202 
llie main result of tlie Austro-Hungariaii Expedition of 
1872 — 74, was the discovery of a large group of islands, or perhaps 
a continental land, commencing in latitude 80° IST. and certainly 
extending as far as 83°, in which latitude Payer saw a precipitous 
mountainous land still trending to the northward, with every 
likelihood of a great extension in that direction. In no other part 
of the globe that we are acquainted with, does land present such 
features. At Cape Columbia, in Grinnell Land, 83° G' K, the most 
northern laird reached by man, the coast ends abruptly ; and 
when in the vicinity of Cape Joseph Henry, in latitude 82° 45', 
8ir George Hares and I ascended Mount Julia, a hill of not less than 
2000 feet high, on a most remarkably clear day, we were unable to 
observe the slightest indication of land to the northward. So 
remarkably clear was the atmosphere on that occasion, that we were 
enabled to take angles ivith the theodolite of headlands on the shores 
of North Greenland, which were determined by our sledge parties 
to be at a distance of 80 and DO miles from our then position. 
Our visible horizon to the northivard was not less than 50 miles, so 
that we have every reason to believe that no land lies directly 
north of Cape Joseidi Henry, south of latitude 83° 35' N., and 
there is no reason to doubt that did land, equal in altitude to the 
coast of North Greenland, exist on the meridian of Cape Joseph 
Henry in latitude 84°, we should have discerned it from the 
summit of Mount Julia. I have diverged somewhat in order to 
enter a claim for Eranz-Josef Land, as being the most northern 
land yet discovered on our globe, which fact in itself is one of great 
interest. 
The British Expedition of 1875 — 76 attracted attention to (Smith 
Sound, but its return without having attained as high a latitude 
as was fondly hoped would liavc been the case, caused those 
interested iir Arctic research to cast longing eyes in the direction of 
Eranz-Josef Land. 
In 1879 the Dutch exploring vessel, ‘Willem Barents,’ penetrated 
into the sea that bears the name of that illustrious navigator, and 
returned after sighting the mysterious Eranz-Josef Land. Excellent 
collections were made by the Dutch, illustrating the biology of 
Barents Sea, some account of which is published in the SeiJlcmber 
number of ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ for this year. 
As, however, some feeling has been aroused by that publication, 
