4. It has always been a principle and a practice with Arctic explorers to name their discoveries either after the promoters of their special expeditions, or after their predecessors in the work of discovery. Though they are never likely to become important to the material interests of mankind, the naming the lands we discovered after those who promoted our expedition, was, we considered, the most enduring form by which we could express our gratitude for their efforts in furtherance of a great idea. The localities, I may add, were named during the work of surveying.
5. As I have had the privilege of visiting all the Arctic lands north of the Atlantic, I have been able to compare them and observe their resemblances as well as their differences. West Greenland is a high uniform glacier-plateau; East Greenland is a magnificent Alpine land with a comparatively rich vegetation and abundant animal life. How and where the transition between these opposite characters takes place in the interior is as yet utterly unknown. We may form some notion of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, if we imagine a mountain-range, like that of the Oetzthal with its glaciers, rising from the level of the sea, if that level were raised about 9,000 feet. There is more softness, however, in both these countries than is usual in the regions of the high north. But Franz-Josef Land has all the severity of the higher Arctic lands; it appears, especially in spring, to be denuded of life of every kind. Enormous glaciers extend from the lofty solitudes of the mountains, which rise in bold conical forms. A covering of dazzling whiteness is spread over everything. The rows of basaltic columns, rising tier above tier, stand out as if crystallized. The natural colour of the rocks was not visible, as is usually the case: even the steepest walls of rock were covered with ice, the consequence of incessant precipitation, and of the condensation of the excessive moisture on the cold faces of the rock. This moisture in a country whose mean annual temperature is about 3° F., seems to indicate its insular character, for Greenland and Siberia are both remarkable for the dryness of their cold, and it was singular that even north winds occasioned a fall of temperature in Franz-Josef Land. In consequence of their enormous glaciation, and of the frequent occurrence of plateau forms, the new lands recalled the characteristic features of West Greenland, in the lower level of the snow-line common to both, and in their volcanic formation. Isolated groups of conical mountains and table-lands, which are peculiar to the basaltic formation, constitute the mountain-system of Franz-Josef Land; chains of mountains were nowhere seen. These mountain forms are the results of erosion and denudation; there were no isolated volcanic cones. The mountains, as a rule, are about 2,000 or 3,000 feet high, except in the south-west, where they attain the height of about 5,000 feet.