Vol. 52.] OF ARCTIC EUROPE AND ITS ISLANDS. 731 



300 feet, the other parallel to it on the western side of the island, 

 but not rising higher than 70 feet. The intervening portion and 

 the land bordering the sea he describes as tundra. Mr. Jackson 

 writes ! : — ' The tundra rolled away to the point, the ridges some- 

 times reaching a height of 30 feet above the intervening troughs. 

 Along the lowest level of the troughs shallow pools and lakes were 

 frequent .... Down in the troughs the soil was bluish mud .... 

 while on the ridges there outcropped the long friable sheets of lime- 

 stone-shale which I found all over the southern part of the island 

 and on the tundra around Habarova. . . . Round Dolga Bay (on 

 the north-western side of the island) there is every evidence of the 

 present shore-line being of comparatively recent existence. A raised 

 beach about 12 feet above present level runs persistently along 

 the cliffs.' 



4. Novaya Zemlya. 



My personal acquaintance with Novaya Zemlya is limited. I 

 have visited only a small portion of the western side of the south 

 island, between the parallels of 71° and 72° lat. N. The appear- 

 ance of this part of Novaya Zemlya is disappointing in scenic effects. 

 There is nothing in its character approaching the grandeur of the 

 western coast of Spitsbergen. Making for the shelter of Kostin Schar 

 or Strait, that protected reach of waters lying between Mesdu- 

 sharsky Island and Novaya Zemlya proper, we pass between low- 

 lying Gooseland and Mesdusharsky. Their topographical features 

 are quite distinct from those of the rest of Novaya Zemlya, and they 

 appear to be long low tracts of tundra just rising above the sea and 

 fringing the interior highlands. 



In the vicinity of liogateheva Bay, where we made our first 

 landing, the country rises abraptly from the shore to the height 

 of between 500 and 800 feet, more or less. This hilly region, 

 intersected by valleys with many lakes, extends for some 15 to 

 20 miles to the base of the interior range, which rises in a 

 scries of sharply peaked and serrated mountains averaging some 

 2000 feet in height. At the time of our visit, in the latter part of 

 July, the land was generally clear of snow, little even remaining on 

 the central ridges except in their higher valleys and gorges. I 

 deteeted no glaciers on their flanks, and we saw no glaciers issuing 

 into Kostin Schar. 



The rock-formations of this part of Novaya Zemlya dip at very 

 high angles, often nearly vertical, so that their outcrops appear as 

 ridges. On all sides these are shattered and riven by frost, so that 

 we walk over leagues upon leagues of splintered and shivered rocks. 

 This is the work of frost and subaerial disintegration. I can see 

 no evidence of the former extension of an ice-sheet over this area, 

 no 'roches moutonnees,' no glaciated surfaces, no rounded, mammil- 

 la! ed, ice-worn contours. Had these at any time existed one can 

 hardly suppose that they could have been totally removed by the 



1 Op. cit pp. 31, 32, 37. 

 Q, J. G. S. No. 208. 3 d 



