COL. FEILDBN AND MR. QELDART ON TIIE FLORA OF KOLGUEV. 1G9 
effected, and after passing through some forty miles of ice, open 
water was reached. The yacht then, ran down t.o the island of 
Kolguev, with the ice in sight all the way, on the port side. As 
the “Saxon” had to return to Vardd for a. fresh supply of coal, 
Mr. II. J. Pearson determined, if the weather permitted, to land on 
Kolguev. This was effected July 5th, and the members of the 
expedition went into camp near the mouth of the Gobista river, on 
the south-west side of Kolguev. The yacht returned from Vardd 
and took the party off on July 16tli. A third attempt was then 
made to reach Novaya Zemlva which proved successful. 
The island of Kolguev lies between 68 43' and 69’ 30' X. Lat., 
and Long. 48° 15' to 49 55' east of Greenwich. It is about fifty 
geographical miles in length, and some forty in width. It possesses 
no harbour for a sea-going craft drawing any depth of water, and 
none of its rivers are navigable. It is surrounded by shoals and 
sand-banks, and often during summer by ice. In winter it is 
completely ice-bound, and indeed during the whole year, the 
ice-fields seem to remain on its eastern shore. Its western coast 
during the short summer is freer,- but even in the month of July, 
1895, when Colonel Feilden passed ten days on that side of the 
island, the ice-pack came down from the northward, and for three 
days enveloped the coast. The climatic conditions of Kolguev 
are very severe. Professor Saweljew, who with l)r. Euprecht 
(conservator of the Botanical Museum of the Imperial Academy 
of Science, Russia) visited Kolguev, in 1841, makes the following 
remarks about the climate : “ During the sixteen days which we 
spent at various spots on (or off) the island in July and August, 
the thermometer never rose above 9 E., and even this but once, 
at mid-day. Usually it stood at 4; or 5°, and fell at times to 2°, 
or even to 1° E. ; while before this, on Kanin (?>. on the mainland), 
a warmth of 1 0’ to 12’ prevailed, which, immediately after our 
departure from Kanin, mounted (there) to 15° E. It is to be 
remarked that the soil of this island .... does not thaw in the 
courso of the year more than two feet deep. Further down all 
remains in a frozen state — a thing which we have not found to 
occur either on the Kanin peninsula or on the coast of Timan.”* 
Mr. A. Trevor- Battye, who paid an adventurous visit to Kolguev 
in 1894, has told his experiences in a delightful volume, ‘ Ice-bound 
* Arohiv fur Wisseuschaftliche Kunde von Russland, 1852, A. Erman, 
x. 313 — 316. N 2 
