“ The glaciers front, with a perpendicular ice-wall, a shore of debris on which a few low plants are found to grow—poppies, mosses and the like. The islands are volcanic, the main geological formation being Tertiary or Jurassic basalt, which occasionally protrudes through the ice-cap in high isolated blocks near the shore. A connecting island-chain between Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen is probable. ”

“ The bear and fox are the only land mammals; insects are rare; but the avifauna is of interest, and the Jackson expedition distinguished several new species.
August Petermann expressed the opinion that Baffin may have sighted the west of Franz Josef Land in 1614, but the first actual discovery is due to Julius Payer, a lieutenant in the Austrian army, who was associated with Weyprecht in the second polar expedition fitted out by Count Wilczek on the ship “Tegetthof” in 1872. On the 13th of August 1873, the “Tegetthof” being then beset, high land was seen to the north-west. ”

“ The “Stella Polare” succeeded in making her way through the British Channel to Crown Prince Rudolf Land, and wintered in Teplitz Bay, in 81° 33′ N. lat. The ship was nearly wrecked in the autumn, and the party had to spend most of the winter on shore, the duke of Abruzzi suffering severely from frost-bite. ”