NOYA ZEMBLA. 



151 



above the ground, while the forest region still penetrates far within the con- 

 fines of the colder continental regions above mentioned, are to be ascribed not 

 to the low mean annual temperature of ISTova Zembla, but to the unfavorable 

 distribution of warmth over the various seasons of the year. For although 

 high ]!^orthern Siberia and America have a/ar colder winter, they enjoy a con- 

 siderahly warmer summer, and this it is which in the higher latitudes determines 

 the existence or the development of life on the dry land. During the winter 

 the organic world is partly sheltered under the snow, or else it migrates, or it 

 produces within itself sufficient warmth to defy the cold — and thus a few de- 

 grees more or less at that time of the year are of no material consequence, while 

 the warmth of summer is absolutely indispensable to awaken life and determine 

 its development. 



The comparatively mild winter of !N"ova Zembla (no less than thirty-three de- 

 grees warmer than that of Jakutsk) is therefore of but little benefit to vegetable 

 life, which on the other hand suffers considerably from a summer inferior even 

 to that of Melville Island and Boothia Felix. A coast where the sun, in spite of 

 a day of several months' continuance, generates so small a quantity of heat, and 

 where yet some vegetation is able to flourish, must necessarily be well worthy 

 the attention of botanists, or rather of all those who take an interest in the 

 geographical distribution of plants. For if in the primitive forests of Brazil 

 the naturalist admires the effects of a tropical sun and an excessive humidity in 

 producing the utmost exuberance of vegetation, it is no less interesting for him 

 to observe how Flora under the most adverse circumstances still wages a suc- 

 cessful war against death and destruction. 



Thus a few years after Pachtussow's expedition, the desire to explore a land 

 so remarkable in a botanical point of view, and to gather new fruits for science 

 in the wilderness, induced Herr von Baer, though already advanced in years, to 

 undertake the journey to JTova Zembla. 



Accompanied by two younger naturalists, Mr. Lehmann and Mr. Roder, the 

 celebrated Petersburg academician arrived on July 29, 1837, at the western en- 

 trance of Mathew's Straits, sailed through them the next day in a boat, and 

 reached the sea of Kara, where he admired a prodigious number of jelly-fishes 

 {Pleurohrachia pileus) swimming about in the ice-cold waters, and displaying 

 a marvellous beauty of coloring in their ciliated ribs. This excursion might, 

 however, have had very disagreeable consequences, for a dreadful storm, blow- 

 ing from the west, prevented their boat from returning, and forced them to pass 

 the night with some walrus-hunters, whom they had the good-fortune to meet 

 with. On the following day the storm abated, so that the return could be at- 

 tempted ; they were, however, obliged to land on a small island in the Beluga 

 Bay, where, wet to the skin, and their limbs shaking with cold, they fortunately 

 found a refuge in the ruins of a hut in which Rosmysslow had wintered in 1767. 

 Meanwhile the wind had veered to the east, accompanied by a very disagreeable 

 cold rain, which on the mountains took the form of snow ; they were now, how- 

 ever, able to make use of their sail, and arrived late at night at the spot where 

 their ship lay at anchor, completely wet, but in good health and spirits. 



" We could esteem ourselves happy," says Von Baer, " in having paid so 



