772 General Notes. ` Í July, 
so large that each man received one and two-fifths pounds, or even 
more daily, The wood and coal were consumed by January ŝth, 
and from that time the only fuel was blubber. Thanks to the 
fresh meat, there was no sign of scurvy. On June 21st the re- 
turn boat voyage was commenced, and was bravely continued, 
with alternations of hauling across ice, until on August 2d 
coast of Novaya Zemlya was reached. There the Hope, sent out 
to search for the Zira, was met with, also the Kara and the Wil- 
lem Barents The experience of the Zira, as well as the previous 
one of the Tegethoff, prove that the winter on the southern side 
of Franz Josef Land is milder than that of the same latitude on 
Smith’s Sound. In December the thermometer rose to +31°, 
with a mean for the month of +4°; in January and February the 
mean was —26°, and the lowest —43°. 
The presence of open water ensures that of bears and walrus 
all the year round, and that of flocks of birds eight months out 
of twelve. No deer, hares, or ptarmigan were met with on this 
island either by the crew of the Aira or that of the Zegethoff. It 
appears to be proved that this region is a suitable base whence to 
push exploration towards the pole. : 
Cliffs of columnar basalt, about eight hundred feet high, were 
seen in Gray bay, also an old sea-beach ninety feet above the se. 
All the bears shot during the winter were males, and the experi- | 
ence of Lieut. Payer was in this respect similar. 
Baron Nordenskjéld’s expedition to Greenland has for its ri 
jects the exploration of the interior, to ascertain the extent of the 
the fossils 
. drift ice between Cape Farewell and Iceland, to study | 
t, and also 
and the peculiar blocks of ironstone on the west coas 
to penetrate northwards along the unknown east coast. — 
= f Greenland, 
Baron Nordenskjöld believes that the interior O 
like that of the large continents, is an enclosed valley 
the winds having lost their moisture upon the bordering 
tain ranges, must be dry and comparatively warm, as 15 the 
in other parts of the world with winds descending from 4 ae 
clad mountain, on the other slope of which they have lost 
moisture. ' 
The Willem Barents has left tor the Arctic to endeavor 
cover the Dutch expedition in the Varna. 
It appears that there is now little doubt that the “ Zeni me 
tive,” published in 1558 by Francesco Marcolini, is in the 
authentic, and that civilized communities, the descendants d i 
early Scandinavian colonists, persisted in the far north up 
in the middle of the sixteenth century is a manuscri Ptolemy 
covered by Baron Nordenskjöld in a manuscript copy 9! This map 
ey, and that 
moun- 
e 
ENEA A IEEE STA OEE 
to dis- 
map in use $ 
pt map di 
i 
