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

by A. E. Nordenskiöld

CHAPTER XI.

Hope of release at the new year—Bove's excursion to the open water—Mild weather and renewed severe cold—Mercury frozen—Popular lectures—Brusewitz's excursion to Najtskaj—Another despatch of letters home—The natives' accounts of the state of the ice on the coast of Chukch Land—The Chukches carry on traffic between Arctic America and Siberia—Excursions in the neighbourhood of winter quarters—The weather during spring—The melting of the snow—The aurora—The arrival of the migratory birds—The animal world of Chukch Land—Noah Elisej's relief expedition—A remarkable fish—The country clear of snow—Release—The North-East Passage achieved.

The new year came in with a faint hope of release. For since the north and north-west winds that had prevailed almost constantly towards the close of December had given place to winds from the east and south, considerable "clearings" were again formed out at sea, and the Chukches again began to say that the ice would drift away, so that the vessel would be able to continue her voyage; a prediction which they always ended with a declaration, expressed both by words and gestures, that they would then bitterly lament, which they would also have had sufficient reason to do, considering the very friendly way in which they were treated by all on board the Vega, both officers and men.

On New Year's Day, in order to see the state of the ice farther out to sea, Lieut Bove, accompanied by the hunter Johnsen, again made an excursion to the open water. Of this he gave the following account:—

"I left the vessel on the forenoon of 1st January and reached the open water after four hours' steady walking. The deep loose snow made walking very fatiguing, and three rows of torosses also contributed to this, mainly in consequence of the often snow-covered cracks, which crossed the ice-sheet in their neighbourhood. One of the torosses was ten metres high. The size of the blocks of ice, which were here heaped on each other, showed how powerful the forces were which had caused the formation of the torosses. These ice ramparts now afford a much needed protection to the Vega's winter haven. About halfway between the open water and the vessel the way was crossed by cracks running from east to west, and clearly indicating that the opening in the ice would have extended to the distance of a kilometre from the vessel, if the violent storm in December had lasted twelve hours longer. The Vega would thereby have been in great danger. The edge of the ice towards the open water was evenly cut, as with an immense knife, and was so strong that one could walk along it as on a rock. Even from the top of a five-metre-high ice-rampart no boundary of the open water could be seen to the north-east or north. Partly from this, partly from the extension of the water-sky in this direction, I draw the conclusion that the breadth of the open water was at least thirty-five kilometres. The "clearing" was bounded on the east by an ice-rampart running north, which at a distance of nine or ten kilometres appeared to bend to the east. Possibly farther to the east beyond this ice-rampart there was another open water basin. The depth at the edge of the ice was twenty-one metres, the temperature of the water 2° C. The water ran at a considerable speed right out from the coast (i.e. from S.S.E.) As it ran here nearly in a straight line, the current may have been a tidal one. The open water swarmed with seals, according to Johnsen both bearded and rough. Neither Polar bears, walrusses, nor birds were seen."

Lieut. Bove's report confirmed me in my supposition that the open water, as towards the end of January 1873 at Mussel Bay, might possibly extend as far as our anchorage and open for us the way to Behring's Straits, in which case we could not refrain from continuing our voyage, however unpleasant and dangerous it might be at this season of the year. The Chukches also declared repeatedly that the open water in January would continue for a considerable time, and in expectation of this got their simple fishing implements ready. But both they and we were disappointed in our expectation. The Vega's ice-fetters remained undisturbed, and the blue border at the horizon grew less and again disappeared. This caused so great a want of food, and above all of train oil, among the natives, that all the inhabitants of Pitlekaj, the village nearest to us, were compelled to remove to the eastward, notwithstanding that in order to mitigate the scarcity a considerable quantity of food was served out daily at the vessel.

It appeals, however, as if an actual experience from the preceding year had been the ground of the Chukches' weather prediction. For on the 6th February a south-east wind began to blow, and the severe cold at once ceased. The temperature rose for a few hours to and even above the freezing-point. A water-sky was again formed along the horizon of the ice from north-east to north, and from the heights at the coast there was seen an extensive opening in the ice-fields, which a little east of Irgunnuk nearly reached the shore. Some kilometres farther east even the shore itself was free of ice, and from the hills our sailors thought they saw a heavy sea in the blue water border which bounded the circle of vision. If this was not an illusion, caused by the unequal heating and oscillatory motion of the lower stratum of the atmosphere, the open water may have been of great extent. Perhaps the statement of the natives was correct, that it extended as far as Behring's Straits. But we could not now place complete reliance on their statements, since we had rewarded with extra treating some predictions, relating to ice and weather, that were favourable to us. Even between the vessel's anchorage and the land various cracks had been formed, through which the sea water had forced its way under the snow, and in which some of us got cold feet or leg baths during our walks to and from the land.

The Chukches at Irgunnuk were now successful in killing a Polar bear and seventy seals, of which some were ostentatiously set up in rows, along with frozen slices of blubber, along the outer walls of the tents, and others were laid down in the blubber cellars, which were soon filled to overflowing. At Yinretlen, the encampment nearer us, the hunters on the other hand had obtained only eight seals. Gladness and want of care for the morrow at all events prevailed here also, and our skin-clad friends availed themselves of the opportunity to exhibit a self-satisfied disdain of the simple provisions from the Vega which the day before they had begged for with gestures so pitiful, and on which they must, in a day or two, again depend. The children, who had fallen off during recent weeks, if not in comparison with European children, at least with well-fed Chukch ones, began speedily to regain their former condition, and likewise the older people. Begging ceased for some days, but the vessel's deck still formed a favourite rendezvous for crowds of men, women, and children. Many passed here the greater part of the day, cheerful and gay in a temperature of -40° C, gossiped, helped a little, but always only a little, at the work on board and so on. The mild weather, the prospect of our getting free, and of an abundant fishing for the Chukches, however, soon ceased. The temperature again sank below the freezing-point, that is of mercury, and the sea froze so far out from the shore that the Chukches could no longer carry on any fishing. Instead we saw them one morning come marching, like prisoners on an Egyptian or Assyrian monument, in goose-march over the ice toward the vessel, each with a burden on his shoulder, of whose true nature, while they were at a distance, we endeavoured in vain to form a guess. It was pieces of ice, not particularly large, which they, self-satisfied, cheerful and happy at their new bit, handed over to the cook to get from him in return some of the kauka (food) they some days before had despised.

The first time the temperature of the air sank under the freezing-point of mercury, was in January. It now became necessary to use instead of the mercury the spirit thermometers, which in expectation of the severe cold had been long ago hung up in the thermometer case. When mercury freezes in a common thermometer, it contracts so much that the column of mercury suddenly sinks in the tube; or if it is short, goes wholly into the ball. The position of the column is therefore no measure of the actual degree of cold when the freezing takes place. The reading of -89°, or even of -150°, which at a time when it was not yet known that mercury could at a low temperature assume the solid form, was made on a mercurial thermometer in the north of Sweden,[258] and which at the time occasioned various discussions and doubts as to the trustworthiness of the observer, was certainly quite correct, and may be repeated at any time by cooling mercury under its freezing-point in a thermometer of sufficient length divided into degrees under 0°. The freezing of mercury[259] takes place from below upwards, the frozen metal as being heavier sinking down in that portion which is still fluid. If when it is half frozen the fluid be poured away from the frozen portion, we obtain groups of crystals, composed of small octohedrons, grouped together by the edges of the cube. None of our mercurial thermometers suffered any damage, nor was there any alteration of the position of the freezing-point in them from the mercury having frozen in them and again become fluid.

During the severe cold the ice naturally became thicker and thicker, and by the continual northerly winds still higher torosses were heaped up round the vessel, and larger and larger snow masses were collected between it and the land, and on the heights along the coast. All hopes or fears of an early release were again given up, and a perceptible dullness began to make itself felt after the bustle and festrvities of the Christmas holidays. Instead there was now arranged a series of popular lectures which were held in the lower deck, and treated of the history of the North-East Passage, the first circumnavigations of the globe, the Austrian-Hungarian Expedition, the changes of the earth's surface, the origin of man, the importance of the leaf to the plants, &c. It became both for the officers and scientific men and the crew a little interruption to the monotony of the Arctic winter life, and the lecturer could always be certain of finding his little auditory all present and highly interested. Some slight attempts at musical evening entertainments were also made, but these failed for want of musical instruments and musical gifts among the Vega men. We had among us no suitable director of theatrical representations after the English-Arctic pattern, and even if we had had, I fear that the director would have found it very difficult to gather together the dramatic talents requisite for his entertainment.

On the 17th February Lieutenant Brusewitz made an excursion to Najtskaj, of which he gives the following account:—

"I and Notti left the vessel in the afternoon, and after two hours came to Rirajtinop, Notti's home, where we passed the night, together with his three younger brothers and an invalid sister, who all lived in the same tent-chamber. Immediately after our arrival one of the brothers began to get the dog-harness and sleigh ready for the following day's journey, while the rest of us went into the interior of the tent, where the invalid sister lay with her clothes off, but wrapt in reindeer skins. She took charge of two train-oil lumps over which hung two cooking vessels, one formerly a preserve tin, and the other a bucket of tinned iron. One of the brothers came in with a tray, on which was placed a piece of seal blubber, together with frozen vegetables, principally willow leaves. The blubber was cut into small square pieces about the size of the thumb, after which one of the brothers gave the sister a large portion both of the blubber and vegetables. The food was thus served out to the others. Every piece of blubber was carefully imbedded in vegetable before it was eaten. When the vegetables were

finished there was still some blubber, which was given to the dogs that lay in the outer tent. After this the boiled spare-rib of a seal were partaken of, and finally a sort of soup, probably made from seal's blood. The sister had a first and special helping of these dishes. I also got an offer of every dish, and it did not appear to cause any offence that I did not accept the offer. After the close of the meal the cooking vessels were set down, the "pesks" taken off, and some reindeer skins taken down from the roof and spread out. The older brothers lighted their pipes, and the younger lay down to sleep. I was shown to one of the side places in the tent, evidently Notti's own. One of the lamps was extinguished, after which all slept. During the night the girl complained several times, when one of the brothers always rose and attended to her. At six in the morning I wakened the party and reminded them of our journey. All rose immediately. Dressing proceeded slowly, because much attention was given to the foot covering. No food was produced, but all appeared quite pleased when I gave them of my stock, which consisted of bread and some preserved beef-steaks. Immediately after breakfast four dogs were harnessed to the sleigh, with which Notti and I continued our journey to Najtskaj, I riding and he running alongside the sleigh. At Irgunnuk, a Chukch village about an English mile east of Rirajtinop, a short stay was made in order to try to borrow some dogs, but without success. We continued our journey along the shore, and at 10 o'clock A.M. arrived at Najtskaj, which is from fifteen to eighteen kilometres E.S.E. from Irgunnuk. Here we were received by most of our former neighbours, the inhabitants of Pitlekaj. Of the thirteen tents of the village the five westernmost were occupied by the former population of Pitlekaj, while the eight lying more to the eastward were inhabited by other Chukches. The Pitlekaj people had not pitched their common large tents, but such as were of inconsiderable size or small ones fastened close together. In all the tents here, as at Rirajtinop and Irgunnuk, there was much blubber laid up, we saw pieces of seal and whole seals piled up before the tents, and on the way to Najtskaj we met several sledges loaded with seals, on their way to Pidlin. At Najtskaj I went out hunting accompanied by a Chukch. We started eight hares, but did not succeed in getting within range of them. A red fox was seen at a great distance but neither ptarmigan nor traces of them could be discovered. At two in the afternoon I returned to Irgunnuk and there got another sleigh drawn by ten dogs, with which I soon reached the vessel"

On the 20th February three large Chukch sledges laden with goods and drawn by sixteen to twenty dogs stopped at the Vega. They said they came from the eastward, and were on their way to the market in the neighbourhood of Nischni Kolymsk. I again by way of experiment sent with them home-letters, for which, as they declined to take money, I gave them as postage three bottles of rum and abundant entertainment for men and dogs. In consideration of this payment they bound themselves faithfully to execute their commission and promised to return in May. And they kept then word. For on the 8th and 9th May a large number of sledges heavily laden with reindeer skins and drawn by many dogs, passed along the coast from west to east. Of course all rested at the Vega, the only house of entertainment on the coast of the Asiatic Polar Sea, considering it as a matter of indisputable right, that they should in return for a little talk and gossip obtain food and "ram." Very eagerly they now informed us that a letter would come with another dog train that might be expected in a few hours. This was for us a very great piece of news, the importance of which none can understand who has never hungered for months for news from home, from the home-land and the home-world. Eager to know if we had actually to expect a post from Europe, we asked them how large the packet was "Very large" was the answer, and the "ram" was of course measured accordingly. But when at last the letter came it was found to be only an exceedingly short note from some of the Russian officials at Kolyma, informing me that our letters had reached him on the 4th April/23rd March and had been immediately sent by express to Yakutsk. Thence they were sent on by post, reaching Irkutsk on the 20th/14th May, and Sweden on the 2nd August.

During autumn and midwinter the sunshine was not of course strong and continuous enough to be painful to the eyes, but in February the light from the snow-clouds and the snow-drifts began to be troublesome enough. On the 22nd February accordingly snow-spectacles were distributed to all the men, an indispensable precaution, as I have before stated, in Arctic journeys. Many of the Chukches were also attacked with snow-blindness somewhat later in the season, and were very desirous of obtaining from us blue-coloured spectacles. Johnsen even stated that one of the hares he shot was evidently snow-blind.

On the evening of the 22th February there burst upon us a storm with drifting snow and a cold of -36°. To be out in such weather is not good even for a Chukch dog. Of this we had confirmation the next day, when a Chukch who had lost his way came on board, carrying a dog, frozen stiff, by the backbone, like a dead hare. He had with his dog gone astray on the ice and lain out, without eating anything, in a snow-drift for the night. The master himself had suffered nothing, he was only hungry, the dog on the other hand scarcely showed any sign of life. Both were naturally treated on board the Vega with great commiseration and kindness. They were taken to the 'tweendecks, where neither Chukches nor Chukch dogs were otherwise admitted, for the man an abundant meal was served of what we believed he would relish best, and he was then allowed, probably for the first time in his life, to sleep if not under a sooty, at least under a wooden roof. The dog was for hours carefully subjected to massage, with the result that he came to life again, which struck us, and, as it appeared, not least the Chukch himself, as something wonderful.

In the beginning of March there passed us a large number of sledges laden with reindeer skins, and drawn by eight to ten dogs each. Every sledge had a driver, and as usual the women took no part in the journey. These trains were on a commercial journey from Irkaipij to Päk at Behring's Straits. We found among the foremen many of our acquaintances from the preceding autumn, and I need not say that this gave occasion to a special entertainment, for the people, bread, a little spirits, soup, some sugar, and tobacco, for the dogs, pemmican. Conversation during such visits became very lively, and went on with little hindrance, since two of us were now somewhat at home in the Chukch language. For if I except two men, Menka and Noah Elisej, who could talk exceedingly defective Russian, there was not one of the reindeer or dog-foremen travelling past who could speak any European language, and notwithstanding this they all carry on an active commerce with the Russians. But the Chukch is proud enough to require that his own language shall prevail in all international commerce in the north-east of Asia, and his neighbours find their advantage in this.

During the course of the winter, Lieutenant Nordquist collected from the Chukch foremen coming from a distance who travelled past, information regarding the state of the ice between Chaun Bay and Behring's Straits at different seasons of the year. Considering the immense importance of the question, even in a purely practical point of view, I shall quote verbatim the statements which he thus collected.

Statements regarding the state of the ice on the coast between Cape Yakan and Behring's Straits by Chukches living there.

"1. A Chukch from Yekanenmitschikan, near Cape Yakan, said that it is usual for open water to be there the whole summer.

"2. A Chukch from Kinmankau, which lies a little to the west of Cape Yakan, said the same.

"3. A Chukch from Yakan stated that the sea there becomes free of ice in the end of May or beginning of June. On the other hand it is never open in winter.

"4. Tatan from Yakan stated that the sea there is open from the end of May or beginning of June to the latter part of September or beginning of October, when the ice begins to drift towards the land.

"5. Rikkion from Vankarema said that the sea there is covered with ice in winter, but open in summer.

"6. A reindeer Chukch, Rotschitlen, who lives about twelve English miles from the Vega's winter quarters, said that Kolyutschin Bay, by the Chukches called Pidlin, is clear of ice the whole summer.

"7. Urtridlin from Kolyutschin said that neither at that island nor in Kolyutschin Bay is there any ice in summer.

"8. Ranau, from Yinretlen, also said that Kolyutschin Bay is always open in summer.

"9. Ettiu, from the village Nettej, between Irgunnuk and Behring's Straits, stated that the sea at Nettej is open in summer, independently of the wind, in winter only when the wind is southerly.

"10. Vankatte, from Nettej, stated that the sea there becomes open during the month "Tautinyadlin," that is, the latter part of May and the beginning of June, and is again covered with ice during the month "Kutscshkau," or October and November.

"11. Kepljeplja, from the village Irgunnuk, lying five English miles east of the Vega's winter quarters at Pitlekaj, said that the sea off these villages is open all summer, except when northerly winds prevail. On the other hand, he said that farther westward, as at Irkaipij, ice could nearly always be seen from the land.

"12. Kapatljin, from Kingetschkun, a village between Irgunnuk and Behring's Straits, stated on the 11th January that there was then open water at that village. He said further, that Behring's Straits in winter are filled with ice when the wind is southerly, but open when the wind is northerly. The same day a Chukch from Nettej-Kengitschkau, also between Irgunnuk and Behring's Straits, stated that ice then lay off that village. He confirmed Kapatljin's statement regarding Behring's Straits.

"13. Kvano, from Uedlje, near Behring's Straits, said that there the sea is always open from May to the end of September."

On the 13th March we came to know that spirits, too, form an article of commerce here. For, without having obtained any liquor from the Vega, the Chukches at Yinretlen had the means of indulging in a general fuddle, and that even their friendly disposition gives way under the effects of the intoxication we had a manifest proof, when the day after they came on board with blue and yellow eyes, not a little seedy and ashamed. In autumn a tall and stout Chukch giantess, who then paid us a visit, informed us that her husband had been murdered in a drunken quarrel.

Sledges of considerable size, drawn by reindeer, began after the middle of March to pass the Vega in pretty large numbers. They were laden with reindeer skins and goods bought at the Russian market-places, and intended for barter at Behring's Straits.

The reindeer Chukches are better clothed, and appear to be in better circumstances and more independent than the coast Chukches, or, as they ought to be called in correspondence with the former name, the dog Chukches. As every one owns a reindeer herd, all must follow the nomad mode of living, but at the same time they carry on traffic between the savages in the northernmost parts of America and the Russian fur-dealers in Siberia, and many pass their whole lives in commercial journeys. The principal market is held annually during the mouth of March, on an island in the river Little Anjui, 250 versts from Nischni Kolymsk. The barter goes on in accordance with a normal price-list, mutually agreed upon by the Russian merchants and the oldest of the Chukches. The market is inaugurated on the part of the Russians by a mass performed by the priest,[260] who always accompanies the Russian crown commissioner, and in the Chukches' camp with buffoonery by one of the Chukch Shamans. At such a market there is said to be considerable confusion, to judge by the spirited description which Wrangel gives of it (Reise, i. p. 269). We ought, however, to remember that this description refers to the customs that prevailed sixty years ago. Now, perhaps, there is a great change there. In the commercial relations in north-eastern Asia in the beginning of this century, we have probably a faithful picture of the commerce of the Beormas in former days in north-eastern Europe. Even the goods were probably of the same sort at both places, perhaps, also, the stand-points of the culture of the two races.

Besides the traders, a large number of Chukches from Kolyutschin Island and other villages to the west, travelled past us with empty sledges, to which were harnessed only a few dogs. They returned in the course of a few days with their sledges fully laden with fish which they said they had caught in a lagoon situated to the eastward. They also sometimes sold a delicious variety of the Coregonus taken in a lake in the interior some distance from the coast.

Further on in winter a number of excursions were undertaken in different directions, partly to find out these fishing places, partly to get an idea of the mode of life of the reindeer Chukches. I, however, never ventured to give permission for any long absence from the vessel, because I was quite convinced that the sea round the Vega after a few days' constant southerly storm might become open under circumstances which would not permit us to remain in the open road where we lay moored, my comrades' desire to penetrate far into the Chukch peninsula could not on that account be satisfied. But short as these excursions were, they give us, however, much information regarding our winter life, and our contact with the little-known tribe, on the coast of whose homeland the Vega had been beset, and on that account, perhaps, there may be reasons for making extracts from some of the reports given in to me with reference to these journeys.

Palander's and Kjellman's excursion to a reindeer Chukch camp south-west of Pitlekaj, is sketched by the former thus:—

"On the 17th March, 1879, accompanied by Dr. Kjellman, I went out with a sledge and five men, among them a native as guide, to the reindeer Chukch camp in the neighbourhood of Taffelberg (Table Mountain), with a view to obtain fresh reindeer flesh. The expedition was fitted out with two days' provisions, tent, mattrasses, and pesks. The reindeer Chukches were met with eleven English miles from the vessel. On an eminence here were found two tents, of which one at the time was uninhabited. The other was occupied by the Chukch, Rotschitlen, his young wife, and another young pair, the latter, if I understood them right, being on a visit, and properly having their home at Irgunnuk.

"Round the tent, which was considerably smaller than those we daily saw at the coast, lay a number of sledges piled up on one another. These sledges differed from the common dog-sledges in being considerably larger and wider in the gauge. The runners were clumsy and axed from large wood.

"Our proposal to purchase reindeer was immediately declined, although we offered in exchange bread, tobacco, rum, and even guns. As a reason for this refusal they stated that the reindeer at this season of the year are too lean to be slaughtered. We saw about fifty reindeer pasturing on an eminence at a distance of several thousand feet from us.

"In the afternoon Kjellman and I were invited into the tent, where we passed an hour in their sleeping chamber. On our entrance the lamp, which was filled with seal oil, was lighted, a sort of moss (sphagnum) was used as a wick. Our hostess endeavoured to make our stay in the tent as agreeable as possible, she rolled together reindeer skins for pillows and made ready for us a place where, stretched at full length, we might enjoy much needed repose. In the outer tent the other women prepared supper, which consisted of boiled seal's-flesh. We received a friendly invitation to share their meal, but as we had no taste for seal's-flesh, we declined their offer under the pretext that we had just had dinner. They took their meal lying with the body in the inner tent, but with the head under the reindeer-skin curtain in the outer, where the food was. After the meal was partaken of, their heads were drawn within the curtain, our host divested himself of all his clothes, the trousers excepted, which were allowed to remain. Our hostess let her pesk fall down from her shoulders, so that the whole upper part of the body thus became bare. The reindeer-skin boots were taken off, and turned outside in, they were carefully dried and hung up in the roof over the lamp to dry during the night. We treated the women to some sugar, which, in consequence of their want of acquaintance with it, they at first examined with a certain caution, finding afterwards that it tasted exceeding well. After the meal our host appeared to become sleepy, we accordingly said good-night, and went to our own tent, where it was quite otherwise than warm, the temperature during the night being about -11° C.

"After for the most part a sleepless night, we rose at half-past six next morning. When we came out of the tent we saw all the reindeer advancing in a compact troop. At the head was an old reindeer with large horns, that went forward to his master, who had in the meantime gone to meet the herd, and bade him good-morning by gently rubbing his nose against his master's hands. While this was going on the other reindeer stood drawn up in well-ordered ranks, like the crew in divisions on board a man-of-war. The owner then went forward and saluted every reindeer, they were allowed to stroke his hands with their noses. He on his part took every reindeer by the horn and examined it in the most careful way. After the inspection was ended at a sign given by the master the whole herd wheeled round and returned in closed ranks, with the old reindeer in front, to the previous day's pasture.

"The whole scene made a very favourable impression on us, it was not the grim hard savage showing in a coarse and barbarous way his superiority over the animals, but the good master treating his inferiors kindly, and having a friendly word for each of them. Here good relations prevailed between man and the animals. Rotschitlen himself was a stately young man, with an intelligent appearance and a supple handsome figure. His dress, of exceedingly good cut and of uncommonly fine reindeer skin, sat close to his well-grown frame, and gave us an opportunity of seeing his graceful and noble bearing, which was most observable when he was in motion.

"On our repeating our proposal to purchase reindeer we again met with a refusal, on which we struck our tent and commenced our return journey. We came on board on the 18th March at 3 o'clock P.M., after a march of four hours and three-quarters.

"The way to the reindeer camp rose and fell gently. The snow was hard and even, so that we could go forward rapidly. On the way out four foxes and some ravens were seen. At one place we found a large number of lemming passages excavated through the snow in an oblique direction towards the ground. Most of them were scratched up by foxes. The descent to an untouched lemming nest was cylindrical, and four and a half centimetres in diameter. During both days we had snow, and a thick and foggy atmosphere, so that we could see only a short distance before us, we did not however go astray, thanks to the good eyes and strongly developed sense of locality of our guide, the native"

Brusewitz's and Nordquist's Excursion to Nutschoitjin

Of this Nordquist gives the following account:—

"On the 20th March, at 9 o'clock A.M. Lieut Brusewitz, boatswain Lustig, the Norwegian hunters Johnsen and Sievertsen, the Chukch Notti, and I, left the Vega. Our equipment, which consisted of provisions for eight days, cooking apparatus, canvas tent, india-rubber mattrasses, reindeer-skin pesks, &c., we drew after us on a sledge. At 2.45 P.M. we came to Nutschoitjin (Coregonus Lake). During our journey we passed a river which flows between Nutschoitjin and the mountain Hotschkeanranga, about ten English miles south of this lake and falls into the great lagoon south of Prtlekaj. Farther into the interior this river, according to Notti's statement, flows through several lakes: he also informed us that in summer it abounds very much in salmon (lienne). Some sandy hills formed the watershed between it and Nutschoitjin. The only animal we saw during our outward journey was a fox. On the other hand we found traces of hares, ptarmigan, and a couple of lemmings. After we had found a suitable camping-place, we began to build a snow-house, which, however, we could not get ready till next day.

"On the 21st Brusewitz and I went out to view our nearest surroundings. On a hill north of the lake, where Potentilla, Carex, and Poa stuck up through the snow-covering, we saw a large number of traces of the fox, the hare, and the ptarmigan. We employed the 22nd in cutting some holes in the ice, which was about one and a half metres thick, and in setting a net. For I wished to ascertain what species of Coregonus it is which, according to Notti's statement, occurs in abundance in this lake. At the place where the net was set there was something more than a metre of water under the ice The bottom consisted of mud. When we cut a hole in the middle of the lake in order to get deeper water we found that the ice, one and a half metres thick there, reached to the bottom.

"Next morning we got in the net eleven Coregoni, of which the largest were about thirty-five centimetres long. Although the weather was grey and we could not see very far, we went the same day to the hill Hotschkeanranga; partly to determine its height, and partly from its summit, which is visible for a great distance, to get a view of the appearance of the surrounding country. After crossing the river which flows between Nutschoitjin and Hotchkeanranga, we began to ascend the long slope on whose summit Hotchkanrakenljeut (Hotchkeanranga's head) rises with steep sides above the surrounding country. Over the slope were scattered loose blocks of stone of an eruptive rock. The crest of "the head" was also closely covered with loose stones. On the north of wind side these stones were covered with a hard beaten crust of snow nearly two feet thick, on the south side most of them were bare. According to Brusewitz the southern slopes are still steeper than the northern. South of the hill he saw a large valley—probably a lake—through which flows the river which we crossed.

"As on the outward journey I went with Notti, he advised me to offer a little food and brandy to the Spirit of the Lake, itjaken kamak, in order to get good net fishing. On my inquiring what appearance he had, Notti replied "uinga lilapen," "I have never seen him." Besides this spirit there are in his view others also in streams, in the earth, and in some mountains. The Chukches also sacrifice to the sun and moon. On the other hand they do not appear, as some other races, to pay any sort of worship to their departed friends. When I gave him a biscuit and bade him offer it, he made with the heel a little depression in the snow on Nutschoitjin, crumbled a little bit of the biscuit in pieces, and threw the crumbs into the hollow. The rest of the biscuit he gave back, declaring that kamak did not require more, and that we should now have more fish in the net than the first time. Notti said also that the Chukches are wont to sacrifice something for every catch. Thus have probably arisen all the collections of bear and seal skulls and reindeer horns, which we often saw on the Chukch coast, especially on eminences.

"After we had read off the aneroid, we speedily made our way to the snow-house, because during the interval a violent storm of drifting snow had arisen, so that we could not see more than half a score of paces before us. On the slope below "the head" we had already on our way thither seen traces of two wild reindeer. Notti said that there are a few of them on the hill the whole winter. The greater number, however, draw farther southward, and approach the coast only during summer. Johnson had wounded an owl (Strix nyctea), which however made its escape. On the 24th snow fell and drifted during the whole day, so that we could not go out to shoot. On the 25th we came on board again.

"According to the aneroid observations made during the journey, the highest summit we visited had a height of 197 metres."

Lieutenant Bove's Account of an Excursion to Najtskaj and Tjapka.

"On the 19th April, at 4 o'clock A.M. the hunter Johnsen and I started on a short excursion eastward along the coast, with a view to pay a visit to the much frequented fishing station Najtskaj, where our old friends from Pitlekaj had settled. We had a little sledge which we ourselves drew, and which was laden with provisions for three days and some meteorological and hydrographical instruments.

"At 6 o'clock A.M. we reached Rirajtinop, where we found Notti, a serviceable, talented, and agreeable youth. The village Rirajtinop, which formerly consisted of a great many tents, now had only one tent, Notti's, and it was poor enough. It gave the inhabitants only a slight protection against wind and cold. Among household articles in the tent I noticed a face-mask of wood, less shapeless than those which according to Whymper's drawings are found among the natives along the river Youcon, in the territory of Alaska, and according to Dr. Simpson among the West-Eskimo. I learned afterwards that this mask came from Päk, Behring's Straits, whither it was probably carried from the opposite American shore.

"The village Irgunnuk lies from three to four hundred metres from Rirajtinop, and consists of five tents, one of which two days before had been removed from Yinretlen. The tents are as usual placed on earthy eminences, and have if possible the entrance a couple of paces from some steep escarpment, manifestly in order that the door opening may not be too much obstructed with snow. I reckon the population of Irgunnuk at forty persons.

"Off this village the ice is broken up even close to the land into torosses, five to six metres high, which form a chain which closely follows the shore for a distance of five to six hundred metres to the eastward. The coast from Irgunnuk to Najtskaj runs in a straight line, is low, and only now and then interrupted by small earthy eminences, which all bear traces of old dwellings. Each of these heights has its special name: first Uelkantinop, then Tiumgatti, and lastly Tiungo, two miles west of Najtskaj. In the neighbourhood of Uelkantinop we were overtaken by a reindeer-Chukch, who accompanied us to Najtskaj in order there to purchase fish and seal-blubber. At noon we reached Najtskaj, where our arrival had been announced by a native, who, with his dog-team, had driven past us on the way. Accordingly on our entrance we were surrounded by the youth of the village, who deafened us with then unceasing cries for bread (kauka), tobacco, ram, &c. After some moments the begging urchins were joined both by women and full-grown men. We entered a tent, which belonged to a friend or perhaps relation of Notti. There we were very well received. In the same tent the reindeer-Chukch also lodged who had given us his company on the way. He went into the sleeping chamber, threw himself down there, took part in the family's evening meal, all almost without uttering a word to the hostess, and the next morning he started without having saluted the host. Hospitality is here of a peculiar kind. It may perhaps be expressed thus To-day I eat and sleep in your tent, to-morrow you eat and sleep in mine; and accordingly, as far as I saw, all, both rich and poor, both those who travelled with large sledges, and those who walked on foot, were received in the same way. All are sure to find a corner in the tent-chamber.

"The tent-chamber, or yaranga, as this part of the tent is called by the natives, takes up fully a third-part of the whole tent, and is at the same time work-room, dining-room, and sleeping chamber. Its form is that of a parallelepiped; and a moderately large sleeping chamber has a height of 1.80 metre, a length of 3.50, and a breadth of 2.20 metres. The walls are formed of reindeer skin with the hair inwards, which are supported by a framework of posts and cross-bars. The floor consists of a layer of grass undermost, on which a walrus skin is spread. The grass and the skin do not form a very soft bed, yet one on which even a tried European wanderer may find rest. The interior of the sleeping-chamber is lighted and warmed by lamps, whose number varies according to the size of the room. A moderately large chamber has three lamps, the largest right opposite the entrance, the two others on the cross walls. The lamps are often made of a sort of stone, which is called by the natives ukulschi. They have the form of a large ladle. The fuel consists of train-oil, and moss is used for the wick. These lamps besides require constant attention, because half-an-hour's neglect is sufficient to make them smoke or go out. The flame is at one corner of the lamp, whose moss wick is trimmed with a piece of wood of the shape shown in the drawing. The lamp rests on a foot, and it in its turn in a basin. In this way every drop of oil that may be possibly spilled is collected. If there is anything that this people ought to save, it is certainly oil, for this signifies to them both light and heat. In the roof of the bedchamber some bars are fixed over the lamps on which clothes and shoes are hung to dry. The lamps are kept alight the whole day, during night they are commonly extinguished, as otherwise they would require continual attention. Some clothes and fishing implements, two or three reindeer skins to rest upon—these are the whole furniture of a Chukch tent.

a. The oil. b. The wick. c. The foot. d. The basin under it. e. Stick for trimming the wick.

"Every tent is besides provided with some drums (yárar). These are made of a wooden ring, about seventy centimetres in diameter, on which is stretched a skin of seal or walrus gut. The drum is beaten with a light stick of whalebone. The sound thus produced is melancholy, and is so in a yet higher degree when it is accompanied by the natives' monotonous, commonly rhythmical songs, which appear to me to have a strong resemblance to those we hear in Japan and China. A still greater resemblance I thought I observed in the dances of these peoples. Notti is a splendid yárar-player. After some pressing he played several of their songs with a feeling for which I had not given him credit. The auditors were numerous, and by their smiles and merry eyes one could see that they were transported by the sounds which Notti knew how to call from the drum. Notti was also listened to in deep silence, with an admiration like that with which in a large room we listen to a distinguished pianist. I saw in the tent no other musical instrument than that just mentioned.

"The day we arrived at Najtskaj we employed in viewing the neighbourhood of the village. We accordingly ascended a hill about thirty metres high to the south of the village in order to get a clear idea of the region. From the summit of the hill we had a view of the two lagoons west and east of Najtskaj. The western appeared, with the exception of some earthy heights, to embrace the whole stretch of coast between Najtskaj, the hill at Yinretlen, and the mountains which are visible in the south from the Observatory. The lagoon east of Najtskaj is separated from the sea by a high rampart of sand, and extends about thirty kilometres into the interior, to the foot of the chain of hills which runs along there. To the eastward the lagoon extends along the coast to the neighbourhood of Serdze Kamen. This cape was clearly seen and, according to an estimate which I do not think was far from the truth, was situated at a distance of from twenty-five to twenty-six kilometres from Najtskaj. It sinks terracewise towards the sea, and its sides are covered with stone pillars, like those we saw in the neighbourhood of Cape Great Baranoff. Serdze Kamen to the south is connected with mountain heights which are the higher the farther they are from the sea. Some of these have a conical form, others are table-shaped, reminding us of the Ambas of Abyssinia. Ten or twelve miles into the interior they appear to reach a height of six hundred to nine hundred metres.

"The fishing in the eastern lagoon takes place mainly in the neighbourhood of Najtskaj, at a distance of about five kilometres from the village. Hooks are exclusively used, and no nets or other fishing implements. In a few minutes I saw twenty cod (urokadlin) caught, and about as many small fish, called by the natives nukionukio. For the fishing the natives make a hole in the ice, a decimetre in diameter. Round the hole they build, as a protection against wind and drifting snow, a snow wall eighty centimetres high, forming a circle with an inner diameter of a metre and a half. The fish-hooks are of iron and are not barbed. The line is about five metres long, To the west Idlidlja Island, in the background the village Tjapka, to the right the great lagoon. (After a drawing by O. Nordquist.)

and is fixed to a rod nearly a metre in length. At the end of the angling line hangs a weight of bone, and beside it the hook. It is generally the women who fish, yet there are generally two or three men about to open the holes, build the walls, and keep the fishing-places clear. All the holes with their shelter-walls lie in an arc, about a kilometre in length, whose convex side is turned to the east. The ice in the lagoon was 1.7 metre thick, the water 3.2 metres deep, and the thickness of snow on the ice 0.3 metre.

"The day after our arrival at Najtskaj we visited the village Tjapka, which lies at a distance of six kilometres. This village contains thirteen tents, some of which are more roomy and better built than any Chukch tent I have previously seen. We lodged in a tent which belonged to Erere, a friendly man with a face that was always cheerful. His sleeping-chamber was so large that it could hold more than one family. We found the inmates there completely naked, Erere's wife, Kedlanga, not excepted. Kedlanga was well formed, her bosom full, her stomach somewhat projecting, the thighs poor, the legs slender, the feet small. The men appeared to have a greater disposition to stoutness than the women. Some of the children had disproportionately large stomachs. Both men and women wore copper rings on the legs, the wrists, and the upper arms. On festivals they decorate themselves with iron rings, with which some reminiscence appears to be connected, to judge by the fact that they will not part with them.

"Erere's family was very numerous, according to the prevailing state of matters here. He had five children, whose names, according to their age, were, Hatanga, Etughi, Vedlat, Uai, and Umonga. In all the tents which I visited I have inquired the number of children. Only two or three wives had more than three; the average may be estimated at two.

"The children are from their tenderest years set apart for each other, thus Etughi, Erere's second son, who was little more than eight, was set apart for Keipteka, a girl of six or seven. Etughi and Keipteka slept under the same roof, though apart. "When they grow bigger," said Erere to me, "then sleeping-places will be put alongside each other". At what age this takes place I have not ascertained, but I suppose that it is very early, as is common with all Oriental races.

"Right opposite Tjapka lies a small island, by the natives called Idlidlja, which is about 800 metres in circumference. Its shores rise perpendicularly on all sides except that which is opposite Tjapka, in which direction it sinks with a steep slope. On the north end of it we found three or four whales' bones and some pieces of driftwood, but nothing to indicate that there had been any Onkilon dwellings there. The island swarmed with hares, which the inhabitants of Tjapka hunt with the bow. For this hunting they are accustomed to build circular walls of snow, pierced with loopholes, through which they shoot the unsuspecting animals.

"Regarding life in the tent I have still the following notes. The most troublesome work is given to the older women. They rise early to light and attend to the lamps, yoke the dogs, and go fishing. The young women, on the other hand, sleep far into the day. The housewives return at noon, then work is then finished, if we do not consider as work the constant motion of the tongue in talk and gossip. The younger people have it assigned to them to sew clothes, arrange the fishing-lines and nets, prepare skins, &c. Sewing-thread is made from the back sinews of the reindeer, which they procure by barter from the reindeer-Chukches, giving for them fish and seal-blubber.

"One cannot, without having seen it, form any idea of the large quantity of food they can consume. One evening I saw eight persons, including one child, eat about 30 lbs. of food. The bill of fare was: 1, raw fish; 2, soup; 3, boiled fish; 4, seal-blubber; 5, seal-flesh. The raw fish commonly consists of frozen cod. The soup is made partly of vegetables, partly of seal-blood; I saw both kinds. Vegetable soup was prepared by boiling equal quantities of water and vegetables, till the mixture formed a thick pap. The blood soup is cooked by boiling the blood together with water, fish, and fat. They are very fond of this soup. The seal-blubber they eat by stuffing into the mouth the piece which has been served to them, and then cutting a suitable mouthful with the knife, which they bring close to the lips. In the same way they do with the flesh.

"With the exception of the old women's gossip the greatest quietness prevails in the sleeping-chamber. It is not uncommon for men to visit each other. Thus the first night we spent at Najtskaj the tent where we lodged was full of people, but without the least disturbance arising. If one had anything to say he talked in quite a low tone, as if he were shy. He was listened to attentively, without any interruption. First when he had finished another began.

"Affection between spouses and parents and children is particularly strong. I have seen fathers kiss and caress their children before they went to rest, and what I found most remarkable was that the children never abused this tender treatment. Whatever one gave them, it was their first thought to divide it with their parents. In this respect and in many others they were far in advance of a large number of European children."

Lieutenant Bove's Report on an Excursion along with Dr. Almquist to the Interior of the Chukch Peninsula, from the 13th to the 17th June, 1879.

"We started from the vessel on the morning of the 13th June with a view to penetrate as far as possible into the interior of the Chukch peninsula. For the journey we had hired, for a liberal payment, two sledges drawn by dogs from Rotschitlen, a Chukch at Irgunnuk. The dogs and sledges surpassed our expectation. In fourteen hours we traversed a distance of nearly forty minutes, including bends, which corresponds to a speed of three, perhaps four, English miles an hour, if we deduct the rests which were caused by the objects of the journey—scientific researches. This speed strikes me as not inconsiderable, if we consider the weight which the dogs must draw, and the badness and unevenness of the way. For the ground was undulating, like a sea agitated by a storm. But pleased as we were with our sledges and dogs, we were as dissatisfied with Rotschitlen, a faint-hearted youth, without activity or experience. With another driver we might have been able in a few days to penetrate as far as the bottom of Kolyutschin Bay, which differs greatly in its form, from that which Russian, English, and German maps give to it. It is not improbable that it is almost connected by lakes, lagoons, and rivers with St. Lawrence Bay or Metschigme Bay, whose inner parts are not yet investigated.

"After we left the lagoons at Pitlekaj and Yinretlen, the coast began gradually to rise by escarpments, each about five metres in height. The plains between the escarpments are full of lagoons or marshes. Such a terrain continued until, about five hours' way from the vessel, we came to a height of twenty-seven metres. From this point the terrace-formations cease, and the terrain then consists of a large number of ranges of heights, intersected by rivulets, which during the snow-melting season must be very much flooded. Seven or eight hours' way from the vessel we met with such a rivulet, which farther to the S.S.E. unites with another which runs between two rocky escarpments twenty metres high. On one of these we pitched our tent, in order to draw and examine some hills which were already divested of the winter dress they had worn for nine long months. On the top of one of the hills we found marks of two recently-struck tents, which probably belonged to a reindeer Chukch, who had now settled halfway between Pitlekaj and Table Mount upon a chain of heights which appears to separate the Irgunnuk lagoon from the rocky eastern shore of Kolyutschin Bay. At our resting place we found a large number of reindeer horns and a heap of broken bones.

"After resuming our journey we came in a short time to the foot of Table Mount, whose height I reckoned at 180 metres. It slopes gently to the west and south (about 10°), but more steeply to the east and north (about 15°). The animal world there showed great activity. In less than an hour we saw more than a dozen foxes that ran up and down the hills and circled round us, as if they ran with a line. Fortunately for them they kept at a respectful distance from our doctor's sure gun.

"On the other side of Table Mount the ground sinks regularly towards Kolyutschin Bay. Here for a while we sought in vain for Yettugin's tent, in which we intended to pass the night, and which had been fixed upon as the starting-point of future excursions, till at last reindeer traces and afterwards the sight of some of these friendly animals brought us to the right way, so that about 9 o'clock P.M. we got sight of the longed-for dwelling in the middle of a snow-desert. At the word yaranga (tent) the dogs pointed their ears, uttered a bark of joy, and ran at full speed towards the goal. We arrived at 10.30 P.M. In the tent we were hospitably received by its mistress, who immediately made the necessary preparations for our obtaining food and rest. Yettugin himself was not at home, but he soon returned with a sledge drawn by reindeer. These animals had scarcely been unharnessed when they ran back to the herd, which according to Yettugin's statement was six kilometres east of the tent.

"I have never seen a family so afflicted with ailments as Yettugin's. The sexagenarian father united in himself almost all the bodily ailments which could fall to the lot of a mortal. He was blind, leprous (?), and had no use of the left hand, the right side of the face, and probably of the legs. His body was nearly everywhere covered with the scars of old sores from four to five centimetres in diameter. As Dr. Almquist and I were compelled to pass the night in the same confined sleeping-chamber with him, it was therefore not to be wondered at that we drew ourselves as much as possible into our corner. The sleeping-chamber or inner tent of a reindeer-Chukch is besides much more habitable than that of a coast-Chukch, the air, if not exactly pure, may at least be breathed, and the thick layer of reindeer skins which covers the tent floor may well compare in softness with our beds on board. Yettugin, his wife Tengaech, and his brother Keuto, slept out of doors in order to give us more room and not to disturb us when rising. Keuto had inherited no small portion of his father's calamity. He was deaf, half idiotic, and on his body there were already traces of such spots as on the old man's. Keuto was however an obliging youth, who during our stay in the tent did all that he could to be of use to us, and constantly wandered about to get buds and plants for us. He was a skilful archer; I saw him at a distance of twenty or twenty-five paces kill a small bird with a blunt arrow, and when I placed myself as a target he hit me right in the middle of the breast at a distance of perhaps thirty metres.

"The 14th was employed by me in astronomical and geodetical observations, and by Dr. Almquist in excursions in the neighbourhood of Yettugin's tent in order to investigate the fauna and flora of the neighbourhood. About 10 o'clock P.M. he returned, quite exhausted after eight hours' walking in deep water-drenched snow under a perceptible solar heat. The results of the excursion were in all respects exceedingly good, not only in consequence of a number of finds in natural history, but also through the discovery that the shore of Kolyutschin Bay runs three-quarters of a mile south-west of Yettugin's tent, which was situated in 66° 42' 4" North Lat, and 186° 24' 0" Long, east from Greenwich. Dr. Almquist had walked four or five miles along the eastern shore of the bay, which at most places is perpendicular with a height of fifteen metres. In consequence of this discovery we determined to continue our hydrographical observations as far as the bottom of the bay, which, according to Yettugin's account, was two days' march from the tent. But we could not carry out our plan in consequence of our guide's laziness, for he declared that on no conditions would he accompany us farther. Neither entreaties nor threats availed to disturb this his resolution. I endeavoured myself to drive the sledges, but the dogs would not move out of the spot, though, following Rotschitlen's system, I thrashed them very soundly.

"The place where Yettugin's tent was pitched offered us a view of an extensive snow-plain, which was enclosed on all sides by high hills. In the north and north-east Table Mount and the Tenen hill keep off the north winds, and to the south the encampment is protected by a long and high mountain chain from the winds coming from that quarter. I calculated the height of some of the mountains at from 1200 to 1500 metres, and their azure-blue colour furrowed by dark lines appeals to me to indicate the presence of ice on the slopes. One of the summits of this mountain chain was easily recognisable. It was a truncated cone, perhaps 1500 metres high. Kolyutschin Bay lies between these mountains and Yettugin's tent. Its western shore also appears to rise perpendicularly from the sea, and it is higher than the eastern. The bay, which appears to be much larger than it is represented on the maps, was covered with level ice, only here and there a piece of ice covered with snow was seen sticking up.

"As we were forced to desist from visiting the interior of Kolyutschin Bay, we determined to go to the ground where Yettugin's reindeer pastured. We therefore left the tent on the evening of the 15th and travelled E.N.E. The warmth, which had now commenced, began to make travelling over snow fields difficult, the dogs sank to the stomach, and not unfrequently we had to alight in order to help the poor animals to climb the hills we were obliged to ascend. Scarcely however had they come to the reindeer tracks before even the most exhausted of them rushed along at the top of their speed, which might be pleasant enough uphill, but when they were coming down it was very dangerous, because the slope nearly always ends with a steep escarpment. We came once, without observing it, to the edge of such a precipice, and if we had not succeeded in time in slackening our speed a nice confused mass of men, dogs, and sledges would have tumbled over it. In order to excite their draught animals the Chukches avail themselves of their dogs' inclination to run after the reindeer, and during their journeys they endeavour to spur them on yet more by now and then imitating the reindeer's cry. After two or three hours travelling we fell in with the first reindeer, and then by degrees with more and more, until finally about 11 o'clock P.M. we came to a numerous herd, tended by Yettugin. I applied to him, asking him to barter a reindeer in good condition for a gun which I had brought along with me. After various evasions Yettugin at length promised to give us next day the reindeer for the gun. He would not however himself, or with his own knife, kill the reindeer, on which account I requested Dr. Almquist to give it the coup de grâce.

"In consequence of the soft state of the snow we were obliged to defer the commencement of our return journey to the evening of the 16th. We now travelled over the chain of hills which unites Table Mount with Tenen, and descended their northern steep slope towards an extensive plain, studded for the most part with bogs and marshes. The 17th came in with mist and considerable warmth. The mist limited the circle of vision to a distance of some few metres, and the high temperature in a short time destroyed the crust which had been formed in the course of the preceding night on the surface of the snow, and melted the layers of snow which still covered the northern slopes of these two hills. The southern slopes on the other hand were almost quite bare, and the valleys began to be filled with water. Four or five days as warm as these and I believe there scarcely would be any snow remaining round Kolyutschin Bay. The illusions caused by the white fog illuminated by the sunlight were very astonishing. Every small spot of ground appeared as an extensive snow-free field, every tuft of grass as a bush, and a fox in our immediate neighbourhood was for a moment taken for a gigantic bear. Besides, during such a fog the action of the sunlight on the eyes was exceedingly painful even in the case of those who carried preservers. During the return Rotschitlen lost his way in consequence of the numerous different tracks. Fortunately I had observed how we travelled, and could with the help of the compass pilot our two small craft to a good haven. On the 17th of June at 1.30 P.M. we were again in good condition on board the Vega."

In the society on board the prospects of an alteration in the constant north winds, the perpetual snow-storms and the unceasing cold, and the hope of a speedy release from the fetters of the ice, were naturally constantly recurring topics of conversation. During this time many lively word-battles were fought between the weather prophets in the gunroom, and many bets made in jest between the optimists and pessimists. The former won a great victory, when at noon on the 8th February the temperature lose to +0°.1 C., but with the exception of this success fortune always went against them. The north wind, the drifting snow and the cold, would never cease. A blue water-sky indeed was often visible at the horizon to the north and north-east, but the "clearing" first reached our vessel a couple of hours before we left our winter haven for ever, and up to the 15th June the thickness of the ice was almost undiminished (1-1/2 metre) The sun rose higher and higher, but without forming any crust upon the snow, although upon the black hull of the Vega, perhaps with the help of the heat in the interior, it had by the 14th March melted so much snow that small icicles were formed at the gunwale. It was one of the many deceptive prognostications of spring which were hailed with delight. However, immediately after severe cold recommenced and continued during the whole of the month of April, during which the temperature of the an never rose above -4°6, the mean temperature being -18°9.

May began with a temperature of -20°.1. On the 3rd the thermometer showed -26°.8, and in the "flower-month" we had only for a few hours mild weather with an air temperature +1°.8. Even the beginning of June was very cold, on the 3rd we had -14°.3, with a mean temperature for the twenty-four hours of -9°.4. Still on the 13th the thermometer at midnight showed -8°.0, but the same day at noon with a gentle southerly wind a sudden change took place, and after that date it was only exceptionally that the thermometer in the open air sank below the freezing-point. The melting and evaporation of snow now began, and went on so rapidly that the land in the end of the month was almost free of snow.

Under what circumstances this took place is shown by the following abstract of the observations of temperature at Pitlekaj from the 13th June to the 18th July, 1879:—

Max Min Mean Max Min Mean
June 13 +3.6° -8.0° -1.95° July 1 +0.8° -0.6° +0.07°
14 +2.6 +0.2 +1.47 2 +1.1 -1.0 +0.40
15 +3.1 +1.7 +2.28 3 +5.0 +1.0 +2.28
16 +1.6 -0.6 +0.90 4 +3.8 +1.4 +2.68
17 +3.0 +0.2 +1.22 5 +5.2 +2.0 +3.60
18 +2.4 -0.6 +1.23 6 +8.6 +1.0 +2.28
19 +3.6 +1.4 +2.43 7 +5.0 +1.4 +2.68
20 +3.5 +1.7 +2.50 8 +8.6 +0.6 +4.82
21 +2.6 +1.5 +2.07 9 +1.8 +0.4 +0.97
22 +3.0 +1.5 +2.28 10 +1.4 +0.5 +0.90
23 +4.1 +1.8 +3.00 11 +1.4 +0.6 +1.00
24 +6.8 +0.9 +3.18 12 +9.0 +0.5 +4.73
25 +4.4 +0.4 +2.30 13 +6.5 +3.7 +5.03
26 +3.8 +0.6 +1.77 14 +5.4 +1.8 +3.68
27 +1.4 +0.7 +1.02 15 +1.6 +0.6 +1.13
28 +2.1 +0.2 +0.92 16 +3.0 +0.6 +1.52
29 +0.9 -1.0 +0.12 17 +11.5 +8.8 +7.80
30 +1.0 -1.8 -0.27 18 +9.2 +6.2 +7.52

The figures in the maximum column, it will be seen, are by no means very high. That the enormous covering of snow, which the north winds had heaped on the beach, could disappear so rapidly notwithstanding this low temperature probably depends on this, that a large portion of the heat which the solar rays bring with them acts directly in melting the snow without sun-warmed air being used as an intermediate agent or heat-carrier, partly also on the circumstance that the winds prevailing in spring come from the sea to the southward, and before they reach the north coast pass over considerable mountain heights in the interior of the country. They have therefore the nature of föhn winds, that is to say, the whole mass of air, which the wind carries with it, is heated, and its relative humidity is slight, because a large portion of the water which it originally contained has been condensed in passing over the mountain heights. Accordingly when the dry föhn winds prevail, a considerable evaporation of the snow takes place. The slight content of watery vapour in the atmosphere diminishes its power of absorbing the solar heat, and instead increases that portion of it which is found remaining when the sun's rays penetrate to the snowdrifts, and there conduce, not to raise the temperature, but to convert the snow into water. [261]

The aurora is, as is well-known, a phenomenon at the same time cosmic and terrestrial, which on the one hand is confined within the atmosphere of our globe and stands in close connection with terrestrial magnetism, and on the other side is dependent on certain changes in the envelope of the sun, the nature of which is as yet little known, and which are indicated by the formation of spots on the sun; the distinguished Dutch physicist, VON BAUMHAUER, has even placed the occurrence of the aurora in connection with cosmic substances which fall in the form of dust from the interstellar spaces to the surface of the earth. Thus splendid natural phenomenon besides plays, though unjustifiably, a great rôle in imaginative sketches of winter life in the high north, and it is in the popular idea so connected with the ice and snow of the Polar lands, that most of the readers of sketches of Arctic travel would certainly consider it an indefensible omission if the author did not give an account of the aurora as seen from his winter station. The scientific man indeed knows that this neglect has, in most cases, been occasioned by the great infrequency of the strongly luminous aurora just in the Franklin archipelago on the north coast of America, where most of the Arctic winterings of this century have taken place, but scarcely any journey of exploration has at all events been undertaken to the uninhabited regions of the high north, which has not in its working plan included the collection of new contributions towards dealing up the true nature of the aurora and its position in the heavens. But the scientific results have seldom corresponded to the expectations which had been entertained. Of purely Arctic expeditions, so far as I know, only two, the Austrian-Hungarian to Franz Josef Land (1872-74) and the Swedish to Mussel Bay (1872-73), have returned with full and instructive lists of auroras[262] Ross, PARRY, KANE, McCLINTOCK, HAYES, NARES, and others, have on the other hand only had opportunities of registering single auroras; the phenomenon in the case of their winterings has not formed any distinctive trait of the Polar winter night. It was the less to be expected that the Vega expedition would form an exception in this respect, as its voyage happened during one of the years of which we knew beforehand that it would be a minimum aurora year. It was just this circumstance, however, which permitted me to study, in a region admirably suited for the purpose, a portion of this natural phenomenon under uncommonly favourable circumstances. For the luminous arcs, which even in Scandinavia generally form starting-points for the radiant auroras, have here exhibited themselves undreamed by the more splendid forms of the aurora I have thus, undisturbed by subsidiary phenomena, been able to devote myself to the collection of contributions towards the ascertaining of the position of these luminous arcs, and I believe that I have in this way come to some very remarkable conclusions, which have been developed in detail in a separate paper printed in The Scientific Work of the Vega Expedition (Part I. p. 400). Here space permits me only to make the following statement

The appearance of the aurora at Behring's Straits in 1878-79 is shown in the accompanying woodcuts. We never saw here the magnificent bands or draperies of rays which we are so accustomed to in Scandinavia, but only halo-like luminous arcs, which hour after hour, day after day, were unaltered in position. When the sky was not clouded over and the faint light of the aurora was not dimmed by the rays of the sun or the full moon, these arcs commonly began to show themselves between eight and nine o'clock P.M., and were then seen without interruption during midwinter till six, and farther on in the year to three o'clock in the morning. It follows from this that the aurora even during a minimum year is a permanent natural phenomenon. The nearly unalterable position of the arcs has further rendered possible a number of measurements of its

DOUBLE AURORA ARCS SEEN 20TH MARCH 1879, AT 9.30 P.M.

ELLIPTIC AURORA SEEN 21ST MARCH, 1879, AT 2.15 A.M.

ELLIPTIC AURORA SEEN 21ST MARCH, 1879, AT 3 A.M.

height, extent, and position from which I believe I may draw the following inferences that our globe even during a minimum aurora year is adorned with an almost constant, single, double, or multiple luminous crown, whose inner edge is situated at a height of about 200 kilometres or 0.03 radius of the earth above its surface, whose centre, "the aurora-pole," lies somewhat under the earth's surface, a little north of the magnetic-pole, and which, with a diameter of 2,000 kilometres or 0.3 radius of the earth, extends in a plane perpendicular to the radius of the earth, which touches the centre of the circle.

I have named this luminous crown the aurora glory on account of its form and its resemblance to the crown of rays round the head of a saint. It stands in the same relation to the ray and drapery auroras of Scandinavia as the trade and monsoon winds in the south to the irregular winds and storms of the north. The light of the crown itself is never distributed into rays, but resembles the light which passes through obscured glass. When the aurora is stronger, the extent of the light-crown is altered double or multiple arcs are seen, generally lying in about the same plane and with a common centre, and rays are cast between the different arcs. Arcs are seldom seen which lie irregularly to or cross each other.

The area in which the common arc is visible is bounded by two circles drawn upon the earth's surface, with the aurora-pole for a centre and radii of 8° and 28° measured on the circumference of the globe. It touches only to a limited extent countries inhabited by races of European origin (the northernmost part of Scandinavia, Iceland, Danish Greenland), and even in the middle of this area there is a belt passing over middle Greenland, South Spitzbergen, and Franz Josef Land, where the common arc forms only a faint, very widely extended, luminous veil in the zenith, which perhaps is only perceptible by the winter darkness being there considerably diminished. This belt divides the regions where these luminous arcs are seen principally to the south from those in which they mainly appear on the northern horizon. In the area next the aurora-pole only the smaller, in middle Scandinavia only the larger, more irregularly formed luminous crowns are seen. But in the latter region, as in southern British America, aurora storms and ray and drapery auroras are instead common, and these appear to be nearer the surface of the earth than the arc aurora. Most of the Polar expeditions have wintered so near the aurora-pole that the common aurora arc there lay under or quite near the horizon, and as the ray aurora appears to occur seldom within this circle, the reason is easily explained why the winter night was so seldom illuminated by the aurora at the winter quarters of these expeditions, and why the description of this phenomenon plays so small a part in their sketches of travel.

Long before the ground became bare and mild weather commenced, migratory birds began to arrive, first the snow-bunting on the 23rd April, then large flocks of geese, eiders, long-tailed ducks, gulls, and several kinds of waders and song-birds. First among the latter was the little elegant Sylvia Ewersmanni, which in the middle of June settled in great flocks on the only dark spot which was yet to be seen in the quarter—the black deck of the Vega. All were evidently much exhausted, and the first the poor things did was to look out convenient sleeping places, of which there is abundance in the rigging of a vessel when small birds are concerned. I need scarcely add that our new guests, the forerunners of spring, were disturbed on board as little as possible.

We now began industriously to collect material for a knowledge of the avi- and mammal-fauna of the region. The collections, when this is being written, are not yet worked out, and I can therefore only make the following statement on this point:

From the acquaintance I had made during my own preceding journeys and the study of others', with the bird-world of the high north, I had got the erroneous idea that about the same species of birds are to be met with everywhere in the Polar lands of Europe, Asia, and America. Experience gained during the expedition of the Vega shows that this is by no means the case, but that the north-eastern promontory of Asia, the Chukch peninsula, forms in this respect a complete exception. Birds occur here in much fewer numbers, but with a very much greater variety of types than on Novaya Zemlya, Spitzbergen, and Greenland, in consequence of which the bird-world on the Chukch peninsula has in its entirety a character differing wholly from that of the Atlantic Polar lands. We indeed meet here with types closely allied to the glaucous gull (Larus glaucus, Brünn), the ivory gull (L. eburneus, Gmel.), the kittiwake (L. tridactylus, L.), the long-tailed duck (Harelda glacialis, L.), the king duck (Somateria spectabilis, L.),[263] the phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius, Bonap.), the purple sandpiper (Tringa maritima, Brünn.), &c., of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, but along with these are found here many peculiar species, for instance the American eider (Somateria V-nigrum, Gray), a swanlike goose, wholly white with black wing points (Anser hyperboreus, Pall.), a greyish-brown goose with bushy yellowish-white feather-covering on the head (Anser pictus, Pall), a species of Fuligula, elegantly coloured on the head in velvet-black, white, and green, (Fuligula Stelleri, Pall), the beautifully marked, scarce Larus Rossii, Richards, of which Dr. Almquist on the 1st July, 1879, shot a specimen from the vessel, a little brown sandpiper with a spoonlike widened bill-point (Eurynorhynchus pygmæus, L.) and various song-birds not found in Sweden, &c. Besides, a number of the Scandinavian types living here also, according to Lieutenant Nordquist, are distinguished by less considerable differences in colour-marking and size. The singular spoon-billed sandpiper was at one time in spring so common that it was twice served at the gunroom table, for which after

our return home we had to endure severe reproaches from animal collectors. This bird is found only in some few museums. It was first described by LINNÆUS in Museum Adolphi Friderici, Tomi secundi predromus, Holmiæ 1764, and then by C. P. THUNBERG in the Transactions of the Swedish Academy of Sciences for 1816 (p. 194), where it is stated that the homeland of this bird is tropical America. It has since been caught a few times in south-eastern Asia. Probably, like Sylvia Ewersmanni, it passes the winter in the Philippine group of islands, but in summer visits the high north. Like several other birds which appeared in spring with the first bare spots it disappeared in July. Perhaps it retired to the interior to breed in the bush, or, which is more probable, went farther north to the islands or continents not yet discovered by Europeans, which in all probability connect Wrangel Land with the Franklin Archipelago.

The higher animal forms which, along with the Polar traveller, dare to brave the cold and darkness of the Arctic night, exert on him a peculiar attraction. Regarding these, Lieutenant Nordquist has given me the following notes:—

"The mammal most common in winter on the north coast of the Chukch peninsula is the hare. It differs from the fell hare (Lepus borealis, Lillj.) by its larger size, and by the bones of its nose not tapering so rapidly. It is generally met with in flocks of five or six on the hills in the neighbourhood of the tents, which are covered only with a thin layer of snow, notwithstanding the large number of hungry dogs which wander about there.

"The Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus, L.) are very numerous. The common fox (Vulpes vulgaris, Gray) appears also to be common. A red fox, which Lieutenant Brusewitz shot from the vessel in October, differed considerably from the common fox, and approached the Arctic fox. The food of the fox appears in winter to consist of hares, ptarmigan, and lemmings. I have twice seen holes in the snow about a metre deep and at the mouth not more than thirty centimetres wide, which the Chukches said were excavated by foxes searching for lemmings.

"Of the lemming I have seen three varieties, viz. Myodes obensis, M. torquatus, and Arvicola obscurus. There is found here, also, according to the statements of the Chukches, a little mouse, in all probability a Sorex. Myodes torquatus were got the first time on the 12th January, Myodes obensis on the 13th February. Both species were afterwards frequently brought on board by Chukches, and during the winter lemmings were seen not unfrequently running on the snow. Myodes obensis appeared to be more numerous than the other species. It is singular that all the nine specimen of Myodes torquatus I obtained during the winter were males. Differing from both these species, Arvicola obscurus does not appear to show itself above the snow during winter. Of the latter I got eight specimens from the village Tjapka, lying between Yinretlen and Behring's Straits. I afterwards got another from the village Irgunnuk, situated five English miles east of Yinretlen.

"The more uncommon land mammals wintering in these regions are the wolf and the wild reindeer. Footprints of the latter were seen on the 23nd March, in the mountain region, fifteen to twenty miles south of Yinretlen. According to the Chukches' account some few reindeer remain on the hills along the coast, while the greater number migrate southwards towards winter. Besides these, two other mammals live here during winter, though they are only seen during summer and autumn, because they hibernate the rest of the time. These are the land bear and the marmot (Arctomys sp.). We saw no land bear, but on the 8th October Lieutenant Hovgaard and I found traces of this animal two or three English miles from the coast. The Chukches say that the land bear is not uncommon in summer. The marmot occurs in large numbers. It was brought on board for the first time by a Chukch, and the following day I myself saw it sitting on the top of a little hill, where it had its dwelling.

"Besides the animals enumerated above the natives talked of another, which is called by them nennet, and is said to live by the banks of rivers. According to their description it appears to be the common otter. As at most places where the lemming is common the weasel (Mustela vulgaris, Briss.) is also found here. I got from the Chukches two skins of this animal. Whether the beaver occurs in the part of Chukch Land which we visited I cannot say with certainty. It is probable, because the Chukches informed me that there was found here a weasel which has the point of the tail black.

"Only two sea mammals have been seen in this region in the course of the winter, viz. the rough or bristled seal and the Polar bear. On two occasions traces of the latter have been observed in the neighbourhood of land. They appear, however, for the most part to keep by openings in the ice farther out to sea, where during our stay two of them were killed by Chukches from the neighbouring villages. The rough seal is probably the only species that occurs near the coast during winter. It is caught in great numbers, and forms, along with fish and various vegetable substances, the main food of the Chukches.

"Of land birds there winter in the region only three species, viz. an owl (Strix nyctea, L.), a raven (Corvus sp.), and a ptarmigan (Lagopus subalpina, Nilss.); the last-named is the most common. On the 14th December, during a sledge journey into the country I saw, about ten or twelve English miles from the coast, two large coveys of ptarmigan, one of which probably numbered over fifty. Nearer the coast, on the other hand, there were found, especially during spring, for the most part only single birds. The raven is common at the Chukch villages, and builds its nest in the neighbouring cliffs. The first egg was got on the 31st May. The mountain owl was seen for the first time on the 11th March, but, according to the statements of the Chukches, it is to be met with during the whole winter. In April and May we also saw some mountain owls, on the 21st May I saw two.

"At open places in the sea there are found here in winter, the Chukches say, two swimming birds, the loom (Uria Brünnichii, Sabine) and the Black guillemot (Uria grylle, L.) Of the former we obtained two specimens for the first time on the 1st May, of the latter on the 19th of the same month. Possibly there winter in open places of the sea besides these birds a species of Mergulus, one of which came to the winter quarters of the Vega on the 3rd November, and a Fuligula, a specimen of which was sold to us on the 9th March by a Chukch, who said he had killed it at a clearing off the coast"

After the arrival of the migratory birds hunting excursions began to form a welcome interruption in our monotonous winter life, and the produce of the hunting a no less agreeable change from the preserved provisions. The Chukches besides offered us daily a large number of different kinds of birds, especially when they observed that we paid a higher price for many rare kinds of birds, though small and of little use for food, than for a big, fat goose. The Chukches killed small birds either by throwing stones, or by shooting them with bow and arrows, in connection with which it may be observed that most of them were very poor archers. They also caught them with whalebone snares set on bare spots on the beach, generally between two vertebræ of the whale. For pebbles are very scarce, but the bones of the whale are found, as has been already stated, at most places in large numbers on the strand-banks where the tents are pitched. In June we began to get eggs of the gull, eider, long-tailed duck, goose, and loom, in sufficient number for table use. The supply, however, was by no means so abundant as during the hatching season on Greenland, Spitzbergen, or Novaya Zemlya.

A little way from the vessel there were formed, in the end of May, two "leads," a few fathoms in breadth. On the 31st May I sent some men to dredge at these places. They returned with an abundant yield, but unfortunately the openings closed again the next day, and when I and Lieutenant Bove visited the place there was a large, newly-formed toross thrown up along the edge of the former channel. Another "lead" was formed some days after, but closed again through a new disturbance of the position of the ice, a high ice-rampart, formed of loose blocks, heaped one over another, indicating the position of the

SABINEA SEPTEMCARINATA (SABINE).
Natural size.

EVERTEBRATES FROM THE SEA AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTER QUARTERS.

former opening. Even the strongest vessel would have been crushed in such a channel by the forcing together of the ice. Of a different sort from both these occasional leads was an extensive opening, which showed itself a kilometre or two north of the vessel. It is probable that with few interruptions, which, however, might have been difficult to pass, it extended as far as Behring's Straits, where, according to the statements of the Chukches, several whalers had already made their appearance. Round the vessel itself, however, the ice still lay fast and unbroken. Nor did the Chukches appear to expect that it would break up very soon, to judge by the number of vehicles drawn by dogs or reindeer which still passed us, both to the east and west. One of these travellers must here be specially mentioned, as his journey has been talked about as an expedition sent to our relief.

It was the 19th June. A large number of Chukches travelling past us as usual came on board, partly to receive the tribute of hospitality to which they considered themselves entitled, partly to satisfy an easily understood curiosity and gossip a little about the most important occurrences of the preceding day. One of them, a middle-aged man, whom we had not seen before, with a friendly and self-satisfied bearing, whose face was a mere collection of wrinkles, and over whose pesk was drawn an old velvet shirt, presented himself with a certain pretentiousness as the chief NOAH ELISEJ. Since the mistake with the stately Chepurin, and since even Menka's supposed slave declared himself to be at least as good as Menka, we had begun to be rather indifferent to the rank of chief among the Chukches. Noah Elisej however, notwithstanding he thus brought forward his pretensions, was received like a common man, at which he appeared to be a little offended. But our behaviour soon changed, when Notti, or some other of our daily guests, who had become quite familiar with our fancies, tastes weaknesses, informed us that Noah Elisej had with him a large, a very large letter. Old Noah thus carried a mail, perhaps a European mail. At once he became in our eyes a man of importance. After being stormed for a time with questions, he took from a bag which hung from his neck the ordinary pieces of board fastened together, which here serve as a postbag. They were found however to contain only a letter of a couple of lines from a Russian official at Nischm Kolymsk, without any news from Europe, but informing us that chief Noah Elisej was sent to us to assist us, if necessary. Noah first patted his stomach to indicate that he was hungry and wanted food, and hawked and pointed with his finger at his throat to let us know that a ram would taste well. He then told us something which we did not then exactly understand, but which we now have reason to interpret as a statement that Noah was the leader of an expedition

sent by the Siberian authorities to our relief, and that he was therefore willing in return for suitable compensation to give us some reindeer I availed myself of the offer, and purchased three animals for sugar, tea, and a little tobacco. Noah besides was a friendly and easy-going man, who, Christian though he was, travelled about with two wives and a large number of children, who all of course would see the vessel and get their treat of tobacco, clay pipes, sugar, ram, &c.

So much flood water had now begun to collect on the ice, especially near the land, that it was exceedingly difficult to walk from the vessel to the shore and back. Many a proposed land excursion was broken off by somebody, immediately after leaving the vessel, sinking into some deep hole in the ice and thus getting a cold bath. Excursions on land however began to be exceedingly interesting to the botanists and zoologists, and therefore to avoid the inconveniences mentioned I caused a tent to be pitched by the side of the large lagoon between Pitlekaj and Yinretlen, and a light boat to be carried thither. The bottom of the lagoon was still filled with ice, above which however the water stood so high that the boat floated in it. The naturalists settled by turns in the tent, and from it made excursions in different directions, as I hope with the result that the neighbourhood of Pitlekaj is now the best known tract on the north of Asia, which after all is not saying much. The first plant in flower (Cochlearia fenestrata, R. Br.) was seen on the 23rd June.[264] A week after the ground began to grow green and flowers of different kinds to show themselves in greater and greater numbers.[265] Some flies were seen on a sunshiny day in May (the 27th) in motion on the surface of the snow, but it was not until the end of June that insects began to show themselves in any large numbers, among them many Harpalids, two large species of Carabus, and a large Curculionid. The insects occurring here however are not very numerous either in respect of species or individuals, which is not strange when we consider that the earth at a limited depth from the surface is constantly frozen. As even the shallow layer, which thaws in summer, is hard frozen in winter, all the insects which occur here must in one or other phase of their development endure being frozen solid for some time. But it may be remarked with reason with reference to this, that if life in an organism may so to speak be suspended for months by freezing stiff without being destroyed, what is there to prevent this suspension being extended over years, decades, or centuries?

The common idea, that all animal life ceases, when the interior animal heat sinks under the freezing-point of water, is besides not quite correct. This is proved by the abundant evertebrate life which is found at the bottom of the Polar Sea, even where the water all the year round has a temperature of -2° to -2°.7 C, and by the remarkable observation made during the wintering at Mussel Bay in 1872-73, that small Crustacea can live by millions in water-drenched snow at a temperature of from -2° to -10°.2C. On this point I say in my account of the expedition of 1872-73:—[266]

"If during winter one walks along the beach on the snow which at ebb is dry, but at flood tide is more or less drenched through by sea-water, there rises at every step one takes, an exceedingly intense, beautiful, bluish-white flash of light, which in the spectroscope gives a one-coloured labrador-blue spectrum. This beautiful flash of light arises from the snow, before completely dark, when it is touched. The flash lasts only a few moments after the snow is left untouched, and is so intense, that it appears as if a sea of fire would open at every step a man takes. It produces indeed a peculiar impression on a dark and stormy winter day (the temperature of the air was sometimes in the neighbourhood of the freezing-point of mercury) to walk along in this mixture of snow and flame, which at every step one takes splashes about in all directions, shining with a light so intense that one is ready to fear that his shoes or clothes will take fire."

On a closer examination it appeared that this light-phenomenon proceeded from a minute crustacean, which according to the determination of Prof W. LILLJEBORG belongs to the species Metridia armata, A. Boeck, and whose proper element appears to be snow-sludge drenched with salt water cooled considerably under 0° C. First when the temperature sinks below -10° does the power of this small animal to emit light appear to cease. But as the element in which they live, the surface of the snow nearest the beach, is in the course of the winter innumerable times cooled twenty degrees more, it appears improbable that these minute animals suffer any harm by being exposed to a cold of from -20° to -30°, a very remarkable circumstance, as they certainly do not possess in their organism any means of raising the internal animal heat in any noteworthy degree above the temperature of the surrounding medium.

We did not see these animals at Pitlekaj, but a similar phenomenon, though on a smaller scale, was observed by Lieut. BELLOT[267] during a sledge-journey in Polar America. He believed that the light arose from decaying organic matter.

After the Chukches had told us that an exceedingly delicious black fish was to be found in the fresh-water lagoon at Yinretlen, which is wholly shut off from the sea and in winter freezes to the bottom, we made an excursion thither on the 8th July. Our friends at the encampment were immediately ready to help us, especially the women, Artanga, and the twelve-year-old, somewhat spoiled Vega-favourite Reitinacka. They ran hither and thither like light-hearted and playful children, to put the net in order and procure all that was needed for the fishing. We had carried with us from the vessel a net nine metres long and one deep. Along its upper border floats were fixed, to the lower was bound a long pole, to which were fastened five sticks, by which the pole was sunk to the bottom of the lagoon, a little way from the shore. Some natives wading in the cold water then pushed the net towards the land with sticks and the pole, which glided easily forward over the bottom of the lake, overgrown as it was with grass. In order to keep the fish from swimming away, the women waded at the sides of the net with their pesks much tucked up, screaming and making noise, and now and then standing in order to indicate by a violent shaking that the water was very cold. The catch was abundant. We caught by hundreds a sort of fish altogether new to us, of a type which we should rather have expected to find in the marshes of the Equatorial regions than up here in the north. The fish were transported in a dog sledge to the vessel, where part of them was placed in spirits for the zoologists and the rest fried, not without a protest from our old cook, who thought that the black slimy fish looked remarkably nasty and ugly. But the Chukches were right it was a veritable delicacy, in taste somewhat resembling eel, but finer and more fleshy. These fish were besides as tough to kill as eels, for after lying an hour and a half in the air they swam, if replaced in the water, about as fast as before. How this species of fish passes the winter is still more enigmatical than the winter life of the insects. For the lagoon has no outlet and appears to freeze completely to the bottom. The mass of water which was found in autumn in the lagoon therefore still lay there as an unmelted layer of ice not yet broken up, which was covered with a stratum of flood water several feet deep, by which the neighbouring grassy plains were inundated. It was in this flood water that the fishing took place.

After our return home the Yinretlen fish was examined by Professor F.A. SMITT in Stockholm, who stated, in an address which he gave on it before the Swedish Academy of Sciences, that it belongs to a new species to which Professor Smitt gave the name Dallia delicatissima. A closely allied form occurs in Alaska, and has been named Dallia pectoralis, Bean. These fishes are besides nearly allied to the dog-fish (Umbra Krameri, Fitzing), which is found in the Neusidler and Platten Lakes, and in grottos and other water-filled subterranean cavities in southern Europe. It is remarkable that the European species are considered uneatable, and even regarded with such loathing that the fishermen throw them away as soon as caught because they consider them poisonous, and fear that their other fish would be destroyed by contact with it. They also consider it an affront if one asks them for dog-fish.[268] If we had known thus we should not now have been able to certify that Dallia delicatissima, SMITT, truly deserves its name.

In the beginning of July the ground became free of snow, and we could now form an idea of how the region looked in summer in which we had passed the winter. It was not just attractive. Far away in the south the land rose with terrace-formed escarpments to a hill, called by us Table Mount, which indeed was pretty high, but did not by any steep or bold cliffs yield any contribution to such a picturesque landscape border as is seldom wanting on the portions of Spitzbergen, Greenland, and the north part of Novaya Zemlya which I have visited, south Novaya Zemlya has at least at most places bold picturesque shore-cliffs. If I except the rocky promontory at Yinretlen, where a cliff inhabited by ravens rises boldly out of the sea, and some cliffs situated farther in along the beach of Kolyutschin Bay, the shore in the immediate neighbourhood of our wintering station consisted everywhere only of a low beach formed of coarse sand. Upon this sand, which was always frozen, there ran parallel with the shore a broad bank or dune, 50 to 100 metres broad, of fine sand, not water-drenched in summer, and accordingly not bound together by ice in winter. It is upon this dune that the Chukches erect their tents. Marks of them are therefore met with nearly everywhere, and the dune accordingly is everywhere bestrewed with broken implements or refuse from the chase. Indeed it may be said without exaggeration that the whole north-eastern coast of the Siberian Polar Sea is bordered with a belt of sweepings and refuse of various kinds.

The coarse sand which underlies the dune is, as has been stated, continually frozen, excepting the shallow layer which is thawed in summer. It is here that the "frost formation" of Siberia begins, that is to say, the continually frozen layer of earth, which, with certain interruptions, extends from the Polar Sea far to the south, not only under the treeless tundra, but also under splendid forests and cultivated corn-fields.[269] To speak correctly, however, the frozen earth begins a little from the shore under the sea.[270] For on the coast the bottom often consists of hard frozen sand—"rock-hard sand," as the dredgers were accustomed to report. The frost formation in Siberia thus embraces not only terrestrial but also marine deposits, together with pure clear layers of ice, these last being formed in the mouths of rivers or small lakes by the ice of the river or lake frozen to the bottom being in spring covered with a layer of mud sufficiently thick to protect the ice from melting during summer. The frozen sea-bottom again appears to have been formed by the sand washed down by the rivers having carried with it when it sank some adhering water from the warm and almost fresh surface strata. At the sea-bottom the sand surrounded by fresh water freezing at 0° C thus met a stratum of salt water whose temperature was two or three degrees under 0°, in consequence of which the grains of sand froze fast together. That it may go on thus we had a direct proof when in spring we sank from the Vega the bodies of animals to be skeletonised by the crustacea that swarmed at the sea-bottom. If the sack, pierced at several places, in which the skeleton was sunk was first allowed to fill with the slightly salt water from the surface and then sink rapidly to the bottom, it was found to be so filled with ice, when it was taken up a day or two afterwards, that the crustacea were prevented from getting at the flesh. We had already determined to abandon the convenient cleansing process, when I succeeded in finding means to avoid the inconvenience, this was attained by drawing the sack, while some distance under the surface, violently hither and thither so that the surface water carried down with it was got rid of. Frozen clay and ooze do not appear to occur at the bottom of the Polar Sea. Animal life on the frozen sand was rather scanty, but algæ were met with there though in limited numbers.

From the shore a plain commences, which is studded with extensive lagoons and a large number of small lakes. In spring this plain is so water-drenched and so crossed by deep rapid snow-rivulets, that it is difficult, often impossible, to traverse it. Immediately after the disappearance of the snow a large number of birds at all events had settled there. The Lapp sparrow had chosen a tuft projecting from the marshy ground on which to place its beautiful roofed dwelling, the waders in the neighbourhood had laid their eggs in most cases directly on the water-drenched moss without trace of a nest, and on tufts completely surrounded by the spring floods we met with the eggs of the loom, the long-tailed duck, the eider and the goose. Already during our stay, the water ran away so rapidly, that places, which one day were covered with a watery mirror, over which a boat of light draught could be rowed forward, were changed the next day to wet marshy ground, covered with yellow grass-straws from the preceding year. At many places the grassy sward had been torn up by the ice and carried away, leaving openings sharply defined by right lines in the meadows, resembling a newly worked off place in a peat moss.

In summer there must be found here green meadows covered with pretty tall grass, but at the time of our departure vegetation had not attained any great development, and the flowers that could be discovered were few. I presume however that a beautiful Arctic flower-world grows up here, although, in consequence of the exposure of the coast-country to the north winds, poor in comparison with the vegetation in sheltered valleys in the interior of the country. There are found there too pretty high bushes, but on the other hand trees are represented at Pitlekaj only by a low species of willow which creeps along the ground.

We did not, however, see even this "wood" in full leaf. For in order that full summer heat may begin it is necessary, even here, that the ice break up, and this longed-for moment appeared to be yet far distant. The ice indeed became clear of snow in the beginning of July, and thus the slush and the flood water were lessened, which during the preceding weeks had collected on its surface and made it very difficult to walk from the vessel to land. Now, again pretty dry-shod and on a hard blue ice-surface, we could make excursions in the neighbourhood of the vessel. We had however to be cautious. The former cracks had in many places been widened to greater or smaller openings by the flood water running down, and where a thin black object—a little gravel, a piece of tin from the preserved provision-cases, &c.—had lain on the ice there were formed round holes, resembling the seal-holes which I saw in spring laid bare after the melting of the snow on the ice in the fjords of Spitzbergen. The strength of the ice besides was nearly unaltered, and on the 16th July a heavily loaded double sledge could still be driven from the vessel to the shore.

On the 17th the "year's ice" next the land at last broke up, so that an extensive land clearing arose. But the ground-ices were still undisturbed, and between these the "year's ice" even lay so fast, that all were agreed that at least fourteen days must still pass before there was any prospect of getting free.

When on the 16th the reindeer-Chukch Yettugin came on board, and, talking of the collection of whale-bones in which we had been engaged some days before, informed us that there was a mammoth bone at his tent, and that a mammoth tusk stuck out at a place where the spring floods had cut into the bank of a river which flows from Table Mount to Riraitinop, I therefore did not hesitate to undertake an excursion to the place. Our absence from the vessel was reckoned at five or six days. It was my intention to go up the river in a skin boat belonging to Notti to the place where the mammoth tusk was, and thence to proceed on foot to Yettugin's tent. Yettugin assured us that the river was sufficiently deep for the flat-bottomed boat. But when we had travelled a little way into the country it appeared that the river had fallen considerably during the day that Yettugin passed on the vessel. So certain was I however that the ice-barrier would not yet for a long time be broken up, that I immediately after my return from the excursion, which had thus been rendered unsuccessful, made arrangements for a new journey in order with other means of transport to reach the goal.

While we were thus employed the forenoon of the 18th passed. We sat down to dinner at the usual time, without any suspicion that the time of our release was now at hand. During dinner it was suddenly observed that the vessel was moving slightly Palander rushed on deck, saw that the ice was in motion, ordered the boiler fires to be lighted, the engine having long ago been put in order in expectation of this moment, and in two hours, by 3:30 P.M. on the 18th July, the Vega, decked with flags, was under steam and sail again on the way to her destination.

We now found that a quite ice-free "lead" had arisen between the vessel and the open water next the shore, the ice-fields west of our ground-ices having at the same time drifted farther out to sea, so that the clearing along the shore had widened enough to give the Vega a sufficient depth of water. The course was shaped at first for the N.W. in order to make a détour round the drift-ice fields lying nearest us, then along the coast for Behring's Straits. On the height at Yinretlen there stood as we passed, the men, women, and children of the village all assembled, looking out to sea at the fire-horse—the Chukches would perhaps say fire-dog or fire-reindeer—which carried their friends of the long winter months for ever away from their cold, bleak shores. Whether they shed tears, as they often said they would we could not see from the distance which now parted us from them. But it may readily have happened that the easily moved disposition of the savage led them to do this. Certain it is that in many of us the sadness of separation mingled with the feelings of tempestuous joy which now rushed through the breast of every Vega man.

The Vega met no more ice-obstacles on her course to the Pacific. Serdze Kamen was passed at 1:30 A.M. of the 19th, but the fog was so dense that we could not clearly distinguish the contours of the land. Above the bank of mist at the horizon we could only see that this cape, so famous in the history of the navigation of the Siberian Polar Sea, is occupied by high mountains, split up, like those east of the Bear Islands, into ruin-like gigantic walls or columns. The sea was mirror-bright and nearly clear of ice, a walrus or two stuck up his head strangely magnified by the fog in our neighbourhood, seals swam round us in large numbers, and flocks of birds, which probably breed on the steep cliffs of Serdze Kamen, swarmed round the vessel. The trawl net repeatedly brought up from the sea bottom a very abundant yield of worms, molluscs, crustacea, &c. A zoologist would here have had a rich working field.

The fog continued, so that on the other side of Serdze Kamen we lost all sight of land, until on the morning of the 20th dark heights again began to peep out. These were the mountain summits of the easternmost promontory of Asia, East Cape, an unsuitable name, for which I have substituted on the map that of Cape Deschnev after the gallant Cossack who for the first time 230 years ago circumnavigated it.

By 11 A.M. we were in the middle of the sound which unites the North Polar Sea with the Pacific, and from this point the Vega greeted the old and new worlds by a display of flags and the firing of a Swedish salute.

Thus finally was reached the goal towards which so many nations had struggled, all along from the time when Sir Hugh Willoughby, with the firing of salutes from cannon and with hurrahs from the festive-clad seamen, in the presence of an innumerable crowd of jubilant men certain of success, ushered in the long series of North-East voyages. But, as I have before

related, then hopes were grimly disappointed. Sir Hugh and all his men perished as pioneers of England's navigation and of voyages to the ice-encumbered sea which bounds Europe and Asia on the north. Innumerable other marine expeditions have since then trodden the same path, always without success, and generally with the sacrifice of the vessel and of the life and health of many brave seamen. Now for the first time, after the lapse of 336 years, and when most men experienced in sea matters had declared the undertaking impossible, was the North-East Passage at last achieved. This has taken place, thanks to the discipline, zeal, and ability of our man-of-war's-men and their officers, without the sacrifice of a single human life, without sickness among those who took part in the undertaking, without the slightest damage to the vessel, and under circumstances which show that the same thing may be done again in most, perhaps in all years, in the course of a few weeks. It may be permitted us to say, that under such circumstances it was with pride we saw the blue-yellow flag rise to the mast-head and heard the Swedish salute in the sound where the old and the new worlds reach hands to each other. The course along which we sailed is indeed no longer required as a commercial route between Europe and China. But it has been granted to this and the preceding Swedish expeditions to open a sea to navigation, and to confer on half a continent the possibility of communicating by sea with the oceans of the world.

FOOTNOTES:

[258] And. Hellant, Anmärkningar om en helt ovanlig köld i Torne (Remarks on a Quite Unusual Cold in Torne), Vet.-akad. Handl. 1759, p. 314, and 1760, p. 312. In the latter paper Hellant himself shows that the column of mercury in a strongly cooled thermometer for a few moments sinks farther when the ball is rapidly heated. This is caused by the expansion of the glass when it is warmed before the heat has had time to communicate itself to the quicksilver in the ball, and therefore of course can happen only at a temperature above the freezing-point of mercury.

[259] That mercury solidifies in cold was discovered by some academicians in St. Petersburg on the 25th December, 1759, and caused at the time a great sensation, because by this discovery various erroneous ideas were rooted out which the chemists had inherited from the alchemists, and which were based on the supposed property of mercury of being at the same time a metal and a fluid.

[260] During the market the Russian priest endeavours to make proselytes, he succeeds, too, by distributing tobacco to induce one or two to subject themselves to the ceremony of baptism. No true conversion, however, can scarcely come in question on account of the difference of language. As an example of how this goes on, the following story of Wrangel's may be quoted. At the market a young Chukch had been prevailed upon, by a gift of some pounds of tobacco, to allow himself to be baptised. The ceremony began in presence of a number of spectators. The new convert stood quiet and pretty decent in his place till he should step down into the baptismal font, a large wooden tub filled with ice-cold water. In this, according to the baptismal ritual, he ought to dip three times. But to this he would consent on no condition. He shook his head constantly, and brought forward a large number of reasons against it, which none understood. After long exhortations by the interpreter, in which promises of tobacco probably again played the principal part, he finally gave way and sprang courageously down into the ice-cold water, but immediately jumped up again trembling with cold; crying, "My tobacco! my tobacco!" All attempts to induce him to renew the bath were fruitless, the ceremony was incomplete, and the Chukch only half baptised.

[261] In Lapland, too, the melting of the snow in spring is brought about in no inconsiderable degree by similar causes, i.e. by dry warm winds which come from the fells. On this point the governor of Norbotten län, H. A. Widmark, has sent me the following interesting letter — "However warm easterly and southerly winds may be in the parts of Swedish Lapland lying next the Joleen mountains, they are not able in any noteworthy degree to melt the masses of snow which fall in those regions during the winter months. On the other hand there comes every year, if we may rely on the statements of the Lapps, in the end of April or beginning of May, from the west (i.e. from the fells), a wind so strong and at the same time so warm, that in quite a short time—six to ten hours—it breaks up the snow-masses, makes them shrink together, forces the mountain sides from their snow covering, and changes the snow which lies on the ice of the great fell lakes to water. I have myself been out on the fells making measurements on two occasions when this wind came. On one occasion I was on the Great Lule water in the neighbourhood of the so-called Great Lake Fall. The night had been cold but the day became warm. Up to 1 o'clock P.M. it was calm, but immediately after the warm westerly wind began to blow, and by 6 o'clock P.M. all the snow on the ice was changed to water, in which we went wading to the knees. The Lapps in general await these warm westerly winds before they go to the fells in spring. Until these winds begin there is no pasture there for their reindeer herds."

[262] I do not include La Recherché's wintering in 1838-39 at Bosekop, in the northernmost part of Norway, as it took place in a region which is all the year round inhabited by hundreds of Europeans. During this expedition very splendid auroras were seen, and the studies of them by LOITIN, BRAVAIS, LILLIEHÖÖK, and SILJESTRÖM, are among the most important contributions to a knowledge of the aurora we possess, while we have to thank the draughtsmen of the expedition for exceedingly faithful and masterly representations of the phenomenon.

[263] The common eider (S. mollissima, L.) is absent here, or at least exceedingly rare.

[264] During the expedition of 1861, when we were shut up by ice in Treurenberg Bay on Spitzbergen (79° 57' N. L.) the first flower (Saxifraga oppositifolia, L.), was pulled on the 22nd June. After the wintering in 1872-73, Palander and I during our journey round North-east Land, saw the first flower on the same species of saxifrage as early as the 15th June, in the bottom of Wahlenberg Bay (79° 46' N. L.)

[265] For the sake of completeness, I shall here also enumerate the plants which Dr. Kjellman found at Pitlekaj. Those marked with an * either themselves occur in Scandinavia or are represented by nearly allied forms
Leucanthemum arcticum (L.) DC.
Artemisia arctica LESS.
* ,, vulgaris L. f. Tilesii LEDEB.
Cineraria frigida RICHARDS.
* ,, palustris L. f. congesta HOOK.
* Antennaria alpina (L.) R. BR. f. Friesiana TRAUTV.
* Petasites frigida.
* Saussurea alpina (L.) DC. f. angustifolia (DC.)
* Taraxacum officinale WEB.
Valeriana capitata PALL.
Gentiana glauca PALL.
Pedicularis sudetica WILLD.
,, Langsdorffii FISCH.
,, lanata WILLD. f. leiantha TRAUTV.
,, capitata ADAMS.
* Polemonium coeruleum L.
* Diapensia lapponica L.
* Armeria sibirica TURCZ.
Primula nivalis PALL. f. pygmæa LEDEB.
,, borealis DUBY.
* Loiseleuria procumbens (L.) DESV.
* Ledum palustre L. f. decumbens AIT.
* Vaccinium vitis idæa L.
* Arctostaphylos alpina (L.) SPRENG.
* Cassiope tetragona (L.) DON.
Hedysarum obscurum L.
Oxytropis nigrescens (PALL.) FISCH. f. pygmæa CHAM.
,, species?
* Rubus Chamæmorus L.
* Comarum palustre L.
Potentilla fragiformis L. f. parviflora TRAUTV. f. villosa (PALL.)
* Sibbaldia procumbens L.
* Dryas octopetala L.
Spiræa betulæfolia PALL. f. typica MAXIM.
* Hippuris vulgaris L.
* Saxifraga stellaris L f. comosa POIR.
,, punctata L.
* ,, cernua L.
* ,, rivularis L.
* Rhodiola rosea L.
* Empetrum nigrum L.
* Cardamine bellidifolia L.
Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR. f. typica MALMGR. f. prostrata MALMGR.
Ranunculus Pallasii SEHLECHT.
* ,, nivalis L.
* ,, pygmæus WG.
* ,, hyperboreus ROTTB.
* Aconitum Napellus L. f. delphinifolia REICHENB.
Claytonia acutifolia WILLD.
* Wahlbergella apetala (L.) FR.
* Stellaria longipes GOLDIE. f. humilis FENZL.
* ,, humifusa ROTTB.
Cerastium maximum L.
* ,, alpinum L. f. hirsuta KOCH.
Alsine artica (STEV.) FENZL.
* Sagina nivalis (LINDBL.) FR.
* Polygonum Bistorta L.
* ,, viviparum L.
* polymorphum L. f. frigida CHAM.
Rumex arcticus TRAUTV.
* Oxyria digyna (L.) HILL.
Salix boganidensis TRAUTV. f. latifolia.
*
Salix Camissonis ANDERS.
,, arctica PALL.
,, euneata TURCZ.
* ,, reticulata L.
,, species?
Betula glandulosa MICHX. f. rotundifolia REGEL.
Elymus mollis TRIN.
* Festuca rubra L. f. arenaria OSB.
* Poa flexuosa WG.
Arctophila effusa J. LGE.
Glyceria vilfoidea (ANDS.) TH. FR.
,, vaginata J. LGE. f. contracta J. LGE.
* Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.
* Colpodium latifolium R. BR.
Dupontia Fischeri R. BR.
* Trisetum subspicatum (L.) P.B.
* Aira cæspitosa L. f. borealis TRAUTV.
Alopecurus alpinus SM.
* Hierochloa alpina (LILJEBL.) ROEM. and SCH.
* Carex rariflora (WG.) SM.
* ,, aqvatilis f. epijegos LAEST.
* ,, glareosa WG.
* ,, lagopina WG.
* Eriophorum angustifolium ROTH.
* ,, vaginatum L.
* ,, russeolum FR.
* Luzula parviflora (EHRH.) DESV.
* ,, Wahlenbergii RUPR.
* ,, arcuata (WG.) SW. f. confusa LINDEB.
* Juncus biglumis L.
Lloydia serotina (L.) REICHENB.

[266] Redogörelse för den svenska polarexpeditionen år 1872-73. Bihang till Vet.-Akad. Handl. Bd. 2, No. 18, p. 52.

[267] Journal d'un Voyage aux Mers Polaires. Paris, 1854. Pp. 177 and 223.

[268] Heckel and Kner, Die Süsswasserfische Oesterreichs, p. 295.

[269] Even pretty far south, in Scandinavia, there occur places with frozen earth which seldom thaws. Thus in Egyptinkorpi mosses in Nurmi and Pjeli parishes in Finland pinewoods are found growing over layers or "tufts" of frozen sand, but also, in other places in Eastern Finland, we find layers containing stumps, roots, &c., of different generations of trees, alternating with layers of frozen mould, according to a communication from the agronomic Axel Asplund. A contribution to the knowledge of the way, or one of the ways, in which such formations arise, we obtain from the known fact that mines with an opening to the air, so far south as the middle of Sweden, are filled in a few years with a coherent mass of ice if the opening is allowed to remain open. If it is shut the ice melts again, but for this decades are required.

[270] Middendorff already states that the bottom of the sea of Okotsk is frozen (Sibirische Reise, Bd. 4, 1, p. 502).