82 THE FOEEST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 



' The Tegeihoff steamed out of Tromso Harbour on the 

 13th of July ; first fell in with the ice on the 25th, in lat. 

 74 15' N. ; and on the 29th sighted the coast of Novaia 

 Zemlaia. Here she was caught in the pack, but steam 

 being got up, repeated charges were made at the enemy, 

 and she was carried bravely into an open water-way, about 

 twenty miles wide, to the north of the Matochkia Strait. 

 On the 12th of August she was joined by the Isbyorn 

 yacht with Count Wilczck and some friends on board. 

 The two vessels anchored close to the shore in lat. 76 30' 

 N., and on the 18th celebrated the Emperor of Austria's 

 birthday. Daily excursions were made by sledge parties 

 to the adjoining islands, resulting in an accumulation of 

 botanical and geological specimens, besides slaughtered 

 bears and foxes, and quantities of drift-wood. On the 23rd 

 the vessels parted company, the Teget h off steaming to the 

 northward, and the Isbyorn endeavouring to push south- 

 ward along the coast. On reaching the mouth of the 

 Petchora, Count Wilczck and his friends left her to pro- 

 ceed on the return voyage to Tromso, while they ascended 

 the Petchora in small boats to Perm, and returned to 

 Vienna by way of Moscow. 



'The Tegethoff spent the winters of 1872 and 1873 in 

 the Icy Sea, and made some discoveries of interest. It 

 returned in safety in the summer of 1S74/ 



In lands further to the north than Nova Zembla there 

 may be found moss, scurvy grass, and sorrel, but no trees. 



In the year A.D. 879, when the first settlers in Iceland, 

 under Ingulf their chief, went thither, they found very 

 extensive forests in the valleys, which they penetrated with 

 difficulty ; and roots and stumps of large fir trees are, or 

 were sixty years ago, to be seen in various parts, but now 

 not a tree is to be found in the whole island, and only a 

 few stunted birches and some low brush or underwood 

 grows in the most sheltered situations. 



Greenland is said to have gotten that name from an 

 Icelander, Eric Raude, or Eric the Red, by whom it was 



