In such openings in Greenland white whales and other small whales are often enclosed by hundreds, the natives thus having an opportunity of making in a few hours a catch which would be sufficient for their support during the whole winter, indeed for years, if the idea of saving ever entered into the imagination of the savage. But here in a region where the pursuit of the whale is more productive than in any other sea, no such occurrence has happened. During the whole of our stay on the coast
of the Chukch country we did not see a single whale. On the other hand, masses of whales' bones were found thrown up on the beach. At first I did not bestow much attention upon them, thinking they were the bones of whales that had been killed during the recent whale-fishing period. I soon found however that this could not have been the case. For the bones had evidently been washed out of the sandy dune running along the beach, which had been deposited at a time when the present coast lay ten to twenty metres below the surface of the sea, thus hundreds or thousands of years ago, undoubtedly before the time when the north coast of Asia was first inhabited by man. The dune sand is, as recently exposed profiles show, quite free from other kitchen-midden remains than those which occur upon its surface. The whales' bones in question were thus subfossil. Their number was so great, that in the systematic examination of the beach in the immediate neighbourhood of the vessel, which I undertook during spring with the assistance of Dr. Kjellman and half a dozen of the sailors, thirty neck-bones and innumerable other bones of the whale were found in a stretch of from four to five kilometres. Of course masses of bones are still concealed in the sand; and a large number of lower jaw-bones, ribs, shoulder-blades, and vertebræ had been used for runner-shoes, tent-frames, spades, picks and other implements. A portion, after being exposed for several years to the action of the air, had undergone decay. The bones are therefore found in greatest number at those places where the sand of
the dune has been recently carried away by the spring floods or by the furious winds which prevail here, and which easily gain the ascendency over the dry sand, bound together only by widely scattered Elymus-stalks. The largest crania belonged to a species nearly allied to the Balæna mysticetus. Crania of a species of Rachianectes are also found along with some bones of smaller varieties of the whale. No complete skeleton however has been found, but we brought home with us so large a quantity of the loose bones that the collection of whales' bones alone would have formed a full cargo for a small vessel. These bones will be delineated and described by Professor. A. W. MALM in The Scientific Work of the Vega Expedition. Special attention was drawn to a skeleton, belonging to the Balæna mysticetus, by its being still partially covered with skin, and by deep red, almost fresh, flesh adhering to those parts of it which were frozen fast in the ground. This skeleton lay at a place where the dune sand had recently been washed away and the coarse underlying sand uncovered, the whale-mummy also I suppose coming to light at the same time. That the whale in question had not stranded in the memory of man the Chukches assured me unanimously. In such a case we have here a proof that even portions of the flesh of gigantic sea-animals have been protected against putrefaction in the frozen soil of Siberia—a parallel to the mammoth-mummies, though from a considerably more recent period.
Christmas Eve was celebrated in the usual northern fashion. We had indeed neglected, as in the Expedition of 1872-73, to take with us any Christmas tree. But instead of it Dr. Kjellman prevailed on our Chukch friends to bring with dog-sledges willow-bushes from the valleys lying beyond the mountains to the south. By means of these a bare driftwood stem was converted into a luxuriant, branchy tree which, to replace the verdure, was clothed with variegated strips of paper, and planted in the 'tweendecks, which after our enclosure in the ice had been arranged as a working room, and was now set in order for the Christmas festivities, and richly and tastefully ornamented with flags. A large number of small wax-lights, which we had brought with us for the special purpose, were fixed in the Christmas tree, together with about two hundred Christmas boxes purchased or presented to us before our departure. At six o'clock in the afternoon all the officers and crew assembled in the 'tweendecks, and the drawing of lots began, now and then interrupted by a thundering polka round the peculiar Christmas tree. At supper neither Christmas ale nor ham was wanting. And later in the evening there made their appearance in the 'tweendecks five punchbowls, which were emptied with songs and toasts for King and Fatherland, for the objects of the Expedition, for its officers and men, for the families at home, for relatives and friends, and finally for those who decked and arranged the Christmas tree, who were the sailors C. Lundgren and O. Hansson, and the firemen O. Ingelsson and C. Carlström.
The other festivals were also celebrated in the best way, and at midnight before New Year's Day the new year was shot in with sharp explosive-shell firing from the rifled cannon of the Vega, and a number of rockets thrown up from the deck.
FOOTNOTES: