ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS. 279 



least 110 miles of new coast line, besides obtaining a very interesting 

 and valuable collection of natural-history specimens from a portion of 

 the globe that, in a scientific sense, was almost unknown ; for it must 

 be remembered that the collections obtained and preserved by the 

 members of the Austro Hungarian expedition were unfortunately lost 

 when their ship was abandoned. Several peculiarities were observed 

 in the physical conditions of the country, differing in some respects 

 from other Arctic lands. For instance, the islands seen were in almost 

 all instances crowned with ice caps, while the icebergs that were 

 observed were invariably flat-topped. The drift of theso bergs appeared 

 to be to the north; but I do not think that too much reliance can be 

 placed on the observations that led to this conclusion, as they were 

 necessarily of a somewhat perfunctory character. Mr. Leigh Smith, 

 after leaving Franz Josef Land, made a gallant attempt to reach 

 Wiches Land from the eastward, but he found the ice so densely packed 

 as to defy all efforts to penetrate it, so he returned to England. 



It is, I think, very probable that Franz Josef Land will be found to 

 extend to a considerable distance to the northward; Mr. Leigh Smith 

 found it to extend, at any rate as far as he could see, to the northwest. 

 It is not at all impossible that it also extends in an easterly direction, 

 and I think that we may very reasonably conclude that Franz Josef 

 Land, as a whole, will be found to consist of a large continent inter- 

 sected by numerous fiords and large glaciers, or else an archipelago 

 consisting of many large islands. The exploration of this little-known 

 land, and the determination of its extent and character, are well worthy 

 of serious consideration, and would be productive of the most useful 

 and valuable scientific results. In the following year Mr. Leigh Smith 

 made another voyage to Franz Josef Land, with the object of continuing 

 his exploration of the previous year, but unfortunately his little vessel 

 was crushed by the ice off Cape Flora in latitude 79° 56', and he and his 

 men were compelled to pass the winter in those inhospitable regions. 

 They found it a comparatively barren and sterile shore, but fortunately 

 bears and walruses were obtained, which very materially supplemented 

 the provisions they succeeded in saving from the wreck. When the 

 ice broke up the following year, with the aid of their sledges and boats, 

 they happily succeeded in reaching the coast of Kovaya Zemlya, where 

 they were succored and brought home by the steamer Hope, which had 

 been specially dispatched in quest of them under the command of Sir 

 Allen Young. 



Taking all things into consideration, Franz Josef Land appears to me 

 to be the region to which our efforts should be directed with a view to 

 further exploration, offering, as it does, the most likely prospect of 

 achieving the greatest amount of geographical success. For here we 

 have all those elements that are essential to successful exploration in 

 high latitudes — namely, a coast line affording facilities for sledge travel- 

 ing, a continuity of land trending in a northerly, northwesterly, and, 



