[52] Writings on these voyages are exceedingly numerous. An account of them was published for the first time in Hakluyt, The principael Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, &c., London, 1589; Ordinances, King Edward's Past, &c.., p. 259; Copy of Sir Hugh Willoughby's Journal, with a List of all the Members of the Expedition, p. 265; Clement Adams' Account of Chancelor's Voyage, p. 270, &c. The same documents were afterwards printed in Purchas' Pilgrimage, iii. p. 211. For those who wish to study the literature of this subject further, I may refer to Fr. von Adelung, Kritisch-literärische Übersicht der Reisenden in Russland, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1846, p. 200; and L. Hamel, Tradesrunt der Aeltere 1618 in Russland, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1847.
CHAPTER II.
Departure from Maosoe—Gooseland—State of the Ice—The Vessels of the Expedition assemble at Chabarova—The Samoyed town there—The Church—Russians and Samoyeds—Visit to Ohabarova in 1875—Purchase of Samoyed Idols—Dress and Dwellings of the Samoyeds —Comparison of the Polar Races—Sacrificial Places and Samoyed Grave on Vaygats Island visited—Former accounts of the Samoyeds —Their place in Ethnography.
The Vega was detained at Maosoe by a steady head wind, rain, fog, and a very heavy sea till the evening of the 25th July. Though the weather was still very unfavourable, we then weighed anchor, impatient to proceed on our voyage, and steamed out to sea through Mageroe Sound. The Lena also started at the same time, having received orders to accompany the Vega as far as possible, and, in case separation could not be avoided, to steer her course to the point, Ohabarova in Yugor Schar, which I had fixed on as the rendezvous of the four vessels of the expedition. The first night, during the fog that then prevailed, we lost sight of the Lena, and did not see her again until we had reached the meeting place.
The course of the Vega was shaped for South Goose Cape. Although, while at Tromsoe, I had resolved to enter the Kara Sea through Yugor Schar, the most southerly of the sounds which lead to it—so northerly a course was taken, because experience has shown that in the beginning of summer so much ice often drives backwards and forwards in the bay between the west coast of Vaygats Island and the mainland, that navigation in these waters is rendered rather difficult. This is avoided by touching Novaya Zemlya first at Gooseland, and thence following the western shore of this island and Vaygats to Yugor Schar. Now this precaution was unnecessary; for the state of the ice was singularly favourable, and Yugor Schar was readied without seeing a trace of it.
During our passage from Norway to Gooseland we were, favoured at first with a fresh breeze, which, however, fell as we approached Novaya Zemlya; this notwithstanding, we made rapid progress under steam, and without incident, except that the excessive rolling of the vessel caused the overturn of some boxes containing instruments and books, fortunately without any serious damage ensuing.
Land was sighted on the 28th July at 10.30 P.M. It was the headland which juts out from the south of Gooseland in 70° 33' N. L. and 51° 54' E. L. (Greenwich). Gooseland is a low stretch of coast, occupied by grassy flats and innumerable small lakes, which projects from the mainland of Novaya Zemlya between 72° 10' and 71° 30' N. L. The name is a translation of the Russian Gusinnaja Semlja, and arises from the large number of geese and swans (Cygnus Bewickii, Yarr.) which breed in that region. The geese commonly place their exceedingly inconsiderable nests on little hillocks near the small lakes which are scattered over the whole of Gooseland; the powerful swans, which are very difficult of approach by the hunter, on the other hand breed on the open plain. The swans' nests are so large that they may be seen at a great distance. The building material is moss, which is plucked from the ground within a distance of two metres from the nest, which by the excavation which is thus produced, is surrounded by a sort of moat. The nest itself forms a truncated cone, 0.6 metre high and 2.4 metres in diameter at the bottom. In its upper part there is a cavity, 0.2 metre deep and 0.6 metre broad, in which the four large grayish-white eggs of the bird are laid. The female hatches the eggs, but the male also remains in the neighbourhood of the nest. Along with the swans and geese, a large number of waders, a couple of species of Lestris, an owl and other birds breed on the plains of Gooseland, and a few guillemots or gulls upon the summits of the strand cliffs. The avifauna along the coast here is besides rather poor. At least there are none of the rich fowl-fells, which, with their millions of inhabitants and the conflicts and quarrels which rage amongst them, commonly give so peculiar a character to the coast cliffs of the high north. I first met with true loom and kittiwake fells farther north on the southern shore of Besimannaja Bay.
Although Gooseland, seen from a distance, appears quite level and low, it yet rises gradually, with an undulating surface, from the coast towards the interior, to a grassy plain about sixty metres above the sea-level, with innumerable small lakes scattered over it. The plain sinks towards the sea nearly everywhere with a steep escarpment, three to fifteen metres high, below which there is formed during the course of the winter an immense snowdrift or so-called "snow-foot," which does not melt until late in the season. There are no true glaciers here, nor any erratic blocks, to show that circumstances were different in former times. Nor are any snow-covered mountain-tops visible from the sea. It is therefore possible at a certain season of the year (during the whole of the month of August) to sail from Norway to Novaya Zemlya, make sporting exclusions there, and return without having seen a trace of ice or snow. This holds good indeed only of the low-lying part of the south island, but in any case it shows how erroneous the prevailing idea of the natural state of Novaya Zemlya is. By the end of June or beginning of July the greater part of Gooseland is nearly free of snow, and soon after the Arctic flower-world develops during a few weeks all its splendour of colour. Dry, favourably situated spots are now covered by a low, but exceedingly rich flower bed, concealed by no high grass or bushes. On moister places true grassy turf is to be met with, which, at least when seen from a distance, resembles smiling meadows.
In consequence of the loss of time which had been caused by the delay in sailing along the coast of Norway, and our stay at Maosoe, we were unable to land on this occasion, but immediately continued our course along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya towards Yugor Schar, the weather being for the most part glorious and calm. The sea was completely free of ice, and the land bare, with the exception of some small snow-fields concealed in the valleys. Here and there too along the steep strand escarpments were to be seen, remains of the winter's snow-foot, which often, when the lower stratum of air was strongly heated by the sun, were magnified by a strong mirage, so that, when seen from a distance, they resembled immense glaciers terminating perpendicularly towards the sea. Coming farther south the clear weather gave us a good view of Vaygats Island. It appears, when seen from the sea off the west coast, to form a level grassy plain, but when we approached Yugor Schar, low ridges were seen to run along the east side of the island, which are probably the last ramifications of the north spur of Ural, known by the name of Paj-koi.