THE JOURNEY SOUTHWARD 549 



whose ability I have always entertained a high respect. 

 I examined his account of his voyage, and there I found 

 that he expressly mentions that during the time he was 

 coasting along this Dove Glacier he had a great deal 

 of fog, which quite concealed the land ahead. But one 

 day (it was April 7, 1874) he says:* "At this latitude 

 (81° 23) it seemed as if Wilczek Land suddenly ter- 

 minated, but when the sun scattered the driving mists 

 we saw the o-litterinc: rano-es of its enormous "iaciers — 

 the Dove Glaciers — shining down on us. Towards the 

 northeast we could trace land trending to a cape lying in 

 the gray distance: Cape Buda-Pesth, as it was after- 

 wards called. The prospect thus opened to us of a vast 

 glacier land contiicted with the general impression we 

 had formed of the resemblance between the newly dis- 

 covered region and Spitzbergen ; for glaciers of such 

 extraordinary magnitude presuppose the existence of a 

 country stretching far into the interior." 



I have often thought over this description, and I 

 cannot find in Payer's book any other information that 

 throws light upon the mystery. Although, according to 

 this, it would appear as if they had had clear weather that 

 day, there must, nevertheless, have been fog-banks lying 

 over Hvidtenland, uniting it with Wilczek Land to the 

 south and stretching northward towards Crown Prince 

 Rudolf Land. The sun shining on these fog-banks must 



* New Lands witlihi the Aretie Circle. By J. Payer, Vol. II., p. 129. 



