West of Austria Sound are the numerous islands, large and small, which form the Zichy group; while to the north is Kronprinz Rudolf Island with its Middendorf glacier. The northern point of Kronprinz Rudolf, called Cape Fligely, is the northern extremity of the whole group[140].
On the west side of the British Channel are Northbrook, Bruce, Isabel, and Bell Islands. At the west end of Northbrook Island is Cape Flora, where was “Elmwood,” Jackson’s winter quarters; and between Mabel and Bell Islands is Eira Harbour, where Leigh Smith wintered. Westward are the two large islands of Prince George and Alexandra. The former, 90 miles long by 68, is almost covered with glaciers, and forms the western shore of the British Channel, with the Armitage, Arthur Harmsworth, and Albert Edward Islands to the north. On the northern horizon Jackson reported open water, which he named Queen Victoria Sea. The westernmost island, believed to be separated from Prince George Island by Cambridge Bay or Strait, is called Alexandra Island, and is also nearly covered with glaciers, but with low land along its northern shore. It is 120 miles long by some 50 miles wide.
Payer describes the lands seen from Austria Sound as covered with fields of ice, while rows of basaltic columns, rising tier above tier, stand out as if crystallized, but the natural colour of the rock is not visible, even the steepest walls of rock being covered with ice. The mountains are table-shaped and rise to heights of from 2000 to 3000 feet, and the predominating formation resembles the dolerite of Greenland, though coarser grained and of a dark yellowish-green colour. Payer also observed terraced beaches covered with débris containing organic remains. The small snow-covered islets reached by Nansen from the north are composed of a coarse-grained basalt. The western half of the Franz Josef group was more thoroughly explored by Jackson and Armitage, with the aid of their able and accomplished companions, during four summers and three winter seasons 1894–97.
Dr Koettlitz, the geologist of Mr Jackson’s expedition, from the results of three years of observation combined with the reports of Payer and Leigh Smith, has been able to give a fairly good general view of the past history and present appearance of the Franz Josef group. He looks upon the numerous islands as the fragments of an old table-land, doubtless connected with other lands from which it is now separated by wide seas, and he places the existence of this continental land in the Jurassic period. But the principal feature of the group, as was also observed by Payer, is the basalt or the dolerite of which the plateau formation consists. This basaltic rock formation is from 500 to 600 feet in perpendicular height, and Dr Koettlitz dates it from Jurassic times; in which case all strata that may have been laid down after this period have disappeared through denudation, or are buried under the ice sheets. When the hills were clothed with those plants of the Jurassic age which have been recognised among the fossils that have been brought home, the climate must have been mild and genial, and the land was connected with Spitsbergen.
The present flora of Franz Josef Land is almost confined to terraces or slopes with a southern aspect, and is poor as compared with that of Spitsbergen. But it gives some little colouring to the dreary summer landscape, and in the neighbourhood of loomeries there are many bright-coloured mosses[141].
There are very few mammals on these desolate islands. Polar bears, however, frequent the neighbouring floes in considerable numbers, and wander about all the winter. The Austrians shot over 60, Nansen 19, and 120 were seen by the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition. The Arctic hare was not met with, and foxes were very rarely seen at “Elmwood,” though they made themselves at home at Nansen’s winter quarters. Bones and antlers of deer were found on the raised beaches, and it is not easy to account for their presence. They might possibly have come with drift-wood. White whales, narwhals, and three kinds of seals were seen, and walruses were abundant[142].
The snowy owl is a frequenter of Franz Josef Land, suggesting the presence of its favourite food, but lemmings were not met with. Snow buntings are widely spread over the islands, and remain from April to October, and the Lapland bunting also comes in smaller numbers in May, as well as the shore lark. Brent geese arrive in June, but the eider duck is rare. There are ptarmigan, first seen by members of the Zeigler expedition. The wading birds comprise turnstones, sanderlings, and two sandpipers. The very rare Ross’s gull was found by Nansen breeding in considerable numbers. The glaucous gull, fulmar, kittiwake, and arctic tern also visit the group, and the ivory gulls breed there abundantly. The red-throated diver comes, but is rare. Looms and dovekies visit the southern coast, and the little-auks are numerous. The whole number of species of birds visiting Franz Josef Land is 23, against 33 in Spitsbergen, and 43 in Novaya Zemlya.
The Franz Josef group of islands may be considered geologically as part of Spitsbergen, both being fragments of the same continental land of Jurassic times[143]. The 143 miles of ice-covered sea between Cape Mary Harmsworth, the northernmost point of Alexandra Land, and Cape Leigh Smith on North-east Land has not yet been explored. The sea to the east of Wilczek and Graham Bell Islands is also unknown.
During the period from August 1872 to the following February the Tegethoff was drifted in a north-easterly direction from Cape Nassau of Novaya Zemlya, which is in longitude 62° E., to 71° 38′ E., a distance of about 125 miles, and from February to the next October, in latitude 79° N., she drifted westward until she reached the land ice on the south coast of Franz Josef. These drifts appear to have been due to the prevailing winds.
The sea to the south of Franz Josef Land, between Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, has received the name of the Barentsz Sea. Its greatest depth is 230 fathoms, and over the greater part of the area the depth is not more than 100 fathoms. The ice is always kept well out of sight of the European coast by the Atlantic current, and when the line of the pack is met with in about 74° N., it is found to be sufficiently loose for navigation northwards during some part of the summer, the general drift being to the westward, but varying with the winds.