APPENDIX.

LANDING ON THE COAST OF NOVAYA ZEMLYA.

9. The inaccessibility of most of the places on the coast had hitherto obliged us to continue our course without going on shore to rest, although our arms were stiff and swollen with our exertions in rowing. No vessels as yet had been seen, and what we thought to be a ship turned out, when we rowed closer to it, to be only a small iceberg. There was therefore no other alternative than to coast along in a southerly direction, cutting across the bays, and keeping as near the shore as possible. On the night of the 17th we pulled over the broad Gwosdarew Bay, which was filled with countless fragments of glaciers. Some of the smallest of these we took on board our boats to replenish our fast decreasing supplies of water. Ever since our coming under the coast of Novaya Zemlya, we had entered a region where auks abounded which whizzed over our heads with small crayfish in their bills in their flight to the land, or sat so indolently on the water,that they seemed determined not to get out of the way of the boats. Many were bagged, but we made no halt to shoot them. Twice only in the day we rested for about ten minutes to take our food. Onwards we pressed, each boat striving to get before the others. On August 17 the sun set for the first time about midnight, and in the afternoon of the 18th we landed at a spot to the south of black Cape, remarkable for the luxuriance of its vegetation. To our eyes, accustomed to the monotonous white of snow and ice, it appeared like a garden. There was nothing to remind us of a polar region either in the land, or in the temperature, or in the weather. Its broad bay, if it had been without its circle of glaciers, would have appeared like an Italian gulf. It was now ebb-tide, and wading in the water we shoved our boats, using the oars as rollers, over the muddy shore. It was the birthday of our gracious monarch, which we celebrated in the best manner we could—we dressed the boats with flags, washed ourselves in a little fresh-water lake, and flavoured our weak tea with a small quantity of alcohol.

10. This was the first land on which we had set foot for months. Completely exhausted we lay down on its damp turf and listened to the pleasant sound of the surf. Flames soon rose from the pile of drift wood we collected, while some of us ascended the neighbouring ravines, and even gathered flowers.[57]There were quantities of forget-me-nots, and of coltsfoot (Tusselago farfara), which was dried and smoked, and pronounced to be excellent tobacco. But our paradisiacal happiness could not be of long duration. The necessity of finding a ship as quickly as possible was urgent, and soon roused us from our deep sleep, while the thunders of the glaciers of Novaya Zemlya proclaimed to us that bad weather was not far off.

11. On the 19th, we coasted along Admiralty Peninsula; the thermometer giving 50° F. in the air, and 43° F. in the sea. Its shores rising in a succession of terraces were indisputable evidence of its gradual elevation above thesea-level,[58]and the flatness of the shores and the shallowness of the sea, interspersed with rocks, easily explain why they have so often been dangerous to ships approaching them in a fog. As we came further south the charts proved more trustworthy. At noon of the 20th at Cape Tischernitzky we reached latitude 74° 21′. We passed a number of picturesque bights on the coast, with mountains, whose tops were covered with clouds, and whose green banks extended along the shores. These are the favourite wintering spots of Russian expeditions, and in some places we saw ruined huts. On the 21st a fresh wind sprung up from the east. The sea rose, and as we sailed fast before the wind the boats took in a good deal of water, and we were thoroughly wet; the boats too got separated. We accordingly ran into the bay under “Suchoi Nos” (73° 47′ L.) to wait till the wind fell and the other boats should join us. The boat commanded by Lieutenant Brosch, was exposed to much danger from the lowness of its gunwale, when the sea was at all high; an addition made to it by a strip of canvas stretched round the boat proved ineffectual. We quickly dried our clothes at a fire made of drift-wood and erratics of brown coal which we found, but were much disappointed that no reindeer were to be seen, though we were surrounded by excellent feeding-grounds for these animals. The stew, which we made from the spoonwort we gathered, and some pemmican, was but a poor substitute for the venison we had hoped to enjoy. Neither were there any auks to be seen, and the divers shot under the water like stones whenever we came within distance. The other boats having joined us we again put to sea, though the weather was threatening and a high sea running. In latitude 73° 20′ we ran into Matoschkin Bay, hoping and expecting to find a vessel engaged in the fisheries. But no vessel was to be seen, nothing but the outlines of an Arctic mountain-land. Carlsen also, whom Weyprecht had despatched to explore the straits so full of turnings and windings, returned without theintelligence we hoped for. Before Carlsen rejoined us we ran into a cove—Altgläubigen Bucht—and erected, on a conspicuous headland, a cairn, on which we placed a signal post made of drift-wood. In this cairn we deposited a document, briefly describing the course of our expedition up to that date, in order to leave some trace of it in a region which is visited annually by ships. The discovery of this statement in the course of the next summer would prevent our countrymen at home from sending out vessels to rescue us in higher latitudes, if we meanwhile should perish.

12. The prospects of our being saved had, in fact, considerably diminished, for all our hopes had been centred in finding a vessel in Matoschkin Straits, and these, as I have just said, were doomed to be disappointed. Carlsen now returned with the information, that, in the narrow seas he had visited, he had met with nothing but a whale-boat, lying keel upwards, round which were footmarks of not very recent date. There was no doubt, therefore, that the fishing vessels had withdrawn from our high latitudes. At night a storm from the north-east roared over the cliffs surrounding the cove, and the surf breaking on the rocks reached our boats.

13. It was noon on the 23rd before we could continue our voyage. Our provisions would last for only ten days more, so that our fate must shortly be decided. Further delay was out of the question; there was but one hope for us—to press on and find a ship in Dunen-Bai (the Bay of Dunes). Should this too prove deceptive, we must then make the desperate venture of crossing the White Sea, direct to Lapland—a distance of 520 miles. To follow the vast circuit of the coast-line would have been impossible to us with our stock of provisions, and at that season of the year. The next days too plainly taught us what would have become of our small boats had we been forced to attempt that passage.

14. We now rowed and sailed alternately down the flat coasts towards “Gänseland,” amid stormy weather, during which the boats were often separated, and we almost exhausted our strength in baling out the water. We lost sight completely of Weyprecht’s boat on the open sea, and of the others under the coast. That in which Orel and I were,appeared to have out-sailed them, and we, therefore, on the morning of the 24th drew to shore in a dark rocky cove to await the approach of our missing friends. Wet through and through we sprang into the shallow water, and by a great effort drew the boat to land. We then kindled a fire with the drift-wood we gathered, and after making and eating a kind of dumpling we sank down to sleep on the wet stones, amid the smoke from our fire, thoroughly exhausted. So passed away four hours. When we awoke we ascended a height, and as there was not a single vestige of a boat to be seen, we determined to put to sea again. Near Cape Britwin (Lat. 72° 40′), the wind and sea fell, and the boats again joined company. It was now deemed necessary to make an equitable division among the crews of the provisions that remained, and this being done, we took to our oars once more, and pulled into the boundless waste of waters—into the mystery that hung over our destiny.

15. But the hour of our deliverance was nearer than we thought. It was evening as we glided past the black weather-worn rocks of Cape Britwin, the ledges of which were covered with flocks of birds, revelling in the spray of the surf. Then about seven o’clock a cry of joy as from one voice arose from the boats. A fifth small boat with two men in it lay before us, apparently engaged in bird catching. They pulled towards us, not less amazed than we ourselves were, and before either party could explain itself, we turned a corner of the rock—there lay two ships.

16. It is with a certain kind of awe and reverence that a shipwrecked man approaches a ship, whose slender build is to deliver him from the capricious power of the elements. To him it is no lifeless machine, but a friend in need, yea, a higher creation than himself. Such were our feelings as we neared the two schooners which lay a few hundred yards off in a rock-encircled bay. To us at that moment these vessels were the sum total of the whole world! Dressing our boats with flags, we followed the strangers in their boat, and made fast to the schoonerNikolai, whose deck was in a moment crowded with bearded Russians, who stared at us with mingled feelings of wonder and sympathy, and whose captain, Feodor Voronin, stood like a patriarch among them to welcome us. Ten days sooner and our poor dogs might have gambolled on the deck with us!

THE BAY OF DUNES. THE RUSSIAN SCHOONERS.

17. No grandees could have been received with more dignity than we were. At the sight of the two Ukases, which we had received from St. Petersburg, and which required all inhabitants of the Russian Empire to furnish us with all the help we needed, these humble seamen bared their heads and bowed themselves to the earth. We had an example before us to show how orders are obeyed by the subjects of that Empire a thousand miles from the place where they were issued. But we were received not only in this reverential manner, but were welcomed with the greatest heartiness, and the best of everything on board was spread before us—salmon, reindeer flesh, Eider-geese eggs, tea, bread, butter, brandy. The second skipper then came on board, and invited us to visit him: the first of a series of invitations. Dr. Kepes was very pressingly invited, for he had a sick man on board his vessel, and our doctor returned with anhonorariumof tobacco in his hand. These simple Russian seamen of the Arctic seas freely produced their little stock of good things to give us pleasure, and one of them after observing me for a long time, and thinking that I did not express myself sufficiently strongly for a happy man, persuaded himself that something was the matter with me, and that I wanted something. Forthwith he went to his chest, and brought me all the white bread he had and the whole remaining stock of his tobacco. Though I did not understand a word he said, his address was full of unmistakable heartiness, and so far needed no interpreter.

18. Since we abandoned theTegetthoffwe had passed ninety-six days in the open air, and, including the sledge journeys which preceded the abandonment of the ship, about five months. The impressions of a return to life were felt by us with silent yet deep thankfulness of heart, for as the poet says:—

“Das Schweigen ist ihr bester Herold.”

It gave us infinite satisfaction to gaze on things the most insignificant, and as we thought of our adventures, our discoveries, and our deliverance, many of us asked his heartin a whisper: What will be said of this in Austria? Lusina, as the only one among us who spoke Russian, was constituted our interpreter, and through him we learnt that great events had happened during our absence: that there was general peace in Europe; that Napoleon was dead; and we learnt too that the greatest interest in our destiny had been excited in Austria; that the Russian government had issued orders to all their vessels employed in the Arctic fisheries to do their utmost to find us, and contribute to our rescue; that Count Wilczek had returned in safety—the skipper of our schooner having met him at the mouth of the Petschora, just as he was setting out for Obdorsk, and lastly, that a Norwegian fishing vessel had been beset in the ice in the autumn of 1872 at the Barentz islands—very near to where we were, and had been crushed; that four of the crew had escaped in a boat, and after the most dreadful sufferings, had travelled over land to the country of the Samoyedes in the extreme north of the Ural Mountains.

19. The ships we found in “Dunen Bai,”—the Bay of Dunes—came from Archangel, and were engaged in the salmon fishery, at the mouth of the Puhova River. They had taken very little, and their purpose was to remain where we found them for fourteen days’ longer, and to spend about the same number in fishing and hunting at the southern extremity of Novaya Zemlya. This programme was not exactly to our taste. To spend a month in a fishing-vessel, just as we awoke to the remembrance of all the comforts and pleasures there are in the world, to sleep in the hold where cholera lurked among bear and reindeer hides, amid heaps of salmon and reindeer flesh, among nets and oil casks—such a prospect was not to be thought of. Accordingly, we agreed with Captain Voronin, that he should leave off his fishing and take us without delay to Vardö, in Norway, that we should give him in return for his services three of our boats, two Lefaucheur rifles, and guarantee him the further compensation of 1,200 silver roubles.

20. At last we could go to sleep, the much-needed, much-desired sleep, undisturbed by the fear lest we should be starved to death at last. On that evening, when I opened my journal, I found these words: “Shall we be saved this day? shall webe alive? Fifteenth May on board theTegetthoff.” I had written these words by the merest chance on the blank leaf reserved for the 24th of August, and it was singular that we should be rescued on that very day. For a long time I could not sleep amid the murmur of Russian words, which I mechanically endeavoured to imitate and to interpret as I lay amid the dead salmon, till at last I fell asleep, my last connected thought being, that I had not to row any more. Next day Voronin and his trusty harpooner, Maximin Iwanoff, insisted on Weyprecht and myself occupying their own cabin, and as we could utter no other Russian word than ‘khorosho’ (good), we were obliged to do as they wished. The ship was now watered, and the nets which had been stretched out were hauled on board, the crew, as they worked, singing their wild “Volkslieder” excellently well.

21. On the 26th we left the small quiet bay, the scene of our happy rescue, and with a favourable wind from the north, the vessel ploughed her way through the waves of the White Sea. Now began the time of letter writing; many of us, indeed, had commenced this employment even before we left the boats. On the 27th and 28th, we had stormy weather from the north-west, and the high seas we saw told us what our fate would have been had we tried to cross this sea in our small boats. On the 29th, we sighted Black Cape on the “Murmann coast,” and for two hundred miles we ran under the low, rocky coast of Lapland. We often fell in with ships sailing from or to Archangel, and in our own eyes we seemed the only barbarians amid the commerce and civilization of the world. We sent deputations to every ship that came within hailing distance to beg tobacco or sheets of writing paper, without, however, betraying our incognito. We desired to be the first to give news of ourselves by the telegraph. Contrary winds compelled our captain to tack often, and the delay seemed to our impatience purgatory itself.

22. At length on the 3rd of September—the 812th day from the day we sailed from Bremerhaven—we sighted the little seaport of Vardö. Forthwith the Austrian flag was displayed at the foretop of theNikolai, while each of us, clad in his fur-coat, stood with beating hearts on deck ready to land. Soon she ran into the little harbour, and about threeo’clock in the afternoon of that same day we put our feet on Norwegian soil with the glad thought that our dangers and our toils were over at last. While Weyprecht attended to our money affairs, I hastened, amid the wondering looks of the inhabitants, to the telegraph station to despatch the news of our happy rescue and safe arrival, and as each message sped on its way, our hearts glowed with joy as we thought that in a few minutes friends and countrymen would learn the good tidings and share in our joy.

23. On the 5th the mail steamer from Vardö to Hamburg took us on board, and stopping at Tromsö, we put ashore, with many adieus, our friend and companion Captain Carlsen. He had been one of those who believed that we should return home by Behring Straits; but here he landed, a touching instance of the vanity of human hopes. Apart from his linguistic acquirements—for he had learnt to speak several languages on board theTegetthoff—the hardy old Arctic voyager went ashore with three things only; his carefully preserved reindeer coat, his wig, and trusty walrus spear. But all our hearts burned to reach home—home for its own sake; for no presentiment had any of us of the honours that awaited our arrival there. The favours shown to us by our monarch, the enthusiasm which greeted the news of the discoveries we had so marvellously made, the sympathy so abundantly expressed for our sufferings, made us feel that we were rewarded far beyond our deserts, and that we had gained the highest men can gain—the recognition of their services by their fellow-countrymen.

The meteorological observations were always taken by the officers of the watch, by Lieutenant Brosch, Midshipman Orel, the boatswain Lusina, and Captain Carlsen. Krisch, our engineer, who shared in this labour during the first winter was exempted from it in the second year, owing to his failing health. Readings of the thermometers were taken every two hours; observations to ascertain the moisture of the air were made by the psychrometer during the summer months; the direction and force of the winds, the amount of precipitation, the form and character of the clouds were carefully noted down. As their labours were zealously and conscientiously carried out for one year and a half, and chiefly in regions never before visited, the results are of peculiar importance.[59]The direction and force of the winds seemed in the first year to be nearly in equilibrium, save that in the south air-currents from the south-west generally prevailed, while in the north the prevailing air-currents were from the north-east.

Thunder-storms never occurred; even on the northern shores of Siberia they are seldom experienced. The forms of the clouds in Arctic regions have never the sharply-defined contours of those in more southerly latitudes. In summer they increase in fulness, and in winter they consist chiefly of vapours and frosty mists which throw dark inky hues over the brightness of the nights. The proverbial clearness of the heavens, of which Koldewey, Kane, Middendorf, and Wrangel speak, is found in the high north, as also in the tropics only over the greater masses of land. “The clouds,” says Weyprecht, “have either the uniform dull grey aspect of elevated fog, or they assume the cirrus form, and the latter is not as with us the fleecy mass rising high above the horizon, but consists of masses of mist rising little above it, which very seldom assume the sharply-defined forms which are seen in more southern regions. Instead of clouds gloomy fogs prevail, sometimes rising high, sometimes also close to the ground as if they were nailed to it. Four-and-twenty hours ofclear weather rarely occur in summer; generally after shining for a few hours the sun disappears behind dense fogs. Dull and gloomy as these fogs are, they maintain the conditions which we find in the regions of ice,—they prevent the escape of the sun’s heat and they act more potently on the ice than its direct rays.” With respect to the winds he adds: “Until the autumn of the second year, the winds were of a very variable nature. In the neighbourhood of Novaya Zemlya we had many south-east and south-west winds; in the spring the winds were more from the north-east. A prevailing direction of the wind was only discernible when we lay in our second winter under Franz-Josef Land. Here all snow-storms and about 50 per cent. of the winds come from east-north-east. These winds were mostly accompanied by clouds, which were dispersed only when the wind veered more to the north. The force of the wind is mitigated by the ice. Very frequently fog masses are seen driving rapidly at no very great height above the ice, while below them there is almost a calm. In the January of the two years we passed in the north, it was very interesting to observe the struggle between the cold winds from the north and the warmer winds of the south. The approach of warm winds from the south and south-west brought masses of snow, and in a short time produced a rise of temperature amounting to 67° to 79° F.”

Falls of snow take place at all seasons of the year; but as they generally occur accompanied with strong winds, it is not very easy to determine the depth of the layers. Apart from extreme cases of snow-drifts the mean depth of the snow on the ice during winter was about three feet, and it is more considerable under the land than at a distance from it. Rain falls almost exclusively only during the few months of summer, and generally in fine showers, never in the sudden torrents of southern latitudes. More rain fell with us in our second than in our first summer.

I was impossible, owing to our continual change of place, to give the barometrical means for any particular locality; in the following table, therefore, the monthly mean only is noted. The thermometers we used were placed at the distance of five-and-twenty paces from the ship, so that they were pretty well isolated from any influence due to it, and they were raised four feet above the surface of the snow.[60]

Readings of the minimum thermometer were taken at noon every day in the year, and of the black-bulb thermometer at different times of the day during the summer. The time of the day when the temperature reached its maximum was irregular during the winter; itoccurred about two o’clock in the afternoon when the spring was well advanced. As I have already inserted in the course of the narrative the temperatures of each day in the month, it will be enough for the purposes of a general survey to give here a summary of the mean monthly temperatures and of the maximum and minimum extremes:—

Note.—The temperatures are given in Réaumur degrees. By adding one-fourth, the numbers given in the three last columns will be reduced to Centigrade degrees.

FOOTNOTES[1]Polynia, a Russian term for an open water space.—Glossary in Kane’sArctic Explorations, vol. i., p. 14.[2]Ice-fields have been seen there equal to the superficial extent of a German principality, or even to the Duchy of Salzburg.[3]Geikie’sGreat Ice Age, pp. 38, 39.[4]In the North Atlantic Ocean down to 40° N. L.[5]Parry’sJournal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage, 1819-20, p. 298. 4to. London, 1821.[6]Sir J. C. Ross’sSouthern Antarctic Voyage, vol. ii., p. 151.[7]Sir John Ross—Second Voyage of Discovery to the Arctic Ocean, p. 180; 4to. London, 1835.[8]The nautical mile or “knot,” which is about an ordinary mile and a sixth, is meant.[9]Dock, an opening in the ice, artificial or natural, offering protection. Kane’sGlossary of Arctic Terms, vol. i., p. 13.[10]Mercator was not an Englishman; he was a Dutchman, born 1512, died 1594.[11]Three centuries ago, Plancius, the Dutch geographer, devised this for the North Pole, while Barros, the Portuguese historiographer, did the same for the South Pole.[12]As a corrective to this rather extreme statement, see Clement Markham’sThreshold of the Unknown Region, 4th Edition, pp. 383-393.[13]A decoction prepared by Dr. Kepes, the physician of theTegetthoff.[14]Lieutenant Brosch had the entire care of the victualling department, and deserved our heartiest thanks for the skill and self-sacrifice with which he performed his duty.[15]Formerly Captain in the Austrian Merchant Service.[16]Our position was then in 76° 22′ N. Lat., 63° 3′ E. Long.[17]A decoction prepared by Kepes.[18]Parry mentions, as a fact illustrative of the increase of moisture and its condensation into ice, that about a hundred hundredweights of ice were once removed from the lower quarters of theHecla, which had accumulated there from the breath, the steam caused by cooking, and the moisture brought down by the clothes of the men.[19]The noise produced by such collisions cannot be more fittingly expressed.[20]Hall’s contemporaneous expedition excepted.[21]See Appendix.[22]I take this opportunity of stating that the originals of nearly all the illustrations of this book were drawn on the spot from nature, and that they have been reproduced as they were drawn.[23]On the 24th of November the thermometer marked -14° F. in the ship’s hole. The screw propeller had been fast frozen a month before.[24]We had brought 1,400 lbs. of it from Bremerhaven.[25]Parry’s winter night of 1819-20 lasted eighty-four days; Ross’s, in the Gulf of Boothia, fifty days; Kane’s, in Rennssalaer harbour, 113 days, and Hayes’ 123. In the latter case, however, the mountains on his southern horizon were the cause why the sun was not earlier visible.[26]It has often been asserted that sound accompanying the Aurora has been heard in the Shetland Isles, and in Siberia; but all scientific travellers protest against this. Franklin, who at first believed in this alleged phenomenon, afterwards retracted his opinion, and was convinced that the noise proceeded from terrestrial causes.[27]Experience acquired both in Greenland and in Franz-Josef Land convinces me that autumn is to be preferred to spring for sledge-journeys.[28]This is the reason why the English North Pole Expedition has engaged the services of two mountaineers accustomed to glacier travelling.[29]I take this opportunity of fulfilling a duty of gratitude, when I add that in our equipment we followed, in every respect, the tried and tested advice of Admiral McClintock, and that to this we owed for the most part such successes as we achieved.[30]Broad runners facilitate progress through deep snow. March 7, 1874, we scarcely could move a sledge of medium size with its load, though we afterwards transported the same load easily with a sledge with broader runners; and the former became available when we fastened a pair of Lapp snow-shoes on its runners.[31]Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, pp. 145, 146, 4to. London: 1828.[32]Narrative, &c. Intro. p. xiv.[33]See description of Parry’s Boats—Narrative, &c. Intro. pp. xi.-xii.[34]This was the maximum of cold I observed during my three Polar expeditions.[35]Hayes mentions a storm occurring at -27° F.; but this is probably an error of the press.[36]In Greenland I once heard at the distance of 800 paces a conversation between Börgen and Copeland carried on in the usual tone.[37]Sir John Ross frequently did this, sending the bullet through a solid board. The freezing point of quicksilver is -40° F. It varies however between -40° and -45° F., according to the purity of the metal.[38]It may easily happen in such weather that travellers on the ice should have great difficulty in finding the ship, though they should pass by it at less than 200 paces distant. The direction of the wind contributes but little towards the ascertaining of their position; amid hummocks of ice the wind constantly changes. On the 6th of March, Haller and I wandered about for hours amid drifting snow-storms. Pekel, who came to us from the ship, guided us rightly.[39]There are no glaciers on the coast of Siberia, and the glaciers of Spitzbergen are not, it seems, large enough to detach icebergs. May not, therefore, the icebergs which gather at Hope Island, as well as those which are met with on the northern coasts of Siberia, originate in the glaciers of Franz-Josef Land? Barentz saw, in August, 1596, on the northern coasts of Novaya Zemlya, as many as 400 icebergs.[40]This of course does not exclude the possibility of finding appropriate winter harbours in those Sounds we were unable to visit; most probably such occur in Markham Sound, which abounds in fiords.[41]This applies especially to the region lying to the north of 81° 10′.[42]Schönau, near Teplitz in Bohemia, my birthplace.[43]Sumbu and Pekel were my own dogs.[44]Named after Dove, the celebrated German physicist.[45]Parry reached, on the frozen sea to the north of Spitzbergen, 82° 45′ N.L.[46]Kane’s dogs died principally in consequence of being fed chiefly on salt meat, and Hayes’s from a disease among dogs which spreads over all West Greenland. Epidemics of this kind break out among the dogs of the Eskimos and of the Siberian tribes. Middendorf mentions, however, that canine madness never occurs among the dogs of the latter.[47]Snow-water was for two years the only water we used, and as none of us became goîtred, we were a living refutation of the opinion shared by many that its constant use generates this disease in the inhabitants of the Alps.[48]On board the ship the temperature at the same time was -20° F.[49]It might have been expected that seamen would have been acquainted with the use of the compass, though the instruments they had at their command were too small to determine the declination with precision.[50]Franklin, speaking of his experience during his first journey, says that their diet of animal food had rather weakened than strengthened their powers. An Eskimo, on the other hand, often consumes 20 lbs. of the flesh of a seal in a day, and seems to thrive on it—a proof how the mode of living of a savage is no rule for civilized man.[51]Our food, which we always took as hot as possible, had made our tongues and gums as hard as leather, so that we could not discriminate what we ate. Our great desire was not for flesh, but for white bread, potatoes, and milk.[52]On May 5 a bear got away from us through a bad shot, but a second was killed just as he had attacked Torossy. May 9, again, a bad shot scared away a bear; on the eleventh one was killed by Herr Orel. This bear had already received a ball in his shoulder, and a second in his head an inch and a half under the right eye.[53]With three boats, two of which were whale-boats, each 26 feet long and 7 feet broad. His crew wore Eskimo clothing, and, strange to say, some of them had gutta-percha masks. Parry’s towards the North Pole in 1827, Kane’s in 1855, and our own, have much in common: but the greatest difficulties were on our side.[54]“Aussingen” is a sailor’s word for a particular rhythm to which they pull in time.[55]It was Parry’s experience also that nothing melts the ice like rain.[56]The wind maintained its westerly character, and we drifted, as we had so often before, to therightof its direction.[57]Baer brought home from Novaya Zemlya ninety species of Phanerogams. According to an observation of Mojssejew, June 18, 1839, the thermometer in the sun stood at 93° F., and 59° F. in the shade.[58]On older charts it is still separated by a sound from the mainland. The layers of drift-wood, which we found everywhere at a considerable height above the level of the sea, show beyond a doubt that the coast of Novaya Zemlya has gradually risen; but as in those latitudes this wood rots only after centuries, we have no measure to estimate the rate of this movement.[59]These have not as yet been published.[60]Thermometers should always hang freely; when they are enclosed in cases they give false values, especially if the cases should be filled with snow. In our first winter we were obliged on account of the ice-pressures to suspend our thermometers on the ship in such cases, and there can be no doubt that their readings were too high. Sometimes, however, they were too low, when the thermometers came in contact with the snow on the ship. Scoresby, Parry, and we ourselves observed that the temperature of the snow-covering sometimes sunk in clear winter nights some degrees below the temperature of the air.

[1]Polynia, a Russian term for an open water space.—Glossary in Kane’sArctic Explorations, vol. i., p. 14.

[2]Ice-fields have been seen there equal to the superficial extent of a German principality, or even to the Duchy of Salzburg.

[3]Geikie’sGreat Ice Age, pp. 38, 39.

[4]In the North Atlantic Ocean down to 40° N. L.

[5]Parry’sJournal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage, 1819-20, p. 298. 4to. London, 1821.

[6]Sir J. C. Ross’sSouthern Antarctic Voyage, vol. ii., p. 151.

[7]Sir John Ross—Second Voyage of Discovery to the Arctic Ocean, p. 180; 4to. London, 1835.

[8]The nautical mile or “knot,” which is about an ordinary mile and a sixth, is meant.

[9]Dock, an opening in the ice, artificial or natural, offering protection. Kane’sGlossary of Arctic Terms, vol. i., p. 13.

[10]Mercator was not an Englishman; he was a Dutchman, born 1512, died 1594.

[11]Three centuries ago, Plancius, the Dutch geographer, devised this for the North Pole, while Barros, the Portuguese historiographer, did the same for the South Pole.

[12]As a corrective to this rather extreme statement, see Clement Markham’sThreshold of the Unknown Region, 4th Edition, pp. 383-393.

[13]A decoction prepared by Dr. Kepes, the physician of theTegetthoff.

[14]Lieutenant Brosch had the entire care of the victualling department, and deserved our heartiest thanks for the skill and self-sacrifice with which he performed his duty.

[15]Formerly Captain in the Austrian Merchant Service.

[16]Our position was then in 76° 22′ N. Lat., 63° 3′ E. Long.

[17]A decoction prepared by Kepes.

[18]Parry mentions, as a fact illustrative of the increase of moisture and its condensation into ice, that about a hundred hundredweights of ice were once removed from the lower quarters of theHecla, which had accumulated there from the breath, the steam caused by cooking, and the moisture brought down by the clothes of the men.

[19]The noise produced by such collisions cannot be more fittingly expressed.

[20]Hall’s contemporaneous expedition excepted.

[21]See Appendix.

[22]I take this opportunity of stating that the originals of nearly all the illustrations of this book were drawn on the spot from nature, and that they have been reproduced as they were drawn.

[23]On the 24th of November the thermometer marked -14° F. in the ship’s hole. The screw propeller had been fast frozen a month before.

[24]We had brought 1,400 lbs. of it from Bremerhaven.

[25]Parry’s winter night of 1819-20 lasted eighty-four days; Ross’s, in the Gulf of Boothia, fifty days; Kane’s, in Rennssalaer harbour, 113 days, and Hayes’ 123. In the latter case, however, the mountains on his southern horizon were the cause why the sun was not earlier visible.

[26]It has often been asserted that sound accompanying the Aurora has been heard in the Shetland Isles, and in Siberia; but all scientific travellers protest against this. Franklin, who at first believed in this alleged phenomenon, afterwards retracted his opinion, and was convinced that the noise proceeded from terrestrial causes.

[27]Experience acquired both in Greenland and in Franz-Josef Land convinces me that autumn is to be preferred to spring for sledge-journeys.

[28]This is the reason why the English North Pole Expedition has engaged the services of two mountaineers accustomed to glacier travelling.

[29]I take this opportunity of fulfilling a duty of gratitude, when I add that in our equipment we followed, in every respect, the tried and tested advice of Admiral McClintock, and that to this we owed for the most part such successes as we achieved.

[30]Broad runners facilitate progress through deep snow. March 7, 1874, we scarcely could move a sledge of medium size with its load, though we afterwards transported the same load easily with a sledge with broader runners; and the former became available when we fastened a pair of Lapp snow-shoes on its runners.

[31]Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, pp. 145, 146, 4to. London: 1828.

[32]Narrative, &c. Intro. p. xiv.

[33]See description of Parry’s Boats—Narrative, &c. Intro. pp. xi.-xii.

[34]This was the maximum of cold I observed during my three Polar expeditions.

[35]Hayes mentions a storm occurring at -27° F.; but this is probably an error of the press.

[36]In Greenland I once heard at the distance of 800 paces a conversation between Börgen and Copeland carried on in the usual tone.

[37]Sir John Ross frequently did this, sending the bullet through a solid board. The freezing point of quicksilver is -40° F. It varies however between -40° and -45° F., according to the purity of the metal.

[38]It may easily happen in such weather that travellers on the ice should have great difficulty in finding the ship, though they should pass by it at less than 200 paces distant. The direction of the wind contributes but little towards the ascertaining of their position; amid hummocks of ice the wind constantly changes. On the 6th of March, Haller and I wandered about for hours amid drifting snow-storms. Pekel, who came to us from the ship, guided us rightly.

[39]There are no glaciers on the coast of Siberia, and the glaciers of Spitzbergen are not, it seems, large enough to detach icebergs. May not, therefore, the icebergs which gather at Hope Island, as well as those which are met with on the northern coasts of Siberia, originate in the glaciers of Franz-Josef Land? Barentz saw, in August, 1596, on the northern coasts of Novaya Zemlya, as many as 400 icebergs.

[40]This of course does not exclude the possibility of finding appropriate winter harbours in those Sounds we were unable to visit; most probably such occur in Markham Sound, which abounds in fiords.

[41]This applies especially to the region lying to the north of 81° 10′.

[42]Schönau, near Teplitz in Bohemia, my birthplace.

[43]Sumbu and Pekel were my own dogs.

[44]Named after Dove, the celebrated German physicist.

[45]Parry reached, on the frozen sea to the north of Spitzbergen, 82° 45′ N.L.

[46]Kane’s dogs died principally in consequence of being fed chiefly on salt meat, and Hayes’s from a disease among dogs which spreads over all West Greenland. Epidemics of this kind break out among the dogs of the Eskimos and of the Siberian tribes. Middendorf mentions, however, that canine madness never occurs among the dogs of the latter.

[47]Snow-water was for two years the only water we used, and as none of us became goîtred, we were a living refutation of the opinion shared by many that its constant use generates this disease in the inhabitants of the Alps.

[48]On board the ship the temperature at the same time was -20° F.

[49]It might have been expected that seamen would have been acquainted with the use of the compass, though the instruments they had at their command were too small to determine the declination with precision.

[50]Franklin, speaking of his experience during his first journey, says that their diet of animal food had rather weakened than strengthened their powers. An Eskimo, on the other hand, often consumes 20 lbs. of the flesh of a seal in a day, and seems to thrive on it—a proof how the mode of living of a savage is no rule for civilized man.

[51]Our food, which we always took as hot as possible, had made our tongues and gums as hard as leather, so that we could not discriminate what we ate. Our great desire was not for flesh, but for white bread, potatoes, and milk.

[52]On May 5 a bear got away from us through a bad shot, but a second was killed just as he had attacked Torossy. May 9, again, a bad shot scared away a bear; on the eleventh one was killed by Herr Orel. This bear had already received a ball in his shoulder, and a second in his head an inch and a half under the right eye.

[53]With three boats, two of which were whale-boats, each 26 feet long and 7 feet broad. His crew wore Eskimo clothing, and, strange to say, some of them had gutta-percha masks. Parry’s towards the North Pole in 1827, Kane’s in 1855, and our own, have much in common: but the greatest difficulties were on our side.

[54]“Aussingen” is a sailor’s word for a particular rhythm to which they pull in time.

[55]It was Parry’s experience also that nothing melts the ice like rain.

[56]The wind maintained its westerly character, and we drifted, as we had so often before, to therightof its direction.

[57]Baer brought home from Novaya Zemlya ninety species of Phanerogams. According to an observation of Mojssejew, June 18, 1839, the thermometer in the sun stood at 93° F., and 59° F. in the shade.

[58]On older charts it is still separated by a sound from the mainland. The layers of drift-wood, which we found everywhere at a considerable height above the level of the sea, show beyond a doubt that the coast of Novaya Zemlya has gradually risen; but as in those latitudes this wood rots only after centuries, we have no measure to estimate the rate of this movement.

[59]These have not as yet been published.

[60]Thermometers should always hang freely; when they are enclosed in cases they give false values, especially if the cases should be filled with snow. In our first winter we were obliged on account of the ice-pressures to suspend our thermometers on the ship in such cases, and there can be no doubt that their readings were too high. Sometimes, however, they were too low, when the thermometers came in contact with the snow on the ship. Scoresby, Parry, and we ourselves observed that the temperature of the snow-covering sometimes sunk in clear winter nights some degrees below the temperature of the air.

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