The unknown land sighted from Cape Jakan was seen by Captain Kellett in 1849, and by Captain Long, an American whaler. Captain Kellett landed on an islet near it in 71° 18′ N., 175° 24′ W., in 1849, which he found to be a solid mass of granite, almost inaccessible on all sides, about 4½ miles long by 2½ across. It was named Herald Isle. But it was not until 1881 that Lieutenant Berry, U.S.N., landed on and explored the land seen from Cape Jakan. It is in 70° 57′ N. and 178° 10′ W., and is 70 miles long from east to west. Its distance from the nearest point of the Siberian coast is 80 miles. Two ridges run parallel to the north and south shores, and between them is undulating country traversed by streams fed by the melting snow. Mammoth tusks and bones were found by Lieutenant Berry’s party, as well as relics of Siberian tribes. The hills rise to a height of 2500 to 3000 feet. It has been named Wrangell Island, after the Russian explorer who encountered such great dangers in seeking for it. The Russian explorers came to the conclusion that there was a great deal of open water in summer to the north of the Siberian coast. In 1843 Middendorf was sent to explore the region which terminates in Cape Chelyuskin. He went by land, descending the river Khatanga, and reached the Taimyr lake in June. In August he got to the shores of the Polar Sea and sighted the Cape, whence he saw open water and no ice blink in any direction. The rise and fall of the tide was 36 feet. F. Schmidt was also sent by the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg to examine the country between the Obi and Yenisei, and to amplify the work of Middendorf. The Russians were also occupied with the exploration of Novaya Zemlya, an incentive being given to the merchants of Archangel by the belief that silver ore was to be found. As the search for the philosopher’s stone led to many discoveries in chemistry, and the quest for El Dorado had as its consequence important discoveries in South America, so this imaginary silver ore was the cause of the discoveries along the Novaya Zemlya coast. Novaya Zemlya is a long narrow strip of land stretching away N.E. for some 500 miles with the Barentsz Sea on its western and the Kara Sea on its eastern side, and separated at its southern extremity from Waigatz Island by Burrough Strait. It is divided into two islands by the narrow Matyushin Strait.