3. I selected for my party six men and three dogs, Gillis, Torossy and Sumbu. As I reserved the picked men of our crew for the contemplated longer journey towards the north, some of the above were not altogether adequate to the work. My two Tyrolese, however, Haller and Klotz, possessed great endurance, Lukinovich and Cattarinch in a lesser degree; as for Pospischill and Lettis, they would have done credit to Falstaff’s corps. As Pospischill suffered from lung disease, Lukinovich from palpitation of the heart, Haller from chronic rheumatism, and Lettis from a tendency to bronchial catarrh, it may be inferred how necessity alone enabled them to do what they did, when the temperature fell lower than we expected. 4. On the morning of the 10th of March we left the ship, and the “Flag of the sledge journeys,” which had hung for so long a time over my berth, now fluttered in the fresh breeze which blew from the north-west. So much had this “at last,” excited me, that I could not sleep a wink, and those who were starting on the expedition as well as those who remained behind were as much agitated, as if the conquest of Peru or Ophir were contemplated, and not the exploration of lands buried under snow and ice. With indescribable joy we began the mechanical drudgery of dragging the sledge, each of us at first wearing a mask, like the members of the “Vehmgericht,” until we became habituated to the withering effects of the wind. As we moved along the level surface of the land ice of the preceding autumn, after forcing our way through the hummocky ice, which had formed itself on the north of the ship, we saw behind us some black spots approaching at full speed. These were the dogs we had left behind, which insisted on travelling with us, and much craft and force, supplemented by the logic of a few shots, were needed to force them to return to the ship. My companions interpreted the conduct of the dogs refusing to remain with the ship as a sign foreboding the death of our engineer. As the lading of our sledge amounted to about 6 or 7 cwts. and the snow was favourable for sledging, we were able to advance at the unusual rate of 100 paces in a minute, and in two hours we passed the south-west Cape of Wilczek Island. Close to this Cape we saw an iceberg which had fallen on the ice and crushed it all round, and sheltering ourselves from the wind under the lee of another, we took our mid-day rest, with the thermometer at -15° F. As the sun at noon was so little above the horizon that we got uncertain results for the determination of the latitude, I preferred during this journey to begin the surveying and, at the same time, the determination of the localities of Franz-Josef Land, by a triangulation of elevated points, to which the measurement of a base was afterwards to be added. Hence the ascent of high mountains formed part of our programme.