LAND, f rants'-yo'ze f lint, an Arctic archipelago, north of Nova Zembla, extending, so far as it has yet been explored, between latitude 80° and 83° N. It consists of about 100 small islands divided by fjords, channels and sounds. The chief islands are Alexander in the west, Graham Bell in the east, Wilezek, Prince George, Prince Rudolph in the north, Cape Fligely and Northbrook. The whole archipelago, which rises into isolated flat-topped or dome-shaped mountains of basalt, 5,000 feet high, is sheeted with ice. The islands are of volcanic origin and are composed mostly of Juranic basalt. Fossil strata are numerous. The winter sun is absent four months, and the climate is in consequence distinctly polar. Auroral displays are on a magnificent scale. The average temperature in winter is about —19° F., and in summer F. There are dense fogs and violent gales often continued for days. The chief plants are lichens, and grasses, and yellow and white poppy, and tresses. The mosses form thick carpets in places with a brilliant coloring. There is a comparative abundance of animal life— bears, walruses and foxes occurring, also ringed seals. Of birds are found the snow bunting,
eider duck, purple sandpiper, various gulls, guillenots, the little auk, brant goose, snowy owl and Arctic tern. Of insects there are only six species. The archipelago was discovered and partly explored by Payer and Wey precht in 1873-74; its southern shores were explored by Leigh Smith in 1880-82, and much of it by the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition in 1895-96; also by Nansen in his retreat 1896; Wellman in 1898 and 1900; by the Duke of the Abruzzi 1899-1900, in which Cagni made the then world's record of 86° 33'; by Baldwin Zeigler in 1901-02; and by the Fiala-Ziegler Expedition in 1903-05. (See POLAR RE SEARCH). Consult Duke of the Abruzzi, 'On the Polar Star in the Arctic Sea' (2 vols., New York 1903) ; Greely, 'Handbook of Polar Discoveries' (Boston 1911) ; Jackson, 'A Thousand Days in the Arctic' (New York 1899); Payer, 'New Lands Within the Arctic Circle' (Eng. trans., London 1876) ; Peters, 'Ziegler Polar Expedition, Scientific Results) (Wash ington 1907) ; Weyprecht, 'Sully spedizione polare austro-unganca) (Trieste 1875).