184 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [part i 
70 miles long from east to west. Its distance from the 
nearest point of the Siberian coast is 80 miles. Two 
ridges run parallel to the north and south shores, and 
between them is undulating country traversed by streams 
fed by the melting snow. Mammoth tusks and bones 
were found by Lieutenant Berry's party, as well as 
relics of Siberian tribes. The hills rise to a height of 
2500 to 3000 feet. It has been named Wrangell Island, 
after the Russian explorer who encountered such great 
dangers in seeking for it. The Russian explorers came to 
the conclusion that there was a great deal of open water 
in summer to the north of the Siberian coast. 
In 1843 Middendorf was sent to explore the region 
which terminates in Cape Chelyuskin. He went by land, 
descending the river Khatanga, and reached the Taimyr 
lake in June. In August he got to the shores of the 
Polar Sea and sighted the Cape, whence he saw open 
water and no ice blink in any direction. The rise and fall 
of the tide was 36 feet. F. Schmidt was also sent by the 
Imperial Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg to examine 
the country between the Obi and Yenisei, and to amplify 
the work of Middendorf. 
The Russians were also occupied with the exploration 
of Novaya Zemlya, an incentive being given to the 
merchants of Archangel by the belief that silver ore was 
to be found. As the search for the philosopher's stone 
led to many discoveries in chemistry, and the quest for 
El Dorado had as its consequence important discoveries 
in South America, so this imaginary silver ore was the 
cause of the discoveries along the Novaya Zemlya coast. 
Novaya Zemlya is a long narrow strip of land stretching 
away N.E. for some 500 miles with the Barentsz Sea on 
its western and the Kara Sea on its eastern side, and 
separated at its southern extremity from Waigatz Island 
by Burrough Strait. It is divided into two islands by 
the narrow Matyushin Strait. 
The southern island is 160 miles long, and there are 
a few Samoyed settlements on its shores. The northern 
island is quite uninhabited. The southern part of it is 
called Lutke Land after the Russian Admiral who sunned 
the western coast, and the northern part is Barentsz Land. 
The two islands form an arc or curve with the concave 
