, and packed up the provisions in water-tight cases. The number of the sick had diminished; the frost-bites had yielded to a persevering course of poultices and baths. The only unpropitious circumstance was the accident which had befallen Stiglich, who had shattered his right arm by accidentally discharging a rifle. Sores and wounds in Arctic regions are difficult to heal, and especially during the winter. Thanks to the care of our physician, Stiglich’s severe wound healed more quickly than many a slighter injury during the cold period of the year. The sanitary condition had essentially improved, owing to the rich supplies of fresh meat afforded by the chase. Even before our arrival the ship’s company had killed several bears. Scarcely a day now passed without a bear coming near the ship. On the 25th of April we shot one in the act of tearing down with his fore-paws a cask sticking in the ice, and on the following day another fell a victim to the curious attention with which he was regarding some meat packed in a tin case. Birds also, especially divers, appeared in greater numbers; the cliffs of Wilczek Island were no longer desolate as before. Hence it was that we indulged in dishes of stewed birds and roasted bear’s-flesh. We had brought with us seven bears’ tongues; each day brought an accession, and our culinary art exercised itself on the refined preparation of bears’ tongues, which, together with the brains of this animal, were esteemed the greatest delicacies. Weyprecht, according to agreement, had caused a boat and provisions for three months to be put on shore, intended for the use of the sledge-party in the event of the ship being driven from her moorings. As these precautionary measures could now be dispensed with, the boat and all these provisions were removed to the ship. Later experience proved that the exploring party could not have escaped in this manner, for the united strength of three-and-twenty men was required to raise and place such a boat on a sledge.

CHAPTER X.
THE THIRD SLEDGE JOURNEY.

1. The weather during the last days of April was truly delightful; calms and bright sunshine made work and exercise in the open air exceedingly pleasant, and the temperature never fell below -2° F. But even this amount of cold was sufficient to retard the softening of the snow for some days, and favoured the carrying out of a third sledge expedition. Its intention was the exploration of the western portions of Franz-Josef Land; for the question of its extension towards Spitzbergen was scarcely less interesting than its extension towards the North. I should have liked to devote weeks to the undertaking, but our impending return left a few days only at my disposal.

2. On the 29th of April (the thermometer marking -2° F.) Lieutenant Brosch, Haller, and myself left the ship. Jubinal and Torossy were selected to drag the small sledge, which was equipped for a week’s expedition; Pekel accompanied us as a volunteer. The measurement of the angles necessary to complete my survey detained us so long on the heights of Wilczek Island, that we could not make our start on the level ice till the next morning. The power of the sun some days was so great, that the temperature of the tent at noon, when there was no wind, rose to 63° F., while in the two preceding months it was from 10° F. to -13° F. If the temperature during the day did not fall more than 6° below freezing-point, we required no clothes beyond our woollen underclothing and stockings. As we started in the morning of April 30, some snow fell, and the mountains were covered with masses of mist, which lay in horizontal layers half way up their sides. Cape Brünn, however, which was our goal, lay before us, clear and distinct, and the long glacier walls, running to the west of it round the edge of MacClintock Island, were under the constant play of refraction, and could be traced as far as Cape Oppolzer, from which point they seemed to trend to the north-west.

3. The snow-track of the Sound was still firm, so that our dogs needed little help in dragging our baggage, especially after we had buried provision for the return journey in an iceberg. We had scarcely finished this labour when we discovered a bear’s hole in the layer of snow at its base, and immediately afterwards we beheld its occupant coming furiously towards us. Several hasty shots were fired at him, but the bear escaped, though evidently wounded. The nearer we approached MacClintock Island, the more frequently we found fissures in the ice running parallel to the coast and communicating with a small “ice-hole” in the south about four miles off. Trusting, however, that during the next few days these fissures would not open so much as to prevent our re-crossing them, we went on and pitched our encampment near the terminal front of one of the glaciers of the island.

4. Our dogs continued now, as before, the implacable enemies of bears. Matotschkin’s sad end had not frightened them into prudence and caution, doubtless because they counted on our prowess against the common foe. To them nothing could be a more joyous spectacle than a wounded bear. If in his flight he became faint and exhausted they surrounded him, bit at his legs, and did all they could to prevent his getting away, and courage, as well as love of mischief, was visible in all their actions. Pekel, small as he was, was the leader in all attacks, and Torossy grew under his tuition to be at length a formidable assailant. So things proved now. While we were busily preparing our supper in the tent a young bear appeared on the scene; before we could stop them, out rushed the dogs on our visitor, who at first retreated, while the dogs followed hard on his heels. As it generally happened that the bear, after a time, turned on his pursuers and gave them chase, we were somewhat alarmed for the safety of the dogs, especially of Torossy, who sometimes was so stupid as not to find his way back to the tent without guidance. Just as we expected, the bear turned and became the pursuer; Torossy taking the lead in the retreat. Our small stock of cartridges and superfluity of bears’-flesh might have induced us to gaze at him while he gazed on us, if he had only kept at a respectful distance; but he would come too near, and reluctantly we found ourselves under the necessity of killing him and depriving him of the dainty morsel of his tongue. Forster says that the flesh of the Polar bear tastes like bad beef, an opinion which we are able to endorse and confirm, as we had consumed in this expedition about four bears apiece.

MARKHAM SOUND, RICHTHOFEN PEAK FROM CAPE BRÜNN.

5. On the 1st of May (the thermometer standing at 4° F.) we purposed to cross the Simony glacier and ascend the pyramid-like Cape Brünn, whence we might hope to see at a glance as much of the surrounding country as would have required a journey of several days on the level to discover. Unfavourable weather, however, prevented the execution of this project, and we were obliged to keep in our tent. Lieutenant Brosch, whose duties in taking magnetical observations stood in the way of his accompanying me in the previous expeditions, had now the misfortune to injure his foot; and in consequence of this accident I had to start next morning (May 2) accompanied only by Haller, to attempt the ascent. Fastened together with a rope, we passed over the Simony glacier amid heavy snow-storms from the W.N.W., and in a zigzag course went up the steep pyramid of Cape Brünn. Never have I made a more disagreeable ascent. A steep, snowy gorge led through a crown of rocks to the summit, which we reached after a march of five hours. By an aneroid observation we found the height to be 2,500 feet.

6. If the ascent of a mountain in the face of wind and penetrating cold demands all the self-command even of men the most inured to fatigues, it required the additional stimulus afforded by the view of an unknown land to give us endurance and energy under such circumstances, to sketch, to take azimuth measurements, and estimate the distances of important localities. To add to our difficulties, the theodolite was constantly shaken by the wind, so that every angle had to be observed repeatedly, in order that an available mean value might be obtained. It was only after several hours of the most severe labour that my work was completed. My attention was directed chiefly to the southern parts of Zichy Land, which formed a vast mountainous region beyond Markham Sound. Half the horizon was bounded by cliffs and heights gleaming with snow. The conical shape of the mountains prevailed here also; the only exception was Richthofen Spitze, the loftiest summit, perhaps, we had seen in Franz-Josef Land, which rose like a slender white pyramid to the height of about 5,000 feet. The land was everywhere intersected by fiords and covered with glaciers. Its boundaries towards Spitzbergen, or Gillis’ Land, could not be determined, because even at the distance of seventy or ninety German miles, mountain ranges were distinctly to be traced. It would appear, therefore, that masses of land stretch in this direction to at least the fiftieth degree, perhaps even to the forty-eighth degree, of east longitude. We also discovered, that the lands on the south of Markham Sound were separated by a fiord—Negri Sound. This was already open, and since some darker spots indicated fissures in the ice in Markham Sound, it is probable that sledge-journeys can be only undertaken early in the spring in Franz-Josef Land without the danger of being cut off. At the time when we made our observations, it was utterly impossible that such waters could be navigated by any ship, not even if she could be placed amid these small unconnected “ice-holes.” Haller, whose rheumatic tendencies unfitted him to bear wind and cold, had, meanwhile, posted himself in a cleft of rock sheltered from the wind beneath the summit, but I was quite satisfied with his running to my help, in order to rub my frozen hands with snow, when I was forced to drop the book in which I recorded my labours.

7. But however great our delight at the discovery of these unknown lands—trophies of our endurance—we were much discouraged by the view towards the south. An enormous surface of ice extended before us—a sad outlook, as we thought of our return homeward. Although one single serpentine thread of water, gleaming in the sun, stretched towards the south-east, separating the land-ice from the field-ice, yet it was but too certain that the next breeze from the south would again close it. All save this was a close sheet of ice. We spent some time in exploring the lower glacier region of the island, so that it was towards evening before we reached the tent. Much as we desired to prosecute our explorations, reflection forced us to limit them. In order to penetrate in a north-westerly direction several days would have been needed; but as it had been arranged that we must at once begin our return to Europe, we were constrained to abandon the thought of such a scheme and return at once to the ship. On the night of the 2nd of May we began our forced march of two-and-twenty hours, during which we were often bathed in perspiration, though the temperature on the 3rd of May varied between 5° F. and -4° F. The dogs alone drew the sledge with ease, though it carried a load of 3 cwt., giving us such a striking example of what they could do, that we felt persuaded that a sledge, with a strong team of dogs, must be the best form, beyond comparison, of sledge-travelling. In the evening we reached the Tegetthoff and our sledge expeditions came to a close, after we had travelled in this fashion about 450 miles.