The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II

by A. E. Nordenskiöld

CHAPTER VII.

Departure from Port Dickson—Landing on a rocky island east of the Yenisej—Self-dead animals—Discovery of crystals on the surface of the drift-ice—Cosmic dust—Stay in Actinia Bay—Johannesen's discovery of the island Ensamheten—Arrival at Cape Chelyuskin—The natural state of the land and sea there—Attempt to penetrate right eastwards to the New Siberian Islands—The effect of the mist—Abundant dredging-yield—Preobraschenie Island—Separation from the Lena at the mouth of the river Lena.

When on the morning of the 9th August the Fraser and Express sailed for the point higher up the river where their cargo was lying, the Vega and the Lena were also ready to sail. I, however, permitted the vessels to remain at Port Dickson a day longer, in order to allow Lieutenant Bove to finish his survey, and for the purpose of determining astronomically, if possible, the position of this important place. In consequence of a continuous fog, however, I had as little opportunity of doing so on this occasion as during the voyage of 1875, which serves to show of what sort the weather is during summer at the place where the warm water of the Yenisej is poured into the Arctic Ocean. It was thus not until the morning of the 10th August that the Vega and the Lena weighed anchor in order to continue their voyage. The course was shaped for the most westerly of the islands, which old maps place off the estuary-bay of the Pjäsina, and name Kammenni Ostrova (Stone Islands), a name which seems to indicate that in their natural state they correspond to the rocky islands about Port Dickson. The sky was hid by mist, the temperature of the air rose to +10°.4 C.; that of the water was at first +10°, afterwards +8°; its salinity at the surface of the sea was inconsiderable. No ice was seen during the course of the day. Favoured by a fresh breeze from the south-east, the Vega could thus begin her voyage with all sail set. Small rocky islands, which are not to be found on the chart, soon reminded us of the untrustworthiness of the maps. This, together with the prevailing fog, compelled Captain Palander to sail forward with great caution, keeping a good outlook and sounding constantly. Warm weather and an open sea were also favourable for the next day's voyage. But the fog now became so dense, that the Vega had to lie-to in the morning at one of the many small islands which we still met with on our way.

Dr. Kjellman, Dr. Almquist, Lieutenant Nordquist, and I, landed here. The bare and utterly desolate island consisted of a low gneiss rock, rising here and there into cliffs, which were shattered by the frost and rather richly clothed with lichens. On the more low-lying places the rock was covered with a layer of gravel, which, through drying and consequent contraction, had burst into six-sided figures, mostly from 0.3 to 0.5 metre in diameter. The interior of the figures was completely bare of vegetation, only in the cracks there was to be seen an exceedingly scanty growth of stunted mosses, lichens, and flowering plants. Of the last-named group there were found fifteen species,[189] which could with success, or more correctly without succumbing, survive the struggle for existence on the little poor archipelago, protected by no mountain heights, from the storms of the Polar Sea; but of these species, perhaps a couple seldom develop any flowers. The mosses, too, were in great part without fruit, with the exception of those which grew on the margin, formed of hard clay covered with mud, of a pool, filled with brackish water and lying close to the sea-margin. A large number of pieces of driftwood scattered round this pool showed that the place was occasionally overflowed with sea-water, which thus appears to have been favourable to the development of the mosses. Of lichens Dr. Almquist found a number of species, well developed, and occurring in comparative abundance. On the contrary, the sea, although the surrounding rocky islands indicated a good bottom for algæ, was so completely destitute of the higher algæ, that only a single microscopic species was found by Dr. Kjellman. No mammalia were seen, not even the usual inhabitant of the desolate rocky islands of the Polar Sea, the Polar bear, who, in regions where he has not made acquaintance with the hunter's ball or lance, in secure reliance on his hitherto unvanquished might, seldom neglects to scrutinise the newly arrived guests from the tops of high rocks or ice-blocks. We saw here only six species of birds. The first of these that attracted our attention was the snow-bunting, which had left the more fertile mountain heights of the south to choose this bare and desolate island in the Arctic Ocean for its breeding-place, and now fluttered round the stone mounds, where it had its nest, with unceasing twitter, as if to express its satisfaction with its choice. Further, two species of waders, Tringa maritima and Phalaropus fulicarius, were observed running restlessly about the beach to collect their food, which consists of insects. The birds that were killed often had their crops full of the remains of insects, although living at a place where the naturalist has to search for hours to find a dozen gnats or their equals in size, a circumstance that tells very favourably for these birds' powers of vision, of locomotion, and of apprehension. It is difficult in any case to understand what it is that attracts this insectivorous bird to one of the regions that is poorest in insect life in the whole world. The glaucous gulls' plunderer, the skua, and its chastiser the bold tern, were also observed, as were a few barnacle geese. On the other hand, no eiders were met with. All the birds named occurred only in inconsiderable numbers, and there was nothing found here resembling the life which prevails on a Spitzbergen fowl-island. Finally, it may be mentioned that Lieutenant Nordquist found under stones and pieces of drift-wood a few insects, among them a beetle (a staphylinid). Dr. Stuxberg afterwards found a specimen of the same insect species at Cape Chelyuskin itself. No beetle is found on Spitzbergen, though the greater portion of that group of islands is, in respect of climate, soil, and vegetation, much better favoured

than the region now in question. This seems to me to show that the insect fauna of Spitzbergen, exceedingly inconsiderable and limited in numbers as it is, has migrated thither in comparatively recent times, and in how high a degree the migration of beetles is rendered difficult by their inability to pass broad expanses of water.

By afternoon the air had again cleared somewhat, so that we could sail on. A piece of ice was seen here and there, and at night the ice increased for a little to an unpleasant extent. Now, however, it did not occur in such quantity as to prove an obstacle to navigation in clear weather or in known waters.

On the 12th August we still sailed through considerable fields of scattered drift-ice, consisting partly of old ice of large dimensions, partly of very rotten year's ice. It formed, however, no serious obstacle to our advance, and nearer the shore we would probably have had quite open water, but of course it was not advisable to go too near land in the fog and unknown waters, without being obliged. A large number of fish (Gadus polaris) were seen above the foot of a large block of ground ice, near which we lay-to for some hours. Next day we saw near one of the islands, where the water was very clear, the sea-bottom bestrewed with innumerable fish of the same species. They had probably perished from the same cause, which often kills fish in the river Ob in so great numbers that the water is infected, namely, from a large shoal of fish having been enclosed by ice in a small hole, where the water, when its surface has frozen, could no longer by absorption from the air replace the oxygen consumed, and where the fish have thus been literally drowned. I mention this inconsiderable find of some self-dead fish, because self-dead vertebrate animals, even fish, are found exceedingly seldom. Such finds therefore deserve to be noted with much greater care than, for instance, the occurrence of animal species in the neighbourhood of places where they have been seen a thousand times before. During my nine expeditions in the Arctic regions, where animal life during summer is so exceedingly abundant, the case just mentioned has been one of the few in which I have found remains of recent vertebrate animals which could be proved to have died a natural death. Near hunting-grounds there are to be seen often enough the remains of reindeer, seals, foxes, or birds that have died from gunshot wounds, but no self-dead Polar bear, seal, walrus, white whale, fox, goose, auk, lemming or other vertebrate. The Polar bear and the reindeer are found there in hundreds, the seal, walrus, and white whale in thousands, and birds in millions.[190] These animals must die a "natural" death in untold numbers. What becomes of their bodies? Of this we have for the present no idea, and yet we have here a problem of immense importance for the answering of a large number of questions concerning the formation of fossiliferous strata. It is strange in any case that on Spitzbergen it is easier to find vertebræ of a gigantic lizard of the Trias, than bones of a self-dead seal, walrus, or bird, and the same also holds good of more southerly inhabited lands.

On the 13th August we again sailed past a large number of small rocks or islands. The sea was at first pretty free of ice, but was afterwards bestrewed with even, thin pieces of drift-ice, which were not forced up on each other, and thus had not been exposed in winter to any ice-pressure. This ice did not cause any inconvenience to the navigation, but at the same time all was wrapt in a very close mist, which soon compelled us to anchor near the shore in a little bay. I endeavoured without success to determine the position of the place by astronomical observations. Along the shore there still remained nearly everywhere a pretty high snow and ice-foot, which in the fog presented the appearance of immense glaciers. The land besides was free of ice. In respect of its geological formation and its animals and plants it resembled completely the island I have just described. But the sea-water here was clear and salt, and the dredging therefore yielded to Dr. Kjellman some large algæ, and to Dr. Stuxberg a large number of marine evertebrates.

When the fog lightened, we immediately steamed on, but we had scarcely got to sea before we were again wrapped in so close a fog that we were compelled to lie-to for the night beside a large piece of drift-ice. The hempen tangles were used, and brought up a very abundant yield of large, beautiful animal forms, a large number of asterids, Astrophyton, Antedon, &c. There was besides made here an exceedingly remarkable, and to me still, while I write, a very enigmatical find.

For several years back I have been zealous for the examination of all substances of the nature of dust which fall to the surface of the earth with rain or snow, and I have proved that a portion of them is of cosmic origin. This inconsiderable fall of dust is thus of immense importance for the history of the development of our globe, and we regard it, besides, with the intense interest which we inevitably cherish for all that brings us an actual experience regarding the material world beyond our globe. The inhabited countries of the earth, however, are less suitable for such investigations, as the particles of cosmic dust falling down here in very limited quantity can only with difficulty be distinguished from the dust of civilization, arising from human dwellings, from the offal of industry, from furnaces and the chimneys of steam-engines. The case is quite different on the snow and ice-fields of the High North, remote from human habitations and the tracks of steamers. Every foreign grain of dust can here he easily distinguished and removed, and there is a strong probability that the offal of civilization is here nearly wholly wanting. It is self-evident from this that I would not be disposed to neglect the first opportunity

for renewed investigations in the direction indicated, our involuntary rest at the drift-ice field offered.

Immediately after the Vega lay-to, I therefore went down on the ice in order to see whether here too some such metalliferous dust, as I had before found north of Spitzbergen, was not to be found on the surface of the ice. Nothing of the kind, however, was to be seen. On the other hand, Lieutenant Nordquist observed small yellow specks in the snow, which I asked him to collect and hand over for investigation to Dr. Kjellman. For I supposed that the specks consisted of diatom ooze. After examining them Dr. Kjellman however declared that they did not consist of any organic substance, but of crystallised grains of sand. I too now examined them more closely, but unfortunately not until the morning after we had left the ice-field, and then found that the supposed ooze consisted of pale yellow crystals (not fragments of crystals) without mixture of foreign matter. The quantity of crystals, which were obtained from about three litres of snow, skimmed from the surface of the snow on an area of at most 10 square metres, amounted to nearly 0.2 gram. The crystals were found only near the surface of the snow, not in the deeper layers. They were up to 1 mm. in diameter, had the appearance shown in the accompanying woodcut, and appeared to belong to the rhombic system, as they had one perfect cleavage and formed striated prisms terminated at either end by truncated pyramids. Unfortunately I could not make any actual measurements of them, because after being kept for some time in the air they weathered to a white non-crystalline powder. They lay, without being sensibly dissolved for a whole night in the water formed by the melting of the snow. On being heated, too, they fell asunder into a tasteless white powder. The white powder, that was formed by the weathering of the crystals, was analysed after our return—21 months after the discovery of the crystals—and was found to contain only carbonate of lime.

The original composition and origin of this substance appears to me exceedingly enigmatical. It was not common carbonate of lime, for the crystals were rhombohedral and did not show the cleavage of calcite. Nor can there be a question of its being arragonite, because this mineral might indeed fall asunder "of itself," but in that case the newly-formed powder ought to be crystalline. Have the crystals originally been a new hydrated carbonate of lime, formed by crystallising out of the sea-water in intense cold, and then losing its water at a temperature of 10° or 20° above the freezing-point? In such a case they ought not to have been found on the surface of the snow, but lower down on the surface of the ice. Or have they fallen down from the inter-planetary spaces to the surface of the earth, and before crumbling down have had a composition differing from terrestrial substances in the same way as various chemical compounds found in recent times in meteoric stones? The occurrence of the crystals in the uppermost layer of snow and their felling asunder in the air, tell in favour of this view. Unfortunately there is now no possibility of settling these questions, but at all events this discovery is a further incitement to those who travel in the High North to collect with extreme care, from snow-fields lying far from the ordinary routes of communication, all foreign substances, though apparently of trifling importance.

As this question can be answered with the greatest ease and certainty by investigations in the Polar regions, I shall here, for the guidance of future travellers, enumerate some discoveries of a like nature which have been made by me, or at my instance. 1. In the beginning of December, 1871, there happened at Stockholm an exceedingly heavy fall of snow, perhaps the heaviest which has taken place in the memory of man. Several persons perished in the snow in the immediate neighbourhood of Stockholm. During the last days of the snowfall I had about a cubic metre of snow collected and melted in a vessel. It left a residue of black powder, which contained grains of metallic iron that were attracted by the magnet.

2. In the middle of March, 1872, a similar investigation was made by my brother, KARL NORDENSKIÖLD, in a remote forest settlement, Evois, in Finland. Here, too, was obtained, on the melting of the snow, a small residuum, consisting of a black powder containing metallic iron.

3. On the 8th August and 2nd September of the same year, I examined, north of Spitzbergen, in 80° N.L., and 13° to 15° E.L., the layer of snow that there covered the ice. The nature of this layer is shown by the accompanying woodcut, in which 1, is new-fallen snow; 2, a layer of hardened old snow, eight mm. in thickness; 3, a layer of snow conglomerated to a crystalline granular mass; and 4, common granular hardened snow. Layer 3 was full of small black grains, among which were found numerous metallic particles that were attracted by the magnet, and were found to contain iron, cobalt, and possibly nickel also.

4. On the melting of 500 gram. hail, which fell in Stockholm in the autumn of 1873, similar metallic particles containing cobalt (nickel) were obtained, which, in this case, might possibly have come from the neighbouring roofs, because the hail was collected in a yard surrounded by houses roofed with sheet-iron painted red. The black colour of the metallic particles enclosed in the hail, their position in the hail, and finally, the cobalt they contained, however, indicate in this case too, a quite different origin.

5. In a dust (kryokonite), collected on the inland ice of Greenland in the month of July, 1870, there were also found mixed with it grains of metallic iron, containing cobalt. The main mass consisted of a crystalline, double-refracting silicate, drenched through with an ill-smelling organic substance. The dust was found in large quantities at the bottom of innumerable small holes in the surface of the inland ice. This dust could scarcely be of volcanic origin, because by its crystalline structure it differs completely from the glass-dust that is commonly thrown out of volcanoes, and is often carried by the wind to very remote regions, as also from the dust which, on the 30th March, 1875, fell at many places in the middle of Scandinavia, and which was proved to have been thrown out by volcanoes on Iceland. For, while kryokonite consists of small angular double-refracting crystal-fragments without any mixture of particles of glass, the volcanic Haga-dust[191] consists almost wholly of small microscopic glass bubbles that have no action on the polarisation-planes of the light that passes through them.

Similar investigations have since been made, among others, by M. TISSANDIER in Paris, and during NARES' English Polar Expedition.

It may appear to many that it is below the dignity of science to concern one's self with so trifling an affair as the fall of a small quantity of dust. But this is by no means the case. For I estimate the quantity of the dust that was found on the ice north of Spitzbergen at from 0.1 to 1 milligram per square metre, and probably the whole fall of dust for the year far exceeded the latter figure. But a milligram on every square metre of the surface of the earth amounts for the whole globe to five hundred million kilograms (say half a million tons)! Such a mass collected year by year during the geological ages, of a duration probably incomprehensible by us, forms too important a factor to be neglected, when the fundamental facts of the geological history of our planet are enumerated. A continuation of these investigations will perhaps show, that our globe has increased gradually from a small beginning to the dimensions it now possesses; that a considerable quantity of the constituents of our sedimentary strata, especially of those that have been deposited in the open sea far from land, are of cosmic origin; and will throw an unexpected light on the origin of the fire-hearths of the volcanoes, and afford a simple explanation of the remarkable resemblance which unmistakably exists between plutonic rocks and meteoric stones.[192]

On the 14th August, when the fog had lightened a little, we got up steam, but were soon compelled to anchor again in a bay running into Taimur Island from the north side of Taimur Sound, which I named Actinia Bay, from the large number of actinia which the dredge brought up there. It is, besides, not the only place in the Kara Sea which might be named from the evertebrate life prevailing there, so unexpectedly abundant.

Unfavourable weather detained us in Actinia Bay, which is a good and well-protected haven, till the 18th August, during which time excursions were made in various directions, among others farther into Taimur Sound, where a variable strong current was found to prevail. The Sound is too shallow to be passed through by large vessels. The rocks round Taimur Sound consist of gneiss strata, which form low ridges that have been so shattered by the frost that they have been converted into immense lichen-clad stone mounds. Between these stretch extensive valleys and plains, now free of snow, if we except a snow-drift remaining here and there in the hollows. The plains were all covered with a very green continuous vegetation, which however on a closer examination was found to be not a true turf, but a mixture of grasses, allied plants, and a large number of different kinds of mosses and lichens. Actual flowers were found here only sparingly.[193] In this respect the coast tundra shows a remarkable difference from the coast lands on Vaygats Island and Novaya Zemlya. On the other hand, the abundance of luxuriant lichens and mosses was striking. The mosses along the beach and the borders of the snow-drifts remaining here and there bore fruit in abundance. Animal life on land was scanty; some few reindeer were seen, a mountain fox was killed, and a lemming caught.

Only the following birds were seen: owls (Strix nyctea) rather numerous, of which one was killed; a species of falcon, which was hunted unsuccessfully; snow buntings, breeding very generally in the stone mounds; a covey of snow ptarmigan, of which some young birds were shot; six species of waders, the most common birds of the region, of which a large number were shot; two kinds of gulls (Larus glaucus and tridactylus); Lestris parasitica and Buffonii, the latter the more common of the two; Anser bernicla, very common; and finally the long-tailed duck (Harelda glacialis) in great flocks swimming in the Sound. Bird life, viewed as a whole, was still scanty here, in comparison with that which we were accustomed to see in the northern regions west of Novaya Zemlya.

In the sea the higher animal life was somewhat more abundant. A walrus had been seen during the passage from the Yenisej, and on the ice drifting about in the Sound a number of seals, both Phoca barbata and Phoca hispida, were observed. This gave rise to the supposition that at the sea-bottom animal life was richer, which was also confirmed by the dredging yield. Nowhere was seen on our arrival any trace of man, but a cairn now indicates the place, off which the Vega and the Lena were anchored.

In this sea never before visited by any vessel, however, we were nearly coming in contact with a countryman. For while we lay at anchor in Taimur Sound, Captain Edward Johannesen came into the neighbourhood of the same place with his sailing vessel Nordland from Tromsoe. He had left Norway on the 22nd May 1878, had come to Gooseland in Novaya Zemlya on the 6th June, and had reached the northernmost point of that island on the 22nd July. Here loud thunder was heard on the 26th July. On the 10th August he steered eastwards from Novaya Zemlya across the Kara Sea between 76° and 77° N.L. in open water. On the 16th he had the Taimur country in sight. Here he turned, and steered first to the west, then to the north. In 77° 31' N.L. and 86° E.L. from Greenwich he discovered and circumnavigated a new island, which was named "Ensamheten" (Solitude). The island was free of snow, but not overgrown with grass. The animals that were seen were some bears and bearded seals, terns, fulmars, ivory gulls, flocks of black guillemots, and a "bird with a rounded tail and long bill," probably some wader. On the north-east side of the island a strong northerly current prevailed. The remote position and desolate appearance of the island gave occasion to the name proposed by Johannesen. Hence Johannesen sailed with a great bend to the north, which brought him to 78° N.L., back to the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya, and thence on the 12th September to Norway. During the return voyage across the Kara Sea also scarcely any ice was met with.[194]

An exceedingly persistent fog prevailed during the whole of the time we remained here, but at last on the 18th it lightened a little. We immediately weighed anchor and steamed along the western shore of Taimur Island. It is surrounded by a large number of islands that are not given on the map, and possibly Taimur Island itself is divided by sounds into several parts. During our voyage, however, the fog that was still very close hindered us from mapping, otherwise than in a very loose way, the islands, large and small, between and past which the Vega searched for a passage. So much we could in any case see, that the northern extremity of Taimur Island does not run so far north as the common maps show.

Ice we met with only in small quantity, and what we saw was very rotten fjord or river ice. I scarcely believe that in the course of the day we met with a single piece of ice large enough to flense a seal upon. We had as yet seen no true old drift-ice such as is to be met with north of Spitzbergen. In respect to the nature of the ice, there is a complete dissimilarity between the Kara Sea and the sea north and east of Spitzbergen. Another striking difference is the scarcity of warm-blooded animals which prevails in this region, hitherto exempted from all hunting. In the course of the day we had not seen a single bird—something which never before happened to me during a summer journey in the Arctic regions—and scarcely any seals.

On the 19th August we continued to sail and steam along the coast, mostly in a very close fog, which only at intervals dispersed so much that the lie of the coast could be made out. In order that they might not be separated, both vessels had often to signal to each other with the steam-whistle. The sea was bright as a mirror. Drift-ice was seen now and then, but only in small quantity and very rotten; but in the course of the day we steamed past an extensive unbroken ice-field, fast to the land, which occupied a bay on the west side of the Chelyuskin peninsula. The ice, of which it consisted, appeared in the mist immensely rough and high, although in fact it was nearly as rotten as that of which the narrow belts of ice were formed which we now and then met with out at sea.

The fog prevented all view far across the ice, and I already feared that the northernmost promontory of Asia would be so surrounded with ice that we could not land upon it. But soon a dark, ice-free cape peeped out of the mist in the north-east. A bay open to the north here cuts into the land, and in this bay both the vessels anchored on the 19th August at 6 o'clock p.m.

We had now reached a great goal, which for centuries had been the object of unsuccessful struggles. For the first time a vessel lay at anchor off the northernmost cape of the old world. No wonder then that the occurrence was celebrated by a display of flags and the firing of salutes, and, when we returned from our excursion on land, by festivities on board, by wine and toasts.

As on our arrival at the Yenisej, we were received here too by

a large Polar bear, who, even before the vessel anchored, was seen to go backwards and forwards on the beach, now and then turning his glance and his nose uneasily out to sea in order to investigate what remarkable guests had now for the first time come to his kingdom. A boat was put off to kill him. Brusewitz was the chosen shot; but on this occasion the bear took care not to form any closer acquaintance with our guns. The firing of the salute put him so thoroughly to flight, that he did not, as bears are wont, return the following day.

The north point of Asia forms a low promontory, which a bay divides into two, the eastern arm projecting a little farther to the north than the western. A ridge of hills with gently sloping sides runs into the land from the eastern point, and appears within sight of the western to reach a height of 300 metres. Like the plains lying below, the summits of this range were nearly free of snow. Only on the hill-sides or in deep furrows excavated by the streams of melted snow, and in dales in the plains, were large white snow-fields to be seen. A low ice-foot still remained at most places along the shore. But no glacier rolled its bluish-white ice-masses down the mountain sides, and no inland lakes, no perpendicular cliffs, no high mountain summits, gave any natural beauty to the landscape, which was the most monotonous and the most desolate I have seen in the High North.

As on the island off which we lay at anchor on the 11th August, the ground was everywhere burst asunder into more or less regular six-sided figures, the interior of which was usually bare of vegetation, while stunted flowering-plants, lichens and mosses, rose out of the cracks. At some few places, however, the ground was covered with a carpet of mosses, lichens, grasses and allied plants, resembling that which I previously found at Actinia Bay. Yet the flowering-plants were less numerous here, and the mosses more stunted and bearing fruit less abundantly. The lichen flora was also, according to Dr. Almquist's examination, monotonous, though very luxuriant. The plants were most abundant on the farthest extremity of the Cape. It almost appeared as if many of the plants of the Taimur country had attempted to migrate hence farther to the north, but meeting the sea, had stood still, unable to go farther and unwilling to turn. For here Dr. Kjellman found on a very limited area nearly all the plants of the region. The species which were distinctive of the vegetation here were the following: Saxifraga oppositifolia L., Papaver nudicaule L., Draba alpina L., Cerastium alpinum L., Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR., Alsine macrocarpa FENZL., Aira coespitosa L., Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR., and Alopecurus alpinus SM. The following plants occurred less frequently: Eritrichium villosum BUNGE, Saxifraga nivalis L.,

S cernua L., S. rivularis L., S. stellaris L., S. caspitesa L., S. flagellaris WILLD., S. serpyllifolia PURSH., Cardamine bellidifolia L., Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR., Oxyria digyna (L.) HILL., Salix polaris WG, Poa flexuosa WG., and Lucula hyperborea R. BR. There were thus found in all only twenty-three species of inconsiderable flowering-plants, among them eight species belonging to the Saxifrage family, a sulphur-yellow poppy, commonly cultivated in our gardens, and the exceedingly beautiful, forget-me-not-like Eritrichium. That the vegetation here on the northernmost point of Asia has to contend with a severe climate is shown, among other things, as Dr. Kjellman has pointed out, by most of the flowering-plants there having a special tendency to form exceedingly compact half-globular tufts.

The only insects which occurred here in any large number were poduræ, but some flies were also seen, and even a beetle, the before-mentioned Staphylinid. Of birds, there were seen a large number of sandpipers, an exceedingly numerous flock of barnacle geese—evidently migrating to more southerly regions, perhaps from some Polar land lying to the north of Cape Chelyuskin—a loom, some kittiwakes and ivory gulls, and remains of owls. Mammalia were represented by the bear already mentioned, and by the reindeer and the lemming, whose traces and dung were seen on the plains. In the sea, a walrus, several rough seals (Phoca hispida), and two shoals of white whales were seen.

All rivers were now dried up, but wide, shallow river-beds indicated that during the snow-melting season there was an abundant flow of water. The rush of snow rivulets and the cry of birds then certainly cause an interruption in the desolation and silence which were now spread over the clay beds of the plains, nearly bare of all vegetation. Probably, however, a little farther into the country, in some valley protected from the winds of the Polar Sea, we might find quite different natural conditions, a more abundant animal life, and a vegetable world, in summer, as rich in flowers as that which we meet with in the valleys of Ice Fjord or the "Nameless Bay" (Besimannaja Bay). We saw no trace of man here. The accounts, which were current as early as the sixteenth century, relating to the nature of the north point of Asia, however, make it probable that the Siberian nomads at one time drove their reindeer herds up hither. It is even not impossible that Russian hunters from Chatanga may have prosecuted the chase here, and that Chelyuskin actually was here, of which we have evidence in the very correct way in which the Cape, that now rightly bears his name, is laid down on the Russian maps.[195]

The rocks consist of a clay-slate, with crystals resembling chiastolite and crystals of sulphide of iron interspersed. At the Cape itself the clay-slate is crossed by a thick vein of pure white quartz. Here, according to an old custom of Polar travellers, a stately cairn was erected.

In order to get a good astronomical determination of the position of this important point I remained there until the 20th August at noon. The Lena was ordered to steam out to dredge during this time. Eight minutes north of the bay, where we lay at anchor, heavy and very close ice was met with. There the depth of the sea increased rapidly. Animal life at the sea-bottom was very abundant, among other things in large asterids and ophiurids.

According to the plan of the voyage I now wished to steam from this point right eastwards towards the New Siberian Islands, in order to see if we should fall in with land on the way. On the 20th and 21st we went forward in this direction among scattered drift-ice, which was heavier and less broken up than that which we had met with on the other side of Taimur Land, but without meeting with any serious obstacles. We fell in also with some very large ice-floes, but not with any icebergs. We were besides again attended by so close a mist that we could only see ice-fields and pieces of ice in the immediate neighbourhood of the vessel. Besides species of Lestris and kittiwakes we now also saw looms, birds that are almost wanting in the Kara Sea. Johannesen was of opinion that the presence of these birds showed that the sea is not completely frozen over in winter, because it is not probable that the loom in autumn and spring would fly across the frozen Kara Sea to seek in this distant region their food and their breeding-haunts.

The night before the 22nd we steamed through pretty close ice. The whole day so thick a fog still prevailed that we could not see the extent of the ice-fields in the neighbourhood of the vessel. Towards noon we were, therefore, compelled to take a more southerly course. When we found that we could not advance in this direction, we lay-to at a large ice-floe, waiting for clear weather, until in the afternoon the fog again lightened somewhat, so that we could continue our voyage. But it was not long before the fog again became so thick that, as the sailors say, you could cut it with a knife. There was now evidently a risk that the Vega, while thus continuing to "box the compass" in the ice-labyrinth, in which we had entangled ourselves, would meet with the same fate that befell the Tegetthoff. In order to avoid this, it became necessary to abandon our attempt to sail from Cape Chelyuskin straight to the New Siberian Islands, and to endeavour to reach as soon as possible the open water at the coast.

When it cleared on the morning of the 23rd, we therefore began again to steam forward among the fields of drift-ice, but now not with the intention of advancing in a given direction, but only of getting to open water. The ice-fields we now met with were very much broken up, which was an indication that we could not be very far from the edge of the pack. But notwithstanding this, all our attempts to find penetrable ice in an easterly, westerly, or southerly direction were unsuccessful. We had thus to search in a northerly direction for the opening by which we had sailed in. This was so much the more unpleasant as the wind had changed to a pretty fresh N.W. breeze, on which account, with the Vega's weak steam-power, we could make way only slowly. It was not until 6.30 p.m. that we at last came to the sack-formed opening in the ice through which we had sailed in at noon of the previous day.

One can scarcely, without having experienced it, form any idea of the optical illusions, which are produced by mist, in regions where the size of the objects which are visible through the fog is not known beforehand, and thus does not give the spectator an idea of the distance. Our estimate of distance and size in such cases depend wholly on accident. The obscure contours of the fog-concealed objects themselves, besides, are often by the ignorance of the spectator converted into whimsical fantastic forms. During a boat journey in Hinloopen Strait I once intended to row among drift-ice to an island at a distance of some few kilometres. When the boat started the air was clear, but while we were employed, as best we could, in shooting sea-fowl for dinner, all was wrapt in a thick mist, and that so unexpectedly, that we had not time to take the bearings of the island. This led to a not altogether pleasant row by guess among the pieces of ice that were drifting about in rapid motion in the sound. All exerted themselves as much as possible to get sight of the island, whose beach would afford us a safe resting-place. While thus occupied, a dark border was seen through the mist at the horizon. It was taken for the island which we were bound for, and it was not at first considered remarkable that the dark border rose rapidly, for we thought that the mist was dispersing and in consequence of that more of the land was visible. Soon two white snow-fields, that we had not observed before, were seen on both sides of the land, and immediately after this was changed to a sea-monster, resembling a walrus-head, as large as a mountain. This got life and motion, and finally sank all at once to the head of a common walrus, which lay on a piece of ice in the neighbourhood of the boat; the white tusks formed the snow-fields and the dark-brown round head the mountain. Scarce was this illusion gone when one of the men cried out "Land right a head—high land!" We now all saw before us a high Alpine region, with mountain peaks and glaciers, but this too sank a moment afterwards all at once to a common ice-border, blackened with earth. In the spring of 1873 Palander and I with nine men made a sledge journey round North-east Land. In the course of this journey a great many bears were seen and killed. When a bear was seen while we were dragging our sledges forward, the train commonly stood still, and, not to frighten the bear, all the men concealed themselves behind the sledges, with the exception of the marksman, who, squatting down in some convenient place, waited till his prey should come sufficiently within range to be killed with certainty. It happened once during foggy weather on the ice at Wahlenberg Bay that the bear that was expected and had been clearly seen by all of us, instead of approaching with his usual supple zigzag movements, and with his ordinary attempts to nose himself to a sure insight into the fitness of the foreigners for food, just as the marksman took aim, spread out gigantic wings and flew away in the form of a small ivory gull. Another time during the same sledge journey we heard from the tent in which we rested the cook, who was employed outside, cry out: "A bear! a great bear! No! a reindeer, a very little reindeer!" The same instant a well-directed shot was fired, and the bear-reindeer was found to be a very small fox, which thus paid with its life for the honour of having for some moments played the part of a big animal. From these accounts it may be seen how difficult navigation among drift-ice must be in unknown waters.

On the two occasions on which the vessel was anchored to ice-floes the trawl-net was used, and the hempen tangles. The net was drawn forward slowly with the ice which was drifting to the north-west before a fresh S.E. breeze which was blowing at the time. The yield of the trawling was extraordinarily abundant; large asterids, crinoids, sponges, holothuria, a gigantic sea-spider (Pycnogonid), masses of worms, crustacea, &c. It was the most abundant yield that the trawl-net at any one time brought up during the whole of our voyage round the coast of Asia, and this from the sea off the northern extremity of that continent.

Among the forms collected here we may specially refer to the large sea-spider, of which a drawing is given (p. 349); and three specimens of small stalked crinoids. The depth varied between 60 and 100 metres. The temperature of the water was at the surface +0° to—0°.6; at the bottom—1°.4 to 1°.6; its salinity was considerable, both at the bottom, where it was very nearly equal to that of the other great oceans, and at the surface, where it was indeed about a fifth-part less, but yet much greater than that of the surface-water in the Kara Sea.

It is singular that a temperature under the freezing-point of pure water should be advantageous for the development of an animal life so extremely rich as that which is found here, and that this animal life should not suffer any harm from the complete darkness, which during the greater portion of the year prevails at the bottom of the ice-covered sea.

When we got out of the ice we steamed towards the land, which was sighted on the 23rd at 8.45 p.m. The land was low and free from snow; the depth of the sea at a distance of ten kilometres from the coast varied between thirteen and fifteen metres. The coast here stretched from north to south. We followed it at a distance of seven to ten kilometres. A north-westerly breeze here carried the vessel, without the help of steam, rapidly forward over a completely smooth sea.

On the 24th August we still sailed along the land towards the south. The depth of the sea now increased to thirty-three metres at a distance of ten kilometres from land. The land rose gradually, and some distance from the coast beautiful mountain chains were seen, which, judging by the eye, rose to a height of from 600 to 900 metres. They were, like the plains along the coast, quite free from snow. Only in the clefts of the mountains there remained some few collections of snow or ice, which at two places appeared to form true glaciers, which however terminated at a considerable height above the sea. The snow-free slopes between the foot of the mountain and the shore bank, thirty to sixty metres high, formed an even plain, covered by a brownish-green turf, probably of the same nature as that we saw on Taimur Island.

During the forenoon we had splendid clear weather, and often we could see from the vessel no trace of ice. We saw a large number of walruses, and to judge by the fire which this sight kindled in the eyes of our hunters, it will not be long till the Norwegian hunting voyages are extended to the sea north and east of the north point of Asia. We saw besides a large number of looms and black guillemots, the former accompanied by young of the year, as large as rotges. About noon we sighted "land ahead to larboard." It was evidently Preobraschenie Island. I determined to land on it for a few hours to carry on researches in natural history, and to fix the position of the place by astronomical observations, if the weather should permit. The distance of this high-lying island was however greater than we expected. So that it was not until six o'clock in the evening that we could anchor off its south-west side, near the almost perpendicular face of cliffs abounding in sea-fowl.

During the last two days we had been sailing over a region, which on recent maps is marked as land. This shows that a considerable change must be made on the map of North Siberia, and I shall therefore quote here the observations on which the determination of our course is grounded.

Latitude. Longitude
Cape Chelyuskin[196]....................... 77°36.8' 103°17.2'
On board the Vega[197]at noon of the 21st Aug. 77°25' 109°12'
,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 22nd Aug. 76°33' 116° 9'
,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 23rd Aug. 76°48' 115° 0'
,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 24th Aug. 73° 0' 113°33'

At the last mentioned point we had laud to starboard of us at an estimated distance of 4'. Preobraschenie Island lay S. 21° W. 17.5' off. It is on the ground of these data and of the courses recorded in the log, that the track of the Vega has been laid down on the map, and no doubt can arise that the position of the east coast of Taimur peninsula, as indicated by us, is in the main correct.

Preobraschenie Island forms a pretty even grassy plain, lying from thirty to sixty metres above the sea-level, which in the north-west terminates towards the sea with an almost perpendicular rocky wall, but to the south-east sinks gradually down to two sand-banks which run far out to sea. At the time of our visit the island was free of snow and covered with a carpet of mosses mixed with grass, which was exceedingly abundant, especially on the south-west slopes of the island, protected as they were from the north winds. Here we encountered anew the Arctic animal world in all its profusion. The ledges of the perpendicular shore-cliffs of the island formed the breeding-place of numberless looms and kittiwakes, to which a few black guillemots attached themselves. Along the farthest margin of the beach waders ran busily backwards and forwards in order to collect their food. At the summits of the cliffs a flock of glaucous gulls were breeding, and on the slopes of the low land the white mountain owl was seen lying in wait for its prey, quiet and motionless for hours, but as usual it was wary and shy, so that it was only with difficulty that the hunter could get within range of it. At some places there extended between the foot of the "loomery" and the sea a stone-bestrewn beach, which at high water was mostly covered by the sea, and at low water was full of shallow salt-water pools. Here had settled two Polar bears that were soon killed, one by Lieutenant Brusewitz, the other by Captain Johannesen. The bears had evidently been on the hunt for looms, which along with their young, large as rotges and already able to swim, were swimming in the pools of water at the foot of the "loomery," and above all perhaps they were lying in wait for birds which by some accident happened to fall down from the breeding-place. In the sea no small number of seals were seen, and but a few hours before our arrival at the island we had sailed past herds of walrus.

Vegetation was much more luxuriant and richer in species than at Cape Chelyuskin, and naturally bore a more southern stamp, not only in consequence of the more southerly position of the island, but also on account of its shores being washed by the water of the Chatanga river, which is warm during summer.[198]

Unfortunately, on account of the advanced season of the year I could only allow the Vega to remain a few hours off this interesting island, and at 10.30 p.m. accordingly the anchor was weighed and our voyage along the coast resumed.

On the 25th, 26th and 27th August we had for the most part calm, fine weather, and the sea was completely free of ice. The temperature of the water again rose to +5°.8, and its salinity diminished considerably. But the depth now decreased so much, that, for instance, on the night before the 26th we had great difficulty in getting past some shoals lying west of the delta of the Lena, off the mouth of the Olonek.

It had originally been my intention to let the Vega separate from the Lena at some anchorage in one of the mouth-arms of the Lena river. But on account of the shallowness of the water, the favourable wind and the ice-free sea, that now lay before us to the eastward, I determined to part from the Lena in the open sea off Tumat Island. This parting took place on the night between the 27th and 28th August, after Captain Johannesen had been signalled to come on board the Vega, to receive orders, passport,[199] and letters for home. As a parting salute to our trusty little attendant during our voyage round the north point of Asia some rockets were fired, on which we steamed or sailed on, each to his destination.

During our passage from Norway to the Lena we had been much troubled with fog, but it was only when we left the navigable water along the coast to the east of Cape Chelyuskin that we fell in with ice in such quantity that it was an obstacle to our voyage. If the coast had been followed the whole time, if the weather had been clear and the navigable water sufficiently surveyed, so that it had been possible to keep the course of the vessel near the land, the voyage of the Vega to the mouth of the Lena would never have been obstructed by ice, and I am convinced that this will happen year after year during the close of August, at least between the Yenisej and the Lena. For I believe that the place where ice-obstacles will perhaps be met with most frequently will not be the north point of Asia, but the region east of the entrance to the Kara Sea.

FOOTNOTES:

[189] Namely, according to Dr. Kjellman's determination, the following:

Saxifraga oppositifolia L.

Saxifraga rivularis L.

Saxifraga cæspitosa L.

Cardamine bellidifolia L.

Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR.

Ranunculus hyperboreus ROTTB.

Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR.

Cerastium alpinum L.

Alsine macrocarpa FENZL.

Sagina nivalis FR.

Salix polaris WG.

Glyceria vilfoidea (ANDS.) TH. FR.

Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.

Aira cæspitosa L.

Juncus biglumis L.

[190] I can remember only one other instance of finding self-dead vertebrate animals, viz. when in 1873, as has already been stated (p. [110]), I found a large number of dead rotges on the ice at the mouth of Hinloopen Strait.

[191] I use this name because the ash-rain of March 1875 was first observed at Haga palace near Stockholm, and thus at the outer limit of the known area of distribution of the dust. It was first through the request which in consequence of this observation was published in the newspapers, that communications regarding singular observations in other quarters should be sent to the Swedish Academy of Sciences, that it became known that a similar rain had about the same time taken place over a very large part of middle Sweden and Norway. The dust however did not fall evenly, but distributed in spots, and at several different times. The distance from Stockholm of the volcanoes, where the outbreak took place, is nearly 2000 kilometres.

[192] Namely, by showing that the principal material of the plutonic and volcanic rocks is of cosmic origin, and that the phenomena of heat, which occur in these layers, depend on chemical changes to which the cosmic sediment, after being covered by thick terrestrial formations, is subjected.

[193] Dr. Kjellman has given the following list of the flowering plants collected by him in this region:—
Cineraria frigida RICHARDS.
Potentilla emarginata PURSH.
Saxifraga stellaris L. f. comosa.
Saxifraga nivalis L.
Saxifraga cernua L.
Saxifraga rivularis L.
Chrysosplenium alternifolium L.
Cardamine bellidifolia L.
Draba corymbosa R. BR.
Papaver nudicaule L.
Ranunculus pygmæus WG.
Ranunculus hyperboreus ROTTB.
Ranunculus sulphureus SOL.
Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR.
Cerastium alpinum L.
Alsine macrocarpa FENZL.
Salix polaris WG.
Poa arctica R. BR.
Arctophila peudulina (LAEST.) ANDS.
Catabrosa algida (Sol.) FR.
Colpodium latifolium R. BR.
Dupontia Fisheri R. BR.
Pleuropogon Sabini R. BR.
Aira cæspitosa L.
Hierochloa pauciflora R. BR.
Calamagrostis lapponica (WG.) HN.
Alopecurus alpinus SM.
Eriophorum angustifolium ROTH.
Eriophorum Scheuchzeri HOPPE.
Carex aquatilis WG.
Carex rigida GOOD.
Juncus biglumis L.
Luzula hyperborea R. BR.
Luzula arctica BL.

[194] H. Mohn. Die Insel Einsamkeit, &c., with a map (Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1879, p. 57).

[195] This has been doubted by Russian geographers. Von Baer for instance says:—

"Daruber ist gar kein Zweifel, dass dieses Vorgebirge nie umsegelt ist, und dass es auf einem Irrthum beruhte, wenn Laptew auf einer Seefahrt die Bucht, in welche der Taimur sich mündet, erreicht zu haben glaubte. Seine eigenen späteren Fahrten erwiesen diesen Irrthum. Die Vergleichung der Berichte und Verhältnisse lässt mich aber auch glauben, dass selbst zu Lande man das Ende dieses Vorgebirges nie erreicht habe; sondern Tscheljuskin, um dieser, man kann wohl sagen, grässlichen Versuche endlich überhoben zu seyr, sich zu der ungegründeten Behauptung entschloss, er habe das Ende gesehen, und sich überzeugt, Sibirien sei nach Norden überall vom Meere umgränzt," [statement by von Baer in Neueste Nachrichten über die nördlichste Gegend von Siberien; von Baer and von Helmersen, Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Russischen Reiches. IV. St. Petersburg, 1841, p. 275]. In the following page in the same paper von Baer indeed says that he will not lay any special weight on Strahlenberg's statement that Siberia and Novaya Zemlya hang together, but he appears to believe that they are connected by a bridge of perpetual ice.

[196] According to an observation with an artificial horizon on land.

[197] According to an observation on board. The observations for longitude that were made some hours before or after noon, are reduced to noon.

[198] The following 65 species were collected here by Dr. Kjellman.—/* Saussurea alpina DC. Gymnandra Stelleri CHAM. &c. SCHLECHT. Pedicularis hirsuta L. Eritrichium villosum BUNGE. Myosotis silvatica HOFFM. Phaca frigida L. Dryas octopetala L. Sieversia glacialis R. BR. Potentilla emarginata PURSH. Saxifraga oppositifolia L. Saxifraga bronchialis L. Saxifraga flagellaris WILLD. Saxifraga Hirculus L. Saxifraga serpyllifolia PURSH. Saxifraga stellaris L.f. comosa. Saxifraga nivalis L. Saxifraga hieraciifolia WALDST. &c. KIT. Saxifraga punctata L. Saxifraga cernua L. Saxifraga rivularis L. Saxifraga cæspitosa L. Chrysosplenium alternifolium L. Eutrema Edwardsii R. BR. Parrya macrocarpa R. BR. Cardamine bellidifolia L. Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR. Draba alpina L. Papaver nudicaule L. Ranunculus pygmæus WG. Ranunculus hyperboreus ROTTB. Ranunculus nivalis L. Ranunculus sulphurous SOL. Caltha palustris L. Wahlbergella apetala (L.) FR. Stellaria humifusa ROTTB. Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR. Cerastium alpinum L. Alsine macrocarpa FENZL. Alsine rubella WG. Sagina nivalis FR. Oxyria digyna (L.) HILL. Polygonum viviparum L. Salix arctica PALL. Salix reticulata L. Salix polaris WG. Poa arctica R. BR. Poa pratensis L. Glyceria angustata R. BR. Glyceria vilfoidea (ANDS.) TH. FR. Arctophila pendulina (LAEST.) AND. Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR. Colpodium latifolium R. BR. Dupontia Fisheri R. BR. Aira cæspitosa L. Hierochloa pauciflora R. BR. Alopecurus alpinus SM. Eriophorum angustifolium ROTH. Eriophorum russeolum FR. Eriophorum Scheuchzeri HOPPE. Carex ursina DESV. Carex aquatilis WG. Juncus biglumis L. Luzula hyperborea R. BR. Luzula arctica BL. Lloydia serotina (L.) REICHENB.

[199] Before our departure, I had through the Swedish Foreign Office obtained from the Russian Government letters patent in which the Russian authorities with whom we might come in contact were instructed to give us all the assistance that circumstances might call for.