1880. | Geography and Travels. 543 
The Willem Barents is thus the first vessel to sight this distant 
land and return in safety. This success of a small schooner con- 
firms the judgment of those who have, since the return of the 
Austrian expedition, advocated the route’towards the Pole by the 
west side of Franz Josef Land. 
he /séjorn, a vessel of forty-three tons burthen and fifty-five 
feet in length, though not able to reach quite so high a latitude, 
made a very interesting cruise. Sailing from Hammerfest on May 
25th, they made the first ice on June 4th, about forty miles west 
of Goose Land, Novaya Zemlya. On June 2oth, they entered the 
Matyushin Shar. “The scenery in this wonderfully formed chan- 
nel is very grand, more especially on a fine sunny night, when 
the rays of the sun at a low altitude just ‘bathe in deep joy’ the 
summits of the surrounding hills. These lofty ranges raise their 
the sea. Between them undulating valleys recede into the inte- 
rior, covered with such deep snow as to conceal all rocky projec- 
tions, and make them resemble glaciers in their milk-white 
Opacity, rather than stretches of country which very shortly 
would be covered with a rich and luxuriant Arctic flora. Occa- 
sionally deep ravines, black and sombre-looking, would separate 
the hills, their dark black cliffs forming a striking contrast to the 
universal whiteness that everywhere else predominated,” 
apt. Markham noticed here the formation of ice on the surface 
of the water when the air temperature was as high as 39°, the 
temperature of the surface water being 31°. This was taking 
place at the mouth of a large valley where a great quantity of 
fresh water was discharged into the sea. Finding the strait 
blocked with ice, they coasted along the north-western shore of 
Novaya Zemlya until again stopped by ice off Cape Nassau, and 
had to return to the Matyushin Shar, and, after some delay, 
passed through it into the Sea of Kara. The point of juncture 
of the tides from the Sea of Barents‘and the Sea of Kara, was 
determined to be ata point near Cape Walrus. The ice in the 
eastern sea was found to be very heavy. One floe Capt. Mark- 
ham carefully measured, and found to be thirty-one feet in thick- 
ness. This floe was over four miles in diameter. Returning to 
the straits, the Willem Barents was met as mentioned above. 
After their separation the Istjern succeeded in rounding Cape 
Mauritius carrying the British flag for the first time to the north- 
ward of Novaya Zemlya. Within thirty miles of Barents’ winter 
quarters at Ice Haven, the refusal of the Norwegian crew to pro- 
ceed further, compelled them to sail in a north-westerly direction. 
In lat. 73° 8’ N. they encountered a strong northerly gale, and 
the heavy sea “was a very sure proof that the pack was a long 
way off.” On September t2th, they reached their highest latı- 
tude, 78° 24’ N., on the 47th meridian of longitude. They were 
here surrounded by loose ice. To some of the fragments soil 
