Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/663

Rh NOVA ZEMBLA 605 trance is a peak about 5000 feet in height. Farther north the region sinks much lower, while that part of northern Novaya Zenilya which bends eastward seems to consist of a more massive swelling of land, covered with an immense ice-sheet descending north and south to the sea-coast. The whole of the alpine region is covered with fields of snow descending in broad strips along the slopes of the isolated peaks, and feeding glaciers in the deeper valleys. The geological structure of the central region is of the most varied description. The primary rocks which appear at Mitusheff Kamen are overlaid with thick beds of quartz- ites and clay-slates containing sulphite of iron, with sub ordinate layers of talc or mica slate, and thinner beds of fossiliferous limestone, Silurian or Devonian. More recent clay-slates and marls belonging to the middle Jurassic occur in the western coast-region about Matotchkin Shar. About 74 N. lat. the crags of the eastern coast are composed of grey sandstone, while in 76 Barents s Islands, and possibly a much greater part of the northern coast, show Carboni ferous strata. Traces of Eocene deposits, produced under a warmer climate, which are so widely developed in other parts of the polar basin, have not yet been discovered on Novaya Zemlya. During the Glacial period its glaciers were much larger than at present, whilst during a later portion of the Quaternary period (to judge by the marine fossils found as high as 300 feet above the sea) Novaya Zemlya, like the whole of the arctic coast of Russia, was submerged for several hundred feet. At present it appears to partake of the movement of upheaval common to the whole of northern Russia. Climate. Though milder than that of north-eastern Siberia, the climate of Novaya Zemlya is colder even than that of Spitsbergen. The average temperature about the Matotchkin Shar has been found from three years observations to be 17 Fahr., and it decreases towards the south, being only 14 9 at Kamenka (70 35 N.). At Shallow Bay, in 73 55, it has been found to be 19 6. In the middle parts of the western coast the average temperature of the winter is - 4 ; that of the summer at Matotchkin Shar is 36 5, that is, lower than at Boothia Felix, or Melville Island. On the western coast also warm west winds bring considerable moisture, which is condensed by the mountains, amf thus a cloudy sky inter cepts the already scanty sunlight. On the eastern coast the summer temperature is less still, the average for the year being probably 2 Fahr. lower than that of corresponding latitudes of the western coast. The coasts of Nova) r a Zemlya are less icebound than might be supposed owing to the influence of a warm current which flows along the coast on the north-west, and which may be considered as a continuation of the Gulf Stream. There are years in which the island can be circumnavigated without difficulty. The southern shores, besides experiencing the cold influence of the Kara Sea, are washed by a cold current which issues from Kara Strait and flows northwards along the south-western coast. Flora. Grass does not grow to any extent except in Goose Land, where the soil is covered with finer debris. Elsewhere even the leaved lichens are precarious, though the leather lichens flourish, especially the Vcrmicaria geographia. Of Phanerogams, only the Dryas octopetala covers small areas of the debris, and is interspersed with isolated Cochlcaria, Stercocaulon paschale, and Papavcr nudi- caule. Silene acaulis, Saxifraga oppositifolia, Arcnaria rubella, five or six species of Draba, as well as the Dryas octopetala and Myosotis, are found where the debris permits. Where a layer of thinner clay has been deposited in sheltered places, the surface is covered with Platypetalum purpurasccns, Saxifrage, and Draba alpina ; and a carpet of mosses allows the Salix polaris to develop its two dwarf leaflets and its catkins. Where a thin sheet of humus, fertilized by lemmings, has accumulated in the course of ages, the Rhodiola rosea, the Erigon uniflonnn, a Ranunculus nivalis, or an Oxyria rcniformis make their appearance, with here and there a Vaccinium (which, however, never flowers). Even where a carpet of plants has developed under specially favourable circumstances, they do not dare raise their stems more than a few inches, and their brilliant flowers spring direct from the soil, concealing the developed leaflets, whilst their horizontally-spread roots grow out of proportion ; only the Salix lanata rises to 7 or 8 inches, send ing out roots 1 inch thick and 10 to 12 feet long. One hardly understands how these plants propagate ; vegetation seems to be maintained, at least partially, by seeds brought by birds or by currents. All this, of course, applies only to the better-known neighbourhoods of Matotchkin and Kostin Straits ; north of 74 N. but very few species have been found at all (Saxifiuga opposifi- folia, Papaver nudicaule, Draba alpina, and Oxyria digyna}. In all, the phanerogamic flora of Novaya Zemlya and Vaigatch now numbers 185 species, of which 30 have not yet been found on the main island, but may yet be discovered in its southern part. Of the total, 131 are Dicotyledons. As to the much -discussed genetic connexions of the Novaya Zemlya flora, it appears, according to M. Kjellmann s researches, that it belongs to the Asiatic arctic region rather than to the European. Eleven species are what Hooker and Grisebach regard as old glacial, 56 are purely alpine, and 6 have been found in other alpine regions of Europe ; 36 non-alpine species belong to the flora of middle Europe, 41 to the Scandinavian flora, and only 16 to that of arctic Russia, whilst 29 have not been found in Europe at all. Altogether, 156 species are European (132 from arctic Europe), and 177 Asiatic (164 from arctic Asia), whilst 11 are wanting in both arctic Europe and Asia. Fauna. The desolate interior of Novaya Zemlya shows hardly a trace of animal life, save perchance a solitary vagrant bird, a few lemmings, an ice-fox, a brown or white bear, and at times immigrant reindeer. Even insects are few ; the very mosquitoes of the tundras are wanting, and only a solitary bee flies among the scanty flowers. The sea-coast, however, is occupied by countless numbers of birds, which come from the south for the breeding season, and at certain parts of the sea-coast the rocks are covered with millions of Uria troile, and the air is resonant with their cries, while numberless flocks of ducks, geese, and swans swarm every summer on the valleys and lakes of the southern part of the island. Whales, walruses, seals, and dolphins are still abundant. Only two species of fish are of any importance. the goltzy (Salmo alpinus) in the western rivers, and the omul (Salmo omul) in the eastern. The following is a list of the land mammals (some of them not satisfactorily determined) : Ursus arctos and maritimus, Rangifcr tarandus (Pallas), Vulpes vulgaris and lagopus, Canis lupus. Cuni- culus torquatus (Pallas), perhaps Mus grcenlandica, or Myodee obcnsis. The birds are : Stryx nictca, Falco butco, Tringa maritima, PlcctropJuincs nivalis, Otocorys alpcstris, and Strepsilas collaris, all endemic ; many species of ducks, Harclda gladalis being the most common, Somateria sjicctabilis and mollissima in company with the C cphus Mandtii ; several species of geese and swans (Cygnus musicus included) ; as also Larus glaucus, Uria troile, U. bruen- nichii, and Alca ptctorhina. The marine mammals are : the walrus, Odobienus rosmarus ; seals, Phoca vitulina, P. leporina, P. grcenlandica (0. Miiller) in the Kara Sea, P. barbata (?); and dolphins, Dclphinus Orca and D. delphis. The numbers of sea mammals in the sea around Novaya Zemlya and the vast quantities of birds attracted Russian hunters as soon as they became acquainted with the northern Ural, and even in the 16th century they had extended their huts (stanomshtcha) to the extreme north of the island. Many of them wintered for several consecutive years on Novaya Zemlya without Buffering great losses from scurvy ; but no inhabitants have ever tried to establish themselves permanently on the island. The hunters were very often extremely successful ; but the industry has always been sub ject to great vicissitudes. During the last twenty-five years the Archangel and Kola hunters have but rarely visited Novaya Zemlya ; on the other hand, both it and the Kara Sea are now more and more visited &amp;gt;y Norwegians. A few Samoyede families, recently settled by the Russian Government at Karmakuly, have remained there for several consecutive years, living chiefly by hunting the reindeer which abound on the eastern coast, and of which two varieties are distinguished, one like that of Spitzbergen. History. Novaya Zemlya seems to have been known to Nov gorod hunters in the llth century ; but its geographical discovery was four centuries later, at the time of the great movement for the discovery of the north-eastern passage. In 1553 Sir Hugh Willoughby sighted what was probably Goose Land ; Chancellor penetrated into the White Sea. In 1556 Burrough reached the southern extremity of the island (the first western European to do so). William Barents touched the island (1594) at Sukhoi Nos (73 46 ), and followed the coast northward to the Orange Islands and south ward to the Kostin Shar. Rumours of silver ore having lv&amp;lt;-n found induced the Russian Government to send out expeditions to the island during the second half of the 18th century. Yushkotf visited it in 1757 ; and in 1760 Savva Loshkin cruised along all the eastern coast, spent two winters there, and in the next year, after having readied Cape Begehrte (Begheerte), returned along the western coast, thus accomplishing the first circumnavigation ; but the valuable records of his voyage in Russian archives have been lost. In 1768 RozniyslofT reached Goose Land and penetrated into the Kara Sea by the Matotchkin Shar, where he spent the winter ; in the following year he pursued the exploration of the Kara Sea, but was compelled to return and abandon his ship. Pospeloff investigated the alleged discovery of silver at Silver Bay in 1806. The first real scientific information about the island is due to the expeditions of Count Lutke in 1821, 1822, 1823, and 1824. Nearly the whole of the western coast as far as Cape Nassau, as well