7. The Dolerite of Franz-Josef Land greatly resembles also the Dolerite

of Spitzbergen. After the return of the expedition I saw in London some

photographic views of the mountains of North-East Land, Spitzbergen,

taken by Mr. Leigh-Smith, and I was at once struck with the resemblance

between their forms and those of Franz-Josef Land. I learnt also from

Professor Nordenskjöld, the celebrated explorer of Spitzbergen, as

I passed through Sweden, that the rock of North-East Land was this

same Hyperstenite (Hypersthene). Hence the geological coincidence of

Spitzbergen and Franz-Josef Land would seem to be established; and this

geological affinity, viewed in connection with the existence of lands

more or less known, appears to indicate that groups of islands will be

found in the Arctic seas on the north of Europe, as we know that such

abound in the Arctic seas of North America. Gillis’ Land and King Karl’s

Land are, perhaps, the most easterly islands of the Spitzbergen group;

for it is not probable that these and the lands we discovered form one

continuous uninterrupted whole.

8. Amygdaloids, so common in Greenland, were never found by us in

Franz-Josef Land; and while the rocks in the southern portions of the

country were often aphanitic and so far true basalt, in the north

they were coarse-grained and contained Nepheline. The other rocks

consisted of a whitish quartzose sandstone, with a clayey cement, and

of another finely-grained sandstone, containing small granules of

quartz and greenish-grey particles of chlorite, and also of yellowish

finely-laminated clay slate. Erratics, so far as my opportunities

permitted me to judge, were of rare occurrence; but we found many

smaller pieces of petrified wood, allied to lignite.

9. Some of the islands of the Spitzbergen and Franz-Josef Land group must

be of considerable extent, because they bear enormous glaciers, which

are possible only in extensive countries. Their terminal precipices,

sometimes more than 100 feet high, form generally the coast-lines. The

colour of all the glaciers we visited inclined to grey, we seldom found

the dull green-blue hue; the granules of their ice were extraordinarily

large; there were few crevasses; and the moraines were neither large

nor frequent. Their movement was slow; and the snow-line commences at

about 1,000 feet above the level, whereas on the glaciers of Greenland

and Spitzbergen the like limit is generally 2,000 or even 3,000 feet,

and in these countries also, all below that line is free from snow in

summer. Franz-Josef Land, on the contrary, appears even in summer to be

buried under perpetual snow, interrupted only where precipitous rock

occurs. Almost all the glaciers reach down to the sea. Crevasses, even

when the angle of inclination of the glacier is very great, are much

less frequent than in our Alps, and in every respect the lower glacier

regions of Franz-Josef Land approach the character of the _névés_ of our

latitudes. There only was it possible to determine the thickness of the

annual deposits of snow and ice. In these lower portions, the layers were

from a foot to a foot-and-a-half thick; fine veins, about an inch wide,

of blue alternating with streaks of white ice ran through them, which

occurred with peculiar distinctness at the depth of about a fathom. On

the whole, this peculiar structure of alternating bands or veins was not

so distinctly marked as it is in the glaciers of the Alps, because the

alternations of temperature and of the precipitations are very much less

in such high latitudes.

10. The glacier ice of Franz-Josef Land was far less dense than the

glacier ice of East Greenland; whence it appears that movement, as a

factor in the structure of the glacier, predominates in Franz-Josef-Land

more than the factor of regelation. Even at the very end of the glaciers,

granules an inch long are distinctly traceable in its layers, and in

the _névé_ region especially the glacier ice is exceedingly porous. The

great tendency of the climate of Franz-Josef Land to promote glaciation

is manifested in the fact, that all the smaller islands are covered with

glaciers with low rounded tops, so that a section through them would

present a regular defined segment of a circle; hence many ice-streams

descending from the summits of the plateaus spread themselves over the

mountain-slopes and need not to be concentrated in valleys and hollows

in order to become glaciers. Yet many glaciers occur—the Middendorf

Glaciers, for example—whose vertical depth amounts to many hundred

feet. Their fissures and the height of the icebergs show this. It was

unfortunately impossible for us to explore the Dove Glacier, the largest

of all we saw, owing to its great distance from the line of our route.

Evaporation from the surface of the glacier goes on with great intensity

during those summer months when the daylight is continual, and deep

water-courses show that streams of thaw-water then flow over it.

11. The comparison of the temperature of the air within the crevasses

of the glaciers with the external air, invariably proved, that within

the crevasses the temperature was higher. The traces of liquefaction in

the glacier during winter, arising from the warmth of the earth, could

not be observed, because the sides and under-edge of the glaciers were

inaccessible from the enormous masses of snow, and the icicles of the

terminal arches and precipices could be ascribed only to the freezing of

the thaw-water of the preceding summer.

12. The plasticity of the glaciers was so great, that branches of them,

separated by jutting-out rocks, flowed into each other again at their

base, without showing any considerable crevasses. We could only in a

few cases judge of their movement by direct measurement, and we had

never more than one day to test it. One observation made on the Sonklar

Glacier in the month of March did not seem to support the notion of the

advance of the glaciers; but the repetition of similar experiments, some

weeks later, made on two glaciers on the south of Austria Sound, gave

the mean of two inches as the daily movement. It is very probable that

their movement begins in the Arctic regions somewhat later than in our

latitudes, perhaps at the end of July or beginning of August, because the

period of the greatest liquefaction then ends, while it is at its minimum

in March and the beginning of April. The signs of glacier-movement

were apparent in the detachment of icebergs in the month of March, but

more frequently in the month of May—as at the Simony Glacier—and in the

crashing-in of the ice-sheet at their base in the month of April—as at

the Middendorf Glacier; and the appearance of “glacier dirt,” where

there is no material to furnish a moraine,—as on the Forbes Glacier—must

be regarded as a sign of its onward movement or lateral extension. The

infrequency of moraines may be explained by the resistance which Dolerite

offers to weathering, and may also be regarded as a sign of the slow

movement of the glaciers. Red snow was seen once only, in the month of

May, on the precipices westward of Cape Brünn. We never met with glacier

insects, although they are common in Greenland; and however diligently

I looked for them I never saw unmistakable traces of the grinding and

polishing of rocks by glacier action.

13. It is well known that the north-east of Greenland as well as Novaya

Zemlya and Siberia are slowly rising from the sea, nay, that all the

northern regions of the globe have for ages participated in this

movement. It was, therefore, exceedingly interesting to observe the

characteristic signs of this upheaval in the terraced beaches, covered

with débris containing organic remains along the coast of Austria Sound.

The ebb and flow, which elevates and breaks up the bay-ice only at the

edge, is to be traced on the shores of Austria Sound by a tidal mark of

two feet.

14. The vegetation was everywhere extremely scanty, crushed, not so

much by the intensity of the cold as by its long continuance, and is

far below the vegetation of Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Novaya Zemlya.

It resembled, not indeed in species but in its general character, the

vegetation of the Alps at an elevation of 9,000 or 10,000 feet, while the

Alpine region corresponding to the vegetation of East Greenland lies a

thousand feet lower. We found neither the stunted birches and willows,

nor the numerous phænogamous plants of East Greenland, Spitzbergen, and

Novaya Zemlya. The rare appearance of soil chiefly contributes to this

extremely sparse vegetation, the detritus of the country resembling

the meagre “dirt” layer on an old moraine, here and there enlivened

by a small patch of green. Although we visited Franz-Josef Land at the

season in which vegetation begins to stir, nowhere could there be seen

a patch of sward, even a few feet square, to recall the features of our

latitudes, although we examined depressions very favourably situated

and free from snow. Some level spots showed patches of thin meagre

grasses of _Catabrosa algida_ (Fries), a few specimens of _Saxifraga

oppositifolia_ and of _Silene acaulis_, rarely _Cerastium alpinum_ or

_Papaver nudicale_ (L.). Thick, cushion-like tufts of mosses were more

frequently discovered. There were abundance of lichens: _Imbricaria

stygia_ (Acharius), _Buellia stigmatea_ (Körber), _Gyrophora anthracina_

(Wulfen), _Cetraria nivalis_ (Acharius), _Usnea melaxantha_ (Acharius),

_Bryopogon jubatus_ (Körber), _Rhizocarpon geographicum_ (Körber),

_Sporastatia Morio_ (Körber)—and the _Umbilicaria arctica_ of winter,

which we found in Greenland at an elevation of 7,000 feet. These

specifications I owe to the kindness of Professor Fenzl, director of

the Botanical Garden in Vienna, and of Professor Reichhardt. The museum

of this institution accepted the small collection of plants I was

able to bring to Europe. Of some of these there remained nothing but

withered roots, so that it was impossible to determine their character.

Nature in those regions, unable to deck herself with the colours of

plants, produces an imposing effect by her rigid forms, and in summer

by the glare of the ice and snow; and as there are lands which are

stifled by the excess of Nature’s gifts and blessings, so as even to

defy efforts of civilization, here in the high North another extreme

is displayed—absolute barrenness and nakedness, which render it quite

uninhabitable.

15. Drift-wood, chiefly of an old date, we frequently found, but in

small quantities. On the shore of Cape Tyrol, we once saw a log of pine

or larch one foot thick and several feet long, lying a little above the

water-line, and which might have been driven thither by the wind, as the

_Tegetthoff_ was. The fragments of wood we found—the branches on which

showed that they did not come from a ship—were of the pine genus (_Pinus

picea_, Du Roy), and must have come from the southern regions of Siberia,

as the large broad rings of growth showed.

16. Franz-Josef Land is, as may be supposed, entirely uninhabited, and we

never came on any traces of settlements. It is very questionable whether

Eskimos would have been able to find there the means of subsistence, and

if anywhere most likely on the western side of Wilczek Island, where an

“ice-hole” of considerable extent remained open for a great part of the

year.

17. In the southern parts it is destitute of every kind of animal life,

with the exception of Polar bears and migratory birds. North of Lat.

81°, the snow bore numberless fresh tracks of foxes, but though their

footmarks were imprinted on the snow beyond the possibility of mistake,

we never saw one. Once we found their excrements, and on Hohenlohe Island

those of an Arctic hare. The scanty vegetation forbade the presence of

the reindeer and musk-ox. It is not, however, impossible that there may

be reindeer in the more westerly parts of the country, which we did not

visit. The character of that particular region approximates to that of

King Karl’s Land and Spitzbergen, on the pastures of which herds of these

animals live and thrive.

[Illustration: LIPARIS GELATINOSUS.]

18. Of the great marine Mammalia, seals only (_Phoca grœnlandica_ and

_Phoca barbata_) abounded; although we saw some White Whales. Walruses

we saw twice, but not close to the shore; it is, however, probable that

the absence of open water prevented us from seeing the walrus nearer the

shore, for the character of the sea-bottom would present no obstacle to

its existence.

19. Of fish we saw only the species _Liparis gelatinosus_ (Pallas) and a

kind of cod (_Gadus_), which were taken with the drag-net.

20. The birds, which we found in the region between Novaya Zemlya

and Franz-Josef Land were of the following species:—the long-tailed

Robber Gull (_Lestris_, K.); the black Robber Gull without the long

tail-feathers; the Burgomaster Gull (_Larus Glaucus_, B.); the Ice or

Ivory Gull (_Larus eburneus_); the Kittiwake (_Rissa tridactyla_, L.);

the Sea-swallow (_Sterna macrura_, N.); the Arctic Petrel or Mallemoke

(_Procellaria glacialis_); Ross’s Gull (_Rhotostetia rosea_); two species

of Auks (_Uria arra_, P., and _Uria mandtii_, L.); the Greenland Dove

(_Grylle columba_, Bp.); the Rotge (_Mergulus alle_, V.); the Lumme

(_Mormon arcticus_); the Eider-duck (_Somateria mollisima_, L.); the

Snowy Owl (_Strix nivea_); the Iceland Knot (_Tringa canutus_); the

Snow-bunting (_Plectrophanes nivalis_, M.). Most of these occurred also

on the coasts of Franz-Josef Land.

21. We can here only allude generally to those forms of animal life which

were taken by the drag-net on the south of Franz-Josef Land, and brought

to Europe in the collection of Dr. Kepes, and of which I made seventy-two

drawings. To Professor Heller, of Innspruck, and Professor Marenzeller,

of Vienna, the expedition is indebted for the naming and arrangement of

those specimens, and while I refer my readers to their fuller account

in the _Mittheilungen_ of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna,

I limit myself here to a few of the results of their observations.

The investigation of the invertebrate Fauna of the sea through which

we passed was necessarily limited from the moment that the course of

the _Tegetthoff_ ceased to be under our control. We had, in the first

place, no zoologist on board, and from the drifting ship nothing more

could be done than letting down the net almost daily during the weeks of

summer—which Lieutenant Weyprecht did—and dragging it for some hours.

The greater part of the animals so taken were immediately sketched by

me, in order that, in the event of the loss of the original objects,

some sort of representation of the animal world of a region never before

investigated might be preserved. The issue justified a caution which must

always be kept in view in Polar expeditions.

Of the abundant shrimp-family of the Arctic seas there are four species

among the collections we formed, namely:—_Hippolyte payeri_, Heller,

n. sp., _Hippolyte turgida_ (Kröyer), _Hippolyte polaris_ (Sabine),

and _Hippolyte borcalis_ (Owen). The _Hippolyte payeri_ was found at

the depth of 247 metres, and was of a beautiful pink colour and had

blue-black eyes. There were found besides: _Crangou boreas_ and _Pandalus

borealis_ (Kröyer).

[Illustration: HIPPOLYTE PAYERI.]

The group of Amphipoda was, comparatively, largely represented

among the Crustacea of the Arctic waters; we often called these

_Floh-krebse_—flea-crabs—because many of them used their hind legs to hop

along. Eleven species of this genus were brought home in our collections;

among these were _Amathillopsis spinigera_, a new species, _Cleïppides

quadricuspis_, also a new species, both described by Professor Heller;

_Acanthozone hystrix_ (Owen), &c. The group—Isopoda—is represented by the

interesting _Munnopsis typica_ (Sars), the _Idothea sabini_ (Kröyer), and

by a new variety, _Paranthura arctica_.

[Illustration: HYALONEMA LONGISSIMUM.]

Of the group Pycnogonida, our collection contained three varieties, of

which two are new.

[Illustration: UMBELLULA.]

Sponges were common; but we were obliged to leave behind the specimens

of the larger kinds on account of the room they took up. Among the

silicious sponges, those of the genus Hyalonema were the largest in

size, and included the forms described as _Hyalonema boreale_ (Lovèn),

and _Hyalonema longissimum_ (Sars). There was one specimen of the horny

sponge, so rare in those parts. The drag-net often brought up _Actiniæ_,

_Bryareum grandiflorum_ (Sars), and June 2, 1873, from a depth of 110

fathoms, a specimen of the extremely rare _Umbellula_ described by

Mytius and Ellis, 1753. Since that date this animal had been lost sight

of, until it was found again by the Swedes—Gladans expedition 1871—in

Baffin’s Bay, and by the _Challenger_, 1873, between Portugal and Madeira

and between Prince Edward’s Island and Kerguelen’s Land. It may be

assumed that our Umbellula is identical with the form first described,

1758, by Linnæus as _Isis encrinus_. I regret to say that this, the

most interesting of all the objects we had collected, was left behind

in the _Tegetthoff_. The sketch of it made from life will facilitate a

comparison with the forms known in other regions and variously named.

[Illustration: KORETHRASTES HISPIDUS.]

[Illustration: NEPHTHYS LONGISETOSA.]

Hydroid polypes, widely distributed in several varieties in the Atlantic

Ocean,—_Asteridæ_ and _Ophiuridæ_, the _Korethrastes hispidus_ (Wyv.

Thomson), a new variety discovered by the _Porcupine_ expedition

between the Faroe and Shetland islands, _Crinoidæ_, represented by two

species never before found so far north, and several _Holothuriæ_, were

also among the acquisitions brought home. Our collection was rich in

_Annelides_, containing seven-and-twenty varieties found in Greenland

and Spitzbergen. Fourteen varieties of _Bryozoa_ were found, and single

specimens of _Turbellaria_ and _Gephyrea_.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SECOND SLEDGE EXPEDITION.—AUSTRIA SOUND.

1. The first sledge journey enabled me to draw up a plan for a more

extended expedition towards the north. It was not only a cherished

scheme of my own, but it became also the dominating interest on board

the _Tegetthoff_, although the other scientific investigations were

carried on uninterruptedly. Weyprecht and Brosch continued with admirable

perseverance the laborious observation of the Magnetic Constants,

and measured on the ice close to the ship a base of 2170·8 metres,

which served for all my trigonometrical surveys. The meteorological

observations also were carried on with the usual regularity.

2. For some days the weather had been bad; its increasingly stormy

character excited our fears, lest the ice should break up and the floe

drift away with the ship. The danger of leaving her, in order to explore

the extent of the new country, increased also with the longer duration

of our proposed second journey. We were convinced, too, that the sea

within a few days had broken up the ice almost as far as Wilczek Island,

and a heavy water-sky was seen in the south at no great distance from

us. Discoveries of importance could only be expected from an expedition

of a month’s duration. But withal the venture must be made, and leaving

the dangers and perils to the chances of the future, I gathered together

the picked men who were to accompany me, to lay before them my plans. I

explained to them my design of penetrating in a northerly direction as

far as possible, and I put before them the danger of our being cut off

from the ship. But while I showed the perils, I stimulated them also by

the hope of reward. If the eighty-first degree of latitude were reached,

I guaranteed to them the sum of £100; if we attained the eighty-second

degree, £250; and I declared that merit, and merit alone, should regulate

the distribution of these sums. In order to make sure of reticence on

the part of my company and thus obviate ill-feeling among the rest of

the crew, which might easily have been called forth by this apparent

preference, they were told that the rewards would be forfeited, if any

of those who stayed behind in the ship should hear of these rewards. The

assembled company agreed also to my request never to mention dangers

during the journey, and, in the event of our not finding the ship on our

return, to take the whole blame of such an issue on our own shoulders.

With regard to the rewards, I must add that never was a secret better

kept. Immediately began on board a packing, a tailoring, a preparation as

if for a campaign, and under the tent-roof of the ship the rusty runners

of the sledges were polished, till they were as smooth as glass.

3. Before we started, there was an interesting interruption in the

monotony of our lives, occasioned by a family of bears. While we were

absent in our first journey a bear had been shot from the ship, and

little Pekel had been wounded in the neck. On the 19th of March another

bear came close to us, which was scared away after some unsuccessful

shots had been fired at it. Three days afterwards a she-bear appeared

accompanied by her two cubs, of a darker colour than their mother,

rolling on after her. It was exceedingly interesting to watch the

actions of this family. The mother frequently stopped and snuffed the

air with uplifted snout; then she would lick her cubs, who fondly crept

up to their mother, behaving exactly like young poodles, which they

also resembled in size. Six shots were fired at seventy paces distance,

and the mother-bear, after running for about forty paces, fell dead.

Amazed at the reports of the rifles and the actions of their mother,

the little bears sat as if they were rooted in the snow, and looked

with astonishment at the dark forms which rushed out from the ship. One

of them suffered itself to be shaken by Pekel; and only when they were

seized by the nape of the neck and carried on board did they seem to

entertain the least surmise of mischief. At first they were shut up

separately in casks set on their end, and growled long and impatiently

till they were put together in the same cask. Sumbu alone was slow

to understand our suddenly-excited pity for his hereditary foes, and

scratched and barked at the cask for hours together, while the cubs

growled and threatened retaliation with their little paws. After looking

at this for some time, Gillis was moved to side with the bears, and a

battle ensued between him and Sumbu, in which the latter got the worst

of it. The little animals afforded us much amusement, and the crew were

seriously considering the feasibility of training them to draw in the

sledge, in the meditated return expedition to Europe. They ate bread,

sauerkraut, bacon—in short, everything that was given them. One morning,

however, the little rascals eluded the eye of the watch and got away.

They were immediately caught and killed, and appeared roasted on our

dinner-table.

[Illustration: THE DOGS DIFFER AS TO THE TREATMENT OF YOUNG BEARS.]

4. On the 25th of March our preparations for the extended journey

northwards were brought to an end. The sledge with its load weighed about

14 cwt.

lbs.

The large sledge 150

The dog sledge 37

The provisions, including packing 620

The tent, sleeping bags, tent-poles, alpine stocks 320

Alcohol and rum 128

Fur coats and fur gloves 140

Instruments, rifles, ammunition, shovel, two cooking-machines,

drag-ropes, dog-tent, &c. 170

----

Total 1565

Each of the four sacks of provisions—calculated for seven days and

seven men—contained 51 lbs. of boiled beef, 48 lbs. of bread, 8 lbs. of

pemmican, 7 lbs. of bacon, 2 lbs. of extract of meat, 4 lbs. of condensed

milk, 2 lbs. of coffee, 4 lbs. of chocolate, 7 lbs. of rice, 3 lbs. of

grits, 1 lb. of salt and pepper, 2 lbs. of peas-sausage, 4 lbs. of sugar,

besides a reserve bag with 20 lbs. of bread. We took boiled beef for

the dogs. We counted also on the produce of our guns as a considerable

supplement both for ourselves and them.

5. The sledge party consisted of myself, Orel, Klotz and Haller, and

of three sailors, Zaninovich, Sussich, and Lukinovich; and we had with

us three dogs, Jubinal, Torossy, and Sumbu, and men and dogs together

dragged the large sledge. The duties were thus divided: Zaninovich

managed the packing and the giving out of the spirit and rum, Haller

served out the provisions, Klotz attended to the dogs and the arms,

Sussich was responsible for keeping everything in working order, and

at night Lukinovich acted as a wind-protector close to the door of the

tent. We started on the morning of the 26th of March with the thermometer

6° F. below zero, and amid snow driving from the north-west. For some

distance we were accompanied by Weyprecht and the rest of the crew. We

had scarcely gone a thousand paces from the ship, before the snow began

to drive to such an extent, that we could scarcely see our comrades close

to us and keep together. As it was impossible to go on until the storm

laid, we preferred, instead of returning to the _Tegetthoff_, which would

have been the simpler course, to erect the tent out of sight of the ship

behind some ice-hummocks, and pass twenty-four hours in it. Our only

employment except sleeping was to thaw the snow, which filled our clothes

and especially our pockets. On the 27th of March (the thermometer

varying between 2° and 22° F. below zero) we continued our journey amid a

slight fall of snow, and made an early start, in order that our halt of

yesterday should remain unknown to the crew of the ship. When we reached

the south-eastern point of Wilczek Island we lost sight of the ship, and

the driving snow with a falling thermometer increased to such an extent,

that Sussich’s hands were frost-bitten, and we were compelled to halt

for an hour to rub them with snow. Starting again, we all ran the risk

of having our faces frost-bitten, meeting as we did a strong wind. The

heavily-laden sledge, too, compelled us to make such exertions that our

faces were bathed in perspiration. On the 28th of March the wind fell to

a calm, and as we passed over the Sound between Salm and Wilczek Islands

in a north-westerly direction we advanced at the rate of eighty paces

a minute. The track, which we followed, consisted partly of bay-ice a

year old and partly of old floes, these together forming a continuous

surface, here and there broken by barriers of hummocks, miles in length,

due to ice-pressures. After we had passed the headlands south-west of

Salm Island, we came in sight of the Wüllersdorf mountains, which we had

hitherto seen only from a great distance, hoping from their summits to

determine the route which we should take northwards.

6. At the distance of some miles right ahead of us lay several rocky

islands, with their outlines scarcely discernible owing to the dull thick

state of the atmosphere; but as they lay in the direction of our course,

we made for them. We now passed some icebergs and saw on their southern

sides the first signs of the process of liquefaction—new icicles. By and

by a wind from the south-west set in, raising the temperature gradually

to 6° F. and bringing with it fogs and then heavy snow-storms. Covered

with snow and running before the wind with a large sledge-sail set, we

came under the glacier-walls of Salm Island, among icebergs frozen fast

together, trudging along through wind and whirling snow. Occasionally

the wind was so strong, that the sail alone sufficed to impel the heavy

sledge, while a man in front, guided by a whistle from those behind, kept

it in its proper course. After a march of sixteen hours, the wind having

increased to a storm, which rendered it impossible to keep the track, we

determined to halt. Our clothes appeared to consist of nothing but snow,

our eyes were iced up, and our strength exhausted. In great haste we

erected the tent and took refuge within it; but our misery now properly

began. One scraped the thawing snow from the clothes of another, or

turned inside-out the pockets of his own trousers, filled with dissolving

snow-balls. At last the cooking-machine was lighted, and we began to

steam, and heartily wished that our miseries had arisen from cold instead

of moisture. The temperature in the tent rose at the distance of three

feet from the flame to 80°F., and twenty minutes after the production

of this artificial heat it fell seven degrees below zero. Early in the

morning of the 29th of March (Palm Sunday) the wind abated and the

temperature rose to 24·5°F., so that it began to rain in the tent as we

were preparing our breakfast. During the march of that day we ascended

the rocky heights of Koldewey Island, at the foot of which we had put up

the tent for the purpose of surveying. These rocks consisted of Dolerite,

over-spread with a close network of Lichens (_Cetraria nivalis_) and in

the clefts we found _Silene acaulis_.

7. From the summit of this island we suddenly beheld, in the field

of view of the telescope of the theodolite, a bear, which had seized

Torossy and severely wounded him. But almost immediately again the

bear disappeared in the snow, and when we came to the place of his

disappearance, we discovered the winter retreat of a family of bears. It

was a cavity hollowed out in a mass of snow lying under a rocky wall. The

bear had shown herself only once, but resisted all our efforts to seduce

her to leave the shelter she had chosen, nor had we any special desire to

creep on all fours into the narrow dark habitation. Sumbu only was bold

enough to follow her, but he too saw things which led him to return very

quickly. From the snow which had been thrown up at the entrance of this

hole, we inferred that this had been the work of the bear in her efforts

to close the approach to her abode. It was the first time that we came

upon a family of bears in their winter quarters, or had the chance of

adding anything to our scanty knowledge as to the winter sleep of those

animals. Middendorff does not admit that they sleep during the winter;

he considers the bear far too lean to be able to do so. According to Dr.

Richardson it is only pregnant females who hibernate in a snow-hole,

while the males roam over the Arctic seas in search of places free from

ice.

[Illustration: THE WINTER HOLE OF A BEAR.]

8. As we advanced further, we went round Schönau Island[42] so remarkable

for its columnar structure and environed by ice which had been raised up

by pressure. In a cleft of its precipitous rocky walls we buried a depôt

of provisions and a supply of alcohol for two days, together with some

articles of clothing, covering them up with four feet of snow. We could

not, however, conceal from ourselves the danger of placing a depôt within

sight of a bear’s hole, and greatly deplored that we were not able, like

the fox in the fable, to obliterate the marks of our footsteps. Towards

evening the temperature fell to -10° F., and the tent was frozen as stiff

as a board. On the 30th of March the temperature fell to -22° F., and a

strong north wind was blowing as we came out of the tent, and curling

billows of snow, reddened by the rising sun, rolled round us, hiding from

us at last even the sun himself. A march in the teeth of a wind at so

low a temperature is quite useless and only exposes to the great danger

of frost-bite. This was now clearly seen when, the tent being taken down

as usual immediately after breakfast, the laggards, imperfectly clad,

faced the wild weather. One was binding a stocking round his face with

his braces, because his frozen fingers would not permit him to button on

his nose-band and wind-guard; another had put on reindeer shoes instead

of boots after a vain attempt to thaw them; a third had put on the wrong

boot, and I myself was obliged to wind a long rope round my body, because

I was unable to fasten my coat. Such a state of things is opposed to

order and safety, and may degenerate into serious mischief. There was

nothing for it therefore but to set up the tent again and to get back

into our sleeping-bag. But the damp tent was frozen hard, and we felt

much as if we were lying between two plates of cold metal. It would be

difficult to say whether we suffered more from cold than from vexation.

Zaninovich spread the sail over us, and shovelled down the snow from the

walls of the tent;—who could be so serviceable as this comrade of ours,

who on every occasion displayed such hardihood against cold? Orel and I

made vain attempts to shorten the time by reading a volume of Dessing

which we had brought with us; but we soon renounced the effort, finding

that we could not fix our attention in such a situation. We had some

compensation, however, in the amusement of listening to the Dalmatians

learning to speak German with Klotz, who was far from the weakness of

uttering a single word in Italian. As usual, when the weather was bad,

the dogs gathered close to the wind-sheltered side of our tent. Sumbu

forcing himself in among us had to be driven out, for he growled if he

had the faintest suspicion that we meant to move or to smoke; but failing

to make himself comfortable among the other dogs, he avenged himself by

again rushing in among us, shaking the snow from his coat, and forced us

to admit him.

[Illustration: LIFE IN THE TENT.]

9. On the 31st of March, the weather having cleared, we continued our

journey northwards, halting as usual at noon to refresh ourselves with

soup. We measured the meridian altitude of the sun with a theodolite,

and surveyed and sketched our surroundings. When we came to 80° 16′ N.L.

we found a broad barrier of hummocks piled one upon another. This was

succeeded by older ice, whose undulating surface was broken by numerous

icebergs and high black basaltic cliffs. Here ended the possibility of

determining the route to be taken; for although there was an opening

between Cape Frankfurt and the Wüllersdorf mountains, we could not enter

it, until we ascertained whether it led northwards. In order to settle

this point Haller and I left the sledge and made a forced march to Cape

Frankfurt, whence we hoped to discover the direction of our course.

Meanwhile Orel and the rest of the party dragged the sledge with great

exertions between hummocks and icebergs towards the north-east. Cape

Frankfurt is a promontory of Hall Island, 2,000 feet high and surrounded

with glaciers. The small difference of level in the sea-ice at the base

of its cliffs showed that the tide did not rise high. Its glaciers flowed

towards Markham Sound and Nordenskjöld fiord. When we arrived at the

summit everything lay steeped in the rosy mists of evening. Flocks of

birds flew from its massive basaltic crown, and as it was evident that

they had not come there to breed, we inferred that open water was not far

off.

[Illustration: CAPE FRANKFURT, AUSTRIA SOUND, AND THE WÜLLERSDORF

MOUNTAINS.]

10. Our attention was directed, however, especially to the configuration

of the country, and great was our delight when we beheld beneath us a

broad inlet, which promised to be of considerable extent and to run

towards the north. This inlet was covered with icebergs and could be

traced up to the faint outlines of a distant promontory (Cape Tyrol).

It now appeared certain, that we could reach the eighty-first degree

of latitude on an ice-covered sea, and the measurement of some angles

furnished us with a provisional guidance for penetrating into these

new regions. The coasts of Wilczek Land appeared to run in a northerly

direction, and then to trend gradually to the north-east. At a great

distance below us we saw a dark point moving over the dimly-seen plain

of sea-ice. Its advance was discernible only when for a short time it

disappeared behind an iceberg, and again reappeared. It was Orel with the

large sledge; but neither the snowy mountains bathed in carmine light,

which surrounded our point of view with picturesque effect, nor the

crimson veil spread over them, nor the profound solitude of the wastes

that lay around us, could so rivet our attention as that little point in

which lodged forces apparently so insignificant, but yet made potent by

human will. With pain and toil we descended the mountain in our canvas

boots between steep precipices of ice, and pressed on for six miles in

the rapidly-waning light over hummocky-ice to rejoin our companions,

whose position we had marked by the stars, from the elevation we had

ascended. We reached our friends before midnight and our news excited

great joy.

11. On the 1st of April (the thermometer marking -20°F.) we penetrated

by Cape Hansa into the newly-discovered passage, which was covered

with heavy ice; I called it Austria Sound. The nearer we approached

the coast of Wilczek Land, the more unquestionable did it appear that

the Wüllersdorf mountains extended far into the interior; but it would

have cost more time than the attempt was worth to ascend them. The

latitude taken at noon was 80° 22′. Nothing can be more exciting than the

discovery of new countries. The combining faculty never tires in tracing

their configuration, and the fancy is restlessly busy in filling up the

gaps of what is as yet unseen, and though the next step may destroy its

illusions, it is ever prone to indulge in fresh ones. Herein lies the

great charm of sledge expeditions, as compared with the tiresome monotony

of life on board ship—a charm which is only then diminished when we

have to wander for days over wastes of snow, with the coasts at such a

distance, that they do not change sufficiently rapidly, or leave scope

for indulging in surmises and fancies of what is coming. The discomforts

incident to this mode of travelling are in this case doubly felt. The

sledge is dragged with great difficulty in the hours of the early

morning, for the hard edges of the snow crystals have not yet felt the

smoothing effects of evaporation under the power of the sun. The goal

itself appears as if it were never to be reached, because the limited

horizon of the travellers constantly retreats. Thirst and languor then

set in. The small quantity of water which we were able to prepare during

the march had no more effect than a drop on a plate of hot iron. Klotz

felt unwell to-day, and cured himself by swallowing his ration of rum at

one gulp. Even the dogs seemed languid, and crept along with drooping

heads and their tails between their legs.

12. The land on our right was a monotonous waste of ridges and terraces

of parallel raised beaches, partially covered with snow. Following its

line as we marched onwards, we passed iceberg after iceberg. Towards

evening I ascended one of these, and made the joyful discovery that

Austria Sound stretched in a northerly direction at least as far as a

cape—afterwards called Cape Tyrol. In the midst of my observations Orel

called to me from below that a bear was coming near us. We awaited his

approach with the greed of cannibals, for his flesh would be priceless

while we were making such great exertions and had only the insufficient

nourishment of boiled beef. I promised Haller and Klotz the bear-money

of 30 gulden, usual in Tyrol, if the bear should be bagged. The animal

received three shots at the same moment and at first stood stock still,

but then began to drag himself slowly off. We rushed after him, and to

save our cartridges struck him with the butts of our rifles, and finished

him by thrusting our long knives into his body. We appropriated 50 lbs.

of his flesh to our own use, and gave the rest of his carcase to the

dogs, and deposited 50 lbs. of boiled beef on the iceberg, close by which

we erected our tent.

13. On the 2nd of April (the thermometer marking -11 F.) we again started

with renewed vigour, though in the face of a strong north wind. I myself

left the sledge in order to examine the raised beach for some distance.

It was for the most part bare of snow, and exhibited laminæ of brown-coal

sandstone amid the Dolerite. Close beside the scanty remains of some

drift-wood, I was surprised to find a circle of large stones resembling

those erections which I had seen in East Greenland in deserted Eskimo

villages. As, however, there were no other marked traces of former

settlements, this circle of stones was no doubt something accidental.

The magnitude of Franz-Josef Land seemed to grow before our eyes, as we

saw the broad Markham Sound opening up towards the west, and ranges of

high mountains stretching away towards Cape Tyrol. The coasts abounded in

fiords, and glaciers were everywhere to be seen. Wilczek Land disappeared

under ice-streams, and only reappeared again in the rocky heights of Cape

Heller and Cape Schmarda, opposite Wiener-neustadt Island. In the evening

we reckoned that we had reached latitude 80° 42′.

14. On the 3rd of April (the thermometer standing at -9° F.) we should

have reached Cape Tyrol, had not snow-storms from the south kept us

in the afternoon in our tent: a delay with which Lukinovich was by no

means displeased, for this being Good Friday he had counted on a day of

complete rest,—for our friend Lukinovich was prone to turn his eyes to

heaven, spoke constantly of the saints, could mention their festivals

as they occurred in the calendar; but, alas! was a snow-eater, and

could march not a whit better than Falstaff. On the 4th of April the

temperature, with constant driving storms of snow from the south, rose

from -4° to 23° F.; and the snow accumulated to such an extent even in

the tent, that it had to be shovelled out. It was towards the afternoon

before we could continue our march, the delay made being not so much on

account of the cold, as from dread of the moisture. Our start proved,

however, useless, for the snow began to drive so furiously, that, as

we dragged, those behind could scarcely see the men in front. We again

travelled by the compass and used our sledge-sail; but we constantly

deviated from the right course, though we pressed on, passing Cape

Tyrol without seeing it, and entered an unknown region in which we were

guided by mere chance—expecting every moment to stumble on a fissure in

the ice or open water. This day we sustained a painful loss—the loss of

my dog Sumbu. For two long years he had been almost our only source of

amusement by his cunning and his impudence. He had long been the rival

of the frolicsome Torossy, in dragging the sledge; and it was often

almost touching to see how at evening he would sink down exhausted in the

snow, in the very spot where he was unharnessed. It cannot well detract

from the merit of such services—and after all they were rendered in the

interests of science!—that they were those of an animal and sprang from

attachment.[43] To this vigorous lively animal, what more natural than

that he should be almost beside himself if in one of these vast solitudes

he should get sight of a living creature? So it happened to-day. A gull

flew over his head, and Sumbu burst away from the sledge. In hot pursuit

of the bird he disappeared from our sight and never returned again. All

our shouts were thrown away. Our track was soon covered over by the

drifting snow, and there cannot be a doubt that our faithful companion,

after wandering about for days, either died of hunger or fell a victim to

a bear.

[Illustration: HOW SUMBU WAS LOST.]

15. April 5, after a short rest, we again started about midnight in order

to economize our time (the thermometer being at 19° F.). The weather

had greatly improved. Klotz, who was the first to step out of the tent,

startled us by the information that some high land barred our further

progress. But when we followed him into the open air, we found that Klotz

had looked to the west instead of to the north, and we discovered the

true state of things, that Zichy Land ran on our left in a northerly

direction, while Wilczek Land trended towards the north-east. We pursued,

therefore, our course on the vast icy wastes, over which hung Cape Easter

(81° 1′), and Cape Hellwald shining in the sun, and hoisted the flag on

the sledge to celebrate our passage of the eighty-first degree of north

latitude, and in commemoration of Easter Sunday.

[Illustration: CAPE EASTER AND STERNEK SOUND.]

[Illustration: HOW WE RECEIVED BEARS. CAPE TYROL IN THE BACKGROUND.]

16. During our march, spying us at a great distance, a bear approached us

at a rapid pace, but when he came within forty paces he fell, receiving

three bullets in his head. The accompanying illustration shows how we

received bears when they attacked us on our journey; it represents also

the fine forms of Cape Tyrol in the background. A few hours afterwards,

we observed a she-bear about 400 yards from us, apparently diligent in

burrowing in the snow; but as soon as she got wind of us she suddenly

turned, reared herself on her hind legs, and began to snuff the air.

She then came towards us, but as she advanced she rolled herself over

with evident pleasure on her back several times, then pushed on with

her snout and belly close to the ground, perfectly unconscious of the

three rifles which were levelled at her. At fifty paces distance we

fired, and brought her down. We immediately examined the place where we

had seen her so busy. We did not find poor Sumbu, as we half expected,

but a partially-consumed seal, and close to it a hole in the ice, into

which the creature no doubt would plunge when danger threatened; but

the bear had been sharper and cleverer than the seal, and had probably

seized it when asleep on the ice. Bear-flesh now formed our principal

food, and the sledge was heavily laden with it. We ate it both raw and

cooked, and when the flesh was badly cooked—especially if it were the

flesh of an old bear—it was less palatable than when uncooked. It may

be tolerable food for sea-gulls, but it is a diet hardly fit even for

devils on the fast-days of the infernal regions. Arctic lands certainly

do not furnish delicacies to gratify a refined taste; the best things

they have to offer are coarse and oily, and if ever they are eaten with

relish, it is a relish which comes from hunger alone. The desolate shores

of these lands are truly the very home of hunger, and nowhere else are

the calculations of travellers so much influenced and determined by

the stomach and its needs. Remains or fragments are unknown in Arctic

regions. The dead are consumed by the living, and the living find their

never-ceasing occupation in the toilsome search for food. In my three

Arctic expeditions, I very seldom indeed found the remains of animals,

never the remains of a bear or a fox. The man who visits these wastes

must do homage to the principle of eating everything, and throwing away

nothing. Franklin was unsurpassed in this, but I believe we were little

behind him. Franklin and his people found the flesh of a white fox as

pleasant to the taste as young geese—a proof how entirely they had

forgotten how geese taste. They preferred foxes, too, to lean reindeer;

and they considered the flesh of a grey bear exceedingly palatable,

though even the Eskimos eat it only in dire necessity. Reindeer marrow,

even raw, was to them a great delicacy, and they ate animals in a state

of decomposition. Barentz and his crew were very modest in their tastes;

they compared whale-flesh to beef, and foxes to rabbits, as articles

of diet; bears’ meat they utterly detested. Once only it seems they

partook of the liver of a bear, and three of his men became exceedingly

ill in consequence, their skin peeling off from head to foot. Kane was

prejudiced against bear, notwithstanding the great straits to which he

was reduced, and complains of this food as being absolutely uneatable.

The testimony of Dunér is more favourable. “If,” says he, “a bear has not

been eating walrus or seal in a state of semiputrefaction before he is

killed, his flesh, though somewhat coarse, is yet palatable, and not at

all prejudicial to health.” Parry thought whale-flesh and walrus-flesh

equally distasteful: he makes an exception in favour only of the heart of

the walrus; but he speaks of the tenderness and excellence of the flesh

of young seals. As for ourselves, we disdained nothing that we could get

hold of, after the manner of Sir John Ross, who thought the fox the best

of all food, better than the gull (_Larus tridactylus_).

[Illustration: DINING ON BEARS’ FLESH.]

17. The continued moisture of the last few days had completely saturated

our canvas boots; and those of several of us were besides nearly worn

out, and in the morning when completely frozen, to put the foot into one

was as bad as putting it into an ice-hole, so that we were obliged to

thaw them over a spirit-flame, and to knock their heels with a hammer

continually during the march. Sussich had made himself a pair of new

boots out of a cloth jacket. It would, however, be a mistake to think

that we should have been any better off with leather boots. In fact, we

could not have put them on, and in the increasing cold of the following

weeks our feet would certainly have been frost-bitten. Our clothes were

completely saturated in like manner, and whenever the temperature fell

they became stiff with ice. I suffered the least of any, for my bird-skin

garments were the best preservatives against the penetration of moisture.

18. No kind of snow opposes such hindrances to sledge-dragging as the

snow with the thermometer not much below freezing-point, for at this

temperature it balls. This impediment we now encountered. The air, too,

became oppressively heavy; land and sky were suddenly overspread with

darkness; and, from behind thunderlike clouds, red rays of the sun fell

on the conical mountains of Kane Island. Falls of snow, calms, and

violent gusts of wind rapidly succeeded one another, and just before we

erected our tent it again became clear. Far to the north we saw two white

masses—Becker and Archduke-Rainer Islands, and an extensive inlet—Back

Inlet; but only within Austria Sound could we count on pursuing our

journey northwards without making any détours. On Easter Monday, April

7th (the thermometer varying between 9° and 19° below zero (C.)), we

approached Becker Island; but the atmosphere was on this day so moist and

thick, though without mist in the proper sense, that its existence might

be asserted or disputed according as the light changed; and it was only

when we were not further off than 100 paces that we could be positive

of the existence of land, rising gently at an angle of 1° 7′. Over this

ice-covered island we now dragged, and, full of expectation, mounted its

highest point. To the north lay an indescribable waste, more utterly

desolate than anything I had ever seen, even in the Arctic regions,

interspersed with snow-covered islands, all, big and little, of the same

low, rounded shape. The whole, at a distance, presented the appearance

of a chaos of icehills and icebergs scattered over a frozen sea. One

thing only in this view gave us much satisfaction. Austria Sound still

stretched uninterruptedly towards the north. Could we have forgotten how

the _Tegetthoff_ had drifted towards Franz-Josef Land, that Sound would

have seemed to us the true road to the Pole. Nor could we doubt that in

the immediate north open water would be found, for in no other way could

we interpret the indications we had observed in the course of the last

few days—the great moisture and high temperature, the dark colour of the

northern sky, the frequent flights of Auks, and Divers, grey and white

Gulls, which flew from the north southward, or _vice versâ_.

19. After crossing Becker Island, we went on again on the frozen sea,

which was rough and undulating for some distance. From behind one of

the hummocks a bear suddenly emerged, and came towards us without any

fear or hesitation, his yellow colour forming a strong contrast with

the gleaming hills of ice. When he was thirty paces off we fired; but

though severely wounded he managed to get away. On the 7th of April (the

thermometer varying between 16° and 25° below zero (C.), and with a light

south-west wind), we passed close to Archduke-Rainer Island, a heavy rime

frost seriously impeding our progress. We were able, however, to turn to

good account the clear sunny weather of this day. We dried our clothes

and tent furniture, spreading them out in the sun over the sledge or

suspending them to its mast and yard. We had almost reached Cape Beurmann

at noon, and having taken our observations, we found our latitude to be

81° 23′. We had consequently gone beyond the latitude reached by Morton;

Hayes only having reached a slightly higher latitude than this. About

this time of the day the horizon towards the north became exceedingly

clear, and the steep rocks of Coburg Island were distinctly visible,

and behind them now rose the faint outlines of mountains—Crown-Prince

Rudolf’s Land.

20. At this latitude it seemed as if Wilczek Land suddenly terminated,

but when the sun scattered the driving mist we saw the glittering

ranges of its enormous glaciers—the Dove[44] Glaciers—shining down on

us. Towards the north-east we could trace land trending to a cape lying

in the grey distance—Cape Buda Pesth, as it was afterwards called.

The prospect thus opened to us of a vast glacier land, conflicted

with the general impression we had formed of the resemblance between

the newly-discovered region and Spitzbergen; for glaciers of such

extraordinary magnitude presuppose the existence of a country stretching

far into the interior. As it appeared to us that Crown-Prince Rudolf’s

Land and Karl Alexander’s Land formed a continuous whole, we left Austria

Sound and diverged into Rawlinson Sound, and directed our course towards

Cape Rath. It was my intention, if this headland should be reached, to

leave behind the remainder of the party and push on with the dog-sledge

and two companions. We could count on finding deep snow-wreaths behind

the hummocks, and to dig out a snow-house would have been the labour of

an hour for three men. Previous experience had convinced us that such

a night encampment is warmer than the shelter which a tent can afford.

But though we were filled with zeal to extend our discoveries as much

as possible, we now felt that the excessive exertions we had made had

reduced our strength. We had slept on an average but five hours a day,

and marched the rest of the day, or at any rate had been occupied with

all manner of work. Our appetite too had increased with our labours, and

the partaking of bears’ flesh began to tell on some of us. The restricted

use of bread-stuff was especially felt, and the almost exclusive, use of

flesh produced diarrhœa and general debility. Nothing is more prejudicial

to those engaged in extended sledge journeys than great exertion with

insufficient sleep. The urgent reasons we had for losing no time in order

that we might return as soon as possible to the ship, constrained us

to depart from the rule of a ten hours’ sleep to a seven hours’ march

on sledge journeys. In consequence of our persistent adherence to this

principle during our return to Europe after abandoning the _Tegetthoff_,

the labours incident to it were far more easily performed. We did not

lose but gained strength; and some of us even grew stouter during it.

[Illustration: CUTTING UP THE BEARS.]

21. On the 8th of April we continued our journey, making an early start

as usual. Our track lay between countless hummocks, some of which were

forty feet high, while the depressions between them were filled with

deep layers of snow, and as we advanced into Rawlinson Sound, high

icebergs towered over a monotonous chaos of ice-forms. The ice resembled

that which surrounded the _Tegetthoff_ during our first winter, and

indicated a periodical, perhaps even an annual, breaking up. There

was nothing, however, to entitle us to infer that Rawlinson Sound was

navigable in summer. Like many of the passages of the northern coast

of North America, Austria and Rawlinson Sounds are too narrow for the

purposes of navigation. They are, however, well calculated for sledge

travelling. For some time we made use of our sledge-sail; but when the

wind shifted to E.S.E., it drove the sledge so much from its true course,

that we took it down. Our noses had become so susceptible, that we were

glad to put on our wind-protectors to save them from frost-bite. Then

followed snow-storms, alternating with brilliant sunshine which, however,

illuminated, partially only, some reaches of the hummocky ice, while the

distant land lay in shadow. It cost us excessive labour to get the sledge

on; we had occasionally to dig a lane for it, and we ran some risk of

breaking it. Our advance was one continual zig-zag, due to the confused

character of the ice on which we travelled and the untrustworthiness of

the compass in high latitudes. It seemed too, as if the declination of

the magnetic needle had considerably diminished since we left the ship.

Our labours were diversified by the visit of a bear, who, when we first

observed him, was standing on the top of one of the many ice-hummocks

about 300 paces distant. He then approached us, as was usually the case,

under the wind, and we at once drew up to receive him. He took no notice

of the bread we had laid down to gain his attention, but still pressed

on till he received three bullets in his head. Notwithstanding this he

ran for about seventy yards and then fell. To make sure, another bullet

was fired into his body, and thinking him dead, we forthwith began to

cut him up; but when his belly was being opened, he raised his head in a

fury, seized the butt-end of my rifle with his teeth and tore it from my

hand. My companions soon despatched him. The bear was eight feet long,

and therefore of unusual size. We might have cut off two or three cwt.

of flesh from his carcase, but in consideration of the heavy lading of

the sledge, we contented ourselves with appropriating sixty pounds. Both

Rawlinson and Austria Sounds were equally rich in fresh traces of bears,

which seemed to be those of whole families and not of individual animals.

22. Our latitude from a meridian observation was found to be 81° 38′—and

though the sun shining dimly through the clouds might account for an

error of two or three minutes, we had certainly passed beyond the

latitude 81° 35′ reached by Hayes in Smith’s Sound in 1861.[45] Having no

conception at the time that Hall’s American expedition had penetrated,

the year before we achieved this result, to 82° 9′ on the land and 82°

22′ at sea, we hoisted our sledge-flag to commemorate our success. The

character of the ice now became so wild and confused that we wandered 45°

from one point of the compass to the other. We constantly expected to

come upon open fissures, and could not conceal from ourselves how easily

its loose connection might be broken up by a storm, and our return to

the ship exposed to great risks. The transport of our travelling gear

became increasingly difficult, and great were our fears lest, through the

constant heavy shocks which the sledge encountered, the case of spirit

should be crushed and destroyed. The difficulties too to be overcome amid

the multitude of hummocks were more depressing than the occurrence of

snow-storms, inasmuch as their number almost destroyed the possibility of

progress; and the monotonous uniformity which tired the eye tended also

to depress the spirits.

23. On the 9th of April (the thermometer standing at 10° F., and a light

breeze blowing from the east) we continued our work of dragging between

the hummocks till noon. We then ascended an iceberg, and discovered

that the hummocks of ice in Rawlinson’s Sound appeared to stretch on

without end. We therefore altered our course and took a north-westerly

direction, in order to come under Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land, whose noble

mountain forms and mighty glaciers shone forth in the light of the sun.

We expected to find smoother ice on its coast-line; but we were deceived

in this expectation, for the character of the ice remained unchanged. We

were compelled therefore to cross this Sound in a westerly direction to

Hohenlohe Island, and to select the rocky pyramid—visible from a great

distance—of Cape Schrötter as the point where our expedition should

divide into two parties; the larger party to remain behind, the smaller

to penetrate further towards the north over the glaciers of Rudolf’s

Land. By noon of this day we reached 81° 37′ N. L. and in the evening

arrived at Cape Schrötter. All the labours and efforts of the last few

days had consequently been without result.

CHAPTER VIII.

IN THE EXTREME NORTH.

1. Immediately after reaching Cape Schrötter, the east end of Hohenlohe

Island, we ascended the summit of this Dolerite rock, which was quite

free from snow, and covered with a sparse vegetation. We were surprised

to find here the excrement of a hare. The prospect which lay before us

convinced us of the necessity of our proposed temporary separation. The

mountains of Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land, separated from us by an arm of

the sea covered with level ice, were so high (about 3,000 feet) that we

saw at once that we could pass over them only with the small dog-sledge.

The walking powers, moreover, of two of my companions had greatly

deteriorated, and for them rest was not an indulgence, but a necessity.

Austria Sound appeared to stretch still further to the north, but its

western coasts turned sharply to the left in the precipitous cliffs of

Cape Felder and Cape Böhm. The blue jagged line of mountains, towering

above snow-fields lying in the sun, stretched away to the north-west till

they were lost in dark streaks on the horizon, which our experience led

us to interpret as a water-sky above open spaces of the sea.

2. I was greatly delighted by Orel’s readiness, though he was suffering

from inflamed eyes, to take part in the expedition to the extreme north;

and it only remained for us to select the fittest among the party and to

calm the apprehensions of those who were to remain behind. On our return

to the foot of the rocks, where the tent was already pitched, we found

the rest of the party sitting close to each other at the rocky wall on

which the sun was shining, in order to warm themselves,—like crickets on

the wall of a house. The success of an expedition like that we projected

depends chiefly on the mutual good feeling among its members, and he

who commands it, besides participating personally in all the labours to

be endured, must show himself a sympathetic friend even in cases where

strict duty does not enjoin it, so that confidence in him may grow into

a kind of belief in his infallibility. There could not be more devoted

or enduring men than those who were here lying in the sun, and whom we

now joined, in order to decide the question of the hour. I explained to

them the plans I meant to follow,—that I should be absent from five to

eight days, that if I should not return to them within fifteen days they

should march back to the ship with the sledge—sawn through the middle—and

the stock of provisions which should be placed at their disposal would

suffice for this emergency. I then asked each of them whether he could

dismiss fear, and remain behind in this desolation. Sussich answered:

“_Se uno de lori resta indietro, mi non go paura:_” so said the rest. By

the expression, however, “uno de lori” they meant Orel or one of the two

Tyrolese, and specially with an eye to the bears which might be prowling

about. I left it free to Klotz and Haller to decide which of them was the

fittest and most serviceable to accompany me: “You,” answered Haller,

“you, Klotz, are the better man to drag the sledge and endure fatigue.”

Accordingly Sussich and Lukinovich remained under Haller’s command. These

three were ordered not to go more than 300 yards from Cape Schrötter,

to remain on the defensive if attacked by bears, to spend their time in

drying their clothes and repairing their torn boots, and to go about

in wooden shoes to save wear and tear. Haller received as Governor of

Hohenlohe Island a pocket-compass, a watch, an aneroid barometer, and a

thermometer, and to them we left also our little medicine-chest. If Dr.

Kepes had once tried to make a doctor of me in one hour, in now repeating

the experiment on Haller I confined myself to ten minutes.

3. On the morning of the 10th of April (the thermometer standing at 5°

F.) we divided the tent; one half was put on the dog-sledge, the other

was pitched, with its open side close under the rock. Before a caravan

takes the desert, the camels are watered, and we too, though in a

very different kind of desert, exposed to the constant evil of thirst,

would gladly have been treated in like fashion. But we had to content

ourselves with a pint of boiling water, served out to each of us every

morning, reminding us, indeed, of coffee, for 2 lbs. of it were boiled

in 105 gallons of water in the course of thirty days. The provisions

were divided, and enough for eight days was dealt out to the party

starting to the north, Orel, Zaninovitch, Klotz, myself, and two dogs.

The special requirements of our expedition, among which were a rifle and

a revolver, raised the weight of our sledge to about 4 cwt., which it was

the business of the dogs to draw without any assistance from us, and this

they did over the level snow with such zeal, that we had some trouble in

keeping up with them.

4. The merits of our dogs I have hitherto left unnoticed, in order

emphatically to assert that we owed the passing beyond the eighty-second

degree of north latitude not to our own exertions, but to the endurance

and courage of these animals. No kind of life among dogs is comparable

for hardships with the life of a dog in an Arctic sledge. His tent is

scarcely the pretext of a shelter, and his natural coat is generally

covered by a thick rime. The snow when it drifts completely covers him,

though he constantly but vainly seeks to shake it off. He draws his

breath with difficulty, hunger gnaws at his bowels, and his wounded feet

colour the snow with blood. Often, too, these poor animals amid the

great cold must keep still; then they lift up their paws alternately, to

prevent frost-bite. The two dogs, which accompanied us to the extreme

North, were the noblest animals ever employed in a sledge expedition,

and when I recall the great services they rendered us, both now and

afterwards in the return to Europe, their sad end fills me with sincere

sorrow. Jubinal and Torossy were dogs of remarkable size and strength,

and escaped the epidemic diseases[46] which attacked the dogs of Hayes

and Kane; and though it has been thought that the dogs of the Eskimo and

of the Siberian people were alone adapted for Arctic expeditions, our

experience with our own dogs most of them brought from Vienna, proves

that they were not a whit less useful. Our dogs had only one defect:

they had not been trained to sledge-drawing from their youth, but had

been broken to it only during our expedition, and were therefore not

always amenable to discipline. When left to themselves in dragging the

sledge they went on, without turning to the right or left, from cape

to cape, and if they found themselves on a wide plain of ice, and far

from all striking landmarks, they ran either towards the sun or moon, or

some remarkable star. It was against the grain with them to have to drag

in the teeth of the wind, and if they had to push on amid hummocks of

ice, they immediately began to growl. They were fed in the morning, and

more particularly in the evening, and they showed a delicacy of taste

in discriminating between bear’s flesh and the despised seal’s flesh.

While they carefully avoided coming near us before our start, provided

they were not very hungry, in order to escape being harnessed, yet when

harnessed nothing could exceed their vigour and persistence in dragging.

[Illustration: ICEBERGS AT THE BASE OF THE MIDDENDORF GLACIER.]

5. As we approached the promontory on the south of Crown-Prince Rudolf’s

Land, we came upon innumerable icebergs, from one hundred to two hundred

feet high, which made an incessant cracking and snapping sound in the

sunshine. The Middendorf glacier, with an enormous sea-wall, ran towards

the north to a great distance. Deep layers of snow and great rents in

the sea-ice, the consequence of the falling-in of icebergs, filled the

intervening spaces between them. Into these fissures we were continually

falling, drenching our canvas boots and clothes with sea-water. But the

aspect of these colossal fragments of glaciers engrossed us to such an

extent, that we wandered a long time with unflagging interest among

these pyramids, tables, and cliffs. It was only when I sent on Klotz to

mark out by his footsteps a path by which we might ascend the Middendorf

glacier, that we came to a more open region, and, all putting their

strength to the work of dragging, we gained its summit, crossing in our

progress many crevasses bridged over with snow. Three of these yawned

across the lower part of the glacier, needing but a slight movement of

the ice to detach them and transform them into icebergs. Further on, the

glacier appeared smooth and free from crevasses, although its inclination

amounted to several degrees. Towards the north it seemed as if it might

be crossed without excessive exertion, if all took part in the work of

dragging. But before we began this part of the day’s work we rested, and

recruited ourselves with dinner, and setting up our little tent at about

400 paces above the edge of the glacier, we looked down with feelings of

delight on its semi-circular terminal precipice and the gleaming host

of icebergs which filled the indentations of the coast. While we were

sitting in the tent Klotz made the fatal communication to me, that he

was not the man he should be, that for some days his foot had swollen

and ulcerated, so that he could walk only in shoes made of hide. However

vexatious this mishap, there was nothing for it but to send him back to

Hohenlohe Island. Laden with a sack and carrying a revolver, he set off,

and soon disappeared from our eyes in the labyrinth of icebergs beneath

us.

[Illustration: THE SLEDGE FALLS INTO A CREVASSE ON THE MIDDENDORF

GLACIER.]

6. We had meanwhile again packed the sledge, harnessed the dogs, and

fastened the traces round us, when, just as we were setting off, the

snow gave way beneath the sledge, and down fell Zaninovich, the dogs,

and the sledge, and from an unknown depth I heard a man’s voice mingled

with the howling of dogs. All this was the impression of a moment,

while I felt myself dragged backwards by the rope. Staggering back, and

seeing the dark abyss beneath me, I could not doubt that I should be

precipitated into it the next instant. A wonderful providence arrested

the fall of the sledge; at a depth of about thirty feet it stuck fast

between the sides of the crevasse, just as I was being dragged to the

edge of the abyss by its weight. The sledge having jammed itself in,

I lay on my stomach close to the awful brink, the rope which attached

me to the sledge tightly strained, and cutting deep into the snow.

The situation was all the more dreadful as I, the only person present

accustomed to the dangers of glaciers, lay there unable to stir. When

I cried down to Zaninovich that I would cut the rope, he implored me

not to do it, for if I did, the sledge would turn over, and he would be

killed. For a time I lay quiet, considering what was to be done. By and

by it flashed into my memory, how I and my guide had once fallen down

a wall of ice in the Ortler Mountains, 800 feet high, and had escaped.

This inspired me with confidence to venture on a rescue, desperate as

it seemed under the circumstances. Orel had now come up, and although

he had never been on a glacier before, this gallant officer dauntlessly

advanced to the edge of the crevasse, and, laying himself on his stomach,

looked down into the abyss, and cried to me, “Zaninovich is lying on a

ledge of snow in the crevasse, with precipices all round him, and the

dogs are still attached to the traces of the sledge, which has stuck

fast.” I called to him to throw me his knife, which he did with such

dexterity, that I was able to lay hold of it without difficulty; and as

the only means of rescue, I severed the trace which was fastened round

my waist. The sledge made a short turn, and then stuck fast again. I

immediately sprang to my feet, drew off my canvas boots, and sprang over

the crevasse, which was about ten feet broad. I now caught sight of

Zaninovich and the dogs, and shouted to him, that I would run back to

Hohenlohe Island to fetch men and ropes for his rescue, and that rescued

he would be, if he could contrive for four hours to keep himself from

being frozen. I heard his answer: “Fate, Signore, fate pure!” and then

Orel and I disappeared. Heedless of the crevasses which lay in our path,

or of the bears which might attack us, we ran down the glacier back to

Cape Schrötter, six miles off. Only one thought possessed us—the rescue

of Zaninovich, the jewel and pride of our party, and the recovery of our

invaluable store of provisions, and of the book containing our journals,

which, if lost, could never be replaced. But even apart from my personal

feeling for Zaninovich, I keenly felt the reproaches to which I should be

exposed of incautious travelling on glaciers; and it gave me no comfort

to think that my previous experiences in this kind of travelling over

the glaciers of Greenland appeared to justify my proceedings. Stung with

these reflections, I pressed on at the top of my speed, leaving Orel far

behind me. Bathed in perspiration, I threw off my bird-skin garments, my

boots, my gloves, and my shawl, and ran in my stockings through the deep

snow. After passing the labyrinth of icebergs I saw the rocky pyramid

of Cape Schrötter before me in the distance. The success of my venture

depended on the weather. If snow-driving should set in, and footprints

should be obliterated, it would be impossible to find Hohenlohe Island.

All around me it was fearfully lonely. Encompassed by glaciers, I was

absolutely alone. At last I saw Klotz emerge from behind an iceberg

at some distance off, and though I continued to shout his name till

I almost reached him, I failed to rouse him from his usual reverie.

When at last he saw me breathlessly pushing on, scarcely clothed, and

constantly calling, his sack slipped from his back, and he stared at me

as if he had lost his senses. When the hardy son of the mountains came to

understand that Zaninovich with the sledge was buried in the crevasse,

he began to weep, in his simplicity of heart taking the blame of what

had happened on himself. He was so agitated and disturbed, that I made

him promise that he would do himself no mischief, and then, leaving him

to his moody silence, I ran on again towards the island. It seemed as if

I should never reach Cape Schrötter; with head bent down I trudged on,

counting my steps through the deep snow; when I raised it again, after a

little time, it was always the same black spot that I saw on the distant

horizon. At last I came near it, saw the tent, saw some dark spots creep

out of it, saw them gather together, and then run down the snow-slope.

These were the friends we had left behind. A few words of explanation,

with an exhortation to abstain from idle lamentation, were enough. They

at once detached a second rope from the large sledge, and got hold of a

long tent-pole. Meantime I had rushed upon the cooking-machine, quickly

melted a little snow to quench my raging thirst, and then we all set off

again—Haller, Sussich, Lukinovich, and myself—to the Middendorf glacier.

Tent and provisions were left unwatched; we ran back for three hours

and a half; fears for Zaninovich gave such wings to my steps, that my

companions were scarcely able to keep up with me. Ever and anon, I had

to stop to drink some rum. At the outset we met Orel, and rather later

Klotz, both making for Cape Schrötter, Klotz to remain behind there, and

Orel to return with us at once to Middendorf glacier. When we came among

the icebergs under Cape Habermann I picked up, one by one, the clothes I

had thrown away. Reaching the glacier, we tied ourselves together with a

rope. Going before the rest, I approached with beating heart the place,

where the sledge had disappeared four hours and a half ago. A dark abyss

yawned before us; not a sound issued from its depths, not even when I

lay on the ground and shouted. At last I heard the whining of a dog,

and then an unintelligible answer from Zaninovich. Haller was quickly

let down by a rope; he found him still living, but almost frozen, on

a ledge of snow forty feet down the crevasse. Fastening himself and

Zaninovich to the rope, they were drawn up after great exertion. A storm

of greetings saluted Zaninovich, stiff and speechless though he was, when

he appeared on the surface of the glacier. I need not add that we gave

him some rum to stimulate his vital energies. It was a noble proof how

duty and discipline assert themselves, even in such situations, that the

first word of this sailor, saved from being frozen to death, was not a

complaint, but thanks, accompanied with a request that I would pardon him

if he, in order to save himself from being frozen, had ventured to drink

a portion of the rum, which had fallen down in its case with the sledge

to his ledge of snow. Haller again descended, and fastened the dogs to

the rope. The clever animals had freed themselves from their traces in

some inexplicable way, and had sprung to a narrow ledge, where Haller

found them, close to where Zaninovich had lain. It was astonishing how

quickly they discerned the danger of the position, and how great was

their confidence in us. They had slept the whole time, as Zaninovich

afterwards told us, and he had carefully avoided touching them, lest

they should fall down deeper into the abyss. We drew them up with some

difficulty, and they gave expression to their joy, first by rolling

themselves vigorously in the snow, and then by licking our hands. We then

raised Haller by the rope some ten feet higher than the ledge on which

Zaninovich had lain, so that he might be able to cut the ropes which

fastened the loading of the firmly wedged-in sledge. At this moment Orel

arrived, and with his help we raised one by one the articles with which

the sledge was loaded. It was ten o’clock before we were convinced that

we had lost nothing of any importance in the crevasse.

[Illustration: KLOTZ’S AMAZEMENT.]

[Illustration: THE ALARM OF THE HOHENLOHE PARTY.]

7. We now left the glacier and the icebergs, and by midnight had reached

Cape Habermann. Here we slept, and the dogs with us, as uncomfortably as

possible. On the morning of the 11th of April (the thermometer marking 3°

F.), we started at an hour when we would much rather have continued to

sleep. Our thirst was so great that we felt ourselves equal to drinking

up a stream. Haller, Sussich, Lukinovich had during the night returned

to Cape Schrötter. Before they started Haller earnestly besought me to

come back as soon as possible; for the recent event, he said, had not

been without its disquieting effects on the men. On the whole, we might

congratulate ourselves on being able to continue our journey, without

having received any serious damage, though no longer over the treacherous

glacier.

[Illustration: HALT UNDER CROWN-PRINCE RUDOLF’S LAND.]

8. A sharp turn to the left brought us to the west coast of Crown-Prince

Rudolf’s Land, along which we pursued our route northwards. When we

reached Cape Brorock, where by an observation we found our latitude

at noon to be 81° 45′, the weather became wonderfully bright, and the

warm sunlight lay on the broken summits of the Dolerite mountains,

which, though covered with gleaming ice, were free from snow. To the

north-west we saw at first nothing but ice up to the horizon; even with

the telescope of the theodolite I could not decide for the existence

of land, which Orel’s sharp eye discovered in the far distance. In the

Arctic regions, it often happens that banks of fog on the horizon assume

the character of distant ranges, for the small height to which these

banks rise in the cold air causes them to be very sharply defined. It is

very common also to make the same mistake in the case of mists arising

from the waste water of enormous glaciers. We marched on northward close

under the land, and for the first time over smooth undulating ice, in

high spirits at the increasing grandeur of the scenery and at the happy

issue of our adventure of yesterday. Thirst compelled us frequently to

halt in order to liquefy snow;[47] sometimes we melted it as we marched

along, and our sledge with smoke curling up from the cooking-machine then

resembled a small steamer.

9. By and by we came to more snow, and the ice, through which many

fissures ran, became gradually thinner, but when we reached the imposing

headland, which we called Cape Auk, the ice lay in forced-up barriers.

A strange change had come over the aspect of nature. A dark water-sky

appeared in the north, and heavy mists rolled down to the steep

promontories of Karl Alexander Land; the temperature rose to 10° F.,[48]

our track became moist, the snow-drifts collapsed under us with a loud

noise, and if we had previously been surprised with the flight of birds

from the north, we now found all the rocky precipices of Rudolf’s Land

covered with thousands of auks and divers. Enormous flocks of birds flew

up and filled the air, and the whole region seemed alive with their

incessant whirring. We met everywhere with traces of bears and foxes.

Seals lay on the ice, but sprang into the water before we got within

shot of them. But notwithstanding these signs of a richer animal life,

we should not be justified in inferring, from what we saw in a single

locality, that life increases as we move northwards. It was a venial

exaggeration, if amid such impressions we pronounced for the nearness

of an open Polar sea, and without doubt all adherents of this opinion,

had they come with us to this point and no further, would have found in

these signs fresh grounds to support their belief. In enumerating these

observations, I am conscious what attractions they must have for every

one who still leans to the opinion that an open ocean will be found at

the Pole; subsequent experience, however, will show how little is their

value in support of this antiquated hypothesis.

[Illustration: CAPE AUK.]

10. Our track was now very unsafe; it was only the icebergs which

seemed to keep the ice in the bays. A strong east wind would certainly

have broken it up and cut off our return, at least with the sledge.

There were no longer the connected floes of winter, but young ice only,

covered with saline efflorescence, dangerously pliable, and strewn over

with the remains of recent pressures. The ice was broken through in

many places by the holes of seals. It was expedient therefore to tie

ourselves together with a long rope, and each of us, as he took his

turn in leading, constantly sounded the ice. Passing by Cape Auk, which

resembled a gigantic aviary, we followed the line of Teplitz Bay, into

which a stream of glaciers, descending from the high mountains in the

interior, discharged itself. Icebergs lay along the terminal glacier

wall which formed its shore. Ascending one of these masses, we found

granite erratics on its surface and saw the open sea stretching far to

the west. There seemed to be ice only on the extreme horizon. As the

ice-sheet over which our track lay became thinner and more pliable, and

constantly threatened to give way under us, the height and length of its

piled-up barriers increased also, and because the high glacier walls made

it impossible to travel over the land, we had no other resource than to

open up a track through the hummocky ice by pick and shovel. At last

even this expedient failed to help us; our sledge, constantly damaged,

and as constantly repaired, had to be unloaded, the dogs unharnessed,

and everything transported separately. Evening had now arrived; ahead

of us lay the two rock-towers, which we called Cape Säulen, and open

coast-water here began.

[Illustration: CAPE SÄULEN.]

11. Beautiful and sublime was this far-off world. From a height we looked

over a dark “ice-hole,” studded with icebergs like pearls, and over these

lay heavy clouds through which the sunbeams fell on the gleaming water.

Right over the true sun shone a second, though somewhat duller sun; the

icebergs of Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land, appearing enormously high, sailed

through the still region amid rolling mist and surrounded by vast flocks

of birds. Close under Cape Säulen (the Cape of Columns) we came upon

the steep edge of the glaciers and dragged up our baggage with a long

rope. While Orel got ready our encampment for the night in the fissure

of a glacier, and completed as usual his meteorological observations

and soundings, I ascended a height to reconnoitre our track for the

next day. The sun was setting amid a scene of majestic wildness; its

golden rays shot through dark banks of mist and a gentle wind, playing

over the “ice-hole,” formed ever-widening circles on its mirror-like

surface. Land was no longer visible towards the north, it was covered

with a dense “water-sky.” A bird flew close past me; at first I took it

for a ptarmigan, but it was probably a snipe. It ought to be remarked

that during the two days which we spent near this “ice-hole” we never

once saw a whale. As soon as with half-closed eyes we had eaten our

supper, we fell fast asleep, for our longing to sleep was yet greater

than our exhaustion and our thirst. The dogs availed themselves of this

opportunity to devour several pounds of bear’s flesh and empty a tin

of condensed milk, which, however, did not prevent them from barking

impudently the next morning for more.

12. The 12th of April was the last day of advance in a northerly

direction. Though the weather was not clear, yet it was clearer than it

had been for some time. When we started we buried our baggage in the

fissure of the glacier where we had slept, in order to protect it from

bears, which roamed about on all sides. Our march lay over snowy slopes

to the summits of the coast range—from 1,000 to 3,000 feet high. The

masses of mist lying on the horizon had retreated before the rays of the

morning sun, and all the region with its lines of ice-forms was bathed in

light; and southward, open water stretched to the shores of Cape Felder.

As we followed this lofty coast range, mountains with glaciers sloping

down their sides towards the sea seemed to rise before us. An hour before

noon we reached a rocky promontory 1,200 feet high, afterwards called

Cape Germania. Here we rested, and from a meridian observation we found

our latitude to be 81° 57′. Following the coast as it trended towards the

north-east, we came on a glacier with a steep inclination and frequent

crevasses, which compelled us to leave the sledge behind before we

attempted to cross it. But the increasing insecurity of our track over

fissures, our want of provisions, and the certainty that since noon we

had reached 82° 5′ N. L. by a march of five hours, at last brought our

advance northward to a close. With a boat we might certainly have gone

some miles further.

[Illustration: THE AUSTRIAN FLAG PLANTED AT CAPE FLIGELY.]

13. We now stood on a promontory about 1,000 feet high, which I named

Cape Fligely, as a small mark of respect and gratitude towards a man of

great distinction in geographical science. Rudolf’s Land still stretched

in a north-easterly direction towards a cape—Cape Sherard Osborne—though

it was impossible to determine its further course and connection. The

view we had from this height was of great importance in relation to the

question of an open Polar sea. Open water there was of considerable

extent and in very high latitudes: of this there could be no question.

But what was its character? From the height on which we stood we could

survey its extent. Our expectations had not been sanguine, but moderate

though they were, they proved to be exaggerated. No open sea was there,

but a “Polynia” surrounded by old ice, within which lay masses of younger

ice. This open space of water had arisen from the action of the long

prevalent E.N.E. winds. But of more immediate interest than the question

of an open Polar sea was the aspect of blue mountain-ranges lying in

the distant north, indicating masses of land, which Orel had partially

seen the day before, and which now lay before us with their outlines

more defined. These we called King Oscar Land and Petermann Land; the

mountainous extremity on the west of the latter lay beyond the 83rd

degree of north latitude. This promontory I have called Cape Vienna,

in testimony of the interest which Austria’s capital has ever shown in

geographical science, and in gratitude for the sympathy with which she

followed our wanderings, and finally rewarded our humble merits.

14. Proudly we planted the Austro-Hungarian flag for the first time in

the high North, our conscience telling us that we had carried it as far

as our resources permitted. It was no act asserting a right of possession

in the name of a nation, as when Albuquerque or Van Diemen unfurled the

standards of their country on foreign soil, yet we had won this cold,

stiff, frozen land with no less difficulty than these discoverers had

gained those paradises. It was a sore trial to feel our inability to

visit the lands lying before us, but withal we were impressed with the

conviction that this day was the most important of our lives, and ever

since the memory of it has recurred unbidden to my recollection.

15. The Dolerite of this region was of a very coarse-grained character,

and its rocks rose in terraces from out of the white mantle of snow;

_Umbilicaria arctica_, _Cetaria nivalis_, and _Rhyzocarpon geographicum_

were the sole ornaments of its scanty vegetation. The following document

we inclosed in a bottle and deposited in a cleft of rock:—

“Some members of the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition have here

reached their highest point in 82·5° N. L., after a march of seventeen

days from the ship, lying inclosed in ice in 79° 51′ N. L. They observed

open water of no great extent along the coast, bordered by ice, reaching

in a north and north-westerly direction to masses of land, whose mean

distance from this highest point might be from sixty to seventy miles,

but whose connection it was impossible to determine. After their return

to the ship, it is the intention of the whole crew to leave this land and

return home. The hopeless condition of the ship and the numerous cases of

sickness constrain them to this step.

“Cape Fligely, _April 12th, 1874_.

“(Signed)

“ANTONIO ZANINOVICH, _Seaman_.

“EDWARD OREL, _Midshipman_,

“JULIUS PAYER, _Commander_.”

CHAPTER IX.

THE RETURN TO THE SHIP.

1. This done, our thoughts now turned to the ship, between which and

ourselves lay 160 miles. But, the _Tegetthoff_—did she lie still where

we had left her, or had she drifted away? Fastened together by a rope,

we began our return by re-crossing the glaciers, and on reaching the

stores we had deposited at Cape Germania, the first thing we did was

to prepare some water, for the beverage we had taken with us in an

india-rubber bottle, made of coffee, rum, and extract of meat, had

only aggravated thirst, without adding to our strength. It was late in

the evening when we reached our night-encampment near Säulen Cap (Cape

Columns), in a state of great exhaustion, cheered and alleviated by the

thought of our success. The utter loneliness of our position could not

suppress the satisfaction we felt. After digging up our still untouched

stores, we went to rest for three hours. Longer we dared not sleep; the

least breeze might break up the ice and drive it out of the bight on the

north of Cape Auk. The insecurity of our position therefore impelled us

to make a very early start on the morning of the 13th of April, with

the thermometer at 12° F. As we started, we awoke also to the extreme

difficulties of the return route, difficulties which the excitement of

our advance had made light of. Orel, suffering from snow-blindness,

marched along with closed eyes, and want of sleep now began to tell on

us all. Even our dogs were all worn out, and whenever a halt was made

they lay down exhausted in the snow. The sledge had constantly to be

unloaded and reloaded, and its fractures repaired. The surface of the

smooth ice, encumbered by the snow-slush which had accumulated on it,

rendered our progress very burdensome. The dull dreary weather, however,

did not prevent the sea-birds from gathering and wheeling around us in

enormous flocks. During our noon-day halt, utterly distraught, I cooked

our dinner with sea-water; not one of us could touch it. Our road through

wastes of snow from Cape Brorock to Cape Schrötter, seemed as if it would

never end. However rapidly we advanced, constantly counting our steps as

we went along, that Cape remained for hours the same dark spot on the

gloomy and snowy horizon. It was evening before we approached it, and as

we came within 300 paces of his frontier, we were received and welcomed

by ambassadors from Haller. It was curious and also characteristic to

observe how a few days without active employment and without discipline

had demoralised our old companions; the party we left behind were

scarcely recognisable. Blackened by the oil used in cooking, wasted

with diarrhœa, these men crept out of their tent listlessly to greet us

on our arrival; a few more days would have sufficed to prostrate them

with sickness. Yet they had strictly followed the directions I had

given them, and had used with moderation their stock of provisions. As

I have already mentioned, I had furnished them, before I started on my

expedition northward, with all the means of ascertaining their position

by observations, and of enabling them to begin their return to the ship,

in the event of my failing to appear at the end of fifteen days; but

when I now asked them what direction they would have taken in order to

reach the _Tegetthoff_, to my horror they pointed, not to Austria, but to

Rawlinson Sound![49]

[Illustration: MELTING SNOW ON CAPE GERMANIA.]

2. The observations of temperature which Haller furnished me with,

scrawled in hieroglyphics on a peas-sausage case, showed a difference of

about 4½° in favour of the extreme north, and this difference was still

more marked, when we came to compare the readings which had been recorded

on board ship. The open water to the north was doubtless the cause of

this. But the same influence extended southward, and as the snow-drifts

over which we walked broke under us with a dull, heavy sound, we began

to fear lest the season when the snow suddenly thaws and the land-ice

breaks up had begun, and that our return would be a matter of extreme

difficulty. If there had been nothing else, this would have sufficed to

quicken our movements, but to this was added the discovery that our stock

of provisions, independent of depôts, would last only ten days more. By

ridding ourselves of all but absolutely necessary baggage, and leaving

behind our common sleeping bag and the tent for the dogs, we lightened

our sledge, so as to enable us to extend our day’s march considerably.

3. On the 14th of April, the thermometer marking 4° F., we left Hohenlohe

Island in very bad weather, and made for the Coburg Islands, which were

scarcely visible. Our route ran between hummocks, which gave the dogs

an opportunity they were not slow to use, of taking it easy after their

recent exertions. It had been our intention that the large sledge should

keep the same line which we had taken in our journey northward, while

I with the dog-sledge should visit places to the right and left. This

plan, however, was found unfeasible; for in addition to the difficulties

and impediments incident to the march, we had an accumulation of evils

to contend with. Klotz’s foot had become much worse, and all those who

had been left behind at Cape Schrötter were more or less snow-blind,

though hitherto our party had suffered little from eye diseases. It was

surprising that our dogs did not suffer from this affection, close as

they were to the glare of the snow and without any protection against

it. Snow-blindness occurs even in Alpine regions. The severity of the

attack depends on the character of the snow; the harder and smoother it

is, the greater is the reflection and the danger of inflammation; the

retina of the eye is at last injured by the dazzling whiteness of the

snow. Various remedies have been employed to mitigate this evil; even

the rough-and-ready one of throwing snuff into the eyes has been tried.

In Europe, snow-blindness is cured in a day or two by wet applications,

but in the low temperatures of the high North such a remedy cannot be

applied; poultices are hardly possible in the tent, and a simple bandage

worn during the march is no preservative against the constant burning

sensations common to this affection. It is clear that the range of

remedies during a sledge expedition must be very limited. The crew of Sir

James Clark Ross suffered in an unusual manner from this cause in their

land expeditions. Richardson and Nordenskjöld dropped a weak tincture

of opium twice a day into the eye, and in about twenty-four hours the

patient recovered, provided he were not compelled to march. Parry on

board ship used a solution of sugar of lead and cold water, applied

constantly for three or four days—a somewhat questionable remedy, as

it is apt to injure the cornea of the eye. Another mode of treatment,

which should take effect in six hours, is unhappily not available in a

North Pole expedition, as it requires white of egg, sugar, and camphor,

beaten up till it becomes frothy, and laid as a compress on the eye. Some

tribes of North America use the steam of hot water, the Creek Indians a

decoction from the resinous buds of the Tacamahac—an application which

causes much suffering. The only real preservative is the constant use of

coloured spectacles, the metal mountings of which should be covered with

wool, on account of the cold. The ordinary network at the side should be

avoided, as this dims the glasses even when the cold is not considerable;

whereas open spectacles are only exposed to this inconvenience at very

low degrees of temperature, and can easily be cleared by the hand.

[Illustration: ENCAMPING ON ONE OF THE COBURG ISLANDS.]

4. But to return to our journey. It was evening when the Coburg Islands

(81° 35′ N. L.) were reached. The Dolerite rock of this small cluster of

islands was of a remarkably coarse-grained crystalline texture. We had

frequently come across the traces of bears and foxes during the march of

this day, though we actually saw neither bear nor fox. On the 15th of

April, after a severe march, we got clear of the region of ice-hummocks,

and continued our southerly course with our sledge-sail before the wind.

We encountered a bear this day, which, being allowed to approach within

the distance of thirty paces, fell dead under our fire. In a few minutes

we loaded the sledge with fresh meat, and again pursued our journey. But

excessive exertion, the want of sleep, and the exclusive use of a meat

diet, were meanwhile telling their tale of reduced strength, though our

appetites were great almost beyond belief. The excessive consumption

of animal food[50] without bread-stuff excited hunger and lowered our

muscular power, while it irritated our nervous system. Our supply of bark

was rapidly decreasing, and Haller, Sussich, and Lukinovich, who could

not endure bear-flesh, were often attacked with giddiness during the

march, and placed on “half-diet.” In the following week our miseries were

intensified by insufficiency of sleep; in fact, we could not spare time

to sleep it out. Hence the afternoon hours of the march were especially

oppressive, and though the sledge with its load was positively lighter,

our strength to drag it had diminished in still greater measure. It would

be a great mistake to imagine that exercise of itself, without necessary

rest, increases the capacity of marching. The loss of strength is almost

suddenly experienced, especially in return journeys, when the excitement

of discovery has passed away, and nothing is left but the animal-like

employment of dragging.

5. Our course lay under Andrée Island; we crossed over the flat ice-dome

of Rainer Island, and on the west saw Back’s Inlet filled with many

icebergs. From this elevation we once more beheld the snowy ranges of

Crown-Prince Rudolf’s Land in the far distance, which soon, however,

disappeared in an ocean of mist, whose white waves rolled over the

intervening ice-levels. As we again descended to the icy surface of the

sea, to our great astonishment we fell into a hole covered over with

snow, and got thoroughly wet, and, after much wandering about, we found,

towards evening, a dry place (81° 20′ N. L.) on which to pitch our tent.

On the 16th of April we found our latitude by an observation taken at

noon to be 81° 12′, and when we reached, in the evening, a point four

miles to the north of Cape Hellwald, those whose appetite had failed them

could not march a step further.

6. On the 17th of April, Orel, with the large sledge, continued the march

southwards, while I went on with the dog-sledge, in order to ascend Cape

Hellwald. The temperature had fallen in the morning to -18° F., and the

outlines of the icebergs vibrated and undulated under the influence

of refraction. Ice-hummocks, on the distant horizon, insignificant

in size, were magnified into gigantic proportions; then again many

of these phantasmagoria seemed to form a long line, which broke up at

the next step forward. Unyoking the dogs on the shore of the island, I

left the sledge behind, and climbed the steep sides of a precipice of

clay-slate, with its laminæ firmly frozen into a mass, and reached the

summit of the lofty promontory—Cape Hellwald—about 2,200 feet above

the level of the sea. On the tops of its basaltic columns great flocks

of divers congregated, which flew round me without fear as I set up my

theodolite, and then settled close to me on the snow. I might have killed

half-a-dozen of them at a single shot. By and by, these birds, scared

by the appearance of the dogs, who soon joined me, took refuge on some

inaccessible rocks, but were not in the least disturbed when I fired

at them. My lofty point of view enabled me to have a general survey of

the mountainous country lying on the north-west, and to ascertain that

I stood on an island separated from lands on the west by Sternek Fiord.

Meantime Orel, far below me, was moving on with the sledge, but so great

is the advantage of dog-sledging, that I descended and arrived at the

same time as he did at Cape Easter. By an observation taken at noon we

found our latitude to be 81°. In the afternoon the dogs in their own

sledge dragged half of our baggage, and notwithstanding got on more

quickly than we did with the large sledge. Henceforward the order of

the day was fasting, more or less absolute; for our stock of provisions

consisted of bread and bear’s flesh for two days and a half, and the dogs

could no longer be favoured as they had been.

7. At a few miles’ distance there rose before us the rocky cones of

Wiener Neustadt Island, with large glaciers descending their sides. As

it was beyond a doubt that the ascent of one of these conical heights

would open up an extensive prospect, I fixed on the imposing Cape Tyrol

as the most promising for an ascent. Accordingly, on the 18th of April

Haller and I started, and after a toilsome march over glaciers, reached

its dark, weather-worn summit, 3,000 feet above the level of the sea.

Even here we perceived the traces of excrements of the fox, from whose

craft the birds were protected by the inaccessibility of the places where

they bred. Though we had cut up some bullets into slugs, we refrained

from shooting at the auks and divers perched on the rocks, as we saw

that our game could not be bagged even if we killed them. Over our heads

was spread the bright sky, below us a very sea of mist, in which, though

invisible to us, Orel was wending his way towards the south. The distant

glacier wastes of Wilczek Land towered aloft on the east; a cloudy shade

separated the heights of the peninsula of La Roncière from the colourless

icy wastes of Lindemann Bay, and beyond the picturesque Collinson Fiord

there seemed to be a maze of inlets and bights, bare rocks and broad

table-lands. We bitterly deplored that the necessity of returning to the

ship prevented us from penetrating into this labyrinth of mountains and

sounds.

[Illustration: THE VIEW FROM CAPE TYROL. COLLINSON FIORD—WIENER NEUSTADT

ISLAND.]

8. In our descent we passed over three basaltic terraces, and came

upon a rocky ledge covered with a thick carpet of _Usnea melaxantha_—a

fresh example of the great capability of lichens to bear extremes of

temperature, the great cold of winter and the burning heat of the rock in

summer. The mists now began to rise, and for the first time a greenish

landscape without snow gleamed out of the depth, on which lay the warm

glow of the sun. The scenery seemed to belong to the Alps, and not the

81st degree of North Latitude. The contrast became the more striking,

when the mists rolled away and unveiled the icebergs and the ice-filled

sound. When we reached these green mountain slopes we found ourselves

among grasses, the lower stalks of which were already beginning to be

green; the few flowering plants (_Saxifraga oppositifolia_, _Silene

acaulis_, _Papaver nudicale_) were clustered together in dense masses.

We were now able to form some conception of what summer might be here.

Countless streams issuing from the snow would force these spots to put

on the livery of summer, and rapid torrents would precipitate themselves

down gorges of snow and rock; but at present all was stiff and stark,

save that stunted green herbage seemed to show that we were in the

fancied paradise of Franz-Josef Land, though when compared even with

other Arctic lands it was but a scene of desolation. Closer to the shore

above the level of the sea, in a belt of yellow sandstone, we found much

lignite firmly frozen in the ground, resembling drift-wood a century old.

9. The search for our companions was for some time fruitless; and a

driving snow might have separated us from them for ever. At last,

however, we found them gathered together in the tent near Forbes’

Glacier, in about 80° 58′ N. L., and as the party had been without

tobacco for a fortnight, they greeted Haller’s collection of lichens as a

welcome substitute.

10. During the last few days the cold had sensibly increased, and we

therefore determined to sleep during the day, and to walk during the

night. Our march in the night of April 18 was a memorable one to us.

We were trudging along in the face of a strong south-wester—which was

extremely distressing to our highly sensitive frozen noses—and striving

to protect the soles of our feet by the rapidity of our movement from

being frost-bitten. After succeeding to a certain extent in this, we

began to find the snow very deep, and so soft that we sank in at every

step. This grew worse and worse; water rose in the deeper layers of snow

and penetrated our boots, and as this could not be explained by the state

of the temperature, we had to step with distrust and hesitation, in

constant fear of unseen depths. At first we believed that the water arose

from streams flowing from underneath the glaciers, or from the movement

of these glaciers breaking up the surface of the ice. Hence we kept at

a distance from their terminal walls. But that the ice-sheet of the sea

itself had broken up, that unseen fissures surrounded us, and that the

water under the snow was nothing but the water of the sea forcing its way

in—of this we had not the least conception, till the sudden immersion

of the leader of the party left no doubt about the matter. Once Haller

would have utterly disappeared unless he had been quickly rescued. As we

picked our way along, even with a long pole we found every now and then

no bottom. Klotz now took the lead with a long “alpenstock,” guiding us

with the greatest dexterity among these fissures, though often himself

falling in. Greatly did we rejoice when we reached unbroken footing. Some

of the party on this occasion were frost-bitten in the feet, but we could

do little more for them than rub their feet with snow and improve as we

could their foot-covering. The sun was now visible at midnight, and the

mountains of Markham Sound were tinged with rosy light.

[Illustration: BREAKING IN.]

11. Ahead of us in the south lay a dark water-sky, while the land on

either side was veiled in mist and fog. We tried to persuade ourselves

that this phenomenon might be explained otherwise than by open water.

Soon, however, we heard the unambiguous sound of ice-pressure and of the

beating of the surf at no great distance, and when we went to rest, in

80° 36′ N. L., it was with the feeling that we needed new strength to

meet the dangers which unquestionably awaited us. We slept soundly for

some hours in spite of all our anxious fears, till we were aroused by

the increasing noise. We now advanced along the old sledge-track upon

which we had fallen. Orel and I went first, and after we had gone a few

hundred paces the truth burst upon us: we saw the sea ahead of us and

no white edge beyond. Walls of forced-up ice surrounded this water,

which, stirred by a heavy wind, threw up crested waves; the spray of its

surf dashed itself for a distance of thirty yards over the icy shore.

Forthwith ascending an iceberg, we looked over the dark waste of water,

in which the icebergs, under which we had passed a month before, were now

floating; the more distant of them stood out against the arch of light

on the horizon, and those nearer to us shone with a dazzling brilliancy

under the dark water-sky. That on which lay our depôt of provisions was

floating in the midst of them; and here we were, without a boat, almost

without provisions, and fifty-five miles distant from the ship! A strong

current was running southwards at the rate of three or four miles an

hour; fragments of ice were driving before the wind, as if they meant to

delight us by their movements, and as if there were no change for the

worse to a handful of men, who stood in reality before an impassable

abyss.

[Illustration: ARRIVAL BEFORE THE OPEN SEA.]