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THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA ROUND ASIA AND EUROPE. VOL. I.
[Illustration: OSCAR, II ]
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA ROUND ASIA AND EUROPE
WITH A HISTORICAL REVIEW
OF PREVIOUS JOURNEYS ALONG THE NORTH COAST OF THE OLD WORLD
BY A.E. NORDENSKIOeLD
TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER LESLIE
_WITH FIVE STEEL PORTRAITS, NUMEROUS MAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS_
IN TWO VOLUMES--VOL. I
London
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1881
TO HIS MAJESTY
KING OSCAR II.
THE HIGH PROTECTOR OF THE VEGA EXPEDITION
THIS SKETCH OF THE VOYAGE
HE SO MAGNANIMOUSLY AND GENEROUSLY PROMOTED
IS WITH THE DEEPEST GRATITUDE
MOST HUMBLY
DEDICATED
BY A.E. NORDENSKIOeLD.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
In the work now published I have, along with the sketch of the
voyage of the _Vega_ round Asia and Europe, of the natural
conditions of the north coast of Siberia, of the animal and
vegetable life prevailing there, and of the peoples with whom we
came in contact in the course of our journey, endeavoured to give a
review, as complete as space permitted, of previous exploratory
voyages to the Asiatic Polar Sea. It would have been very ungrateful
on my part if I had not referred at some length to our predecessors,
who with indescribable struggles and difficulties--and generally
with the sacrifice of health and life--paved the way along which we
advanced, made possible the victory we achieved. In this way besides
the work itself has gained a much-needed variety, for nearly all the
narratives of the older North-East voyages contain in abundance what
a sketch of our adventures has not to offer; for many readers
perhaps expect to find in a book such as this accounts of dangers
and misfortunes of a thousand sorts by land and sea. May the
contrast which thus becomes apparent between the difficulties our
predecessors had to contend with and those which the _Vega_ met with
during her voyage incite to new exploratory expeditions to the sea,
which now, for the first time, has been ploughed by the keel of a
sea-going vessel, and conduce to dissipate a prejudice which for
centuries has kept the most extensive cultivable territory on the
globe shut out from the great Oceans of the World.
The work is furnished with numerous maps and illustrations, and is
provided with accurate references to sources of geographical
information. For this I am indebted both to the liberal conception
which my publisher, Herr FRANS BEIJER, formed of the way in which
the work should be executed, and the assistance I have received
while it was passing through the press from Herr E.W. Dahlgren,
amanuensis at the Royal Library, for which it is a pleasant duty
publicly to offer them my hearty thanks.
A.E. NORDENSKIOeLD.
STOCKHOLM, _8th October_, 1881.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
Having been honoured by a request from Baron Nordenskioeld that I
would undertake the translation of the work in which he gives an
account of the voyage by which the North-East Passage was at last
achieved, and Asia and Europe circumnavigated for the first time, I
have done my best to reproduce in English the sense of the Swedish
original as faithfully as possible, and at the same time to preserve
the style of the author as far as the varying idioms of the two
languages permit.
I have to thank two ladies for the help they kindly gave me in
reading proofs, and my friend Herr GUSTAF LINDSTROeM, for valuable
assistance rendered in various ways.
Where not otherwise indicated, temperature is stated in degrees of
the Centigrade or Celsius thermometer. Longitude is invariably
reckoned from the meridian of Greenwich.
Where distance is stated in miles without qualification, the miles
are Swedish (one of which is equal to 6.64 English miles), except at
page 372, Vol. I., where the geographical square miles are German,
each equal to sixteen English geographical square miles.
ALEX. LESLIE.
CHERRYVALE, ABERDEEN,
_24th November_, 1881.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
Typographical errors corrected, and alternative spellings noticed
during the preparation of this text has been placed at the end.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.
Departure--Tromsoe--Members of the Exhibition--Stay at
Maosoe--Limit of Trees--Climate--Scurvy and Antiscorbutics--The
first doubling of North Cape--Othere's account of his
Travels--Ideas concerning the Geography of Scandinavia current
during the first half of the sixteenth century--The oldest Maps
of the North--Herbertstein's account of Istoma's voyage--Gustaf
Vasa and the North-East Passage--Willoughby and Chancellor's
voyages.
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 Chabarova in 1875--Purchase
of Samoyed Idols--Dress and dwellings of the Samoyeds--Comparison of
the Polar Races--Sacrificial Places and Samoyed Grave on Waygats
Island visited--Former accounts of the Samoyeds--Their place in
Ethnography.
CHAPTER III.
From the Animal World of Novaya Zemlya--The Fulmar Petrel--The
Rotge or Little Auk--Bruennich's Guillemot--The Black Guillemot--The
Arctic Puffin--The Gulls--Richardson's Skua--The Tern--Ducks and
Geese--The Swan--Waders--The Snow Bunting--The Ptarmigan--The Snowy
Owl--The Reindeer--The Polar Bear--The Arctic Fox--The
Lemming--Insects--The Walrus--The Seal--Whales.
CHAPTER IV.
The Origin of the names Yugor Schar and Kara Sea--Rules for
Sailing through Yugor Schar--The "Highest Mountain" on
Earth--Anchorages--Entering the Kara Sea--Its Surroundings--The
Inland-ice of Novaya Zemlya--True Icebergs rare in certain parts
of the Polar Sea--The Natural Conditions of the Kara Sea--Animals,
Plants, Bog-ore--Passage across the Kara Sea--The Influence of
the Ice on the Sea-bottom--Fresh-water Diatoms on Sea-ice--Arrival
at Port Dickson--Animal Life there--Settlers and Settlements at
the Mouth of the Yenisej--The Flora at Port
Dickson--Evertebrates--Excursion to White Island--Yalmal--Previous
Visits--Nummelin's Wintering on the Briochov Islands.
CHAPTER V.
The history of the North-east Passage from 1556 to 1878--Burrough,
1556--Pet and Jackman, 1580--The first voyage of the Dutch,
1594--Oliver Brunel--The second voyage, 1595--The third voyage,
1596--Hudson, 1608--Gourdon, 1611--Bosman, 1625--De la Martiniere,
1653--Vlamingh, 1664--Snobberger, 1675--Roule reaches a land north of
Novaya Zemlya--Wood and Flawes, 1676--Discussion in England
concerning the state of the ice in the Polar Sea--Views of the
condition of the Polar Sea still divided--Payer and Weyprecht, 1872-74.
CHAPTER VI.
The North-east Voyages of the Russians and Norwegians--Rodivan
Ivanov, 1690--The Great Northern Expedition 1734-37--The supposed
Richness in metals of Novaya Zemlya--Iuschkov, 1757--Savva Loschkin,
1760--Rossmuislov, 1768--Lasarev, 1819--Luetke, 1821-24--Ivanov,
1822-28--Pachtussov, 1832-35--Von Baer, 1837--Zivolka and Moissejev,
1838-39--Von Krusenstern, 1860-62--The Origin and History of the Polar
Sea Hunting--Carlsen, 1868--Ed. Johannesen, 1869-70--Ulve, Mack, and
Quale, 1870--Mack, 1871--Discovery of the Relics of Barent's
wintering--Tobiesen's wintering 1872-73--The Swedish Expeditions
1875 and 1876--Wiggins, 1876--Later voyages to and from the Yenisej.
CHAPTER VII.
Departure from Port Dickson--Landing on a rocky island east of the
Yenisej--Self-dead animals--Discovery of crystals on the surface of
the drift-ice--Cosmic dust--Stay in Actinia Bay--Johannesen's
discovery of the island Ensamheten--Arrival at Cape Chelyuskin--The
natural state of the land and sea there--Attempt to penetrate
right eastwards to the New Siberian Islands--The effect of the
mist--Abundant dredging-yield--Preobraschenie Island--Separation
from the _Lena_ at the mouth of the river Lena.
CHAPTER VIII.
The voyage of the _Fraser_ and the _Express_ up the Yenisej and
their return to Norway--Contract for the piloting of the _Lena_ up
the Lena river--The voyage of the _Lena_ through the delta and up
the river to Yakutsk--The natural state of Siberia in general--The
river territories--The fitness of the land for cultivation and the
necessity for improved communications--The great rivers, the
future commercial highways of Siberia--Voyage up the Yenisej in
1875--Sibiriakoff's Island--The _tundra_--The primeval Siberian
forest--The inhabitants of Western Siberia: the Russians, the
Exiles, the "Asiatics"--Ways of travelling on the Yenisej, dog-boats,
floating trading stores propelled by steam--New prospects for Siberia.
CHAPTER IX.
The new Siberian Islands--The Mammoth--Discovery of Mammoth
and Rhinoceros mummies--Fossil Rhinoceros horns--Stolbovoj
Island--Liachoff Island--First discovery of this island--Passage
through the sound between this island and the mainland--Animal life
there--Formation of ice in water above the freezing point--The
Bear Islands--The quantity and dimensions of the ice begin to
increase--Different kinds of sea-ice--Renewed attempt to leave the
open channel along the coast--Lighthouse Island--Voyage along the
coast to Cape Schelagskoj--Advance delayed by ice, shoals, and
fog--First meeting with the Chukches--Landing and visits to Chukch
villages--Discovery of abandoned encampments--Trade with the natives
rendered difficult by the want of means of exchange--Stay at
Irkaipij--Onkilon graves--Information regarding the Onkilon
race--Renewed contact with the Chukches--Kolyutschin Bay--American
statements regarding the state of the ice north of Behring's
Straits--The _Vega_ beset.
CHAPTER X.
Wintering becomes necessary--The position of the _Vega_--The ice
round the vessel--American ship in the neighbourhood of the _Vega_
when frozen in--The nature of the neighbouring country--The _Vega_
is prepared for wintering--Provision-depot and observatories
established on land--The winter dress--Temperature on board--Health
and dietary--Cold, wind, and snow--The Chukches on board--Menka's
visit--Letters sent home--Nordquist and Hovgaard's excursion to
Menka's encampment--Another visit of Menka--The fate of the
letters--Nordquist's journey to Pidlin--_Find_ of a Chukch
grave--Hunting--Scientific work--Life on board--Christmas Eve.
PORTRAITS.
Engraved on Steel by G.J. Stodart of London.
King Oscar II
Oscar Dickson
Alexander Sibiriakoff
LITHOGRAPHED MAPS.
1. Map of North Europe, from Nicholas Donis's edition of Ptolemy's
_Cosmographia_, Ulm, 1482
2. Map of the North, from Jakob Ziegler's _Schondia_, Strassburg, 1532
3. Map of North. Europe from _Olai Magni Historia de gentium
septentrionalium variis conditionibus_, Basil, 1567
4. Map of Port Dickson, by G. Bove. Map of Cape Bolvan on Vaygats
Island, by the author. The _Lena's_ cruise in Malygin Sound, by
A. Hovgaard. Map of Cape Chelyuskin, by G. Bove
5. Map showing Barents' Third Voyage, from _J.L. Pontani Rerum et urbis
Amstelodamensium historia_, Amst., 1611
6. Russian Map of the North Polar Sea from the beginning of the 17th
century, published in Holland in 1612 by Isaac Massa
7. Sketch-Map of Taimur Sound; Map of Actinia Bay, both by G. Bove
8. Map of the River System of Siberia
LIST OF WOOD-CUTS IN VOL I.
_The wood-cuts, when not otherwise stated below, were engraved at
Herr Wilhelm Meyer's Xylographic Institute in Stockholm._
1. The _Vega_ under sail, drawn by Captain J. Hagg
2. The _Vega_--Longitudinal section, drawn by Lieut. C.A.M. Hjulhammar
3. ,, ,, Plan of arrangement under deck, drawn by ditto
4. ,, ,, Plan of upper deck, drawn by ditto
5. The _Lena_--Longitudinal section, drawn by Marine-engineer J. Pihlgren
6. ,, ,, Plan of arrangement under deck, drawn by ditto
7. ,, ,, Plan of upper deck, drawn by ditto
8. Flag of the Swedish Yacht Club, drawn by V. Andren
9. Tromsoe, drawn by R. Haglund
10. Old World Polar dress, drawn by O. Soerling
11. New World Polar Dress, drawn by Docent A. Kornrup, Copenhagen
12. Limit of Trees in Norway, drawn by R. Haglund, engraved by J. Engberg
13. Limit of Trees in Siberia, drawn by ditto
14. The Cloudberry (_Rubus Chamaemorus_, L.),
drawn by Mrs. Professor A. Anderssen
15. Norse Ship of the Tenth Century, drawn by Harald Schoeyen, Christiania
16. Sebastian Cabot, engraved by Miss Ida Falander
17. Sir Hugh Willoughby, engraved by J.D. Cooper, London
18. Vardoe in 1594
19. Vardoe in our days, drawn by R. Haglund
20. Coast Landscape from Matotschkin Schar, drawn by R. Haglund
21. Church of Chabarova, drawn by V. Andren
22. Samoyed Woman's Hood, drawn by O. Soerling
23. Samoyed Sleigh, drawn by R. Haglund
24. Lapp Akja, drawn by ditto; engraved by J. Engberg
25. Samoyed Sleigh and Idols
26. Samoyed Idols, drawn by O. Soerling
27. Samoyed Hair Ornaments, drawn by ditto
28. Samoyed Woman's Dress, drawn by R. Haglund
29. Samoyed Belt with Knife, drawn by O. Soerling
30. Sacrificial Eminence on Vaygat's Island, drawn by R. Haglund;
engraved by J. Engberg
31. Idols from the Sacrificial Cairn, drawn by O. Soerling
32. Sacrificial Cavity on Vaygat's Island, drawn by V. Andren
33. Samoyed Grave on Vaygat's Island, drawn by R. Haglund; engraved
by O. Dahlbaeck
34. Samoyed Archers
35. Samoyeds from Schleissing's _Neu-entdektes Sieweria_
36. Breeding-place for Little Auks, drawn by H. Haglund
37. The Little Auk, or Rotge (_Mergulus Alle_, L.), drawn by M. Westergren
38. The Loom, or Bruennich's Guillemot (_Uria Bruennichii_, Sabine), drawn
by ditto
39. The Arctic Puffin (_Mormon Arcticus_, L.), drawn by ditto
40. The Black Guillemot (_Uria Grylle_, L.), drawn by ditto
41. Breeding-place for Glaucous Gulls, drawn by R. Haglund
42. The Kittiwake (_Larus tridactylus_, L.), and the Ivory Gull
(_Laruse burneus_, L.), drawn by M. Westergren
43. Rare Northern Gulls--Sabine's Gull (_Larus Sabinii_, Sabine)--Ross's
Gull (_Larus Rossii_, Richards), drawn by ditto
44. The Common Skua (_Lestris parasitica_, L.)--Buffon's Skua
(_Lestris Buffonii_, Boie)--the Pomarine Skua (_Lestris pomarina_,
Tem.) drawn by ditto
45. Heads of the Eider, King Buck, Barnacle Goose,
and White-fronted Goose, drawn by ditto
46. Bewick's Swan (_Cygnus Bewickii_, Yarr.), drawn by M. Westergren
47. Breastbone of _Cygnus Bewickii_, showing the peculiar position of the
windpipe, drawn by ditto
48. Ptarmigan Fell, drawn by R. Haglund
49. The Snowy Owl (_Strix nyctea_, L.), drawn by M. Westergren
50. Reindeer Pasture, drawn by R. Haglund
51. Polar Bears, drawn by G. Muetzell, engraved by K. Jahrmargt,
both of Berlin
52. Ditto
53. Walruses, drawn by M. Westergren
54. Walrus Tusks, drawn by ditto
55. Hunting Implements, drawn by O. Soerling
56. Walrus Hunting, after Olaus Magnus
57. Walruses (female with young)
58. Japanese Drawing of the Walrus
59. Young of the Greenland Seal, drawn by M. Westergren
60. The Bearded Seal (_Phoca barbata_, Fabr.), drawn by ditto
61. The Rough Seal (_Phoca hispida_, Erxl.), drawn by ditto
62. The White Whale (_Delphinapterus leucas_, Pallas), drawn by ditto
63. Section of Inland-Ice
64. View from the Inland-ice of Greenland, drawn by H. Haglund
65. Greenland Ice-fjord, drawn by ditto
66. Slowly advancing Glacier, drawn by ditto
67. Glacier with Stationary Front, drawn by O. Soerling
68. Umbellula from the Kara Sea, drawn by M. Westergren
69. _Elpidia Glacialis_ (Theel.), from the Kara Sea, drawn by ditto
70. Manganiferous Iron-ore Formations from the Kara Sea,
drawn by O. Soerling
71. Section from the South Coast of Matotschkin Sound,
drawn by the geologist, E. Erdman
72. Map of the Mouth of the Yenisej (zincograph)
73. Ruins of a Simovie at Krestovskoj, drawn by O. Soerling
74. _Sieversia Glacialis_, R. Br., from Port Dickson,
drawn by Mrs. Prof. Anderssen
75. Evertebrates from Port Dickson, _Yoldia artica_, Gray,
and _Diastylis Rathkei_, Kr., drawn by M. Westergren
76. Place of Sacrifice on Yalmal, drawn by R. Haglund
77. "Jordgammor" on the Briochov Islands, drawn by ditto
78. Russian "Lodja"
79. Dutch Skipper
80. Capture of a Polar Bear
81. Jan Huyghen van Linschoten
82. Kilduin, in Russian Lapland, in 1594
83. Map of Fietum Nassovicum or Yugor Schar
84. Unsuccessful Fight with a Polar Bear
85. Barents' and Rijp's Vessels
86. Barents' House, outside
87. Ditto inside
88. Jacob van Heemskerk
89. De la Martiniere's Map
90. Ammonite with Gold Lustre (_Ammonites alternans_, v. Buch)
drawn by M. Westergren
91. View from Matotschkin Schar, drawn by R. Haglund
92. Friedrich Benjamin von Luetke, drawn and engraved by Miss Ida
Falander
93. August Karlovitz Zivolka, drawn and engraved by ditto
94. Paul von Krusenstern, Junior, drawn and engraved by ditto
95. Michael Konstantinovitsch Sidoroff, drawn and engraved by ditto
96. Norwegian Hunting Sloop, drawn by Captain J. Hagg
97. Elling Carlson, engraved by J.D. Cooper, of London
98. Edward Hohn Johannesen, engraved by ditto
99. Sivert Kristian Tobiesen, engraved by ditto
100. Tobiesen's Winter House on Bear Island, drawn by R. Haglund
101. Joseph Wiggins, drawn by R. Haglund
102. David Ivanovitsch Schwanenberg, drawn and engraved by Miss Ida
Falander
103. Gustaf Adolf Nummelin, drawn and engraved by ditto
104. The Sloop _Utrennaja Saria_, drawn by Captain J. Hagg
105. The _Vega_, and _Lena_ anchored to an Ice-floe, drawn by R. Haglund
106. Hairstar from the Taimur Coast (_Antedon Eschrictii_, J. Mueller)
drawn by M. Westergren
107. Form of the Crystals found on the ice off the Taimur Coast
108. Section of the upper part of the Snow on a Drift-ice Field in
80 deg. N.L.
109. Grass from Actinia Bay (_Pleuropogon Sabini_, R. Br.),
drawn by Mrs. Professor Andersson
110. The _Vega_ and _Lena_ saluting Cape Chelyuskin, drawn by R. Haglund
111. View at Cape Chelyuskin during the stay of the Expedition,
drawn by ditto
112. _Draba Alpina_, L., from Cape Chelyuskin, drawn by M. Westergren
113. The Beetle living farthest to the North
(_Micralymma Dicksoni_, Mackl.) drawn by ditto
114. Ophiuroid from the Sea north of Cape Chelyuskin
(_Ophiacantha bidentata_ Retz.), drawn by ditto
115. Sea Spider (_pycnogonid_) from the Sea east of Cape Chelyuskin,
drawn by ditto
116. Preobraschenie Island, drawn by R. Haglund
117. The steamer _Fraser_, drawn by ditto
118. The Steamer _Lena_, drawn by ditto
119. Hans Christian Johannesen, engraved by J.D. Cooper, London
120. Yakutsk in the Seventeenth Century
121. Yakutsk in our days, drawn by R. Haglund
122. River View from the Yenisej, drawn by ditto
123. Sub-fossil Marine Crustacea from the _tundra_,
drawn by M. Westergren
124. Siberian River Boat, drawn by R. Haglund
125. Ostyak Tent, drawn by ditto
126. Towing with Dogs on the Yenisej, drawn by Professor R.D. Holm
127. Fishing-boats on the Ob, drawn R. Haglund
128. Graves in the Primeval Forest of Siberia, drawn by ditto
129. Chukch Village on a Siberian River, drawn by ditto
130. Mammoth Skeleton in the Imperial Museum of the Academy of Sciences
in St. Petersburg, drawn by M. Westergren
131. Restored Form of the Mammoth
132. Siberian Rhinoceros Horn, drawn by M. Westergren and V. Andren
133. Stolbovoj Island, drawn by R. Haglund
134. _Idothea Entomon_, Lin., drawn by M. Westergren
135. _Idothea Sabinei_, Kroeyer, drawn by ditto
136. Ljachoff's Island, drawn by E. Haglund
137. Beaker Sponges from the Sea off the mouth of the Kolyma,
drawn by M. Westergren
138. Lighthouse Island, drawn by R. Haglund
139. Chukch Boats, drawn by O. Soerling
140. A Chukch in Seal-gut Great-coat, drawn and engraved by
Miss Ida Falander
141. Chukch Tent, drawn by R. Haglund
142. Section of a Chukch Grave, drawn by O. Soerling
143. Irkaipij, drawn by R. Haglund
144. Ruins of an Onkilon House, drawn by O. Soerling
145. Implements found in the Ruins of an Onkilon House, drawn by ditto
146. Alga from Irkaipij (_Laminaria Solidungula_, J.G. Ag.),
drawn by M. Westergren
147. Cormorant from Irkaipij (_Graculus bierustatus_, Pallas),
drawn by ditto
148. Pieces of Ice from the Coast of the Chukch Peninsula,
drawn by O. Soerling
149. Toross from the neighbourhood of the _Vega's_ Winter Quarters,
drawn by R. Haglund
150. The _Vega_ in Winter Quarters, drawn by ditto
151. The Winter Dress of the _Vega_ men, drawn by Jungstedt
152. Cod from Pitlekaj (_Gadus navaga_, Kolreuter), drawn by M. Westergren
153. Kautljkau, a Chukch Girl from Irgunnuk, drawn and engraved
by Miss Ida Falander
154. Chukches Angling, drawn by O. Soerling
155. Ice-Sieve, drawn by ditto
156. Smelt from the Chukch Peninsula (_Osmerus eperlanus_, Lin.),
drawn by M. Westergren
157. Wassili Menka, drawn by O. Soerling, engraved by Miss Ida Falander
158. Chukch Dog-Sleigh, drawn by ditto
159. Chukch Bone-carvings, drawn by O. Soerling
160. Hares from Chukch Land, drawn by M. Westergren
161. The Observatory at Pitlekaj, drawn by R. Haglund
162. An Evening in the Gun-room of the _Vega_ during the Wintering,
drawn by ditto, engraved by R. Lindgren
163. Refraction Halo, drawn by ditto
164. Reflection Halo, drawn by ditto
165. Section of the Beach Strata at Pitlekaj
166. Christmas Eve on the _Vega_, drawn by V. Andren
ERRATA [ Transcriber's note: these have been applied to the text ]
Page 44, under Wood-cut _for_ "chammmorus" _read_ "chamaemorus."
Page 58, lines 21, 24, end 28 _for_ "pearls" _read_ "beads."
Page 140, line 13 from top, _for_ "swallow" _read_ "roll away."
Page 184, last line, _for_ "one-third" _read_ "one-and-a-half times."
Page 377, note, _for_ "It is the general rule" _read_
"For the northern hemisphere it is a general rule."
Page 476, line 12 from top, _for_ "leggins" _read_
"leggings."
Page 481, under wood-cut, _for_ "half the natural size"
_read_ "one-third of the natural size."
Page 494, under wood-cut, _for_ "half the natural size"
_read_ "one-third of the natural size."
INTRODUCTION.
The voyage, which it is my purpose to sketch in this book, owed its
origin to two preceding expeditions from Sweden to the western part
of the Siberian Polar Sea, in the course of which I reached the
mouth of the Yenisej, the first time in 1875 in a walrus-hunting
sloop, the _Procven_, and the second time in 1876 in a steamer, the
_Ymer_.
After my return from the latter voyage, I came to the conclusion,
that, on the ground of the experience thereby gained, and of the
knowledge which, under the light of that experience, it was possible
to obtain from old, especially from Russian, explorations of the
north coast of Asia, I was warranted in asserting that the open
navigable water, which two years in succession had carried me across
the Kara Sea, formerly of so bad repute, to the mouth of the
Yenisej, extended in all probability as far as Behring's Straits,
and that a circumnavigation of the old world was thus within the
bounds of possibility.
It was natural that I should endeavour to take advantage of the
opportunity for making new and important discoveries which thus
presented itself. An opportunity had arisen for solving a
geographical problem--the forcing a north-east passage to China and
Japan--which for more than three hundred years had been a subject of
competition between the world's foremost commercial states and most
daring navigators, and which, if we view it in the light of a
circumnavigation of the old world, had, for thousands of years back,
been an object of desire for geographers. I determined, therefore,
at first to make use, for this purpose, of the funds which Mr. A.
SIBIRIAKOFF, after my return from the expedition of 1876, placed at
my disposal for the continuation of researches in the Siberian Polar
Sea. For a voyage of the extent now contemplated, this sum, however,
was quite insufficient. On this account I turned to His Majesty the
King of Sweden and Norway, with the inquiry whether any assistance
in making preparations for the projected expedition might be
reckoned upon from the public funds. King OSCAR, who, already as
Crown Prince, had given a large contribution to the Torell
expedition of 1861, immediately received my proposal with special
warmth, and promised within a short time to invite the Swedish
members of the Yenisej expeditions and others interested in our
voyages of exploration in the north, to meet him for the purpose of
consultation, asking me at the same time to be prepared against the
meeting with a complete exposition of the reasons on which I
grounded my views--differing so widely from the ideas commonly
entertained--of the state of the ice in the sea off the north coast
of Siberia.
This assembly took place at the palace in Stockholm, on the 26th
January, 1877, which may be considered the birthday of the _Vega_
Expedition, and was ushered in by a dinner, to which a large number
of persons were invited, among whom were the members of the Swedish
royal house that happened to be then in Stockholm; Prince JOHN OF
GLUeCKSBURG; Dr. OSCAR DICKSON, the Gothenburg merchant; Baron F.W.
VON OTTER, Councillor of State and Minister of Marine, well known
for his voyages in the Arctic waters in 1868 and 1871; Docent F.K.
KJELLMAN, Dr. A. STUTXBERG, the former a member of the expedition
which wintered at Mussel Bay in 1872-73, and of that which reached
the Yenisej in 1875, the latter, of the Yenisej Expeditions of 1875
and 1876; and Docents HJALMAR THEEL and A.N. LUNDSTROeM, both members
of the Yenisej Expedition of 1875.
[Illustration: Oscar Dickson ]
After dinner the programme of the contemplated voyage was laid
before the meeting, almost in the form in which it afterwards
appeared in print in several languages. There then arose a lively
discussion, in the course of which reasons were advanced for, and
against the practicability of the plan. In particular the question
concerning the state of the ice and the marine currents at Cape
Chelyuskin gave occasion to an exhaustive discussion. It ended by
His Majesty first of all declaring himself convinced of the
practicability of the plan of the voyage, and prepared not only as
king, but also as a private individual, to give substantial support
to the enterprise. Dr. Oscar Dickson shared His Majesty's views, and
promised to contribute to the not inconsiderable expenditure, which
the new voyage of exploration would render necessary. This is the
sixth expedition to the high north, the expenses of which have been
defrayed to a greater or less extent by Dr. O. Dickson.[1] He became
the banker of the _Vega_ Expedition, inasmuch as to a considerable
extent he advanced the necessary funds, but after our return the
expenses were equally divided between His Majesty the King of Sweden
and Norway, Dr. Dickson, and Mr. Sibiriakoff.
I very soon had the satisfaction of appointing, as superintendents
of the botanical and zoological work of the expedition in this new
Polar voyage, my old and tried friends from previous expeditions,
Docents Dr. Kjellman and Dr. Stuxberg, observers so well known in
Arctic literature. At a later period, another member of the
expedition that wintered on Spitzbergen in 1872-73, Lieutenant (now
Captain in the Swedish Navy) L. PALANDER, offered to accompany the
new expedition as commander of the vessel--an offer which I gladly
accepted, well knowing, as I did from previous voyages, Captain
Palander's distinguished ability both as a seaman and an Arctic
explorer. Further there joined the expedition Lieutenant GIACOMO
BOVE, of the Italian Navy; Lieutenant A. HOVGAARD, of the Danish
Navy; Medical candidate E. ALMQUIST, as medical officer; Lieutenant
O. NORDQUIST, of the Russian Guards; Lieutenant E. BRUSEWITZ, of the
Swedish Navy; together with twenty-one men--petty officers and crew,
according to a list which will be found further on.
An expedition of such extent as that now projected, intended
possibly to last two years, with a vessel of its own, a numerous
well-paid _personnel_, and a considerable scientific staff, must of
course be very costly. In order somewhat to diminish the expenses, I
gave in, on the 25th August, 1877, a memorial to the Swedish
Government with the prayer that the steamer _Vega_, which in the
meantime had been purchased for the expedition, should be thoroughly
overhauled and made completely seaworthy at the naval dockyard at
Karlskrona; and that, as had been done in the case of the Arctic
Expeditions of 1868 and 1872-73, certain grants of public money
should be given to the officers and men of the Royal Swedish Navy,
who might take part as volunteers in the projected expedition. With
reference to this petition the Swedish Government was pleased, in
terms of a letter of the Minister of Marine, dated the 31st
December, 1877, both to grant sea-pay, &c., to the officer and
eighteen men of the Royal Navy, who might take part in the
expedition in question, and at the same time to resolve on making a
proposal to the Diet in which additional grants were to be asked for
it.
The proposal to the Diet of 1878 was agreed to with that liberality
which has always distinguished the representatives of the Swedish
people when grants for scientific purposes have been asked for;
which was also the case with a private motion made in the same Diet
by the President, C.F. WAERN, member of the Academy of Sciences,
whereby it was proposed to confer some further privileges on the
undertaking.
It is impossible here to give at length the decision of the Diet,
and the correspondence which was exchanged with the authorities with
reference to it. But I am under an obligation of gratitude to refer
to the exceedingly pleasant reception I met with everywhere, in the
course of these negotiations, from officials of all ranks, and to
give a brief account of the privileges which the expedition finally
came to enjoy, mainly owing to the letter of the Government to the
Marine Department, dated the 14th June, 1878.
Two officers and seventeen men of the Royal Swedish Navy having
obtained permission to take part in the expedition as volunteers, I
was authorised to receive on account of the expedition from the
treasury of the Navy, at Karlskrona--with the obligation of
returning that portion of the funds which might not be required, and
on giving approved security--full sea pay for two years for the
officers, petty officers, and men taking part in the expedition; pay
for the medical officer, at the rate of 3,500 Swedish crowns a year,
for the same time; and subsistence money for the men belonging to
the Navy, at the rate of one and a half Swedish crowns per man per
day. The sum, by which the cost of provisions exceeded the amount
calculated at this rate, was defrayed by the expedition, which
likewise gave a considerable addition to the pay of the sailors
belonging to the Navy. I further obtained permission to receive, on
account of the expedition, from the Navy stores at Karlskrona,
provisions, medicines, coal, oil, and other necessary equipment,
under obligation to pay for any excess of value over 10,000 Swedish
crowns (about 550_l_.); and finally the vessel of the expedition was
permitted to be equipped and made completely seaworthy at the naval
dockyard at Karlskrona, on condition, however, that the excess of
expenditure on repairs over 25,000 crowns (about 1,375_l_.) should
be defrayed by the expedition.
[Illustration: _THE VEGA._ Longitudinal section. ]
Plan of arrangement under deck.
1. Powder magazine.
2. Instrument room.
3. Sofa in gunroom.
4. Cabin for Lieut. Brusewitz
5. Cabin fur Lieuts. Bove and Hovgaard.
6. Pantry during winter.
7. Corridor.
8. Cabin for Dr. Stuxberg and Lieut. Nordquist.
9. Gunroom.
10. Table in gunroom.
11. Cabin for Dr. Almquist.
12. Cabin for Dr. Kjellman.
13. Stove.
14. Cabin for Capt. Palander.
15. Cabin for Prof. Nordenskioeld.
16. Corridor (descent to gunroom).
17. Coal bankers.
18. Boiler.
19. Storeroom 'tween decks.
20. Pilot's cabin.
21. Cabin for Lieut. Bove built in Japan.
22. Cabin for two petty officers.
23. Petty officers' mess.
24. Cabin for carpenter's effects ) built
25. Cabin for collections. ) in Japan
26. Cabin for library.
27. Gunroom pantry.
28. Hatch to provision room.
29. Hatch to the cable-tier.
30. Hatch to room set apart for scientific purposes.
31. Galley.
32. Bunks for the crew--double rows.
33. Cable-tier and provision store.
34. Hatch to store-room.
35. Hatch to room for daily giving out of provisions.
36. Hatch to rope-room.
37. Sail-room.
38. Storeroom for water and coal.
39. Engine-room.
40. Cellar.
Plan of upper deck
_a._ Thermometer case.
_b._ The rudder.
_c._ Binnacle with compass.
_d._ ) Skylights to the gunroom.
_e._ )
_f._ Mizenmast.
_g._ Descent to the gunroom ) companion common
_h._ Descent to the engine ) to both.
_i._ Bridge.
_k._ Funnel.
_l._ Boats lying on gallows.
_m._ Mainmast.
_n._ Booms (for reserve masts, yards, &c.).
_o._ Main hatch.
_p._ Steam launch.
_q._ Fore hatch.
_r._ Hencoops.
_s._ Water closet.
_t._ Foremast.
_u._ Smoke-cowl.
_v._ Descent to lower deck (companion).
_x._ Windlass.
_y._ Capstan on the forecastle.
_z._ Catheads.
[Illustration: _THE VEGA._ Longitudinal section. ]
Plan of arrangement under deck.
Plan of upper deck.
A. Engine-room.
B. B. Hold.
C. Cable.
D. Water ballast tank.
E. Forecastle.
F. F. Coal bunkers.
G. Fireman's cabin.
H. Engineer's cabin.
K. Provision-room.
L. Captain's cabin.
M. Mate's cabin.
N. Kitchen.
O. Pantry.
P. Saloon.
Q. Q. Presses.
R. Engine-room companion.
S. Bridge.
T. Hatch to hold.
U. Descent to provision-room.
V. Winch.
X. Descent to engine-room.
Y. Descent to forecastle and engineer's cabin.
Z. Descent to captain's cabin, saloon, &c.
On the other hand my request that the _Vega_, the steamer purchased
for the voyage, might be permitted to carry the man-of-war flag, was
refused by the Minister of Marine in a letter of the 2nd February
1878. The _Vega_ was therefore inscribed in the following month of
March in the Swedish Yacht Club. It was thus under its flag, _the
Swedish man-of-war flag with a crowned O in the middle_, that the
first circumnavigation of Asia and Europe was carried into effect.
The _Vega_, as will be seen from the description quoted farther on,
is a pretty large vessel, which during the first part of the voyage
was to be heavily laden with provisions and coal. It would therefore
be a work of some difficulty to get it afloat, if, in sailing
forward along the coast in new, unsurveyed waters, it should run
upon a bank of clay or sand. I therefore gladly availed myself of
Mr. Sibiriakoff's offer to provide for the greater safety of the
expedition, by placing at my disposal funds for building another
steamer of a smaller size, the _Lena_, which should have the river
Lena as its main destination, but, during the first part of the
expedition, should act as tender to the _Vega_, being sent before to
examine the state of the ice and the navigable waters, when such
service might be useful. I had the _Lena_ built at Motala, of
Swedish Bessemer steel, mainly after a drawing of Engineer R.
Runeberg of Finland. The steamer answered the purpose for which it
was intended particularly well.
An unexpected opportunity of providing the steamers with coal during
the course of the voyage besides arose by my receiving a commission,
while preparations were making for the expedition of the _Vega_, to
fit out, also on Mr. Sibiriakoff's account, two other vessels, the
steamer _Fraser_, and the sailing vessel _Express_, in order to
bring to Europe from the mouth of the Yenisej a cargo of grain, and
to carry thither a quantity of European goods. This was so much the
more advantageous, as, according to the plan of the expedition, the
_Vega_ and the _Lena_ were first to separate from the _Fraser_ and
the _Express_ at the mouth of the Yenisej. The first-named vessels
had thus an opportunity of taking on board at that place as much
coal as there was room for.
[Illustration: Alexander Sibiriakoff ]
I intend further on to give an account of the voyages of the
other three vessels, each of which deserves a place in the
history of navigation. To avoid details I shall only mention
here that, at the beginning of the voyage which is to be
described here, the following four vessels were at my disposal:--
1. The _Vega_, commanded by Lieutenant L. Palander, of the Swedish
Navy; circumnavigated Asia and Europe.
2. The _Lena_, commanded by the walrus-hunting captain, Christian
Johannesen; the first vessel that reached the river Lena from the
Atlantic.
3. The _Fraser_, commanded by the merchant captain, Emil Nilsson.
4. The _Express_, commanded by the merchant captain, Gundersen; the
first which brought cargoes of grain from the Yenisej to Europe.[2]
When the _Vega_ was bought for the expedition it was described by
the sellers as follows:--
"The steamer _Vega_ was built at Bremerhaven in 1872-73, of the best
oak, for the share-company 'Ishafvet,' and under special inspection.
It has twelve years' first class 3/3 I.I. Veritas, measures 357
register tons gross, or 299 net. It was built and used for
whale-fishing in the North Polar Sea, and strengthened in every way
necessary and commonly used for that purpose. Besides the usual
timbering of oak, the vessel has an ice-skin of greenheart, wherever
the ice may be expected to come at the vessel. The ice-skin extends
from the neighbourhood of the under chain bolts to within from 1.2
to 1.5 metres of the keel The dimensions are:--
Length of keel ... ... ... 37.6 metres.
Do. over deck ... ... ... 43.4 metres.
Beam extreme ... ... ... 8.4 metres.
Depth of hold ... ... ... 4.6 metres.
"The engine, of sixty horse-power, is on Wolff's plan, with
excellent surface condensers. It requires about ten cubic feet of
coal per hour. The vessel is fully rigged as a barque, and has pitch
pine masts, iron wire rigging, and patent reefing topsails. It sails
and manoeuvres uncommonly well, and under sail alone attains a speed
of nine to ten knots. During the trial trip the steamer made seven
and a half knots, but six to seven knots per hour may be considered
the speed under steam. Further, there are on the vessel a powerful
steam-winch, a reserve rudder, and a reserve propeller. The vessel
is besides provided in the whole of the under hold with iron tanks,
so built that they lie close to the vessel's bottom and sides, the
tanks thus being capable of offering a powerful resistance in case
of ice pressure. They are also serviceable for holding provisions,
water, and coal."[3]
We had no reason to take exception to this description,[4] but, in
any case, it was necessary for an Arctic campaign, such as that now
in question, to make a further inspection of the vessel, to assure
ourselves that all its parts were in complete order, to make the
alterations in rig, &c., which the altered requirements would render
necessary, and finally to arrange the vessel, so that it might house
a scientific staff, which, together with the officers, numbered nine
persons. This work was done at the Karlskrona naval dockyard, under
the direction of Captain Palander. At the same time attention was
given to the scientific equipment, principally in Stockholm, where a
large number of instruments for physical, astronomical, and
geological researches was obtained from the Royal Academy of
Sciences.
The dietary during the expedition was fixed upon, partly on the
ground of our experience from the wintering of 1872-73, partly under
the guidance of a special opinion given with reference to the
subject by the distinguished physician who took part in that
expedition, Dr. A. Envall. Preserved provisions,[5] butter, flour,
&c., were purchased, part at Karlskrona, part in Stockholm and
Copenhagen; a portion of pemmican was prepared in Stockholm by Z.
Wikstroem; another portion was purchased in England; fresh ripe
potatoes[6] were procured from the Mediterranean, a large quantity
of cranberry juice from Finland; preserved cloudberries and clothes
of reindeer skins, &c., from Norway, through our agent Ebeltoft, and
so on--in a word, nothing was neglected to make the vessel as well
equipped as possible for the attainment of the great object in view.
What this was may be seen from the following
PLAN OF THE EXPEDITION,
PRESENTED TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY, _July_ 1877.
The exploring expeditions, which, during the recent decades, have
gone out from Sweden towards the north, have long ago acquired a
truly national importance, through the lively interest that has been
taken in them everywhere, beyond, as well as within, the fatherland;
through the considerable sums of money that have been spent on them
by the State, and above all by private persons; through the
practical school they have formed for more than thirty Swedish
naturalists; through the important scientific and geographical
results they have yielded; and through the material for scientific
research, which by them has been collected for the Swedish
Riks-Museum, and which has made it, in respect of Arctic natural
objects, the richest in the world. To this there come to be added
discoveries and investigations which already are, or promise in the
future to become, of practical importance; for example, the
meteorological and hydrographical work of the expeditions; their
comprehensive inquiries regarding the Seal and Whale Fisheries in
the Polar Seas; the pointing out of the previously unsuspected
richness in fish, of the coasts of Spitzbergen; the discoveries, on
Bear Island and Spitzbergen, of considerable strata of coal and
phosphatic minerals which are likely to be of great economic
importance to neighbouring countries; and, above all, the success of
the two last expeditions in reaching the mouths of the large
Siberian rivers, navigable to the confines of China--the Obi and
Yenisej--whereby a problem in navigation, many centuries old, has
at last been solved.
But the very results that have been obtained incite to a
continuation, especially as the two last expeditions have opened a
new field of inquiry, exceedingly promising in a scientific, and I
venture also to say in a practical, point of view, namely, the part
of the Polar Sea lying east of the mouth of the Yenisej. Still, even
in our days, in the era of steam and the telegraph, there meets us
here a territory to be explored, which is new to science, and
hitherto untouched. Indeed, the whole of the immense expanse of
ocean which stretches over 90 degrees of longitude from the mouth of
the Yenisej past Cape Chelyuskin--the Promontorium Tabin of the old
geographers--has, if we except voyages in large or small boats along
the coast, never yet been ploughed by the keel of any vessel, and
never seen the funnel of a steamer.
It was this state of things which led me to attempt to procure funds
for an expedition, equipped as completely as possible, both in a
scientific and a nautical respect, with a view to investigate the
geography, hydrography, and natural history of the North Polar Sea
beyond the mouth of the Yenisej, if possible as far as Behring's
Straits. It may be affirmed without any danger of exaggeration, that
since Cook's famous voyages in the Pacific Ocean, no more promising
field of research has lain before any exploring expedition, if only
the state of the ice permit a suitable steamer to force a passage in
that sea. In order to form a judgment on this point, it may perhaps
be necessary to cast a brief glance backwards over the attempts
which have been made to penetrate in the direction which the
projected expedition is intended to take.
The Swedish port from which the expedition is to start will probably
be Gothenburg. The time of departure is fixed for the beginning of
July, 1878. The course will be shaped at first along the west coast
of Norway, past North Cape and the entrance to the White Sea, to
Matotschkin Sound in Novaya Zemlya.
The opening of a communication by sea between the rest of Europe and
these regions, by Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancelor in 1553,
was the fruit of the first exploring expedition sent out from
England by sea. Their voyage also forms the first attempt to
discover a north-east passage to China. The object aimed at was not
indeed accomplished; but on the other hand, there was opened by the
voyage in question the sea communication between England and the
White Sea; the voyage thus forming a turning-point not only in the
navigation of England and Russia, but also in the commerce of the
world. It also demanded its sacrifice, Sir Hugh Willoughby himself,
with all the men in the vessels under his command, having perished
while wintering on the Kola peninsula. In our days thousands of
vessels sail safely along this route.
With the knowledge we now possess of the state of the ice in the
Murman Sea--so the sea between Kola and Novaya Zemlya is called on
the old maps--it is possible to sail during the latter part of
summer from the White Sea to Matotschkin without needing to fear the
least hindrance from ice. For several decades back, however, in
consequence of want of knowledge of the proper season and the proper
course, the case has been quite different--as is sufficiently
evident from the account of the difficulties and dangers which the
renowned Russian navigator, Count Luetke, met with during his
repeated voyages four summers in succession (1821-1824) along the
west coast of Novaya Zemlya. A skilful walrus-hunter can now, with a
common walrus-hunting vessel, in a single summer, sail further in
this sea than formerly could an expedition, fitted out with all the
resources of a naval yard, in four times as long time.
There are four ways of passing from the Murman Sea to the Kara Sea,
viz:--
_a._ Yugor Sound--the Fretum Nassovicum of the old Dutchmen--between
Vaygats Island and the mainland.
_b._ The Kara Port, between Vaygats Island and Novaya Zemlya.
_c._ Matotschkin Sound, which between 73 deg. and 74 deg. N. Lat.
divides Novaya Zemlya into two parts, and, finally,
_d._ The course north of the double island. The course past the
northernmost point of Novaya Zemlya is not commonly clear of ice
till the beginning of the month of September, and perhaps ought,
therefore, not to be chosen for an expedition having for its object
to penetrate far to the eastward in this sea. Yugor Sound and the
Kara Port are early free of fast ice, but instead, are long rendered
difficult to navigate by considerable masses of drift ice, which are
carried backwards and forwards in the bays on both sides of the
sound by the currents which here alternate with the ebb and flow of
the tide. Besides, at least in Yugor Sound, there are no good
harbours, in consequence of which the drifting masses of ice may
greatly inconvenience the vessels, which by these routes attempt to
enter the Kara Sea. Matotschkin Sound, again, forms a channel nearly
100 kilometres long, deep and clear, with the exception of a couple
of shoals, the position of which is known, which indeed is not
usually free from fast ice until the latter half of July, but, on
the other hand, in consequence of the configuration of the coast, is
less subject to be obstructed by drift ice than the southern
straits. There are good harbours at the eastern mouth of the sound.
In 1875 and 1876 both the sound and the sea lying off it were
completely open in the end of August, but the ice was much earlier
broken up also on the eastern side, so that a vessel could without
danger make its way among the scattered pieces of drift ice.
The part of Novaya Zemlya which is first visited by the
walrus-hunters in spring is usually just the west coast off
Matotschkin.
In case unusual weather does not prevail in the regions in question
during the course of early and mid-summer, 1878--for instance, very
steady southerly winds, which would early drive the drift ice away
from the coast of the mainland--I consider, on the grounds which I
have stated above, that it will be safest for the expedition to
choose the course by Matotschkin Sound.
We cannot, however, reckon on having, so early as the beginning of
August, open water _direct_ to Port Dickson at the mouth of the
Yenisej, but must be prepared to make a considerable detour towards
the south in order to avoid the masses of drift ice, which are to be
met with in the Kara Sea up to the beginning of September. The few
days' delay which may be caused by the state of the ice here, will
afford, besides, to the expedition an opportunity for valuable work
in examining the natural history and hydrography of the channel,
about 200 fathoms deep, which runs along the east coast of Novaya
Zemlya. The Kara Sea is, in the other parts of it, not deep, but
evenly shallow (ten to thirty fathoms), yet without being fouled by
shoals or rocks. The most abundant animal life is found in the
before-mentioned deep channel along the east coast, and it was from
it that our two foregoing expeditions brought home several animal
types, very peculiar and interesting in a systematic point of view.
Near the coast the algae, too, are rich and luxuriant. The coming
expedition ought, therefore, to endeavour to reach Matotschkin Sound
so early that at least seven days' scientific work may be done in
those regions.
The voyage from the Kara Sea to Port Dickson is not attended,
according to recent experience, with any difficulty. Yet we cannot
reckon on arriving at Port Dickson sooner than from the 10th to the
15th August. In 1875 I reached this harbour with a sailing-vessel on
the 15th August, after having been much delayed by calms in the Kara
Sea. With a steamer it would have been possible to have reached the
harbour, that year, in the beginning of the month. In 1876 the state
of the ice was less favourable, in consequence of a cold summer and
a prevalence of north-east winds, but even then I arrived at the
mouth of the Yenisej on the 15th August.
It is my intention to lie to at Port Dickson, at least for some
hours, in order to deposit letters on one of the neighbouring
islands in case, as is probable, I have no opportunity of meeting
there some vessel sent out from Yeniseisk, by which accounts of the
expedition may be sent home.
Actual observations regarding the hydrography of the coast between
the mouth of the Yenisej and Cape Chelyuskin are for the present
nearly wholly wanting, seeing that, as I have already stated, no
large vessel has ever sailed from this neighbourhood. Even about the
boat voyages of the Russians along the coast we know exceedingly
little, and from their unsuccessful attempts to force a passage here
we may by no means draw any unfavourable conclusion as to the
navigability of the sea during certain seasons of the year. If, with
a knowledge of the resources for the equipment of naval expeditions
which Siberia now possesses, we seek to form an idea of the
equipment of the Russian expeditions[7] sent out with extraordinary
perseverance during the years 1734-1743 by different routes to the
north coast of Siberia, the correctness of this assertion ought to
be easily perceived. There is good reason to expect that a
well-equipped steamer will be able to penetrate far beyond the point
where they were compelled to return with their small but numerously
manned craft, too fragile to encounter ice, and unsuitable for the
open sea, being generally held together with willows.
There are, besides these, only three sea voyages, or perhaps more
correctly coast journeys, known in this part of the Kara Sea, all
under the leadership of the mates Minin and Sterlegoff. The first
attempt was made in 1738 in a "double sloop," 70 feet long, 17
broad, and 7-1/2 deep, built at Tobolsk and transported thence to
the Yenisej by Lieutenant Owzyn. With this vessel Minin penetrated
off the Yenisej to 72 deg.s 53' N.L. Hence a jolly boat was sent
farther towards the north, but it too was compelled, by want of
provisions, to return before the point named by me, Port Dickson,
was reached. The following year a new attempt was made, without a
greater distance being traversed than the summer before. Finally in
the year 1740 the Russians succeeded in reaching, with the double
sloop already mentioned, 75 deg. 15' N.L., after having survived
great dangers from a heavy sea at the river mouth. On the 2nd
September, just as the most advantageous season for navigation in
these waters had begun, they returned, principally on account of the
lateness of the season.
There are, besides, two statements founded on actual observations
regarding the state of the ice on this coast. For Middendorff, the
Academician, during his famous journey of exploration in North
Siberia, reached from land the sea coast at Tajmur Bay (75 deg.
40' N.L.), and _found the sea on the 25th August_, 1843, _free of
ice as far as the eye could reach from the chain of heights along
the coast_.[8] Middendorff, besides, states that the Yakoot Fomin,
the only person who had passed a winter at Tajmur Bay, declared that
the ice loosens in the sea lying off it in the first half of August,
and that it is driven away from the beach by southerly winds, yet
not further than that the edge of the ice can be seen from the
heights along the coast.
The land between the Tajmur and Cape Chelyuskin was mapped by means
of _sledge_ journeys along the coast by mate Chelyuskin in the year
1742. It is now completely established that the northernmost
promontory of Asia was discovered by him in the month of May in the
year already mentioned, and at that time the sea in its
neighbourhood was of course covered with ice. We have no observation
as to the state of the ice during summer or autumn in the sea lying
immediately to the west of Cape Chelyuskin; but, as the question
relates to the possibility of navigating this sea, this is the place
to draw attention to the fact that Prontschischev, on the 1st
September, 1736, in an open sea, with coasting craft _from the
east_, very nearly reached the north point of Asia, which is
supposed to be situated in 77 deg. 34' N. Lat. and 105 deg. E. Long., and
that the Norwegian walrus-hunters during late autumn have repeatedly
sailed far to the eastward from the north point of Novaya Zemlya
(77 deg. N. Lat., and 68 deg. E. Long.), _without meeting with any ice_.
From what has been already stated, it is evident that for the
present we do not possess any complete knowledge, founded on actual
observations, of the hydrography of the stretch of coast between the
Yenisej and Cape Chelyuskin. I, however, consider that during
September, and possibly the latter half of August, we ought to be
able to reckon with complete certainty on having here ice-free
water, or at least a broad, open channel along the coast, from the
enormous masses of warm water, which the rivers Obi, Irtisch, and
Yenisej, running up through the steppes of High Asia, here pour into
the ocean, after having received water from a river territory,
everywhere strongly heated during the month of August, and more
extensive than that of all the rivers put together, which fall into
the Mediterranean and the Black Seas.
Between Port Dickson and White Island, there runs therefore a strong
fresh-water current, at first in a northerly direction. The
influence which the rotation of the earth exercises, in these high
latitudes, on streams which run approximately in the direction of
the meridian, is, however, very considerable, and gives to those
coming from the south an easterly bend. In consequence of this, the
river water of the Ohi and Yenisej must be confined as in a proper
river channel, at first along the coast of the Tajmur country, until
the current is allowed beyond Cape Chelyuskin to flow unhindered
towards the north-east or east. Near the mouths of the large rivers
I have, during calm weather in this current, in about 74 deg.
N.L., observed the temperature rising off the Yenisej to +9.4 deg.
C. (17th August, 1875), and off the Obi to +8 deg. C. (10th August
of the same year). As is usually the case, this current coming from
the south produces both a cold undercurrent, which in stormy weather
readily mixes with the surface water and cools it, and on the
surface a northerly cold ice-bestrewn counter-current, which, in
consequence of the earth's rotation, takes a bend to the west, and
which evidently runs from the opening between Cape Chelyuskin and
the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya, towards the east side of
this island, and perhaps may be the cause why the large masses of
drift ice are pressed during summer against the east coast of Novaya
Zemlya. According to my own experience and the uniform testimony of
the walrus-hunters, _this ice melts away almost completely during
autumn_.
In order to judge of the distance at which the current coming from
the Obi and the Yenisej can drive away the drift ice, we ought to
remember that even a very weak current exerts an influence on the
position of the ice, and that, for instance, the current from the
Plata River, whose volume of water, however, is not perhaps so great
as that of the Obi and Yenisej, is still clearly perceptible at a
distance of 1,500 kilometres from the river mouth, that is to say,
about three times as far as from Port Dickson to Cape Chelyuskin.
The only bay which can be compared to the Kara Sea in respect of the
area, which is intersected by the rivers running into it, is the
Gulf of Mexico.[9] The river currents from this bay appear to
contribute greatly to the Gulf Stream.
The winds which, during the autumn months, often blow in these
regions from the north-east, perhaps also, in some degree,
contribute to keep a broad channel, along the coast in question,
nearly ice-free.
The knowledge we possess regarding the navigable water to the east
of Cape Chelyuskin towards the Lena, is mainly founded on the
observations of the expeditions which were sent out by the Russian
Government, before the middle of last century, to survey the
northern part of Asia. In order to form a correct judgment of the
results obtained, we must, while fully recognising the great
courage, the extraordinary perseverance, and the power of bearing
sufferings and overcoming difficulties of all kinds, which have
always distinguished the Russian Polar explorers, always keep in
mind that the voyages were carried out with small sailing-vessels of
a build, which, according to modern requirements, is quite
unsuitable for vessels intended for the open sea, and altogether too
weak to stand collision with ice. They wanted, besides, not only the
powerful auxiliary of our time, steam, but also a proper sail rig,
fitted for actual manoeuvring, and were for the most part manned
with crews from the banks of the Siberian rivers, who never before
had seen the water of the ocean, experienced a high sea, or tried
sailing among sea ice. When the requisite attention is given to
these circumstances, it appears to me that the voyages referred to
below show positively that even here we ought to be able during
autumn to reckon upon a navigable sea.
The expeditions along the coast, east of Cape Chelyuskin, started
from the town Yakoutsk, on the bank of the Lena, in 62 deg. N.L.,
upwards of 900 miles from the mouth of the river. Here also were
built the vessels which were used for these voyages.
The first started in 1735, under the command of Marine-Lieutenant
Prontschischev. After having sailed down the river, and passed, on
the 14th August, the eastern mouth-arm of the Lena, he sailed round
the large delta of the river. On the 7th September he had not got
farther than to the mouth of the Olonek. Three weeks had thus been
spent in sailing a distance which an ordinary steamer ought now to
be able to traverse in one day. Ice was seen, but not encountered.
On the other hand, the voyage was delayed by contrary winds,
probably blowing on land, whereby Prontschischev's vessel, if it had
incautiously ventured out, would probably have been cast on the
beach. The late season of the year induced Prontschischev to lay up
his vessel for the winter here, at some summer yourts built by
fur-hunters in 72 deg. 54' N.L. The winter passed happily, and the
following year (1736) Prontschischev again broke up, as soon as the
state of the ice in Olonek Bay permitted, which, however, was not
until the 15th August. The course was shaped along the coast toward
the north-west. Here drift ice was met with, but he nevertheless
made rapid progress, so that on the 1st September he reached 77 deg.
29' N.L., as we now know, in the neighbourhood of Cape Chelyuskin.
Compact masses of ice compelled him to turn here, and the Russians
sailed back to the mouth of the Olonek, which was reached on the
15th September. The distinguished commander of the vessel had died
shortly before of scurvy, and, some days after, his young wife,
who had accompanied him on his difficult voyage, also died. As
these attacks of scurvy did not happen during winter, but immediately
after the close of summer, they form very remarkable contributions
to a judgment of the way in which the Arctic expeditions of that
period were fitted out.
A new expedition, under Marine-Lieutenant Chariton Laptev, sailed
along the same coast in 1739. The Lena was left on the 1st August,
and Cape Thaddeus (76 deg. 47' N.L.) reached on the 2nd September,
the navigation having been obstructed by drift ice only off Chatanga
Bay. Cape Thaddeus is situated only fifty or sixty English miles
from Cape Chelyuskin. They turned here, partly on account of the
masses of drift ice which barred the way, partly on account of the
late season of the year, and wintered at the head of Chatanga Bay,
which was reached on the 8th September. Next year Laptev attempted
to return along the coast to the Lena, but his vessel was nipped by
drift ice off the mouth of the Olonek. After many difficulties and
dangers, all the men succeeded in reaching safely the winter
quarters of the former year. Both from this point and from the
Yenisej, Laptev himself and his second in command, Chelyuskin, and
the surveyor, Tschekin, the following year made a number of sledge
journeys, in order to survey the peninsula which projects farthest
to the north-west from the mainland of Asia.
With this ended the voyages west of the Lena. The northernmost point
of Asia, which was reached from land in 1742 by Chelyuskin, one of
the most energetic members of most of the expeditions which we have
enumerated, could not be reached by sea, and still less had any one
succeeded in forcing his way with a vessel from the Lena to the
Yenisej. Prontschischev had, however, turned on the 1st September,
1736, only some few minutes, and Laptev on the 2nd September, 1739,
only about 50' from the point named, after voyages in vessels, which
clearly were altogether unsuitable for the purpose in view. Among
the difficulties and obstacles which were met with during these
voyages, not only ice, but also unfavourable and stormy winds played
a prominent part. From fear of not being able to reach any winter
station visited by natives, the explorers often turned at that
season of the year when the Polar Sea is most open. With proper
allowance for these circumstances, we may safely affirm that no
serious obstacles to sailing round Cape Chelyuskin would probably
have been met with in the years named, by any steamer properly
fitted out for sailing among ice.
From the sea between the Lena and Behring's Straits there are much
more numerous and complete observations than from that further west.
The hope of obtaining tribute and commercial profit from the wild
races living along the coast tempted the adventurous Russian
hunters, even before the middle of the 17th century, to undertake a
number of voyages along the coast. On a map which is annexed to the
previously quoted work of Mueller, founded mainly on researches in
the Siberian archives, there is to be found a sea route pricked out
with the inscription, "_Route anciennement fort frequentee. Voyage
fait par mer en_ 1648 _par trois vaisseaux russes, dont un est
parvenu jusqu'a la Kamschatka_."[10]
Unfortunately the details of most of these voyages have been
completely forgotten; and, that we have obtained some scanty
accounts of one or other of them, has nearly always depended on some
remarkable catastrophe, on lawsuits or other circumstances which led
to the interference of the authorities. This is even the case with
the most famous of these voyages, that of the Cossack, Deschnev, of
which several accounts have been preserved, only through a dispute
which arose between him and one of his companions, concerning the
right of discovery to a walrus bank on the east coast of Kamschatka.
This voyage, however, was a veritable exploring expedition
undertaken with the approval of the Government, partly for the
discovery of some large islands in the Polar Sea, about which a
number of reports were current among the hunters and natives, partly
for extending the territory yielding tribute to the Russians, over
the yet unknown regions in the north-east.
Deschnev started on the 1st July, 1648, from the Kolyma in command
of one of the seven vessels (_Kotscher_),[11] manned with thirty
men, of which the expedition consisted. Concerning the fate of four
of these vessels we have no information. It is probable that they
turned back, and were not lost, as several writers have supposed;
three, under the command of the Cossacks, Deschnev and Ankudinov,
and the fur-hunter, Kolmogorsov, succeeding in reaching Chutskojnos
through what appears to have been open water. Here Ankudinov's
vessel was shipwrecked; the men, however, were saved and divided
among the other two, which were speedily separated. Deschnev
continued his voyage along the east coast of Kamschatka to the
Anadir, which was reached in October. Ankudinov is also supposed to
have reached the mouth of the Kamschatka River, where he settled
among the natives and finally died of scurvy.
The year following (1649) Staduchin sailed again, for seven days,
eastward from the Kolyma to the neighbourhood of Chutskojnos, in an
open sea, so far as we can gather from the defective account.
Deschnev's own opinion of the possibility of navigating this sea may
be seen from the fact, that, after his own vessel was lost, he had
timber collected at the Anadir for the purpose of building new ones.
With these he intended to send to Yakoutsk the tribute of furs which
he had received from the natives. He was, however, obliged to desist
from his project by an easily understood want of materials for the
building of the new vessels; he remarks also in connection with this
that the sea round Chutskojnos is not free of ice every year.
A number of voyages from the Siberian rivers northward, were also
made after the founding of Nischni Kolymsk, by Michael Staduchin in
1644 in consequence of the reports which were current among the
natives at the coast, of the existence of large inhabited islands,
rich in walrus tusks and mammoth bones, in the Siberian Polar Sea.
Often disputed, but persistently taken up by the hunting races,
these reports have finally been verified by the discovery of the
islands of New Siberia, of Wrangel's Land, and of the part of North
America east of Behring's Straits, whose natural state gave occasion
to the golden glamour of tradition with which the belief of the
common people incorrectly adorned the bleak, treeless islands in the
Polar Sea.
All these attempts to force a passage in the open sea from the
Siberian coasts northwards, failed, for the single reason, that an
open sea with a fresh breeze was as destructive to the craft which
were at the disposal of the adventurous, but ill-equipped Siberian
polar explorer as an ice-filled sea; indeed, more dangerous, for in
the latter case the crew, if the vessel was nipped, generally saved
themselves on the ice, and had only to contend with hunger, snow,
cold, and other difficulties to which the most of them had been
accustomed from their childhood; but in the open sea the ill-built,
weak vessel, caulked with moss mixed with clay, and held together
with willows, leaked already with a moderate sea, and with a
heavier, was helplessly lost, if a harbour could not be reached in
time of need.
The explorers soon preferred to reach the islands by sledge journeys
on the ice, and thus at last discovered the whole of the large group
of islands which is named New Siberia. The islands were often
visited by hunters for the purpose of collecting mammoth tusks, of
which great masses, together with the bones of the mammoth,
rhinoceros, sheep, ox, horse, etc., are found imbedded in the beds
of clay and sand here. Afterwards they were completely surveyed
during Hedenstroem's expeditions, fitted out by Count Rumanzov,
Chancellor of the Russian Empire, in the years 1809-1811, and during
Lieutenant Anjou's in 1823. Hedenstroem's expeditions were carried
out by travelling with dog-sledges on the ice, before it broke, to
the islands, passing the summer there, and returning in autumn, when
the sea was again covered with ice. As the question relates to the
possibility of navigating this sea, these expeditions, carried out
in a very praiseworthy way, might be expected to have great
interest, especially through observations from land, concerning the
state of the ice in autumn; but in the short account of Hedenstroem's
expeditions which is inserted in Wrangel's _Travels_, pp. 99-119,
the only source accessible to me in this respect, there is not a
single word on this point.[12] Information on this subject, so
important for our expedition, has, however, by Mr. Sibiriakoff's
care, been received from inhabitants of North Siberia, who earn
their living by collecting mammoths' tusks on the group of islands
in question. By these accounts the sea between the north coast of
Asia and the islands of New Siberia, is every year pretty free of
ice.
A very remarkable discovery was made in 1811 by a member of
Hedenstroem's expedition, the Yakoutsk townsman Sannikov; for he
found, on the west coast of the island Katelnoj, remains of a
roughly-timbered winter habitation, in the neighbourhood of the
wreck of a vessel, differing completely in build from those which
are common in Siberia. Partly from this, partly from a number of
tools which lay scattered on the beach, Sannikov drew the
conclusion, that a hunter from Spitzbergen or Novaya Zemlya had been
driven thither by the wind, and had lived there for a season with
his crew. Unfortunately the inscription on a monumental cross in the
neighbourhood of the hut was not translated.
During the great northern expeditions,[13] several attempts were
also made to force a passage eastwards from the Lena. The first was
under the command of Lieutenant Lassinius in 1735. He left the most
easterly mouth-arm of the Lena on the 21st of August, and sailed 120
versts eastward, and there encountered drift ice which compelled him
to seek a harbour at the coast. Here the winter was passed, with the
unfortunate result, that the chief himself, and most of the
fifty-two men belonging to the expedition, perished of scurvy.
The following year, 1736, there was sent out, in the same direction,
a new expedition under Lieutenant Dmitri Laptev. With the vessel of
Lassinius he attempted, in the middle of August, to sail eastward,
but he soon fell in with a great deal of drift ice. So soon as the
end of the month--the time when navigation ought properly to
begin--he turned towards the Lena on account of ice.
In 1739 Laptev undertook his third voyage. He penetrated to the
mouth of the Indigirka, which was frozen over on the 21st September,
and wintered there. The following year the voyage was continued
somewhat beyond the mouth of the Kolyma to Cape Great Baranov, where
further advance was prevented by drift ice on the 26th September.
After having returned to the Kolyma, and wintered at Nischni
Kolymsk, he attempted, the following year, again to make his way
eastwards in some large boats built during winter, but, on account
of fog, contrary winds, and ice, without success. In judging of the
results these voyages yielded, we must take into consideration the
utterly unsuitable vessels in which they were undertaken--at first
in a double sloop, built at Yakoutsk, in 1735, afterwards in two
large boats built at Nischni Kolymsk. If we may judge of the nature
of these craft from those now used on the Siberian rivers, we ought
rather to be surprised that any of them could venture out on a real
sea, than consider the unsuccessful voyages just described as proofs
that there is no probability of being able to force a passage here
with a vessel of modern build, and provided with steam power.
It remains, finally, for me to give an account of the attempts that
have been made to penetrate westward from Behring's Straits.
Deschnev's voyage, from the Lena, through Behring's Straits to the
mouth of the Anadir, in 1648, became completely forgotten in the
course of about a century, until Muller, by searches in the Siberian
archives, recovered the details of these and various other voyages
along the north coast of Siberia. That the memory of these
remarkable voyages has been preserved to after-times, however,
depends, as has been already stated, upon accidental circumstances,
lawsuits, and such like, which led to correspondence with the
authorities. Of other similar undertakings we have certainly no
knowledge, although now and then we find it noted that the Polar Sea
had in former times often been traversed. In accounts of the
expeditions fitted out by the authorities, it, for instance, often
happens that mention is made of meeting with hunters and traders,
who were sailing along the coast in the prosecution of private
enterprise. Little attention was, however, given to these voyages,
and, eighty-one years after Deschnev's voyage, the existence of
straits between the north-eastern extremity of Asia and the
north-western extremity of America was quite unknown, or at least
doubted. Finally, in 1729, Behring anew sailed through the Sound,
and attached his name to it. He did not sail, however, very far (to
172 deg. W. Long.) along the north coast of Asia, although he does
not appear to have met with any obstacle from ice. Nearly fifty
years afterwards Cook concluded in these waters the series of
splendid discoveries with which he enriched geographical science.
After having, in 1778, sailed a good way eastwards along the north
coast of America, he turned towards the west, and reached the 180th
degree of longitude on the 29th August: the fear of meeting with ice
deterred him from sailing further westward, and his vessel appears
to have scarcely been equipped or fitted for sailing among ice.
After Cook's time we know of only three expeditions which have
sailed westwards from Behring's Straits. The first was an American
expedition, under Captain Rodgers, in 1855. He reached, through what
appears to have been open water, the longitude of Cape Yakan
(176 deg. E. from Greenwich). The second was that of the English
steam-whaler Long, who, in 1867, in search of a new profitable
whale-fishing ground, sailed further west than any before him. By
the 10th August he had reached the longitude of Tschaun Bay (170 deg.
E. from Greenwich). He was engaged in whale-fishing, not in
an exploring expedition, and turned here; but, in the short account
he has given of his voyage, he expresses the decided conviction that
a voyage from Behring's Straits to the Atlantic belongs to the
region of possibilities, and adds that, even if this sea-route does
not come to be of any commercial importance, that between the Lena
and Behring's Straits ought to be useful for turning to account the
products of Northern Siberia.[14] Finally, last year a Russian
expedition was sent out to endeavour to reach Wrangel's Land from
Behring's Straits. According to communications in the newspapers, it
was prevented by ice from sailing thence, as well as from sailing
far to the west.
Information has been obtained through Mr. Sibiriakoff, from North
Siberia, regarding the state of the ice in the neighbouring sea. The
hunting in these regions appears to have now fallen off so
seriously, that only few persons were found who could give any
answers to the questions put.
Thus in Yakoutsk there was only one man (a priest) who had been at
the coast of the Polar Sea. He states that when the wind blows off
the land the sea becomes free of ice, but that the ice comes back
when the wind blows on to the land, and thereby exposes the vessels
which cannot reach a safe harbour to great danger.
Another correspondent states, on the ground of observations made during
Tschikanovski's expedition, that in 1875 the sea off the Olonek was
_completely_ free of ice, but adds at the same time that the year in
this respect was an exceptional one. The Arctic Ocean, not only in
summer, but also during winter, is _occasionally_ free of ice, and at a
distance of 200 versts from the coast, the sea is open even in winter,
in what direction, however, is uncertain. The latter fact is also
confirmed by Wrangel's journeys with dog-sledges on the ice in
1821-1823.
A third person says, "According to the information which I have
received, the north coast, from the mouth of the Lena to that of the
Indigirka, is free from ice from July to September. The north wind
drives the ice towards the coast, but not in large masses. According
to the observations of the men who search for mammoth tusks, the sea
is open as far as the southern part of the New Siberia Islands. It
is probable that these islands form a protection against the ice in
the Werchnojan region. It is otherwise on the Kolyma coast; and if
the Kolyma can be reached from Behring's Straits, so certainly can
the Lena."
The circumstance that the ice during summer is driven from the coast
by southerly winds, yet not so far but that it returns, in larger or
smaller quantity, with northerly winds, is further confirmed by
other correspondents, and appears to me to show that the New
Siberian Islands and Wrangel's Land only form links in an extensive
group of islands, running parallel with the north coast of Siberia,
which, on the one hand, keeps the ice from the intermediate sea from
drifting away altogether, and favours the formation of ice during
winter, but, on the other hand, protects the coast from the Polar
ice proper, formed to the north of the islands. The information I
have received besides, refers principally to the summer months. As
in the Kara Sea, which formerly had a yet worse reputation, the ice
here, too, perhaps, melts away for the most part during autumn, so
that at this season we may reckon on a pretty open sea.
Most of the correspondents, who have given information about the
state of the ice in the Siberian Polar Sea, concern themselves
further with the reports current in Siberia, that American whalers
have been seen from the coast far to the westward. The correctness
of these reports was always denied in the most decided way: yet they
rest, at least to some extent, on a basis of fact. For I have myself
met with a whaler, who for three years in a steamer carried on trade
with the inhabitants of the coast from Cape Yakan to Behring's
Straits. He was quite convinced that some years at least it would be
possible to sail from Behring's Straits to the Atlantic. On one
occasion he had returned through Behring's Straits as late as the
17th October.
From what I have thus stated, it follows,--
That the ocean lying north of the north coast of Siberia, between
the mouth of the Yenisej and Tschaun Bay, has never been ploughed by
the keel of any proper sea-going vessel, still less been traversed
by any steamer specially fitted out for navigation among ice:
That the small vessels with which it has been attempted to traverse
this part of the ocean never ventured very far from the coast:
That an open sea, with a fresh breeze, was as destructive for them,
indeed more destructive, than a sea covered with drift ice:
That they almost always sought some convenient winter harbour, just
at that season of the year when the sea is freest of ice, namely,
late summer or autumn:
That, notwithstanding the sea from Cape Chelyuskin to Bearing's
Straits has been repeatedly traversed, no one has yet succeeded in
sailing over the whole extent at once:
That the covering of ice formed during winter along the coast, but
probably not in the open sea, is every summer broken up, giving
origin to extensive fields of drift ice, which are driven, now by a
northerly wind towards the coast, now by a south wind out to sea,
yet not so far but that it comes back to the coast after some days'
northerly wind; whence it appears probable that the Siberian Sea is,
so to say, shut off from the Polar Sea proper, by a series of
islands, of which, for the present, we know only Wrangel's Land and
the islands which form New Siberia.
In this connection it seems to me probable that a well-equipped
steamer would be able without meeting too many difficulties, at
least obstacles from ice, to force a passage this way during autumn
in a few days, and thus not only solve a geographical problem of
several centuries' standing, but also, with all the means that are
now at the disposal of the man of science in researches in
geography, hydrography, geology, and natural history, survey a
hitherto almost unknown sea of enormous extent.
The sea north of Behring's Straits is now visited by hundreds of
whaling steamers, and the way thence to American and European
harbours therefore forms a much-frequented route. Some few decades
back, this was, however, by no means the case. The voyages of
Behring, Cook, Kotzebue, Beechey, and others were then considered as
adventurous, fortunate exploring expeditions of great value and
importance in respect of science, but without any direct practical
utility. For nearly a hundred and fifty years the same was the case
with Spangberg's voyage from Kamschatka to Japan in the year 1739,
by which the exploring expeditions of the Russians, in the
northernmost part of the Pacific Ocean, were connected with those of
the Dutch and the Portuguese to India, and Japan; and in case our
expedition succeeds in reaching the Suez Canal, after having
circumnavigated Asia, there will meet us there a splendid work,
which, more than any other, reminds us, that what to-day is declared
by experts to be impossible, is often carried into execution
to-morrow.
I am also fully convinced that it is not only possible to sail along
the north coast of Asia, provided circumstances are not too
unfavourable, but that such an enterprise will be of incalculable
practical importance, by no means directly, as opening a new
commercial route, but indirectly, by the impression which would
thereby be communicated of the practical utility of a communication
by sea between the ports of North Scandinavia and the Obi and
Yenisej, on the one hand, and between the Pacific Ocean and the Lena
on the other.
Should the expedition, contrary to expectation, not succeed in
carrying out the programme which has been arranged in its entirety,
it ought not to be looked upon as having failed. In such a case the
expedition will remain for a considerable time at places on the
north coast of Siberia, suitable for scientific research. Every mile
beyond the mouth of the Yenisej is a step forward to a complete
knowledge of our globe--an object which sometime or other must be
attained, and towards which it is a point of honour for every
civilised nation to contribute in its proportion.
Men of science will have an opportunity, in these hitherto unvisited
waters, of answering a number of questions regarding the former and
present state of the Polar countries, of which more than one is of
sufficient weight and importance to lead to such an expedition as
the present. I may be permitted here to refer to only a few of
these.
If we except that part of the Kara Sea which has been surveyed by
the two last Swedish expeditions, we have for the present no
knowledge of the vegetable and animal life in the sea which washes
the north coast of Siberia. Quite certainly we shall here, in
opposition to what has been hitherto supposed, meet with the same
abundance of animals and plants as in the sea round Spitzbergen. In
the Siberian Polar sea, the animal and vegetable types, so far as we
can judge beforehand, exclusively consist of survivals from the
glacial period, which next preceded the present, which is not the
case in the Polar Sea, where the Gulf Stream distributes its waters,
and whither it thus carries types from more southerly regions. But a
complete and exact knowledge of which animal types are of glacial,
and which of Atlantic origin, is of the greatest importance, not
only for zoology and the geography of animals, but also for the
geology of Scandinavia, and especially for the knowledge of our
loose earthy layers.
Few scientific discoveries have so powerfully captivated the
interest, both of the learned and unlearned, as that of the colossal
remains of elephants, sometimes well preserved, with flesh and hair,
in the frozen soil of Siberia. Such discoveries have more than once
formed the object of scientific expeditions, and careful researches
by eminent men; but there is still much that is enigmatical with
respect to a number of circumstances connected with the mammoth
period of Siberia, which _perhaps_ was contemporaneous with our
glacial period. Specially is our knowledge of the animal and
vegetable types, which lived contemporaneously with the mammoth,
exceedingly incomplete, although we know that in the northernmost
parts of Siberia, which are also most inaccessible from land, there
are small hills covered with the bones of the mammoth and other
contemporaneous animals, and that there is found everywhere in that
region so-called Noah's wood, that is to say, half-petrified or
carbonised vegetable remains from several different geological
periods.
Taking a general view of the subject, we see that an investigation,
as complete as possibly, of the geology of the Polar countries, so
difficult of access, is a condition indispensable to a knowledge of
the former history of our globe. In order to prove this I need only
point to the epoch-making influence which has been exerted on
geological theories by the discovery, in the rocks and earthy layers
of the Polar countries, of beautiful fossil plants from widely
separated geological periods. In this field too our expedition to
the north coast of Siberia ought to expect to reap abundant
harvests. There are besides to be found in Siberia, strata which
have been deposited almost contemporaneously with the coal-bearing
formations of South Sweden, and which therefore contain animal and
vegetable petrifications which just now are of very special interest
for geological science in our own country, with reference to the
discoveries of splendid fossil plants which of late years have been
made at several places among us, and give us so lively an idea of
the sub-tropical vegetation which in former times covered the
Scandinavian peninsula.
Few sciences perhaps will yield so important practical results as
meteorology is likely to do at some future date--a fact, or rather
an already partly realised expectation, which has won general
recognition, as is shown by the large sums which in all civilised
countries have been set apart for establishing meteorological
offices and for encouraging meteorological research. But the state
of the weather in a country is so dependent on the temperature,
wind, pressure of the air, etc., in very remote regions that the
laws of the meteorology of a country can only be ascertained by
comparing observations from the most distant regions. Several
international meteorological enterprises have already been started,
and we may almost consider the meteorological institutions of the
different countries as separate departments of one and the same
office, distributed over the whole world, through whose harmonious
co-operation the object in view shall one day be reached. But,
beyond the places for which daily series of observations may be
obtained, there are regions hundreds of square miles in extent from
which no observations, or only scattered ones, are yet to be had,
and here notwithstanding we have just the key to many meteorological
phenomena, otherwise difficult of explanation, within the civilised
countries of Europe. Such a meteorological territory, unknown, but
of the greatest importance, is formed by the Polar Sea lying to the
north of Siberia, and the land and islands there situated. It is of
great importance for the meteorology of Europe and of Sweden to
obtain trustworthy accounts of the distribution of the land, of the
state of the ice, the pressure of the air, and the temperature in
that in these respects little-known part of the globe, and the
Swedish expedition will here have a subject for investigation of
direct importance for our own country.
To a certain extent the same may be said of the contributions which
may be obtained from those regions to our knowledge of terrestrial
magnetism, of the aurora, etc. There are, besides, the examination
of the flora and fauna in those countries, hitherto unknown in this
respect, ethnographical researches, hydrographical work, etc.
I have of course only been able to notice shortly the scientific
questions which will meet the expedition during a stay of some
length on the north coast of Siberia, but what has been said may
perhaps be sufficient to show that the expedition, even if its
geographical objects were not attained, ought to be a worthy
continuation of similar enterprises which have been set on foot in
this country, and which have brought gain to science and honour to
Sweden.
Should the expedition again, as I hope, be able to reach Behring's
Straits with little hindrance, and thus in a comparatively short
time--in that case indeed the time, which on the way can be devoted
to researches in natural history, will be quite too short for
solving many of the scientific questions I have mentioned. But
without reckoning the world-historical navigation problem which will
then be solved, extensive contributions of immense importance ought
also to be obtainable regarding the geography, hydrography, zoology,
and botany of the Siberian Polar Sea, and, beyond Behring's Straits,
the expedition will meet with other countries having a more
luxuriant and varied nature, where other questions which perhaps
concern us less, but are not on that account of less importance for
science as a whole, will claim the attention of the observer and
yield him a rich reward for his labour and pains. These are the
considerations which formed the grounds for the arrangement of the
plan of the expedition which is now in question.
It is my intention to leave Sweden in the beginning of July, 1878,
in a steamer, specially built for navigation among ice, which will
be provisioned for two years at most, and which, besides a
scientific staff of four or five persons, will have on board a naval
officer, a physician, and at most eighteen men--petty officers and
crew, preferably volunteers, from your Royal Majesty's navy. Four
walrus-hunters will also be hired in Norway. The course will be
shaped at first to Matotschkin Sound, in Novaya Zemlya, where a
favourable opportunity will be awaited for the passage of the Kara
Sea. Afterwards the voyage will be continued to Port Dickson, at the
mouth of the Yenisej, which I hope to be able to reach in the first
half of August. As soon as circumstances permit, the expedition will
continue its voyage from this point in the open channel which the
river-water of the Obi and the Yenisej must indisputably form along
the coast to Cape Chelyuskin, possibly with some short excursions
towards the north-west in order to see whether any large island is
to be found between the northern part of Novaya Zemlya and New
Siberia.
At Cape Chelyuskin the expedition will reach the only part of the
proposed route which has not been traversed by some small vessel,
and this place is perhaps rightly considered as that which it will
be most difficult for a vessel to double during the whole north-east
passage. As Prontschischev, in 1736, in small river craft built with
insufficient means reached within a few minutes of this
north-westernmost promontory of our vessel, equipped with all modern
appliances, ought not to find insuperable difficulties in doubling
this point, and if that be accomplished, we will probably have
pretty open water towards Behring's Straits, which ought to be
reached before the end of September.
If time, and the state of the ice permit, it would be desirable that
the expedition during this voyage should make some excursions
towards the north, in order to ascertain whether land is not to be
found between Cape Chelyuskin and the New Siberian group of islands,
and between it and Wrangel's Land. From Behring's Straits the course
will be shaped, with such stoppages as circumstances give rise to,
for some Asiatic port, from which accounts may be sent home, and
then onwards round Asia to Suez. Should the expedition be prevented
from forcing a passage east of Cape Chelyuskin, it will depend on
circumstances which it is difficult to foresee, whether it will
immediately return to Europe, in which case the vessel with its
equipment and crew may be immediately available for some other
purpose, or whether it ought not to winter in some suitable harbour
in the bays at the mouths of the Tajmur, Pjaesina, or Yenisej. Again,
in case obstacles from ice occur east of Cape Chelyuskin, a harbour
ought to be sought for at some convenient place on the north coast
of Siberia, from which, during the following summer, opportunities
would be found for important surveys in the Polar Sea, and during
the course of the summer some favourable opening will also certainly
occur, when southerly winds have driven the ice from the coast, for
reaching Behring's Straits. Probably also, if it be necessary to
winter, there will be opportunities of sending home letters from the
winter station.
[Illustration]
[Footnote 1: The expeditions to Spitzbergen in 1868, to Greenland in
1870, to Spitzbergen in 1872-73, and to the Yenisej in 1875 and 1876. ]
[Footnote 2: The first cargo of goods from Europe to the Yenisej was
taken thither by me in the _Ymer_ in 1876. The first vessel that
sailed from the Yenisej to the Atlantic was a sloop, _The Dawn_,
built at Yeniseisk, commanded by the Russian merchant captain,
Schwanenberg, in 1877. ]
[Footnote 3: In order to obtain sufficient room for coal and
provisions most of these tanks were taken out at Karlskrona. ]
[Footnote 4: The consumption of coal, however, was reckoned by
Captain Palander at twelve cubic feet or 0.3 cubic metre an hour,
with a speed of seven knots. ]
[Footnote 5: The preserved provisions were purchased part from Z.
Wikstroem of Stockholm, part from J.D. Beauvois of Copenhagen. ]
[Footnote 6: The potatoes were to be delivered at Gothenburg on the
1st July. In order to keep, they had to be newly taken up and yet
_ripe_. They were therefore procured from the south through Mr. Carl
W. Boman of Stockholm. Of these, certainly one of the best of all
anti-scorbutics, we had still some remaining on our arrival at
Japan. ]
[Footnote 7: A carefully written account of these voyages will be
found in _Reise des Kaiserlich-russischen Flotten-Lieutenants
Ferdinand von Wrangel laengs der Nordkueste von Siberien und auf dem
Eismeere_, 1820-1824, bearbeitet von G. Engelhardt, Berlin, 1839;
and G.P. Mueller, _Voyages et Decouvertes faites par les Russes le
long des Cotes de la Mer Glaciale_, &c. Amsterdam: 1766. ]
[Footnote 8: Th. von Middendorff, _Reise in dem aeussersten Norden
und Osten Siberiens_, vol. iv. I., pages 21 and 508 (1867). ]
[Footnote 9: Compare von Middendorff, _Reise im Norden u. Osten
Siberiens_ (1848), part i., page 59, and a paper by von Baer, _Ueber
das Klima des Tajmurlandes_. ]
[Footnote 10: The map bears the title, "Nouvelle carte des decouvertes
faites par des vaisseaux Russiens, etc., dressee sur des memoires
authentiques de ceux qui ont assiste a ces decouvertes, et sur d'autres
connaissances dont on rend raison dans un memoire separe. St.
Petersbourg a l'Academie Imperiale des Sciences, 1758." ]
[Footnote 11: Pretty broad, flat-bottomed, keelless vessels, 12
fathoms long, generally moved forward by rowing; sail only used with
fair wind (_Wrangels Reise_, p. 4). ]
[Footnote 12: Wrangel's own journeys were carried out during winter,
with dog sledges on the ice, and, however interesting in many other
respects, do not yield any other direct contribution to our
knowledge of the state of the ice in summer and autumn. ]
[Footnote 13: This is a common name for the many Russian expeditions
which, during the years 1734-1743, were sent into the North Polar
Sea from the Dwina, Obi, Yenisej, Lena, and Kamschatka. ]
[Footnote 14: _Petermann's Mittheilungen_, 1868, p. 1, and 1869, p. 32. ]
CHAPTER I.
Departure--Tromsoe--Members of the Expedition--Stay at
Maosoe--Limit of Trees--Climate--Scurvy and Antiscorbutics--
The first doubling of North Cape--Othere's account of his
Travels--Ideas concerning the Geography of Scandinavia
current during the first half of the sixteenth century--
The oldest Maps of the North--Herbertstein's account of
Istoma's voyage--Gustaf Vasa and the North-east Passage--
Willoughby and Chancelor's voyages.
The _Vega_ left the harbour of Karlskrona on the 22nd June, 1878.
Including Lieutenants Palander and Brusewitz, there were then on
board nineteen men belonging to the Swedish navy, and two foreign
naval officers, who were to take part in the expedition--Lieutenants
Hovgaard and Bove. The two latter had lived some time at Karlskrona
in order to be present at the fitting out and repairing of the
vessel.
On the 24th June the _Vega_ called at Copenhagen in order to take on
board the large quantity of provisions which had been purchased
there. On the 26th June the voyage was resumed to Gothenburg, where
the _Vega_ anchored on the 27th. During the passage there was on
board the famous Italian geographer, Commendatore CHRISTOFORO NEGRI,
who, for several years back, had followed with special interest all
Arctic voyages, and now had received a commission from the
Government of his native country to be present at the departure of
the _Vega_ from Sweden, and to make himself acquainted with its
equipment, &c. At Gothenburg there embarked Docent Kjellman, Dr.
Almquist, Dr. Stuxberg, Lieutenant Nordquist, and an assistant to
the naturalists, who had been hired in Stockholm; and here were
taken on board the greater part of the scientific equipment of the
expedition, and various stocks of provisions, clothes, &c., that had
been purchased in Sweden.
[Illustration: TROMSOE. After a photograph by Glaus Knudsen,
Christiania. ]
On the 4th July the _Vega_ left the harbour of Gothenburg. While
sailing along the west coast of Norway there blew a fresh head wind,
by which the arrival of the vessel at Tromsoe was delayed till the
17th July. Here I went on board. Coal, water, reindeer furs[15] for
all our men, and a large quantity of other stores, bought in Finmark
for the expedition, were taken in here; and three walrus-hunters,
hired for the voyage, embarked.
On the 21st July the whole equipment of the _Vega_ was on board, the
number of its crew complete, all clear for departure, and the same
day at 2.15 P.M. we weighed anchor, with lively hurrahs from a
numerous crowd assembled at the beach, to enter in earnest on our
Arctic voyage.
The members of the expedition on board the _Vega_ were--
A.E. Nordenskioeld, Professor, in command
of the expedition........................ born 18th Nov. 1832
A.A.L. Palander, Lieutenant, now Captain
in the Royal Swedish Navy, chief
of the steamer _Vega_..................... ,, 2nd Oct. 1840
F.R. Kjellman, Ph.D., Docent in Botany
in the University of Upsala, superintendent
of the botanical work of the
expedition.............................. ,, 4th Nov. 1846
A.J. Stuxberg, Ph.D., superintendent
of the zoological work................... ,, 18th April 1849
E. Almquist, Candidate of Medicine,
medical officer of the expedition,
lichenologist........................... ,, 8th Aug. 1852
E.O. Brusewitz, Lieutenant in the Royal
Swedish Navy, second in command of
the vessel.............................. ,, 1st Dec. 1844
G. Bove, Lieutenant in the Royal Italian
Navy, superintendent of the hydrographical
work of the expedition ................. ,, 23rd Oct. 1853
A. Hovgaard, Lieutenant in the Royal
Danish Navy, superintendent of the
magnetical and meteorological work
of the expedition....................... ,, 1st Nov. 1853
O. Nordquist, Lieutenant in the Imperial
Russian Regiment of Guards,
interpreter, assistant zoologist........ ,, 20th May 1858
R. Nilsson, sailing-master ............. ,, 5th Jan. 1837
F.A. Pettersson, first engineer......... ,, 3rd July 1835
O. Nordstroem, second engineer........... ,, 24th Feb. 1855
C. Carlstroem, fireman .................. ,, 14th Dec. 1845
O. Ingelsson, fireman................... ,, 2nd Feb. 1849
O. Oeman, seaman........................ ,, 23rd April 1843
G. Carlsson, seaman..................... ,, 22nd Sep. 1843
C. Lundgren, seaman..................... ,, 5th July 1851
O. Hansson, seaman...................... ,, 6th April 1856
D. Asplund, boatswain, cook............. ,, 28th Jan. 1827
C.J. Smaolaenning, boatswain........... ,, 27th Sep. 1839
C. Levin, boatswain, steward............ ,, 24th Jan. 1844
P.M. Lustig, boatswain.................. ,, 22nd April 1845
C. Ljungstrom, boatswain................ ,, 12th Oct. 1845
P. Lind, boatswain...................... ,, 15th Sep. 1856
P.O. Faeste, boatswain.................. born 23rd Sep. 1856
S. Andersson, carpenter................. ,, 3rd Sep. 1847
J. Haugan, walrus-hunter[16]............ ,, 23rd Jan. 1825
P. Johnsen, walrus-hunter............... ,, 15th May 1845
P. Sivertsen, walrus-hunter............. ,, 2nd Jan. 1853
Th. A. Bostrom, assistant to the scientific
men..................................... ,, 21st Sep. 1857
There was also on board the _Vega_ during the voyage from Tromsoe to
Port Dickson, as commissioner for Mr. Sibiriakoff, Mr. S.J.
Serebrenikoff, who had it in charge to oversee the taking on board
and the landing of the goods that were to be carried to and from
Siberia in the _Fraser_ and _Express_. These vessels had sailed
several days before from Vardoe to Chabarova in Yugor Schar, where
they had orders to wait for the _Vega_. The _Lena_, again, the
fourth vessel that was placed at my disposal, had, in obedience to
orders, awaited the _Vega_ in the harbour of Tromsoe, from which
port these two steamers were now to proceed eastwards in company.
After leaving Tromsoe, the course was shaped at first within the
archipelago to Maosoe, in whose harbour the _Vega_ was to make some
hours' stay, for the purpose of posting letters in the post-office
there, probably the most northerly in the world. But during this
time so violent a north-west wind began to blow, that we were
detained there three days.
Maosoe is a little rocky island situated in 71 deg. N.L.,
thirty-two kilometres south-west from North Cape, in a region
abounding in fish, about halfway between Bred Sound and Mageroe
Sound. The eastern coast of the island is indented by a bay, which
forms a well-protected harbour. Here, only a few kilometres south of
the northernmost promontory of Europe, are to be found, besides a
large number of fishermen's huts, a church, shop, post-office,
hospital, &c.; and I need scarcely add, at least for the benefit of
those who have travelled in the north of Norway, several friendly,
hospitable families in whose society we talked away many hours of
our involuntary stay in the neighbourhood. The inhabitants of course
live on fish. All agriculture is impossible here. Potatoes have
indeed sometimes yielded an abundant crop on the neighbouring Ingoe
(71 deg. 5' N.L.), but their cultivation commonly fails, in
consequence of the shortness of the summer; on the other hand,
radishes and a number of other vegetables are grown with success in
the garden-beds. Of wild berries there is found here the red
whortleberry, yet in so small quantity that one can seldom collect a
quart or two: the bilberry is somewhat more plentiful; but the
grapes of the north, the cloudberry (_multer_), grow in profuse
abundance. From an area of several square fathoms one can often
gather a couple of quarts. There is no wood here--only bushes.
[Illustration: OLD-WORLD POLAR DRESS. Lapp, after original in the
Northern Museum, Stockholm. ]
[Illustration: NEW WORLD POLAR DRESS. Greenlanders, after an old
painting in the Ethnographical Museum, Copenhagen.[17] ]
[Illustration: LIMIT OF TREES IN NORWAY. At Praestevandet, on
Tromsoen, after a photograph. ]
In the neighbourhood of North Cape, the wood, for the present, does
not go quite to the coast of the Polar Sea, but at sheltered places,
situated at a little distance from the beach, birches,[18] three to
four metres high, are already to be met with. In former times,
however, the outer archipelago itself was covered with trees, which
is proved by the tree-stems, found imbedded in the mosses on the
outer islands on the coast of Finmark, for instance, upon Renoe. In
Siberia the limit of trees runs to the beginning of the estuary
delta, _i.e._, to about 72 deg. N.L.[19] As the latitude of North
Cape is 71 deg. 10', the wood in Siberia at several places, viz,
along the great rivers, goes considerably farther north than in
Europe. This depends partly on the large quantity of warm water
which these rivers, in summer, carry down from the south, partly on
the transport of seeds with the river water, and on the more
favourable soil, which consists of a rich mould, yearly renewed by
inundations, but in Norway again for the most part of rocks of
granite and gneiss or of barren beds of sand. Besides, the limit of
trees has a quite dissimilar appearance in Siberia and Scandinavia:
in the latter country, the farthest outposts of the forests towards
the north consist of scraggy birches, which, notwithstanding
their stunted stems, clothe the mountain sides with a very
lively and close green; while in Siberia the outermost trees are
gnarled and half-withered larches (_Larix daliurica_, Turez),
which stick up over the tops of the hills like a thin grey
brush.[20] North of this limit there are to be seen on the Yenisej
luxuriant bushes of willow and alder. That in Siberia too, the
large wood, some hundreds or thousands of years ago, went
farther north than now, is shown by colossal tree-stumps found
still standing in the _tundra_, nor is it necessary now to go far
south of the extreme limit, before the river banks are to be
seen crowned with high, flourishing, luxuriant trees.
[Illustration: LIMIT OF TREES IN SIBERIA. At Boganida, after
Middendorff. ]
[Illustration: THE CLOUDBERRY (RUBUS CHAMAEMORUS, L.) Fruit of the
natural size. Flowering stalks diminished. ]
The climate at Maosoe is not distinguished by any severe winter
cold,[21] but the air is moist and raw nearly all the year round.
The region would however be very healthy, did not scurvy, especially
in humid winters, attack the population, educated and uneducated,
rich and poor, old and young. According to a statement made by a
lady resident on the spot, very severe attacks of scurvy are cured
without fail by preserved cloudberries and rum. Several spoonfuls
are given to the patient daily, and a couple of quarts of the
medicine is said to be sufficient for the complete cure of children
severely attacked by the disease. I mention this new method of using
the cloudberry, the old well-known antidote to scurvy, because I am
convinced that future Polar expeditions, if they will avail
themselves of the knowledge of this cure, will find that it conduces
to the health and comfort of all on board, and that the medicine is
seldom refused, unless it be by too obstinate abstainers from
spirituous liquors.
It enters into the plan of this work, as the _Vega_ sails along, to
give a brief account of the voyages of the men who first opened the
route along which she advances, and who thus, each in his measure,
contributed to prepare the way for the voyage whereby the passage
round Asia and Europe has now at last been accomplished. On this
account it is incumbent on me to begin by giving a narrative of the
voyage of discovery during which the northernmost point of Europe
was first doubled, the rather because this narrative has besides
great interest for us, as containing much remarkable information
regarding the condition of the former population in the north of
Scandinavia.
This voyage was accomplished about a thousand years ago by a Norwegian,
OTHERE, from Halogaland or Helgeland, that part of the Norwegian coast
which lies between 65 deg. and 66 deg. N.L. Othere, who appears to have
travelled far and wide, came in one of his excursions to the court of
the famous English king, Alfred the Great. In presence of this king he
gave, in a simple, graphic style, a sketch of a voyage which he had
undertaken from his home in Norway towards the north and east. The
narrative has been preserved by its having been incorporated, along with
an account of the travels of another Norseman, Wulfstan, to the southern
part of the Baltic, in the first chapter of Alfred's Anglo-Saxon
reproduction of the history of PAULUS OROSIUS: _De Miseria Mundi_.[22]
This work has since been the subject of translation and exposition by a
great number of learned men, among whom may be named here the
Scandinavians, H.G. PORTHAN of Abo, RASMUS RASK and C-CHR. RAFN of
Copenhagen.
Regarding Othere's relations to King Alfred statements differ. Some
inquirers suppose that he was only on a visit at the court of the
king, others that he had been sent out by King Alfred on voyages of
discovery, and finally, others say that he was a prisoner of war,
who incidentally narrated his experience of foreign lands. Othere's
account of his travels runs as follows:--
"Othere told his lord, King Alfred, that he dwelt
northmost of all the Northmen. He said that he dwelt in
the land to the northward, along the West-Sea; he said,
however, that that land is very long north from thence,
but it is all waste, except in a few places where the Fins
at times dwell, hunting in the winter, and in the summer
fishing in that sea. He said that he was desirous to try,
once on a time, how far that country extended due north,
or whether any one lived to the north of the waste. He
then went due north along the country, leaving all the way
the waste land on the right, and the wide sea on the left.
After three days he was as far north as the whale-hunters
go at the farthest. Then he proceeded in his course due
north, as far as he could sail within another three days;
then the land there inclined due east, or the sea into the
land, he knew not which; but he knew that he waited there
for a west wind or a little north, and sailed thence
eastward along that land as far as he could sail in four
days. Then he had to wait for a due north wind because the
land inclined there due south, or the sea in on that land,
he knew not which. He then sailed along the coast due
south, as far as he could sail in five days. There lay a
great river up in that land; they then turned in that
river, because they durst not sail on up the river on
account of hostility; because all that country was
inhabited on the other side of the river. He had not
before met with any land that was inhabited since he left
his own home; but all the way he had waste land on his
right, except some fishermen, fowlers, and hunters, all of
whom were Fins: and he had constantly a wide sea to the
left. The Beormas had well cultivated their country, but
they (Othere and his companions) did not dare to enter it.
And the Terfinna[23] land was all waste, except where
hunters, fishers, or fowlers had taken up their quarters.
"The Beormas told him many particulars both of their own
land and of other lands lying around them; but he knew not
what was true because he did not see it himself. It seemed
to him that the Fins and the Beormas spoke nearly the same
language. He went thither chiefly, in addition to seeing
the country, on account of the walruses,[24] because they
have very noble bones in their teeth, of which the
travellers brought some to the king; and their hides are
very good for ship-ropes. These whales are much less than
other whales, not being longer than seven ells. But in his
own country is the best whale-hunting. There they are
eight-and-forty ells long, and the largest are fifty ells
long. Of these he said he and five others had killed sixty
in two days.[25] He was a very wealthy man in those
possessions in which their wealth consists, that is, in
wild deer. He had at the time he came to the king, six
hundred unsold tame deer. These deer they call rein-deer,
of which there were six decoy rein-deer, which are very
valuable among the Fins, because they catch the wild
rein-deer with them.
"He was one of the first men in that country, yet he had
not more than twenty horned cattle, twenty sheep and
twenty swine, and the little that he ploughed he ploughed
with horses. But their wealth consists mostly in the rent
paid them by the Fins. That rent is in skins of animals
and birds' feathers, and whalebone, and in ship-ropes made
of whales'[26] hides, and of seals'. Every one pays
according to his birth; the best-born, it is said, pay the
skins of fifteen martens, and five rein-deers, and one
bear's skin, ten ambers of feathers, a bear's or otter's
skin kyrtle, and two ship-ropes, each sixty ells long,
made either of whale or of seal hide."
The continuation of Othere's narrative consists of a sketch of the
Scandinavian peninsula, and of a journey which he undertook from his
home towards the south. King Alfred then gives an account of the
Dane, Wulfstan's voyage in the Baltic. This part of the introduction
to Orosius, however, has too remote a connection with my subject to
be quoted in this historical sketch.
[Illustration: NORSE SHIP OF THE TENTH CENTURY. Drawn with reference
to the vessel found at Sandefjord in 1880, under the superintendence
of Ingvald Undset, Assistant at the Christiania University's
collection of Northern antiquities. ]
It appears from Othere's simple and very clear narrative that he
undertook a veritable voyage of discovery in order to explore the
unknown lands and sea lying to the north-east. This voyage was also
very rich in results, as in the course of it the northernmost part
of Europe was circumnavigated. Nor perhaps is there any doubt that
during this voyage Othere penetrated as far as to the mouth of the
Dwina or at least of the Mesen in the land of the Beormas.[27] We
learn from the narrative besides, that the northernmost part of
Scandinavia was already, though sparsely, peopled by Lapps, whose
mode of life did not differ much from that followed by their
descendants, who live on the coast at the present day.
[Illustration: Map of North Europe, from Nicholas Donis's edition
of Ptolemy's _Cosmographia_, Ulm, 1482. ]
[Illustration: Map of the North, from Jakob Ziegler's _Schondia_,
Strassburg, 1532. ]
[Illustration: Map of North Europe from _Olai Magni Historia de gentium
septentrionalium variis conditionibus_, Basil, 1567. ]
The Scandinavian race first migrated to Finmark and settled there in
the 13th century, and from that period there was naturally spread
abroad in the northern countries a greater knowledge of those
regions, which, however, was for a long time exceedingly incomplete,
and even in certain respects less correct than Othere's. The idea of
the northernmost parts of Europe, which was current during the first
half of the 16th century, is shown by lithographed copies of two
maps of the north, one dated 1482, the other 1532,[28] which are
appended to this work. On the latter of these Greenland is still
delineated as connected with Norway in the neighbourhood of
Vardoehus. This map, however, is grounded, according to the
statement of the author in the introduction, among other sources, on
the statements of two archbishops of the diocese of Nidaro,[29] to
which Greenland and Finmark belonged, and from whose inhabited parts
expeditions were often undertaken both for trade and plunder, by
land and sea, as far away as to the land of the Beormas. It is
difficult to understand how with such maps of the distribution of
land in the north the thought of the north-east passage could arise,
if voices were not even then raised for an altogether opposite view,
grounded partly on a survival of the old idea, we may say the old
popular belief, that Asia, Europe and Africa were surrounded by
water, partly on stories of Indians having been driven by wind to
Europe, along the north coast of Asia.[30] To these was added in
1539 the map of the north by the Swedish bishop OLAUS MAGNUS,[31]
which for the first time gave to Scandinavia an approximately
correct boundary towards the north. Six hundred years,[32] in any
case, had run their course before Othere found a successor in Sir
Hugh Willoughby; and it is usual to pass by the former, and to
ascribe to the latter the honour of being the first in that long
succession of men who endeavoured to force a passage by the
north-east from the Atlantic Ocean to China.
Here however it ought to be remarked that while such maps as those
of Ziegler were published in western Europe, other and better
knowledge of the regions in question prevailed in the north. For it
may be considered certain that Norwegians, Russians and Karelians
often travelled in boats on peaceful or warlike errands, during the
fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, from the west
coast of Norway to the White Sea, and in the opposite direction,
although we find nothing on record regarding such journeys except
the account that SIGISMUND VON HERBERSTEIN[33] gives, in his famous
book on Russia, of the voyage of GREGORY ISTOMA and the envoy DAVID
from the White Sea to Trondhjem in the year 1496.
The voyage is inserted under the distinctive title _Navigatio per
Mare Glaciale_[34] and the narrative begins with an explanation that
Herbertstein got it from Istoma himself, who, when a youth, had
learned Latin in Denmark. As the reasons for choosing the unusual,
long, "but safe" circuitous route over the North Sea in preference
to the shorter way that was usually taken, Istoma gives the disputes
between Sweden and Russia, and the revolt of Sweden against Denmark,
at the time when the voyage was undertaken (1496). After giving an
account of his journey from Moscow to the mouth of the Dwina, he
continues thus:--
"After having gone on board of four boats, they kept first
along the right bank of the ocean, where they saw very
high mountain, peaks;[35] and after having in this way
travelled sixteen miles, and crossed an arm of the sea,
they followed the western strand, leaving on their right
the open sea, which like the neighbouring mountains has
its name from the river Petzora. They came here to a
people called Fin-Lapps, who, though they dwell in low
wretched huts by the sea, and live almost like wild
beasts, in any case are said to be much more peaceable
than the people who are called wild Lapps. Then, after
they had passed the land of the Lapps and sailed forward
eighty miles, they came to the land, Nortpoden, which is
part of the dominions of the King of Sweden. This region
the Rutheni call Kayenska Selma, and the people they call
Kayeni. After sailing thence along a very indented coast
which jutted out to the right, they came to a peninsula,
called the Holy Nose,[36] consisting of a great rock,
which like a nose projects into the sea. But in this there
is a grotto or hollow which for six hours at a time
swallows up water, and then with great noise and din casts
out again in whirls the water which it had swallowed. Some
call it the navel of the sea, others Charybdis. It is said
that this whirlpool has such power, that it draws to
itself ships and other things in its neighbourhood and
swallows them. Istoma said that he had never been in such
danger as at that place, because the whirlpool drew the
ship in which he travelled with such force, that it was
only by extreme exertion at the oars that they could
escape. After passing this _Holy Nose_ they came to a
rocky promontory, which they had to sail round. After
having waited here some days on account of head winds, the
skipper said: 'This rock, which ye see, is called Semes,
and we shall not get so easily past it if it be not
propitiated by some offering.' Istoma said that he
reproved the skipper for his foolish superstition, on
which the reprimanded skipper said nothing more. They
waited thus the fourth day at the place on account of the
stormy state of the sea, but after that the storm ceased,
and the anchor was weighed. When the voyage was now
continued with a favourable wind, the skipper said: 'You
laughed at my advice to propitiate the Semes rock, and
considered it a foolish superstition, but it certainly
would have been impossible for us to get past it, if I had
not secretly by night ascended the rock and sacrificed.'
To the inquiry what he had offered, the skipper replied:
'I scattered oatmeal mixed with butter on the projecting
rock which we saw.' As they sailed further they came to
another great promontory, called Motka, resembling a
peninsula. At the end of this there was a castle, Barthus,
which means _vakthus_, watch-house, for there the King of
Norway keeps a guard to protect his frontiers. The
interpreter said that this promontory was so long that it
could scarcely be sailed round in eight days, on which
account, in order not to be delayed in this way, they
carried their boats and baggage with great labour on their
shoulders over land for the distance of about half a mile.
They then sailed on along the land of the Dikilopps or
wild Lapps to a place which is called Dront (Trondhjem)
and lies 200 miles north of[37] the Dwina. And they said
that the prince of Moscow used to receive tribute as far
as to this place."
The narrative is of interest, because it gives us an idea of the way
in which men travelled along the north coast of Norway, four hundred
years ago. It may possibly have had an indirect influence on the
sending of Sir Hugh Willoughby's expedition, as the edition of
Herbertstein's work printed at Venice in 1550 probably soon became
known to the Venetian, Cabot, who, at that time, as Grand Pilot of
England, superintended with great care the fitting out of the first
English expedition to the north-east.
There is still greater probability that the map of Scandinavia by
Olaus Magnus, already mentioned, was known in England before 1553.
This map is an expression of a view which before that time had taken
root in the north, which, in opposition to the maps of the
South-European cosmographers, assumed the existence of an open
sea-communication in the north, between the Chinese Sea and the
Atlantic, and which even induced GUSTAF VASA to attempt to bring
about a north-east expedition. This unfortunately did not come to
completion, and all that we know of it is contained in a letter to
the Elector August of Saxony, from the Frenchman HUBERT LANGUET, who
visited Sweden in 1554. In this letter, dated 1st April 1576,
Languet says:--"When I was in Sweden twenty-two years ago, King
Gustaf often talked with me about this sea route. At last he urged
me to undertake a voyage in this direction, and promised to fit out
two vessels with all that was necessary for a protracted voyage, and
to man them with the most skilful seamen, who should do what I
ordered. But I replied that I preferred journeys in inhabitated
regions to the search for new unsettled lands."[38] If Gustaf Vasa
had found a man fit to carry out his great plans, it might readily
have happened that Sweden would have contended with England for the
honour of opening the long series of expeditions to the
north-east.[39]
England's navigation is at present greater beyond comparison than
that of any other country, but it is not of old date. In the middle
of the sixteenth century it was still very inconsiderable, and
mainly confined to coast voyages in Europe, and a few fishing
expeditions to Iceland and Newfoundland.[40] The great power of
Spain and Portugal by sea, and their jealousy of other countries
rendered it impossible at that period for foreign seafarers to carry
on traffic in the East-Asiatic countries, which had been sketched by
Marco Polo with so attractive accounts of unheard-of richness in
gold and jewels, in costly stuffs, in spices and perfumes. In order
that the merchants of northern Europe might obtain a share of the
profit, it appeared to be necessary to discover new routes,
inaccessible to the armadas of the Pyrenean peninsula. Here lies the
explanation of the zeal with which the English and the Dutch, time
after time, sent out vessels, equipped at great expense, in search
of a new way to India and China, either by the Pole, by the
north-west, along the north coast of the new world, or by the
north-east, along the north coast of the old. The voyages first
ceased when the maritime supremacy of Spain and Portugal was broken.
By none of them was the intended object gained, but it is remarkable
that in any case they gave the first start to the development of
England's ocean navigation.
[Illustration: SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY. (After a portrait in the
Great Picture Hall, Greenwich.) ]
Sir HUGH WILLOUOUGHBY's in 1553 was thus the first maritime
expedition undertaken on a large scale, which was sent from England
to far distant seas. The equipment of the vessels was carried out
with great care under the superintendence of the famous navigator,
Sebastian Cabot, then an old man, who also gave the commander
precise instructions how he should behave in the different incidents
of the voyage. Some of these instructions now indeed appear rather
childish,[41] but others might still be used as rules for every
well-ordered exploratory expedition. Sir Hugh besides obtained from
Edward VI. an open letter written, in Latin, Greek, and several
other languages, in which it was stated that discoveries and the
making of commercial treaties were the sole objects of the
expedition; and the people, with whom the expedition might come in
contact, were requested to treat Sir Hugh Willoughby as they
themselves would wish to be treated in case they should come to
England. So sanguine were the promoters of the voyage of its success
in reaching the Indian seas by this route, that they caused the
ships that were placed at Sir Hugh Willoughby's disposal to be
sheathed with lead in order to protect them from the attacks of the
teredo and other worms.[43] These vessels were:--
[Illustration: SEBASTIAN CABOT. After a portrait in E. Vale
Blake's Arctic Experiences, London. 1874.[42] ]
1. The _Bona Esperanza_, admiral of the fleet, of 120 tons burden,
on board of which was Sir Hugh Willoughby, himself, as captain
general of the fleet. The number of persons in this ship, including
Willoughby, the master of the vessel, William Gefferson, and six
merchants, was thirty-five.
2. The _Edward Bonaventure_, of 160 tons burden, the command of
which was given to Richard Chancelor, captain and pilot major of the
fleet. There were on board this vessel fifty men, including two
merchants. Among the crew whose names are given in Hakluyt we find
the name of Stephen Burrough, afterwards renowned in the history of
the north-east passage, and that of Arthur Pet.
3. The _Bona Confidentia_, of ninety tons, under command of
Cornelius Durfoorth, with twenty-eight men, including three
merchants.
The expense of fitting out the vessels amounted to a sum of 6,000
pounds, divided into shares of 25 pounds. Sir Hugh Willoughby was
chosen commander "both by reason of his goodly personage (for he was
of tall stature) as also for his singular skill in the services of
warre."[44] In order to ascertain the nature of the lands of the
east, two "Tartars" who were employed at the royal stables were
consulted, but without any information being obtained from them. The
ships left Ratcliffe the 20/10th May 1553.[45] They were towed down
by the boats, "the mariners being apparelled in watchet or skie
coloured cloth," with a favourable wind to Greenwich, where the
court then was. The King being unwell could not be present, but "the
courtiers came running out, and the common people flockt together,
standing very thicke upon the shoare; the Privie Consel, they lookt
out at the windowes of the court, and the rest ran up to the toppes
of the towers; the shippes hereupon discharge their ordinance, and
shoot off their pieces after the maner of warre, and of the sea,
insomuch that the tops of the hilles sounded therewith, the valleys
and the waters gave an echo, and the mariners they shouted in such
sort, that the skie rang again with the noise thereof."[46] All was
joy and triumph; it seemed as if men foresaw that the greatest
maritime power, the history of the world can show, was that day
born.
The voyage itself was, however, very disastrous for Sir Hugh and
many of his companions. After sailing along the east coast of
England and Scotland the three vessels crossed in company to Norway,
the coast of which came in sight the 24/14th July in 66 deg. N.L.
A landing was effected and thirty small houses were found, whose
inhabitants had fled, probably from fear of the foreigners. The
region was called, as was afterwards ascertained, "Halgeland," and
was just that part of Norway from which Othere began his voyage to
the White Sea. Hence they sailed on along the coast. On the 6th
Aug/27th July they anchored in a harbour, "Stanfew" (perhaps
Steenfjord on the west coast of Lofoten), where they found a
numerous and friendly population, with no articles of commerce,
however, but dried fish and train oil. In the middle of September
the _Edward Bonaventure_, at Senjen during a storm, parted company
with the two other vessels. These now endeavoured to reach
Vardoehus, and therefore sailed backwards and forwards in different
directions, during which they came among others to an uninhabited,
ice-encompassed land, along whose coast the sea was so shallow that
it was impossible for a boat to land. It was said to be situated
480' east by north from Senjen, in 72 deg. N.L.[47] Hence they
sailed first to the north, then to the south-east. Thus they reached
the coast of Russian Lapland, where, on the 28/18th September they
found a good harbour, in which Sir Hugh determined to pass the
winter. The harbour was situated at the mouth of the river Arzina
"near Kegor." Of the further fate of Sir Hugh Willoughby and his
sixty-two companions, we know only that during the course of the
winter they all perished, doubtless of scurvy. The journal of the
commander ends with the statement that immediately after the arrival
of the vessels three men were sent south-south west, three west, and
three south-east to search if they could find people, but that they
all returned "without finding of people or any similitude of
habitation." The following year Russian fishermen found at the
wintering station the ships and dead bodies of those who had thus
perished, together with the journal from which the extract given
above is taken, and a will witnessed by Willoughby,[48] from which
it appeared that he himself and most of the company of the two ships
were alive in January, 1554.[49] The two vessels, together with
Willoughby's corpse, were sent to England in 1555 by the merchant
George Killingworth.[50]
With regard to the position of Arzina it appears from a statement in
Anthony Jenkinson's first voyage (_Hakluyt_, p. 335) that it took
seven days to go from Vardoehus to Swjatoinos, and that on the sixth
he passed the mouth of the river where Sir Hugh Willoughby wintered.
At a distance from Vardoehus of about six-sevenths of the way
between that town and Swjatoinos, there debouches into the Arctic
Ocean, in 68 deg. 20' N.L. and 38 deg. 30' E.L. from Greenwich, a
river, which in recent maps is called the Varzina. It was doubtless
at the mouth of this river that two vessels of the first North-east
Passage Expedition wintered with so unfortunate an issue for the
officers and men.
The third vessel, the _Edward Bonaventure_, commanded by Chancelor,
had on the contrary a successful voyage, and one of great importance
for the commerce of the world. As has been already stated, Chancelor
was separated from his companions during a storm in August. He now
sailed alone to Vardoehus. After waiting there seven days for Sir
Hugh Willoughby, he set out again, resolutely determined "either to
bring that to passe which was intended, or else to die the death;"
and though "certaine Scottishmen" earnestly attempted to persuade
him to return, "he held on his course towards that unknown part of
the world, and sailed so farre that hee came at last to the place
where hee found no night at all, but a continuall light and
brightnesse of the sunne shining clearly upon the huge and mighty
sea."[51] In this way he finally reached the mouth of the river
Dwina in the White Sea, where a small monastery was then standing at
the place where Archangel is now situated. By friendly treatment he
soon won the confidence of the inhabitants, who received him with
great hospitality. They, however, immediately sent off a courier to
inform Czar Ivan Vasilievitsch of the remarkable occurrence. The
result was that Chancelor was invited to the court at Moscow, where
he and his companions passed a part of the winter, well entertained
by the Czar. The following summer he returned with his vessel to
England. Thus a commercial connection was brought about, which soon
became of immense importance to both nations, and within a few years
gave rise to a number of voyages, of which I cannot here give any
account, as they have no connection with the history of the
North-east Passage.[52]
[Illustration: VARDOE IN 1594. After Linschoten. ]
[Illustration: VARDOE IN OUR DAYS. After a photograph. ]
Great geographer or seaman Sir Hugh Willoughby clearly was not, but
his and his followers' voluntary self-sacrifice and undaunted
courage have a strong claim on our admiration. Incalculable also was
the influence which the voyages of Willoughby and Chancelor had upon
English commerce, and on the development of the whole of Russia, and
of the north of Norway. From the monastery at the mouth of the Dwina
a flourishing commercial town has arisen, and a numerous population
has settled on the coast of the Polar Sea, formerly so desolate.
Already there is regular steam and telegraphic communication to the
confines of Russia. The people of Vardoe can thus in a few hours get
accounts of what has happened not only in Paris or London, but also
in New York, the Indies, the Cape, Australia, Brazil, &c., while a
hundred years ago the post came thither only once a year. It was
then that a journal-loving commandant took the step, giving evidence
of strong self-command, of not "devouring" the post at once, but
reading the newspapers day by day a year after they were published.
All this is now different, and yet men are not satisfied. The
interests of commerce and the fisheries require railway
communication with the rest of Europe. That will certainly come in a
few years, nor will it be long before the telegraph has spun its
net, and regular steam communication has commenced along the coast
of the Arctic Ocean far beyond the sea which was opened by Chancelor
to the commerce of the world.
[Illustration: COAST LANDSCAPE FROM MATOTSCHKIN SCHAR. After Svenske. ]
[Footnote 15: In many Polar expeditions, sealskin has been used as
clothing instead of reindeer skin. The reindeer skin, however, is
lighter and warmer, and ought therefore to have an unconditional
preference as a means of protection against severe cold. In mild
weather, clothing made of reindeer skin in the common way has indeed
the defect that it is drenched through with water, and thereby
becomes useless, but in such weather it is in general unnecessary to
use furs. The coast Chukchis, who catch great numbers of seals, but
can only obtain reindeer skins by purchase, yet consider clothing
made of the latter material indispensable in winter. During this
season they wear an overcoat of the same form as the Lapps' _pesk_,
the suitableness of whose cut thus appears to be well proved. On
this account I prefer the old-world Polar dress to that of the new,
which consists of more closely fitting clothes. The Lapp shoes of
reindeer skin (_renskallar, komager_) are, on the other hand, if one
has not opportunity to change them frequently, nor time to take
sufficient care of them, quite unserviceable for Arctic journeys. ]
[Footnote 16: Haugan had formerly for a long series of years carried
his own vessel to Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, and was known as
one of the most fortunate walrus-hunters of the Norwegian Polar Sea
fleet. ]
[Footnote 17: The original of this drawing, for which I am indebted
to Councillor of Justice H. Rink, of Copenhagen, was painted by a
German painter at Beigen, in 1654. The painting has the following
inscription:--
Mit Ledern Schifflein auff dem Meer De groenleinder fein bein undt
her Boen Thieren undt Bogelen haben see Ire tracht Das falte lands
bon winter nacht ]
[Footnote 18: The birch which grows here is the sweet-scented birch
(_Betula odorata_, Bechst.), not the dwarf birch (_Betula nana_,
L.), which is found as far north as Ice Fjord in Spitzbergen (78
degree 7' N.L.), though there it only rises a few inches above
ground. ]
[Footnote 19: According to Latkin, _Die Lena und ihr Flussgebiet_
(_Petermann's Mittheilungen_, 1879, p. 91). On the map which
accompanies Engehardt's reproduction of Wrangel's _Journey_ (Berlin,
1839), the limit of trees at the Lena is placed at 71 deg. N.L. ]
[Footnote 20: On the Kola Peninsula, and in the neighbourhood of the
White Sea, as far as to Ural, the limit of trees consists of a
species of pine (_Picea obovata_, Ledeb.), but farther east in
Kamschatka again of birch.--Th. von Middendorff, _Reise in dem
aeussersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens_, vol. iv. p. 582. ]
[Footnote 21: An idea of the influence exerted by the immediate
neighbourhood of a warm ocean-current in making the climate milder
may be obtained from the following table of the mean temperatures of
the different months at
1. Tromsoe (69 deg. 30' N.L.);
2. Fruholm, near North Cape (71 deg. 6' N.L.);
3. Vardoe (70 deg. 22' N.L.);
4. Enontekis and Karesuando, on the river Muonio, in the interior
of Lapland (68 deg. 26' N.L.).
Tromsoe Fruholm Vardoe Enontekis
January........... -4.2 deg. -2.7 deg. -6.0 deg. -13.7 deg.
February.......... -4.0 -4.7 -6.4 -17.1
March............. -3.8 -3.2 -5.1 -11.4
April............. -0.1 -0.9 -1.7 -6.0
May............... +3.2 +2.7 +1.8 +0.9
June.............. +8.7 +7.5 +5.9 +8.0
July.............. +11.5 +9.3 +8.8 +11.6
August........... +10.4 +9.9 +9.8 +12.0
September......... +7.0 +5.8 +6.4 +4.5
October........... +2.0 +2.5 +1.3 -4.0
November.......... -1.7 -1.1 -2.1 -9.9
December.......... -3.2 -1.9 -4.0 -11.3
The figures are taken from H. Mohn's _Norges Klima_ (reprinted from
O.F. Schubeler's _Voextlivet i Norge_, Christiania, 1879), and A.
J. Angstroem, _Om lufttemperaturen i Enontekis_ (Oefvers. af Vet. Akad.
Foerhandl, 1860). ]
[Footnote 22: Orosius was born in Spain in the fourth century after
Christ, and died in the beginning of the fifth. He was a Christian,
and wrote his work to show that the world, in opposition to the
statements of several heathen writers, had been visited during the
heathen period by quite as great calamities as during the Christian.
This is probably the reason why his monotonous sketch of all the
misfortunes and calamities which befell the heathen world was long
so highly valued, was spread in many copies and printed in
innumerable editions, the oldest at Vienna in 1471. In the
Anglo-Saxon translation now in question, Othere's account of his
journey is inserted in the first chapter, which properly forms a
geographical introduction to the work written by King Alfred. This
old Anglo-Saxon work is preserved in England in two beautiful
manuscripts from the ninth and tenth centuries. Orosius' history
itself is now forgotten, but King Alfred's introduction, and
especially his account of Othere's and Wulfstan's travels, have
attracted much attention from inquirers, as appears from the list of
translations of this part of King Alfred's Orosius, given by Joseph
Bosworth in his _King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of the
Compendious History of the World by Orosius_. London, 1859. ]
[Footnote 23: By Fins are here meant Lapps; by Terfins the
inhabitants of the Tersk coast of Russian Lapland. ]
[Footnote 24: Walruses are still captured yearly on the ice at the
mouth of the White Sea, not very far from the shore (cf. A.E.
Nordenskioeld, _Redogoerelse foer en expedition till mynningen af
Jenisej och Sibirien ar_ 1875, p. 23; _Bihang till Vetenskaps-A kad.
Handl_. B. iv. No. 1). Now they occur there indeed only in small
numbers, and, it appears, not in the immediate neighbourhood of
land; but there is scarcely any doubt that in former days they were
common on the most northerly coasts of Norway. They have evidently
been driven away thence in the same way as they are now being driven
away from Spitzbergen. With what rapidity their numbers at the
latter place are yearly diminished, may be seen from the fact that
during my many Arctic journeys, beginning in 1858, I never saw
walruses on Bear Island or the west coast of Spitzbergen, but have
conversed with hunters who ten years before had seen them in herds
of hundreds and thousands. I have myself seen such herds in
Hinloopen Strait in July 1861, but when during my journeys in 1868
and 1872-3 I again visited the same regions, I saw there not a
single walrus. ]
[Footnote 25: As it appears to be impossible for six men to kill
sixty great whales in two days, this passage has caused the editors
of Othere's narrative much perplexity, which is not wonderful if
great whales, as the _Balaena mysticetus_ are here meant. But if the
narrative relates to the smaller species of the whale, a similar
catch may still, at the present day, be made on the coasts of the
Polar countries. For various small species go together in great
shoals; and, as they occasionally come into water so shallow that
they are left aground at ebb, they can be killed with ease.
Sometimes, too, a successful attempt is made to drive them into
shallow water. That whales visit the coast of Norway in spring in
large shoals dangerous to the navigator is also stated by Jacob
Ziegler, in his work, _Quae intus continentur Syria, Palestina,
Arabia, AEgyptus, Schondia, &c._ Argentorati, 1532, p. 97. ]
[Footnote 26: In this case is meant by "whale" evidently the walrus,
whose skin is still used for lines by the Norwegian walrus-hunters,
by the Eskimo, and the Chukchis. The skin of the true whale might
probably be used for the same purpose, although, on account of its
thickness, perhaps scarcely with advantage without the use of
special tools for cutting it up. ]
[Footnote 27: It ought to be remarked here that the distances which
Othere in that case traversed every day, give a speed of sailing
approximating to that which a common sailing vessel of the present
day attains _on an average_. This circumstance, which on a cursory
examination may appear somewhat strange, finds its explanation when
we consider that Othere sailed only with a favourable wind, and,
when the wind was unfavourable, lay still. It appears that he
usually sailed 70' to 80' in twenty-four hours, or perhaps rather
_per diem._ ]
[Footnote 28: The maps are taken from _Ptolemaei Cosmographia latine
reddita a Jac. Angelo, curam mapparum gerente Nicolao Donis Germano,
Ulmoe_ 1482, and from the above-quoted work of Jacobus Ziegler,
printed in 1532. That portion of the latter which concerns the
geography of Scandinavia is reprinted in _Geografiska Sektionens
Tidskrift_, B.I. Stockholm, 1878. ]
[Footnote 29: These were the Dane, Erik Valkendorff, and the
Norwegian, Olof Engelbrektsson. The Swedes, Johannes Magnus,
Archbishop of Upsala, and Peder Maonsson, Bishop of Vesteraos, also
gave Ziegler important information regarding the northern countries. ]
[Footnote 30: Of these much-discussed narratives concerning
_Indians_--probably men from North Scandinavia, Russia, or North
America, certainly not Japanese, Chinese, or Indians--who were
driven by storms to the coasts of Germany, the first comes down to
us from the time before the birth of Christ. For B.C. 62 Quintus
Metellus Celer, "when as proconsul he governed Gaul, received as a
present from the King of the Baeti [Pliny says of the Suevi] some
Indians, and when he inquired how they came to those countries, he
was informed that they had been driven by storm from the Indian
Ocean to the coasts of Germany" (Pomponius Mela, lib. iii. cap. 5,
after a lost work of Cornelius Nepos. Plinius, _Hist. Nat._, lib.
ii. cap. 67).
Of a similar occurrence in the middle ages, the learned AEneas
Sylvius, afterwards Pope under the name of Pius II., gives the
following account of his cosmography:--"I have myself read in Otto
[Bishop Otto, of Freising], that in the time of the German Emperor
an Indian vessel and Indian merchants were driven by storm to the
German coast. Certain it was that, driven about by contrary winds,
they came from the east, which had been by no means possible, if, as
many suppose, the North Sea were unnavigable and frozen" (Pius II.,
_Cosmographia in Asiae et Europae eleganti descriptione, etc._,
Parisiis, 1509, leaf 2). Probably it is the same occurrence which is
mentioned by the Spanish historian Gomara (_Historia general de las
Indias_, Saragoca, 1552-53), with the addition, that the Indians
stranded at Luebeck in the time of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
(1152-1190). Gomara also states that he met with the exiled Swedish
Bishop Olaus Magnus, who positively assured him that it was possible
to sail from Norway by the north along the coasts to China (French
translation of the above-quoted work, Paris, 1587, leaf 12). An
exceedingly instructive treatise on this subject is to be found in
_Aarboeger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie_, Kjoebenhavn, 1880.
It is written by F. Schiern, and entitled _Om en etnologisk Gaade
fra Oldtiden_. ]
[Footnote 31: Olaus Magnus, _Auslegung und Verklerung der neuen
Mappen von den alten Goettewreich_, Venedig, 1539. Now perhaps
(according to a communication from the Librarian-in-chief, G.E.
Klemming) there is scarcely any copy of this edition of the map
still in existence, but it is given unaltered in the 1567 Basel
edition of Olaus Magnus, "_De gentium septentrionalium rariis
conditionibus_," &c. The edition of the same work printed at Rome in
1555, on the other hand, has a map, which differs a little from the
original map of 1539. ]
[Footnote 32: To interpret Nicolo and Antonio Zeno's travels towards
the end of the fourteenth century, which have given rise to so much
discussion, as Mr. Fr. Krarup has done, in such a way as if they had
visited the shores of the Arctic Ocean and the White Sea, appears to
me to be a very unfortunate guess, opposed to innumerable
particulars in the narrative of the Zenos, and to the accompanying
map, remarkable in more respects than one, which was first published
at Venice in 1558, unfortunately in a somewhat "improved" form by
one of Zeno's descendants. On the map there is the date MCCCLXXX.
(Cf. _Zeniernes Reise til Norden, et Tolknings Forsoeg_, af Fr.
Krarup, Kjoebenhavn, 1878; R.H. Major, _The Voyages of the Venetian
Brothers Nicolo and Antonio Zeno_, London, 1873, and other works
concerning these much-bewritten travels). ]
[Footnote 33: The first edition, entitled _Rerum Moscoviticarum
Commentarii, &c._, Vienna, 1549, has three plates, and a map of
great value for the former geography of Russia. It is, however, to
judge by the copy in the Royal Library at Stockholm, partly drawn by
hand, and much inferior to the map in the Italian edition of the
following year (_Comentari della Moscovia et parimente della Russia,
&c., per il Signor Sigismondo libero Barone in Herbetstain, Neiperg
and Guetnbag, tradotti nuaomente di Latino in lingua nostra volgare
Italiana_, Venetia, 1550, with two plates and a map, with the
inscription "per Giacomo Gastaldo cosmographo in Venetia, MDL"). Von
Herbertstein visited Russia as ambassador from the Roman Emperor on
two occasions, the first time in 1517, the second in 1525, and on
the ground of these two journeys published a sketch of the country,
by which it first became known to West-Europeans, and even for
Russians themselves it forms an important original source of
information regarding the state of civilisation of the empire of the
Czar in former times. Von Adelung enumerates in _Kritisch-literaerische
Uebersicht der Reisenden in Russland bis 1700_, St. Petersburg and
Leipzig, 1846, eleven Latin, two Italian, nine German, and one
Bohemian translation of this work. An English translation has since
been published by the Hakluyt Society. ]
[Footnote 34: _Von Herbertstein_, first edition, leaf xxviii., in
the second of the three separately-paged portions of the work. ]
[Footnote 35: An erroneous transposition of mountains seen in
Norway, the northeastern shore of the White Sea being low land. ]
[Footnote 36: An unfortunate translation, which often occurs in old
works, of Swjatoinos, "the holy headland." ]
[Footnote 37: Instead of "north of," the true reading probably is
"beyond" the Dwina. ]
[Footnote 38: Huberti Langueti _Epistoloe Secretoe_, Halae, 1699, i.
171. Compare also a paper by A.G. Ahlquist, in _Ny Illustrerad
Tidning_ for 1875, p. 270. ]
[Footnote 39: The first to incite to voyages of discovery in the
polar regions was an Englishman, Robert Thorne, who long lived at
Seville. Seeing all other countries were already discovered by
Spaniards and Portuguese, he urged Henry VIII. in 1527 to undertake
discoveries in the north. After reaching the Pole (going
sufficiently far north) one could turn to the east, and, first
passing the land of the Tartars, get to China and so to Malacca, the
East Indies, and the Cape of Good Hope, and thus circumnavigate the
"whole world." One could also turn to the west, sail along the back
of Newfoundland, and return by the Straits of Magellan (Richard
Hakluyt, _The Principael Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of
the English Nation, &c._, London, 1589, p. 250). Two years before,
Paulus Jovius, on the ground of communications from an ambassador
from the Russian Czar to Pope Clement VII., states that Russia is
surrounded on the north by an immense ocean, by which it is
possible, if one keeps to the right shore, and if no land comes
between, to sail to China. (Pauli Jovii _Opera, Omnia_, Basel, 1578,
third part, p. 88; the description of Russia, inserted there under
the title "Libellus de legatione Basilii ad Clementem VII.," was
printed for the first time at Rome in 1525.) ]
[Footnote 40: In the year 1540, London, exclusive of the Royal Navy,
had no more than four vessels, whose draught exceeded 120 tons
(Anderson, _Origin of Commerce_, London, 1787, vol. ii. p. 67). Most
of the coast towns of Scandinavia have thus in our days a greater
sea-going fleet than London had at that time. ]
[Footnote 41: For instance Article 30: "Item, if you shall see them
[the foreigners met with during the voyage] weare Lyons or Bears
skinnes, hauing long bowes, and arrowes, be not afraid of that
sight: for such be worne oftentimes more to feare strangers, then
for any other cause." (_Hakluyt_, 1st edition, p. 262.) ]
[Footnote 42: The endeavour to procure for this work a copy of an
original portrait of Cabot, stated to be in existence in England,
has unfortunately not been crowned with success. ]
[Footnote 43: According to Clement Adams' account of the voyage.
(_Hakluyt_, 1st edition, p. 271.) ]
[Footnote 44: "Cum ob corporis formam (erat enim procerae staturae)
tum ob singularem in re bellica industriam." Clement Adams'
account--_Hakluyt_, p. 271. ]
[Footnote 45: Ten days earlier or later are of very great importance
with respect to the state of the ice in summer in the Polar seas. I
have, therefore, in quoting from the travels of my predecessors,
reduced the old style to the new. ]
[Footnote 46: "Vibrantur bombardarum fulmina, Tartariae volvuntur
nubes, Martem sonant crepitacula, reboant summa montium juga,
reboant valles, reboant undae, claraque Nautarum percellit sydara
clamor." Clement Adams' account.--_Hakluyt_, p. 272. ]
[Footnote 47: At the time when the whale-fishing at Spitzbergen
commenced, Thomas Edge, a captain of one of the Muscovy Company's
vessels, endeavoured to show that the land which Willoughby
discovered while sailing about after parting company with Chancelor
was Spitzbergen (_Purchas_, iii. p. 462). The statement, which was
evidently called forth by the wish to monopolise the Spitzbergen
whale-fishing for England, can be shown to be incorrect. It has also
for a long time back been looked upon as groundless. Later inquirers
have instead supposed that the land which Willoughby saw was
Gooseland, on Novaya Zemlya. For reasons which want of space
prevents me from stating here, this also does not appear to me to be
possible. On the other hand, I consider it highly probable that
"Willoughby's Land" was Kolgujev Island, which is surrounded by
shallow sand-banks. Its latitude has indeed in that case been stated
2 deg. too high, but such errors are not impossible in the determinations
of the oldest explorers. ]
[Footnote 48: The testator was Gabriel Willoughby, who, as merchant,
sailed in the commander's vessel. ]
[Footnote 49: _Hakluyt_, p. 500; _Purchas_, iii. p. 249, and in the
margin of p. 463. ]
[Footnote 50: It is of him that it is narrated in a letter written
from Moscow by Henrie Lane, that the Czar at an entertainment
"called them to his table, to receave each one a cuppe from his hand
to drinke, and tooke into his hand Master George Killingworths
beard, which reached over the table, and pleasantly delivered it the
Metropolitane, who seeming to bless it, sad in Russe, 'this is Gods
gift.'"--_Hakluyt_, p. 500. ]
[Footnote 51: As the Dwina lies to the south of Vardoehus, these
remarks probably relate to an earlier part of the voyage than that
which is referred to in the narrative. ]
[Footnote 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-literaerische Uebersicht 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 deg. 33' N.L. and 51 deg. 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 deg. 10' and 71 deg. 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.
When we were off the entrance to Yugor Schar, a steamer was sighted.
After much guessing, the _Fraser_ was recognised. I was at first
very uneasy, and feared that an accident had occurred, as the course
of the vessel was exactly the opposite of that which had been fixed
beforehand, but found, when Captain Nilsson soon after came on
board, that he had only come out to look for us. The _Express_ and
the _Fraser_ had been waiting for us at the appointed rendezvous
since the 20th. They had left Vardoe on the 13th, and during the
passage had met with as little ice as ourselves. The _Vega_ and
_Fraser_ now made for the harbour at Chabarova, where they anchored
on the evening of the 30th July with a depth of fourteen metres and
a clay bottom. The _Lena_ was still wanting. We feared that the
little steamer had had some difficulty in keeping afloat in the sea
which had been encountered on the other side of North Cape.
A breaker had even dashed over the side of the larger _Vega_ and
broken in pieces one of the boxes which were fastened to the deck.
Our fears were unwarranted. The _Lena_ had done honour to her
builders at Motala works, and behaved well in the heavy sea. The
delay had been caused by a compass deviation, which, on account of
the slight horizontal intensity of the magnetism of the earth in
these northern latitudes, was greater than that obtained during the
examination made before the departure of the vessel from Gothenburg.
On the 31st the _Lena_ anchored alongside the other vessels, and
thus the whole of our little Polar Sea squadron was collected at the
appointed rendezvous.
Chabarova is a little village, situated on the mainland, south of
Yugor Schar, west of the mouth of a small river in which at certain
seasons fish are exceedingly abundant. During summer the place is
inhabited by a number of Samoyeds, who pasture their herds of
reindeer on Vaygats Island and the surrounding _tundra_, and by some
Russians and Russianised Fins, who come hither from Pustosersk to
carry on barter with the Samoyeds, and with their help to fish and
hunt in the neighbouring sea. During winter the Samoyeds drive their
herds to more southern regions, and the merchants carry their wares
to Pustosersk, Mesen, Archangel, and other places. Thus it has
probably gone on for centuries back, but it is only in comparatively
recent times that fixed dwellings have been erected, for they are
not mentioned in the accounts of the voyages of the Dutch in these
regions.
The village, or "Samoyed town" as the walrus-hunters grandiosely
call it, consists, like other great towns, of two portions, the town
of the rich--some cabins built of wood, with flat turf-covered
roofs--and the quarter of the common people, a collection of dirty
Samoyed tents. There is, besides, a little church, where, as at
several places along the shore, votive crosses have been erected.
The church is a wooden building, divided by a partition wall into
two parts, of which the inner, the church proper, is little more
than two and a half metres in height and about five metres square.
On the eastern wall during the time the region is inhabited, there
is a large number of sacred pictures placed there for the occasion
by the hunters. One of them, which represented St. Nicholas, was
very valuable, the material being embossed silver gilt. Before the
lamps hung large dinted old copper lamps or rather light-holders,
resembling inverted Byzantine cupolas, suspended by three chains.
[Illustration: CHURCH OF CHABAROVA. After a photograph by L. Palander. ]
They were set full of numerous small, and some few thick wax lights
which were lighted on the occasion of our visit. Right above our
landing-place there were lying a number of sledges laden with goods
which the Russian merchants had procured by barter, and which were
to be conveyed to Pustosersk the following autumn. The goods
consisted mainly of train oil and the skins of the mountain fox,
common fox, Polar bear, glutton, reindeer, and seal. The bears'
skins had often a very close, white winter coat, but they were
spoiled by the head and paws having been cut off. Some of the wolf
skins which they showed us were very close and fine. The merchants
had besides collected a considerable stock of goose quills,
feathers, down, and ptarmigans' wings. For what purpose these last
are used I could not learn. I was merely informed that they would be
sold in Archangel. Perhaps they go thence to the dealers in fashions
in Western Europe, to be afterwards used as ornaments on our ladies'
hats. Ptarmigans' wings were bought as long ago as 1611 at
Pustosersk by Englishmen.[53]
At the same time I saw, among the stocks of the merchants, walrus
tusks and lines of walrus hide. It is noteworthy that these wares
are already mentioned in Othere's narrative.
As I was not myself sufficiently master of the Russian language,
I requested Mr. Serebrenikoff to make inquiries on the spot, regarding
the mode of life and domestic economy of the Russians in the
neighbourhood, and I have received from him the following
communication on the subject:--
"The village consists of several cabins and tents. In the
cabins nine Russian householders live with their servants,
who are Samoyeds.[54] The Russians bring hither neither
their wives nor children. In the tents the Samoyeds live
with their families. The Russians are from the village
Pustosersk on the Petchora river, from which they set out
immediately after Easter, arriving at Chabarova about the
end of May, after having traversed a distance of between
600 and 700 versts. During their stay at Chabarova they
employ themselves in the management of reindeer, in
catching whales, and in carrying on barter with the
Samoyeds. They bring with them from home all their
household articles and commercial wares on sledges drawn
by reindeer, and as there is a poor ruinous chapel there,
they bring also pictures of St. Nicholas and other saints.
The holy Nicholas also figures as a shareholder in a
company for the capture of whales. Part of their reindeer
is left during summer on Vaygats, and after their arrival
at Chabarova they still pass over on the ice to that
island. Towards the close of August, when the cold
commences, the reindeer are driven across Yugor Schar from
Vaygats to the mainland. About the 1st October, old style,
the Russians return with their reindeer to Pustosersk.
Vaygats Island is considered by them to afford exceedingly
good pasturage for reindeer; they therefore allow a number
of them to winter on the island under the care of some
Samoyed families, and this is considered the more
advantageous, as the reindeer there are never stolen. Such
thefts, on the contrary, are often committed by the
Samoyeds on the mainland. For thirty years back the
Siberian plague has raged severely among the reindeer. A
Russian informed me that he now owned but two hundred,
while some years ago he had a thousand; and this statement
was confirmed by the other Russians. Men too are attacked
by this disease. Two or three days before our arrival a
Samoyed and his wife had eaten the flesh of a diseased
animal, in consequence of which the woman died the
following day, and the man still lay ill, and, as the
people on the spot said, would not probably survive. Some
of the Samoyeds are considered rich, for instance the
'eldest' (starschina) of the tribe, who owns a thousand
reindeer. The Samoyeds also employ themselves, like the
Russians, in fishing. During winter some betake themselves
to Western Siberia, where 'corn is cheap,' and some go to
Pustosersk.
"The nine Russians form a company (artell) for
whale-fishing. There are twenty-two shares, two of which
fall to the holy Nicholas, and the other twenty are
divided among the shareholders. The company's profit for
the fishing season commonly amounts to 1,500 or 2,000 pood
train oil of the white whale (_Beluga_), but this season
there had been no fishing on account of disagreements
among the shareholders. For in the Russian 'artell' the
rule is, 'equal liability, equal rights,' and as the rich
will never comply with the first part of the rule, it was
their arrogance and greed which caused contention here, as
everywhere else in the world.
"Neither the Russians nor the Samoyeds carry on any
agriculture. The former buy meal for bread from Irbit.
The price of meal varies; this season it costs one rouble
ten copecks per pood in Pustosersk. Salt is now brought
from Norway to Mesen, where it costs fifty to sixty
copecks per pood. The Samoyeds buy nearly everything from
the Russians. There were many inquiries for gunpowder,
shot, cheap fowling-pieces, rum, bread, sugar, and
culinary vessels (teacups, &c.). The Samoyed women wear
clothes of different colours, chiefly red. In exchange for
the goods enumerated above there may be obtained fish,
train oil, reindeer skins, walrus tusks, and furs, viz,
the skins of the red, white, and brown fox, wolf, Polar
bear, and glutton.
"The Russians in question are 'Old Believers,' but the
difference between them and the orthodox consists merely
in their not smoking tobacco, and in their making the sign
of the cross with the thumb, the ring finger, and the
little finger, while the orthodox Russians, on the other
hand, make it with the thumb, the forefinger, and the
middle finger. All Samoyeds are baptised into the orthodox
faith, but they worship their old idols at the same time.
They travel over a thousand versts as pilgrims to their
sacrificial places. There are several such places on
Vaygats, where their idols are to be found. The Russians
call these idols 'bolvany.'[55] Both the Russians and
Samoyeds are very tolerant in regard to matters of faith.
The Russians, for instance, say that the Samoyeds
attribute to their 'bolvans' the same importance which
they themselves attach to their sacred pictures, and find
in this nothing objectionable. The Samoyeds have songs and
sagas, relating among other things to their migrations.
"The Samoyed has one or more wives; even sisters may marry
the same man. Marriage is entered upon without any
solemnity. The wives are considered by the men as having
equal rights with themselves, and are treated accordingly,
which is very remarkable, as the Russians, like other
Christian nations, consider the woman as in certain
respects inferior to the man."
I visited the place for the first time in the beginning of August,
1875. It was a Russian holiday, and, while still a long way off at
sea, we could see a large number of Russians and Samoyeds standing
in groups on the beach. Coming nearer we found them engaged in
playing various different games, and though it was the first time in
the memory of man that European gentlemen had visited their "town,"
they scarcely allowed themselves to be more disturbed in their
occupation than if some stranger Samoyeds had suddenly joined their
company. Some stood in a circle and by turns threw a piece of iron,
shaped somewhat like a marlinspike, to the ground; the art
consisting in getting the sharp end to strike it just in front of
rings placed on the ground, in such a way that the piece of iron
remained standing. Others were engaged in playing a game resembling
our nine-pins; others, again, in wrestling, &c. The Russians and
Samoyeds played with each other without distinction. The Samoyeds,
small of stature, dirty, with matted, unkempt hair, were clad in
dirty summer clothes of skin, sometimes with a showy-coloured cotton
shirt drawn over them; the Russians (probably originally of the
Finnish race and descendants of the old Beormas) tall, well-grown,
with long hair shining with oil, ornamentally parted, combed, and
frizzled, and held together by a head band, or covered with a cap
resembling that shown in the accompanying woodcut, were clad in long
variegated blouses, or "mekkor," fastened at the waist with a belt.
Notwithstanding the feigned indifference shown at first, which was
evidently considered good manners, we were received in a friendly
way. We were first invited to try our luck and skill in the game in
turn with the rest, when it soon appeared, to the no small
gratification of our hosts, that we were quite incapable of entering
into competition either with Russian or Samoyed. Thereupon one of
the Russians invited us to enter his cabin, where we were
entertained with tea, Russian wheaten cakes of unfermented dough,
and brandy. Some small presents were given us with a naive
notification of what would be welcome in their stead, a notification
which I with pleasure complied with as far as my resources
permitted. A complete unanimity at first prevailed between our
Russian and Samoyed hosts, but on the following day a sharp dispute
was like to arise because the former invited one of us to drive with
a reindeer team standing in the neighbourhood of a Russian hut. The
Samoyeds were much displeased on this account, but declared at the
same time, as well as they could by signs, that they themselves were
willing to drive us, if we so desired, and they showed that they
were serious in their declaration by there and then breaking off the
quarrel in order to take a short turn with their reindeer teams at a
rapid rate among the tents.
[Illustration: SAMOYED WOMAN'S HOOD. One-eighth of natural size. ]
[Illustration: SAMOYED SLEIGH. After a drawing by Hj Theel. ]
The Samoyed sleigh is intended both for winter travelling on the
snow, and for summer travelling on the mosses and water-drenched
bogs of the _tundra_. They are, therefore, constructed quite
differently from the "akja" of the Lapp. As the woodcut below shows,
it completely resembles a high sledge, the carriage consisting of a
low and short box, which, in convenience, style, and warmth, cannot
be compared to the well-known equipage of the Lapps. We have here
two quite different types of sleighs. The Lapp "akja" appears from
time immemorial to have been peculiar to the Scandinavian north; the
high sleigh, on the contrary, to northern Russia. Thus we find
"akjas" of the kind still in common use, delineated in Olaus Magnus
(Rome edition, 1555, page 598); Samoyed sleighs, again, in the first
works we have on those regions, for instance, in HUYGHEN VAN
LINSCHOTEN'S _Schip-vaert van by Noorden_, &c., Amsterdam, 1601, as a
side drawing on the principal map. Such high sleighs are also used
on the Kanin peninsula, on Yalmal, and in Western Siberia.
The sleighs of the Chukchis, on the other hand as will be seen by a
drawing given farther on, are lower, and thus more resemble our
"kaelkar," or work-sledges.
[Illustration: LAPP AKJA. After original in the Northern Museum,
Stockholm. ]
The neighbourhood of the tents swarmed with small black or white
long-haired dogs, with pointed nose and pointed ears They are used
exclusively for tending the herds of reindeer, and appear to be of
the same race as the "renvallhund," the reindeer dog. At several
places on the coast of the White Sea, however, dogs are also
employed as beasts of draught, but according to information which I
procured before my departure for Spitzbergen in 1872--it was then
under discussion whether dogs should be used during the projected
ice journey--these are of a different race, larger and stronger than
the Lapp or Samoyed dogs proper.
Immediately after the _Vega_ came to anchor, I went on land on this
occasion also; in the first place with a view to take some solar
altitudes, in order to ascertain the chronometer's rate of going;
for during the voyage of 1875 I had had an opportunity of
determining the position of this place as accurately as is possible
with the common reflecting circle and chronometer, with the
following result:--
The Church at Chabarova (Latitude 69 deg. 38' 50".
(Longitude 60 deg. 19' 49" E. from Greenwich.
[Illustration: _Samoiedarum, trahis a rangiferis protractis infidentium
Nec non Idolorum ab ysdem cultorum effigies._ ]
[Illustration: SAMOYED SLEIGH AND IDOLS. After an old Dutch engraving. ]
When the observations were finished I hastened to renew my
acquaintance with my old friends on the spot. I also endeavoured to
purchase from the Samoyeds dresses and household articles; but as I
had not then with me goods for barter, and ready money appeared to
be of small account with them, prices were very high; for instance,
for a lady's beautiful "pesk," twenty roubles; for a cap with brass
ornaments, ten roubles; for a pair of boots of reindeer skin, two
roubles; for copper ornaments for hoods, two roubles each; and so
on.
[Illustration: SAMOYED IDOLS. One-third of natural size. ]
As I knew that the Samoyeds during their wanderings always carry
idols with them, I asked them whether they could not sell me some.
All at first answered in the negative. It was evident that they were
hindered from complying with my requests partly by superstition,
partly by being a little ashamed, before the West European, of the
nature of their gods. The metallic lustre of some rouble pieces
which I had procured in Stockholm, however, at last induced an old
woman to set aside all fears. She went to one of the loaded sledges,
which appeared to be used as magazines, and searched for a long time
till she got hold of an old useless skin boot, from which she drew a
fine skin stocking, out of which at last four idols appeared. After
further negotiations they were sold to me at a very high price. They
consisted of a miniature "pesk," with belt, without body; a skin
doll thirteen centimetres long, with face of brass; another doll,
with a bent piece of copper plate for a nose; and a stone, wrapped
round with rags and hung with brass plates, a corner of the stone
forming the countenance of the human figure it was intended to
resemble.
[Illustration: SAMOYED HAIR ORNAMENTS. One-third of natural size. ]
More finely-formed gods, dolls pretty well made, with bows forged of
iron, I have seen, but have not had the good fortune to get
possession of. In the case now in question the traffic was
facilitated by the circumstance that the old witch, Anna Petrovna,
who sold her gods, was baptised, which was naturally taken advantage
of by me to represent to her that it was wrong for her as a
Christian to worship such trash as "bolvans," and the necessity of
immediately getting rid of them. But my arguments, at once sophistic
and egoistic, met with disapproval, both from the Russians and
Samoyeds standing round, inasmuch as they declared that on the whole
there was no great difference between the "bolvan" of the Samoyed
and the sacred picture of the Christian. It would even appear as if
the Russians themselves considered the "bolvans" as representatives
of some sort of Samoyed saints in the other world.
When the traffic in gods was finished, though not to my full
satisfaction, because I thought I had got too little, we were
invited by one of the Russians, as in 1875, to drink tea in his
cabin. This consisted of a lobby, and a room about four metres
square, and scarcely two metres and a half high. One corner was
occupied by a large chimney, at the side of which was the very low
door, and right opposite the window opening, under which were placed
some chests, serving as tea-table for the occasion. Along the two
remaining sides of the room there were fastened to the wall sleeping
places of boards covered with reindeer skin. The window appeared to
have been formerly filled with panes of glass, but most of these
were now broken, and replaced by boards. It need scarcely surprise
us if glass is a scarce article of luxury here.
We had no sooner entered the cabin than preparations for tea
commenced. Sugar, biscuits, teacups and saucers, and a brandy flask
were produced from a common Russian travelling trunk. Fire was
lighted, water boiled, and tea made in the common way, a thick smoke
and strong fames from the burning fuel spreading in the upper part
of the low room, which for the time was packed full of curious
visitors. Excepting these trifling inconveniences the entertainment
passed off very agreeably, with constant conversation, which was
carried on with great liveliness, though the hosts and most of the
guests could only with difficulty make themselves mutually
intelligible.
Hence we betook ourselves to the skin tents of the Samoyeds which
stood apart from the wooden huts inhabited by the Russians. Here too
we met with a friendly reception. Several of the inhabitants of the
tents were now clad with somewhat greater care in a dress of
reindeer skin, resembling that of the Lapps. The women's holiday
dress was particularly showy. It consisted of a pretty long garment
of reindeer skin, fitting closely at the waist, so thin that it hung
from the middle in beautiful regular folds. The petticoat has two or
three differently coloured fringes of dogskin, between which stripes
of brightly coloured cloth are sewed on. The foot-covering consists
of boots of reindeer skin beautifully and tastefully embroidered.
During summer the men go bare-headed. The women then have their
black straight hair divided behind into two tresses, which are
braided with straps, variegated ribbons and beads, which are
continued beyond the point where the hair ends as an artificial
prolongation of the braids, so that, including the straps which form
this continuation, loaded as they are with beads, buttons, and metal
ornaments of all kinds, they nearly reach the ground. The whole is
so skilfully done, that at first one is inclined to believe that the
women here were gifted with a quite incredible growth of hair. A
mass of other bands of beads ornamented with buttons was besides
often intertwined with the hair in a very tasteful way, or fixed to
the perforated ears. All this hair ornamentation is naturally very
heavy, and the head is still more weighed down in winter, as it is
protected from the cold by a thick and very warm cap of reindeer
skin, bordered with dogskin, from the back part of which hang clown
two straps set full of heavy plates of brass or copper.
[Illustration: SAMOYED WOMAN'S DRESS. After a drawing by Hj Theel. ]
The young woman also, even here as everywhere else, bedecks herself
as best she can; but fair she certainly is not in our eyes. She
competes with the man in dirt. Like the man she is small of stature,
has black coarse hair resembling that of a horse's mane or tail,
face of a yellow colour, often concealed by dirt, small, oblique,
often running and sore eyes, a flat nose, broad projecting
cheekbones, slender legs and small feet and hands.
The dress of the man, which resembles that of the Lapps, consists of
a plain, full and long "pesk," confined at the waist with a belt
richly ornamented with buttons and brass mounting, from which the
knife is suspended. The boots of reindeer skin commonly go above the
knees, and the head covering consists of a closely fitting cap, also
of reindeer skin.
[Illustration: SAMOYED BELT WITH KNIFE. One-sixth of natural size. ]
The summer tents, the only ones we saw, are conical, with a hole in
the roof for carrying off the smoke from the fireplace, which is
placed in the middle of the floor. The sleeping places in many of
the tents are concealed by a curtain of variegated cotton cloth.
Such cloth is also used, when there is a supply of it, for the inner
parts of the dress. Skin, it would appear, is not a very comfortable
material for dress, for the first thing, after fire-water and iron,
which the skin-clad savage purchases from the European, is cotton,
linen, or woollen cloth.
Of the Polar races, whose acquaintance I have made, the reindeer Lapps
undoubtedly stand highest; next to them come the Eskimo of Danish
Greenland. Both these races are Christian and able to read, and have
learned to use and require a large number of the products of
agriculture, commerce, and the industrial arts of the present day, as
cotton and woollen cloth, tools of forged and cast iron, firearms,
coffee, sugar, bread, &c. They are still nomads and hunters, but cannot
be called savages; and the educated European who has lived among them
for a considerable time commonly acquires a liking for many points of
their natural disposition and mode of life. Next to them in civilisation
come the Eskimo of North-western America, on whose originally rough life
contact with the American whale-fishers appears to have had a very
beneficial influence. I form my judgment from the Eskimo tribe at Port
Clarence. The members of this tribe were still heathens, but a few of
them were far travelled, and had brought home from the Sandwich Islands
not only cocoa-nuts and palm mats, but also a trace of the South Sea
islander's greater love for ornament and order. Next come the Chukchis,
who have as yet come in contact with men of European race to a limited
extent, but whose resources appear to have seriously diminished in
recent times, in consequence of which the vigour and vitality of the
tribe have decreased to a noteworthy extent. Last of all come the
Samoyeds, or at least the Samoyeds who inhabit regions bordering on
countries inhabited by the Caucasian races; on them the influence of the
higher race, with its regulations and ordinances, its merchants, and,
above all, its fire-water, has had a distinctly deteriorating effect.
[Illustration: SACRIFICIAL EMINENCE ON VAYGATS ISLAND. After a drawing
by A. Hovgaard. ]
When I once asked an Eskimo in North-western Greenland, known for
his excessive self-esteem, whether he would not admit that the
Danish Inspector (Governor) was superior to him, I got for answer:
"That is not so certain: the Inspector has, it is true, more
property, and appears to have more power, but there are people in
Copenhagen whom he must obey. I receive orders from none." The same
haughty self-esteem one meets with in his host in the "gamma" of the
reindeer Lapp, and the skin tent of the Chukchi. In the Samoyed, on
the other hand, it appears to have been expelled by a feeling of
inferiority and timidity, which in that race has deprived the savage
of his most striking characteristics.
I knew from old travels and from my own experience on Yalmal, that
another sort of gods, and one perhaps inferior to those which Anna
Petrovna pulled out of her old boot, was to be found set up at
various places on eminences strewn with the bones of animals that
had been offered in sacrifice. Our Russian host informed us the
Samoyeds from far distant regions are accustomed to make pilgrimages
to these places in order to offer sacrifices and make vows. They eat
the flesh of the animals they sacrifice, the bones are scattered
over the sacrificial height, and the idols are besmeared with the
blood of the sacrificed animal. I immediately declared that I wished
to visit such a place. But for a long time none of the Russians who
were present was willing to act as guide. At last however a young
man offered to conduct me to a place on Vaygats Island, where I
could see what I wished. Accordingly the following day, accompanied
by Dr. Almquist, Lieutenant Hovgaard, Captain Nilsson, and my
Russian guide, I made an excursion in one of the steam launches to
the other shore of Yugor Straits.
The sacrificial eminence was situated on the highest point of the
south-western headland of Vaygats Island, and consisted of a natural
hillock which rose a couple of metres above the surrounding plain.
The plain terminated towards the sea with a steep escarpment. The
land was even, but rose gradually to a height of eighteen metres
above the sea. The country consisted of upright strata of Silurian
limestone running from east to west, and at certain places
containing fossils resembling those of Gotland. Here and there were
shallow depressions in the plain, covered with a very rich and
uniformly green growth of grass. The high-lying dry parts again made
a gorgeous show, covered as they were with an exceedingly luxuriant
carpet of yellow and white saxifrages, blue _Eritrichia_, _Polemonia_
and _Parryoe_ and yellow _Chrysosplenia_, &c. The last named,
commonly quite modest flowers, are here so luxuriant that they form
an important part of the flower covering. Trees are wholly wanting.
Even bushes are scarcely two feet high, and that only at sheltered
places, in hollows and at the foot of steep slopes looking towards
the south. The sacrificial mound consisted of a cairn of stones some
few metres square, situated on a special elevation of the plain.
Among the stones there were found:--
1. Reindeer skulls, broken in pieces for the purpose of extracting
the brains, but with the horns still fast to the coronal bone; these
were now so arranged among the stones that they formed a close
thicket of reindeer horns, which, gave to the sacrificial mound its
peculiar character.
2. Reindeer skulls with the coronal bone bored through, set up on
sticks which were stuck in the mound. Sometimes there was carved on
these sticks a number of faces, the one over the other.
3. A large number of other bones of reindeer, among them marrow
bones, broken for the purpose of extracting the marrow.
4. Bones of the bear, among which were observed the paws and the
head, only half flayed, of a bear which had been shot so recently
that the flesh had not begun to decompose; alongside of this bear's
head there were found two lead bullets placed on a stone.
5. A quantity of pieces of iron, for instance, broken axes,
fragments of iron pots, metal parts of a broken barmonicon, &c.; and
finally,
6. The mighty beings to which all this splendour was offered.
They consisted of hundreds of small wooden sticks, the upper
portions of which were carved very clumsily in the form of the human
countenance, most of them from fifteen to twenty, but some of them
370 centimetres in length. They were all stuck in the ground on the
south-east part of the eminence. Near the place of sacrifice there
were to be seen pieces of driftwood and remains of the fireplace at
which the sacrificial meal was prepared. Our guide told us that at
these meals the mouths of the idols were besmeared with blood and
wetted with brandy, and the former statement was confirmed by the
large spots of blood which were found on most of the large idols
below the holes intended to represent the mouth.
[Illustration: IDOLS FROM THE SACRIFICIAL CAIRN. One-twelfth of
natural size. ]
After a drawing had been made of the mound, we robbed it discreetly,
and put some of the idols and the bones of the animals offered in
sacrifice into a bag which I ordered to be carried down to the boat.
My guide now became evidently uncomfortable, and said that I ought
to propitiate the wrath of the "bolvans" by myself offering
something. I immediately said that I was ready to do that, if he
would only show me how to go to work. A little at a loss, and
doubting whether he ought to be more afraid of the wrath of the
"bolvans" or of the punishment which in another world would befal
those who had sacrificed to false gods, he replied that it was only
necessary to place some small coins among the stones. With a solemn
countenance I now laid my gift upon the cairn. It was certainly the
most precious thing that had ever been offered there, consisting as
it did of two silver pieces. The Russian was now satisfied, but
declared that I was too lavish, "a couple of copper coins had been
quite enough."
The following day the Samoyeds came to know that I had been shown their
sacrificial mound. For their own part they appeared to attach little
importance to this, but they declared that the guide would be punished
by the offended "bolvans." He would perhaps come to repent of his deed
by the following autumn, when his reindeer should return from Vaygats
Island, where they for the present were tended by Samoyeds; indeed if
punishment did not befall him now, it would reach him in the future and
visit his children and grandchildren--certain it was that the gods would
not leave him unpunished. In respect to God's wrath their religious
ideas were thus in full accordance with the teaching of the Old
Testament.
This place of sacrifice was besides not particularly old, for there
had been an older place situated 600 metres nearer the shore, beside
a grotto which was regarded by the Samoyeds with superstitious
veneration. A larger number of wooden idols had been set up there,
but about thirty years ago a zealous, newly-appointed, and therefore
clean-sweeping archimandrite visited the place, set fire to the
sacrificial mound, and in its place erected a cross, which is still
standing. The Samoyeds had not sought to retaliate by destroying in
their turn the symbol of Christian worship. They left revenge to the
gods themselves, certain that in a short time they would destroy all
the archimandrite's reindeer, and merely removed their own place of
sacrifice a little farther into the land. There no injudicious
religious zeal has since attacked their worship of the "bolvans."
[Illustration: SACRIFICIAL CAVITY ON VANGATA ISLAND. After a drawing
by A. Hovgaard. ]
The old place of sacrifice was still recognisable by the number of
fragments of bones and rusted pieces of iron which lay strewed about
on the ground, over a very extensive area, by the side of the
Russian cross. Remains of the fireplace, on which the Schaman gods
had been burned, were also visible. These had been much larger and
finer than the gods on the present eminence, which is also confirmed
by a comparison of the drawings here given of the latter with those
from the time of the Dutch explorers. The race of the Schaman gods
has evidently deteriorated in the course of the last three hundred
years.
After I had completed my examination and collected some
contributions from the old sacrificial mound I ordered a little
boat, which the steam-launch had taken in tow, to be carried over
the sandy neck of land which separates the lake shown on the map
from the sea, and rowed with Captain Nilsson and my Russian guide to
a Samoyed burying-place farther inland by the shore of the lake.
Only one person was found buried at the place. The grave was
beautifully situated on the sloping beach of the lake, now gay with
numberless Polar flowers. It consisted of a box carefully
constructed of broad stout planks, fixed to the ground with
earthfast stakes and cross-bars, so that neither beasts of prey nor
lemmings could get through. The planks appeared not to have been
hewn out of drift-wood, but were probably brought from the south,
like the birch bark with which the bottom of the coffin was covered.
As a "pesk," now fallen in pieces, lying round the skeleton, and
various rotten rags showed, the dead body had been wrapped in the
common Samoyed dress. In the grave were found besides the remains of
an iron pot, an axe, knife, boring tool, bow, wooden arrow, some
copper ornaments, &c. Rolled-up pieces of bark also lay in the
coffin, which were doubtless intended to be used in lighting fires
in another world. Beside the grave lay a sleigh turned upside down,
evidently placed there in order that the dead man should not, away
there, want a means of transport, and it is probable that reindeer
for drawing it were slaughtered at the funeral banquet.
[Illustration: SAMOYED GRAVE ON VAYGATS ISLAND. ]
As it may be of interest to ascertain to what extent the Samoyeds
have undergone any considerable changes in their mode of life since
they first became known to West-Europeans, I shall here quote some
of the sketches of them which we find in the accounts of the voyages
of the English and Dutch travellers to the North-East.
[Illustration: SAMOYED-ARCHERS. After Linschoten. ]
That changes have taken place in their weapons, in other words, that
the Samoyeds have made progress in the art of war or the chase, is
shown by the old drawings, some of which are here reproduced. For in
these they are nearly always delineated with bows and arrows. Now
the bow appears to have almost completely gone out of use, for we
saw not a single Samoyed archer. They had, on the other hand, the
wretched old flint firelocks, in which lost pieces of the lock were
often replaced in a very ingenious way with pieces of bone and
thongs. They also inquired eagerly for percussion guns, but
breechloaders were still unknown to them. In this respect they had
not kept abreast of the times so well as the Eskimo at Port
Clarence.
One of the oldest accounts of the Samoyeds which I know is that of
Stephen Burrough from 1556. It is given in Hakluyt (1st edition,
page 318). In the narrative of the voyage of the _Searchthrift_ we
read:--
"On Saturday the 1st August 1556 I went ashore,[56] and
there saw three morses that they (Russian hunters) had
killed: they held one tooth of a morse, which was not
great, at a roble, and one white beare skin at three
robles and two robles: they further told me, that there
were people called Samoeds on the great Island, and that
they would not abide them nor us, who have no houses, but
only coverings made of Deerskins, set ouer them with
stakes: they are men expert in shooting, and have great
plenty of Deere. On Monday the 3rd we weyed and went roome
with another Island, which was five leagues (15')
East-north-east from us: and there I met againe with
Loshak,[57] and went on shore with him, and he brought me
to a heap of Samoeds idols, which were in number above
300, the worst and the most unartificiall worke that ever
I saw: the eyes and mouthes of sundrie of them were
bloodie, they had the shape of men, women, and children,
very grosly wrought, and that which they had made for
other parts, was also sprinkled with blood. Some of their
idols were an olde sticke with two or three notches, made
with a knife in it. There was one of their sleds broken
and lay by the heape of idols, and there I saw a deers
skinne which the foules had spoyled: and before certaine
of their idols blocks were made as high as their mouthes,
being all bloody, I thought that to be the table whereon
they offered their sacrifice: I saw also the instruments
whereupon they had roasted flesh, and as farre as I could
perceiue, they make the fire directly under the spit.
Their boates are made of Deers skins, and when they come
on shoare they cary their boates with them upon their
backs: for their cariages they haue no other beastes to
serve them but Deere only. As for bread and corne they
have none, except the Russes bring it to them: their
knowledge is very base for they know no letter."
Giles Fletcher, who in 1588 was Queen Elizabeth's ambassador to the
Czar, writes in his account of Russia of the Samoyeds in the
following way:--[58]
"The _Samoyt_ hath his name (as the _Russe_ saith) of
eating himselfe: as if in times past they lived as the
_Cannibals_, eating one another. Which they make more
probable, because at this time they eate all kind of raw
flesh, whatsoeuer it bee, euen the very carrion that lyeth
in the ditch. But as the _Samoits_ themselves will say,
they were called _Samoie_, that is, _of themselves_, as
though they were _Indigenae_, or people bred upon that
very soyle that never changed their seate from one place
to another, as most Nations have done. They are clad in
Seale-skinnes, with the hayrie side outwards downe as low
as the knees, with their Breeches and Netherstocks of the
same, both men and women. They are all Blacke hayred,
naturally beardless. And therefore the Men are hardly
discerned from the Women by their lookes: saue that the
Women weare a locke of hayre down along both their eares."
In nearly the same way the Samoyeds are described by G. DE VEER in
his account of Barents' second voyage in 1595. Barents got good
information from the Samoyeds as to the navigable water to the
eastward, and always stood on a good footing with them, excepting on
one occasion when the Samoyeds went down to the Dutchmen's boats and
took back an idol which had been carried off from a large
sacrificial mound.
[Illustration: SAMOYEDS. From Schleissing's Neu-entdecktes Sieweria,
worinnen die Zobeln gefangen werden. Zittau 1693.[59] ]
The Samoyeds have since formed the subject of a very extensive
literature, of which however it is impossible for me to give any
account here. Among other points their relations to other races have
been much discussed. On this subject I have received from my learned
friend, the renowned philologist Professor AHLQUIST of Helsingfors
the following communication:--
The Samoyeds are reckoned, along with the Tungoose, the
Mongolian, the Turkish and the Finnish-Ugrian races, to
belong to the so-called Altaic or Ural-Altaic stem. What
is mainly characteristic of this stem, is that all the
languages occurring within it belong to the so-called
agglutinating type. For in these languages the relations
of ideas are expressed exclusively by terminations or
suffixes--inflections, prefixes and prepositions, as
expressive of relations, being completely unknown to them.
Other peculiarities characteristic of the Altaic languages
are the vocal harmony occurring in many of them, the
inability to have more than one consonant in the beginning
of a word, and the expression of the plural by a peculiar
affix, the case terminations being the same in the plural
as in the singular. The affinity between the different
branches of the Altaic stem is thus founded mainly on
analogy or resemblance in the construction of the
languages, while the different tongues in the material of
language (both in the words themselves and in the
expression of relations) show a very limited affinity or
none at all. The circumstance that the Samoyeds for the
present have as their nearest neighbours several
Finnish-Ugrian races (Lapps, Syrjaeni, Ostjaks, and
Voguls), and that these to a great extent carry on the
same modes of life as themselves, has led some authors to
assume a close affinity between the Samoyeds and the Fins
and the Finnish races in general. The speech of the two
neighbouring tribes however affords no ground for such a
supposition. Even the language of the Ostjak, which is the
most closely related to that of the Samoyeds, is separated
heaven-wide from it and has nothing in common with it,
except a small number of borrowed words (chiefly names of
articles from the Polar nomad's life), which the Ostjak
has taken from the language of his northern neighbour.
With respect to their language, however, the Samoyeds are
said to stand at a like distance from the other branches
of the stem in question. To what extent craniology or the
modern anthropology can more accurately determine the
affinity-relationship of the Samoyed to other tribes, is
still a question of the future.
[Illustration: BREEDING-PLACE FOR LITTLE AUKS. Foul Bay, on the West
Coast of Spitzbergen, after a photograph taken by A. Envall on the
30th August, 1872. ]
[Footnote 53: "Letter of Richard Finch to Sir Thomas Smith,
Governor; and to the rest of the Worshipful Companie of English
Merchants, trading into Russia." _Purchas_, iii. p. 534. ]
[Footnote 54: Mr. Serebrenikoff writes _Samodin_ instead of
_Samoyed_, considering the latter name incorrect. For _Samoyed_
means "self-eater," while _Samodin_ denotes "an individual," "one
who cannot be mistaken for any other," and, as the Samoyeds never
were cannibals, Mr. Serebrenikoff gives a preference to the latter
name, which is used by the Russians at Chabarova, and appears to be
a literal translation of the name which the Samoyeds give
themselves. I consider it probable, however, that the old tradition
of man-eaters (_androphagi_) living in the north, which originated
with Herodotus, and was afterwards universally adopted in the
geographical literature of the middle ages, reappears in a
Russianised form in the name "Samoyed." (Compare what is quoted
further on from Giles Fletcher's narrative). ]
[Footnote 55: This name, which properly denotes a coarse likeness,
has passed into the Swedish, the word _bulvan_ being one of the few
which that language has borrowed from the Russian. ]
[Footnote 56: Probably on one of the small islands near Vaygats. ]
[Footnote 57: A Russian hunter who had been serviceable to Stephen
Burrough in many ways. ]
[Footnote 58: _Treatise of Russia and the adjoining Regions_,
written by Doctor Giles Fletcher, Lord Ambassador from the late
Queen, Everglorious Elizabeth, to Theodore, then Emperor of Russia.
A.D. 1588. _Purchas_, iii. p. 413. ]
[Footnote 59: A still more extraordinary idea of the Samoyeds, than
that which this woodcut gives us, we get from the way in which they
are mentioned in the account of the journey which the Italian
Minorite, Joannes de Plano Carpini, undertook in High Asia in the
years 1245-47 as ambassador from the Pope to the mighty conqueror of
the Mongolian hordes. In this book of travels it is said that
Occodai Khan, Chingis Khan's son, after having been defeated by the
Hungarians and Poles, turned towards the north, conquered the
Bascarti, _i.e._ the Great Hungarians, then came into collision with
the Parositi--who had wonderfully small stomachs and mouths, and did
not eat flesh, but only boiled it and nourished themselves by
inhaling the steam--and finally came to the _Samogedi_, who lived
only by the chase and had houses and clothes of skin, and to a land
by the ocean, where there were monsters with the bodies of men, the
feet of oxen and the faces of dogs (_Relation des Mongols ou
Tartares_, par le frere Jean du Plan de Carpin, publ. par M.
d'Avezac, Paris 1838, p. 281. Compare Ramusio, _Delle navigationi e
viaggi_, ii. 1583, leaf 236). At another place in the same work it
is said that "the land Comania has on the north immediately after
Russia, the Mordvini and Bileri, _i.e._ the Great Bulgarians, the
Bascarti, _i.e._ the Great Hungarians, then the Parositi and
_Samogedi_, who are said to have the faces of dogs" (_Relation des
Mongols_, p. 351. Ramusio, ii., leaf 239). ]
CHAPTER III.
From the Animal World of Novaya Zemlya--The Fulmar Petrel--
The Rotge or Little Auk--Bruennich's Guillemot--The Black
Guillemot--The Arctic Puffin--The Gulls--Richardson's Skua--
the Tern--Ducks and Geese--The Swan--Waders--The Snow
Bunting--The Ptarmigan--The Snowy Owl--The Reindeer--The
Polar Bear--The Mountain Fox--The Lemming--Insects--
The Walrus--The Seal--Whales.
If we do not take into account the few Samoyeds who of recent years
have settled on Novaya Zemlya or wander about during summer on the
plains of Vaygats Island, all the lands which in the old world have
formed the field of research of the Polar explorer--Spitzbergen,
Franz-Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Vaygats Island, the Taimur
Peninsula, the New Siberian Islands, and perhaps Wrangel's Land
also--are uninhabited. The pictures of life and variety, which the
native, with his peculiar manners and customs, commonly offers to
the foreigner in distant foreign lands, are not to be met with here.
But, instead, the animal life, which he finds there in summer--for
during winter almost all beings who live above the surface of the
sea disappear from the highest North--is more vigorous and perhaps
even more abundant, or, to speak more correctly, less concealed by
the luxuriance of vegetation than in the south.
It is not, however, the larger mammalia--whales, walruses, seals,
bears and reindeer--that attract attention in the first place, but
the innumerable flocks of birds that swarm around the Polar
traveller during the long summer day of the North.
Long before one enters the region of the Polar Sea proper, the
vessel is surrounded by flocks of large grey birds which fly, or
rather hover without moving their wings, close to the surface of the
sea, rising and sinking with the swelling of the billows, eagerly
searching for some eatable object on the surface of the water, or
swim in the wake of the vessel in order to snap up any scraps that
may be thrown overboard. It is the Arctic _stormfogel_[60] (Fulmar,
"Mallemuck," "Hafhaest," _Procellaria glacialis_, L.). The fulmar is
bold and voracious, and smells villanously, on which account it is
only eaten in cases of necessity, although its flesh, if the bird
has not recently devoured too much rotten blubber, is by no means
without relish, at least for those who have become accustomed to the
flavour of train oil, when not too strong. It is more common on Bear
Island and Spitzbergen than on Novaya Zemlya, and scarcely appears
to breed in any considerable numbers on the last-named place. I know
three places north of Scandinavia where the fulmar breeds in large
numbers: the first on Bear Island, on the slopes of some not very
steep cliffs near the so-called south harbour of the island,[61] the
second on the southern shore of Brandywine Bay on North-East Land,
the third on ledges of the perpendicular rock-walls in the interior
of Ice Fjord. At the two latter places the nests are inaccessible.
On Bear Island, on the other hand, one can without very great
difficulty plunder the whole colony of the dirty grey, short eggs,
which are equally rounded at both ends. The eggs taste exceedingly
well. The nest is very inconsiderable, smelling badly like the bird
itself.
When the navigator has gone a little further north and come to an
ice-bestrewed sea, the swell ceases at once, the wind is hushed and
the sea becomes bright as a mirror, rising and sinking with a slow
gentle heaving. Flocks of little auks (_Mergulus alle_, L.)
Bruennich's guillemots (_Uria Bruennichii_, Sabine), and black
guillemots (_Uria grylle_, L.) now swarm in the air and swim among
the ice floes. The _alke-kung_ (little auk), also called the "sea
king," or rotge, occurs only sparingly off the southern part of
Novaya Zemlya, and does not, so far as I know, breed there. The
situation of the land is too southerly, the accumulations of stones
along the sides of the mountains too inconsiderable, for the
thriving of this little bird. But on Spitzbergen it occurs in
incredible numbers, and breeds in the talus, 100 to 200 metres high,
which frost and weathering have formed at several places on the
steep slopes of the coast mountain sides; for instance, at Horn
Sound, at Magdalena Bay, on the Norways (near 80 deg. N.L.), and
other places. These stone heaps form the palace of the rotge, richer
in rooms and halls than any other in the wide round world. If one
climbs up among the stones, he sees at intervals actual clouds of
fowl suddenly emerge from the ground either to swarm round in the
air or else to fly out to sea, and at the same time those that
remain make their presence underground known by an unceasing
cackling and din, resembling, according to Friedrich Martens, the
noise of a crowd of quarrelling women. Should this sound be
stilled for a few moments, one need only attempt in some opening
among the stones to imitate their cry (according to Martens:
_rott-tet-tet-tet-tet_) to get immediately eager and sustained
replies from all sides. The fowl circling in the air soon settle
again on the stones of the mountain slopes, where, squabbling and
fighting, they pack themselves so close together that from fifteen
to thirty of them may be killed by a single shot. A portion of the
flock now flies up again, others seek their safety like rats in
concealment among the blocks of stone. But they soon creep out
again, in order, as if by agreement, to fly out to sea and search
for their food, which consists of crustacea and vermes. The rotge
dives with ease. Its single blueish-white egg is laid on the bare
ground without a nest, so deep down among the stones that it is only
with difficulty that it can be got at. In the talus of the mountains
north of Horn Sound I found on the 18th June, 1858, two eggs of this
bird lying directly on the layer of ice between the stones. Probably
the hatching season had not then begun. Where the main body of these
flocks of birds passes the winter, is unknown,[62] but they return
to the north early--sometimes too early. Thus in 1873 at the end of
April I saw a large number of rotges frozen to death on the ice in
the north part of Hinloopen Strait. When cooked the rotge tastes
exceedingly well, and in consequence of the great development of the
breast muscles it affords more food than could be expected from its
small size.
[Illustration: THE LITTLE AUK, OR ROTGE. Swedish, Alkekung. (_Mergulus
Alle_, L.) ]
Along with the rotge we find among the ice far out at sea flocks of
_alkor_ (looms, or Bruennich's guillemots), and the nearer we come to
the coast, the more do these increase in number, especially if the
cliffs along the shore offer to this species of sea-fowl--the most
common of the Polar lands--convenient hatching places. For this
purpose are chosen the faces of cliffs which rise perpendicularly
out of the sea, but yet by ledges and uneven places afford room for
the hatching fowl. On the guillemot-fells proper, eggs lie beside
eggs in close rows from the crown of the cliff to near the sea
level, and the whole fell is also closely covered with seafowl,
which besides in flocks of thousands and thousands fly to and from
the cliffs, filling the air with their exceedingly unpleasant
scream. The eggs are laid, without trace of a nest, on the rock,
which is either bare or only covered with old birds' dung, so
closely packed together, that in 1858 from a ledge of small extent,
which I reached by means of a rope from the top of the fell, I
collected more than half a barrel-full of eggs. Each bird has but
one very large egg, grey pricked with brown, of very variable size
and form. After it has been sat upon for some time, it is covered
with a thick layer of birds' dung, and in this way the hunters are
accustomed to distinguish uneatable eggs from fresh.
[Illustration: THE LOOM OR BRUeNNICH'S GUILLEMOT. Swedish, Alka
(_Uria Bruennichii_, Sabine). ]
If a shot be fired at a "loomery," the fowl fly away in thousands
from their hatching places, without the number of those that are not
frightened away being apparently diminished. The clumsy and
short-winged birds, when they cast themselves out of their places,
fall down at first a good way before they get "sufficient air" under
their wings to be able to fly. Before this takes place, many plump
down into the water, sometimes even into the boat which may be rowed
along the foot of the fell.
An unceasing, unpleasant cackling noise indicates that a continual
gossip goes on in the "loomery"; and that the unanimity there is not
great, is proved by the passionate screams which are heard now and
then. A bird squeezes forward in order to get a place on a ledge of
rock already packed full, a couple of others quarrel about the
ownership of an egg which has been laid on a corner of the rock only
a few inches broad, and which now during the dispute is precipitated
into the abyss. By the beginning of July most of the eggs are
uneatable. I have seen the young of the size of a rotge accompany
their mothers in the middle of August. The loom breeds on Walden
Island and the north coast of North-East land, accordingly far north
of 80 deg.. I found the largest "loomeries" on Spitzbergen south
of Lomme Bay in Hinloopen Strait, at the southern entrance to Van
Meyen Bay in Bell Sound, and at Alkornet in Ice Fjord. In respect to
the large number of fowl, however, only the first of these can
compete with the south shore of Besimannaja Bay (72 deg. 54' N.L.)
and with the part of Novaya Zemlya that lies immediately to the
south of this bay. The eggs of the loom are palatable, and the flesh
is excellent, though not quite free from the flavour of train oil.
In any case it tastes much better than that of the eider.
Along with the rotge and the loom two nearly allied species of
birds, _lunnefogeln_, the Arctic puffin (_Mormon arcticus_, L.)
and _tejsten_ or _tobis-grisslan_, the black guillemot (_Uria
grylle_, L.) are to be seen among the drift-ice. I do not know any
puffin-fells on Spitzbergen. The bird appears to breed there only in
small numbers, though it is still found on the most northerly part
of the island. On Novaya Zemlya, too, it occurs rather sparingly.
The black guillemot, on the other hand, is found everywhere, though
never collected in large flocks, along the shores of Spitzbergen,
and Novaya Zemlya, even as far north as Parry Island in 80 deg.
40' N.L., where in 1861 I saw several of their nests. These are
placed near the summits of steep cliffs along the shore. The black
guillemots often swim out together in pairs in the fjords. Their
flesh has about the same taste as Bruennich's guillemot, but is
tougher and of inferior quality; the eggs, on the other hand, are
excellent.
[Illustration: THE ARCTIC PUFFIN. Swedish, Lunnefogel. (Mormon Arcticus,
L.) THE BLACK GUILLEMOT. Swedish, Tejst. (Uria Grylle, L.) ]
The sea fowl mentioned above are never met with inland.
They never settle on a grassy sward or on a level sandy beach. The
steep fowl-fell sides, the sea, ground-ice, pieces of drift-ice and
small stones rising above the water, form their habitat. They swim
with great skill both on, and under the water. The black guillemots
and rotges fly swiftly and well; Bruennich's guillemots, on the
contrary, heavily and ill. The latter therefore do not perhaps
remove in winter farther from their hatching places than to the
nearest open water, and it is probable that colonies of Bruennich's
guillemots are not located at places where the sea freezes
completely even far out from the coast. On this perhaps depends the
scarcity of Bruennich's guillemot in the Kara Sea.
While sailing in the Arctic Ocean, vessels are nearly always
attended by two kinds of gulls, the greedy _stormaosen_ or
_borgmaesteren_, glaucous gull (_Larus glaucus_, Bruenn.), and the
gracefully formed, swiftly flying _kryckian_ or _tretaoiga maosen_,
kittiwake (_Larus tridactylus_, L.), and if the hunter lies to at an
ice-floe to flense upon it a seal which has been shot, it is not
long till a large number of snow-white birds with dark blue bills
and black legs settle down in the neighbourhood in order that they
may get a portion of the spoil. They belong to the third kind of
gull common in the north, _ismaosen_, the ivory gull (_Larus
eburneus_, Gmel.).
[Illustration: BREEDING-PLACE FOR GLAUCOUS GULLS. Borgmaestareport
on Bear Island, after a midnight photograph taken by the Author
on the 18th-19th June, 1864. ]
In disposition and mode of life these gulls differ much from each
other. The glaucous gull is sufficiently strong to be able to defend
its eggs and young against the attack of the mountain fox. It
therefore breeds commonly on the summits of easily accessible small
cliffs, hillocks or heaps of stones, preferably in the neighbourhood
of "loomeries" or on fowl-islands, where the young of the
neighbouring birds offer an opportunity for prey and hunting during
the season when its own young are being fed. Sometimes, as for
instance at Brandywine Bay on Spitzbergen, the glaucous gull breeds
in great flocks on the ledges of steep fell-sides, right in the
midst of Bruennich's guillemots. On Bear Island I have seen it hatch
on the very beach, at a place, for instance, under the arch of a
waterfall leaping down from a precipitous cliff. The nests, which,
to judge from the quantity of birds' dung in their neighbourhood,
are used for a long succession of years, are placed in a depression
in the rock or the ground, and lined with a little straw or a
feather or two. The number of the eggs is three or four. After
boiling they show a jellylike, half transparent white, and a reddish
yellow, and are exceedingly delicious. The young birds have white
flesh, resembling chicken. The burgomaster is common everywhere
along the coasts of Novaya Zemlya and Spitzbergen. Yet I have not
seen the nest of this gull on the north coast of North East Land or
on the Seven Islands.
[Illustration: A. THE KITTIWAKE B. THE IVORY GULL. Swedish, Kryckia.
(Larus tridactylus, L.) Swedish, Ismaos (Larus eburneus, L.) ]
Still more common than the glaucous gull in the lands of the High
North is _kryckian_, the kittiwake. It is met with far out at sea,
where it accompanies the vessel whole days, circling round the tops
of the masts, and sometimes--according to the statements of the
walrus-hunters, when a storm is approaching--pecking at the points
of the pendant. When the vessel is in harbour, the kittiwakes
commonly gather round it to pick out anything eatable in the refuse
that may be thrown away. They breed in great flocks on the steep
escarpments in some separate part of the fowl-fells, in connection
with which, it is evident that the kittiwakes always endeavour to
choose the best places of the fell--those that are most inaccessible
to the fox and are best protected against bad weather. Among the
birds of the north the kittiwake is the best builder; for its nest
is walled with straw and mud, and is very firm. It juts out like a
great swallow's nest from the little ledge to which it is fixed.
Projecting ends of straw are mostly bent in, so that the nest, with
its regularly rounded form, has a very tidy appearance. The interior
is further lined with a soft, carefully arranged layer of moss,
grass and seaweed, on which the bird lays three to four
well-flavoured eggs. The soft warm underlayer is, however, not
without its inconvenience; for Dr. Stuxberg during the voyage of
1875 found in such a nest no fewer than twelve kinds of insects,
among them _Pulex vagabundus_, Bohem. in nine specimens, a beetle,
a fly, &c.
The ivory gull, called by Fr. Martens "Rathsherr," the Councillor,
is found, as its Swedish name indicates, principally out at sea in
the _pack_, or in fjords filled with drift-ice. It is a true
ice-bird, and, it may almost be said, scarcely a water-bird at all,
for it is seldom seen swimming on the surface, and it can dive as
little as its relatives, the glaucous gull and the kittiwake. In
greed it competes with the fulmar. When any large animal has been
killed among the drift-ice, the ivory gull seldom fails to put in an
appearance in order to quench its hunger with flesh and blubber. It
consumes at the same time the excrements of the seal and the walrus,
on which account from three to five ivory gulls may often be seen
sitting for a long time round a seal-hole, quiet and motionless,
waiting patiently the arrival of the seal (Malmgren).
[Illustration: RARE NORTHERN GULLS. A. Sabine's Gull
(Larus Sabinii, Sabine) B. Ross's Gull. (Larus Rossii, Richaids.) ]
The proper breeding places of this bird scarcely appear to be yet
known. So common as it is both on the coasts of Spitzbergen from the
Seven Islands to South Cape and on the north coast of Novaya Zemlya
and America, its nest has only been found twice, once in 1853 by
McClintock at Cape Krabbe in North America in 77 deg. 25' N.L.,
the second time by Dr. Malmgren at Murchison Bay, in 82 deg. 2'
N.L. The two nests that Malmgren found consisted of depressions,
twenty-three to twenty-six centimetres in diameter, in a heap of
loose gravel, on a ledge of a steeply-sloping limestone-rock wall.
In each nest was found only one egg, which, on the 30th July,
already contained a down-covered young bird. For all the ivory gulls
which have their home on Spitzbergen there were doubtless required
several hundred such breeding-places as that at Murchison Bay. When
to this is added the fact that we never in autumn saw on Spitzbergen
any full-grown young of this kind of gull, I assume that its proper
breeding-place must be found farther north, on the shores of some
still unknown Polar land, perhaps continually surrounded by ice. It
deserves to be mentioned with reference to this, that Murchison Bay
was covered with ice when Malmgren found the nests referred to
above.
Besides these varieties of the gull, two other species have been
found, though very rarely, in the Polar regions, viz., _Larus
Sabinii_, Sabine, and _Larus Rossii_, Richards. Although I have
myself only seen the latter, and that but once (on the Chukchi
Peninsula), I here give drawings of them both for the use of future
Polar explorers. They are perhaps, if they be properly observed, not
so rare as is commonly supposed.
Often during summer in the Arctic regions one hears a penetrating
shriek in the air. When one inquires into the reason of this, it is
found to proceed from a kittiwake, more rarely from a glaucous gull,
eagerly pursued by a bird as large as a crow, dark-brown, with white
breast and long tail-feathers. It is _labben_, the common skua
(_Lestris parasitica_, L.), known by the Norwegian walrus-hunters
under the name of _tjufjo_, derived from the bird's cry, "_I-o
i-o_," and its shameless thief-nature. When the "tjufjo" sees a
kittiwake or a glaucous gull fly off with a shrimp, a fish, or a
piece of blubber, it instantly attacks it. It flies with great
swiftness backwards and forwards around its victim, striking it with
its bill, until the attacked bird either drops what it has caught,
which is then immediately snapped up by the skua, or else settles
down upon the surface of the water, where it is protected against
attack. The skua besides eats eggs of other birds, especially of
eiders and geese. If the eggs are left but for a few moments
unprotected in the nest, it is immediately to the front and shows
itself so voracious that it is not afraid to attack nests from which
the hatching birds have been frightened away by men engaged in
gathering eggs only a few yards off. With incredible dexterity it
pecks a hole in the eggs and sucks their contents. If speed is
necessary, this takes place so quickly and out of so many eggs in
succession that it sometimes has to stand without moving, unable to
fly further until it has thrown up what it had swallowed. The skua
in this way commonly takes part in the plundering of every eider
island. The walrus-hunters are very much embittered against the bird
on account of this intrusion on their industry, and kill it whenever
they can. The whalers called it "struntjaeger"--refuse-hunter--because
they believed that it hunted gulls in order to make them void their
excrements which "struntjaegeren" was said to devour as a luxury.
[Illustration:
A. THE COMMON SKUA. Swedish, Labben, (Lestris parasitica, L.)
B. BUFFON'S SKUA. Swedish, Fjellabben. (Lestris Buffonii, Boie.)
C. THE POMARINE SKUA. Swedish, Bredstjertade Labben
(Lestris pomarina. Tem.) ]
The skua breeds upon low, unsheltered, often water-drenched
headlands and islands, where it lays one or two eggs on the bare
ground, often without trace of a nest. The eggs are so like the
ground that it is only with difficulty that they can be found. The
male remains in the neighbourhood of the nest during the hatching
season. If a man, or an animal which the bird considers dangerous,
approaches the eggs, the pair endeavour to draw attention from them
by removing from the nest, creeping on the ground and flapping their
wings in the most pitiful way. The bird thus acts with great skill a
veritable comedy, but takes good care that it is not caught.
As is well known, we know only two varieties of colour in this bird,
a self-coloured brown, and a brown on the upper part of the body
with white below. Of these I have only once in the Arctic regions
seen the self-coloured variety, viz. at Bell Sound in 1858. All the
hundreds of skuas which I have seen, besides, have had the throat
and lower part of the body coloured white.
This bird is very common on Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. Yet
perhaps it scarcely breeds on the north part of North-East Land.
Along with the bird now described there occur, though sparingly, two
others:--_bredstjertade labben_, the Pomarine skua (_Lestris
pomarina_, Tem.) and _fjellalbben_, Buffon's skua (_Lestris
Buffonii_, Boie). The latter is distinguished by its more slender
build and two very long tail-feathers, and it is much more common
farther to the east than on Spitzbergen. I have not had an
opportunity of making any observations on the mode of life of these
birds.
As the skua pursues the kittiwake and the glaucous gull, it is in
its turn pursued with extraordinary fierceness by the little
swiftly-flying and daring bird _taernan_, the Arctic tern (_Sterna
macroura_, Naum.). This beautiful bird is common everywhere on the
coasts of Spitzbergen, but rather rare on Novaya Zemlya. It breeds
in considerable flocks on low grass-free headlands or islands,
covered with sand or pebbles. The eggs, which are laid on the bare
ground without any trace of a nest, are so like lichen-covered
pebbles in colour, that it is only with difficulty one can get eyes
upon them; and this is the case in a yet higher degree with the
newly-hatched young, which notwithstanding their thin dress of down
have to lie without anything below them among the bare stones. From
the shortness of their legs and the length of their wings it is only
with difficulty that the tern can go on the ground. It is therefore
impossible for it to protect its nest in the same way as the
"tjufjo." Instead, this least of all the swimming birds of the Polar
lands does not hesitate to attack any one, whoever he may be, that
dares to approach its nest. The bird circles round the disturber of
the peace with evident exasperation, and now and then goes whizzing
past his head at such a furious rate that he must every moment fear
that he will be wounded with its sharp beak.
Along with the swimmers enumerated above, we find everywhere along
these shores two species of eider, the _vanliga eidern_, common
eider (_Somateria mollissima_, L.) and _praktejdern_, king-duck
(_Somateria spectabilis_, L.). The former prefers to breed on low
islands, which, at the season for laying eggs, are already
surrounded by open water and are thus rendered inaccessible to the
mountain foxes that wander about on the mainland. The richest eider
islands I have seen in Spitzbergen are the Down Islands at Horn
Sound. When I visited the place in 1858 the whole islands were so
thickly covered with nests that it was necessary to proceed with
great caution in order not to trample on eggs. Their number in every
nest was five to six, sometimes larger, the latter case, according
to the walrus-hunters, being accounted for by the female when she
sits stealing eggs from her neighbours. I have myself seen an egg of
_Anser bernicla_ in an eider's nest. The eggs are hatched by the
female, but the beautifully coloured male watches in her
neighbourhood and gives the signal of flight when danger approaches.
The nest consists of a rich, soft, down bed. The best down is got by
robbing the down-covered nest, an inferior kind by plucking the dead
birds. When the female is driven from the nest she seeks in haste to
scrape down over the eggs in order that they may not be visible. She
besides squirts over them a very stinking fluid, whose disgusting
smell adheres to the collected eggs and down. The stinking substance
is however so volatile or so easily decomposed in the air that the
smell completely disappears in a few hours. The eider, which some
years ago was very numerous on Spitzbergen,[63] has of late years
considerably diminished in numbers, and perhaps will soon be
completely driven thence, if some restraint be not laid on the
heedless way in which not only the Eider Islands are now plundered,
but the birds too killed, often for the mere pleasure of slaughter.
On Novaya Zemlya, too, the eider is common. It breeds, for instance,
in not inconsiderable numbers on the high islands in Karmakul Bay.
The eider's flesh has, it is true, but a slight flavour of train
oil, but it is coarse and far inferior to that of Bruennich's
guillemot. In particular, the flesh of the female while hatching is
almost uneatable.
[Illustration: HEADS OF THE
A. EIDER;
B. KING DUCK;
C. BARNACLE GOOSE;
D. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. ]
The king-duck occurs more sparingly than the common eider. On
Spitzbergen it is called the "Greenland eider," on Greenland the
"Spitzbergen eider," which appears to indicate that in neither place
is it quite at home. On Novaya Zemlya, on the other hand, it occurs
in larger numbers. Only once have I seen the nest of this bird,
namely, in 1873 on Axel's Islands in Bell Sound, where it bred in
limited numbers together with the common eider. In the years 1858
and 1864, when I visited the same place, it did not breed there.
Possibly its proper breeding place is on Novaya Zemlya at the inland
lakes a little way from the coast. The walrus-hunters say that its
eggs taste better than those of the common eider. They are somewhat
smaller and have a darker green colour.
On the Down Islands hatches, along with the eiders, the long-necked
_prutgaessen_, barnacle goose (_Anser bernicla_, L.) marked on the
upper part of the body in black and brownish grey. It lays four to
five white eggs in an artless nest without down, scattered here and
there among the eiders' nests rich in down. This variety of goose is
found in greatest numbers during the moulting season at small inland
lakes along the coast, for instance on the line of coast between
Bell Sound and Ice Fjord and on Gooseland. The walrus-hunters
sometimes call them "rapphoens"--partridges--a misleading name,
which in 1873 induced me to land on the open coast south of Ice
Fjord, where "rapphoens" were to be found in great numbers. On
landing I found only moulting barnacle geese. The barnacle goose
finds its food more on land and inland lakes than in the sea. Its
flesh accordingly is free from the flavour of train oil and tastes
well, except that of the female during the hatching season, when it
is poor and tough. The eggs are better than the eider's.
On Spitzbergen besides the barnacle goose we meet with the closely
allied species _Anser leucopsis_, Bechst. It is rather rare, but
more common on Novaya Zemlya. Further there occurs at the last-named
place a third species of goose, _vildgaosen_, the "grey goose" or
"great goose" of the walrus-hunters; the bean goose (_Anser
segetum_, Gmel.), which is replaced on Spitzbergen by a nearly allied
type, the pink-footed goose (_Anser brachyrhynchus_, Baillon). These
geese are much larger than both the eider and the barnacle goose,
and appear to be sufficiently strong to defend themselves against
the fox. They commonly breed high up on some mossy or grassy oasis,
among the stone mounds of the coast mountains, or on the summit of a
steep strand escarpment in the interior of the fjords. During the
moulting season the grey geese collect in flocks at the small
fresh-water lakes along the coast. The flesh of this species of
goose is finer than that of the common tame goose and has no trace
of any train flavour.
Among the swimming birds that give the summer life on Novaya Zemlya
its peculiar character, we may further reckon the scaup-duck and the
swan. _Alfogel_ or _allan_, the long-tailed duck (_Fuligula
glacialis_, L.) is rare on Spitzbergen, but occurs very generally on
Novaya Zemlya, and especially in the Kara Sea, on whose coasts it is
seen in summer collected in large flocks. _Mindre saongsvanen_,
Bewick's swan (_Cygnus Bewickii_, Yarr.), is the most nobly formed
and coloured bird of the north. I have already described its nest,
which is found in considerable numbers in Gooseland. The bird is
blinding white, resembling the common swan, but somewhat smaller and
with a considerable difference in the formation of the windpipe and
the "keel" of the breastbone. The flesh is said to be coarse and of
inferior flavour.
[Illustration: BEWICK'S SWAN. Swedish, Mindre Saongsvanen.
(Cygnus Bewickii, Yarr) BREASTBONE of Cygnus Bewickii, showing the
peculiar position of the windpipe. After Yarrell. ]
The land-birds in the Arctic regions are less numerous both in
species and individuals than the sea-birds. Some of them, however,
also occur in large numbers. Almost wherever one lands, some small
greyish brown waders are seen running quickly to and fro, sometimes
in pairs, sometimes in flocks of ten to twenty. It is the most
common wader of the north, the _fjaerplyt_ of the walrus-hunters,
the purple sandpiper (_Tringa maritima_, Bruenn.). It lives on flies,
gnats, and other land insects. Its well-filled crop shows how well
the bird knows how to collect its food even in regions where the
entomologist can only with difficulty get hold of a few of the
animal forms belonging to his field of research. The purple
sandpiper lays its four or five eggs in a pretty little nest of dry
straw on open grassy or mossy plains a little distance from the sea.
It also endeavours to protect its nest by acting a comedy like that
of the _tjufjo_. Its flesh is delicious.
In the company of the purple sandpiper there is often seen a
somewhat larger wader, or, more correctly, a bird intermediate
between the waders and the swimming birds. This is the beautiful
_brednaebbade simsnaeppan_, the grey (or red) phalarope (_Phalaropus
fulicarius_, Bonap.). It is not rare on Spitzbergen, and it is
exceedingly common, perhaps even the commonest bird on the north
coast of Asia. I imagine therefore that it is not absent from Novaya
Zemlya, though there has hitherto been observed there only the
nearly allied _smalnaebbade simsnaeppan_, the red-necked phalarope
(_Phalaropus hyperboreus_, Lath.). This bird might be taken as the
symbol of married love, so faithful are the male and female, being
continually to be seen in each other's company. While they search
for their food in pools of water along the coast, they nearly always
bear each other company, swimming in zigzag, so that every now and
then they brush past each other. If one of them is shot, the other
flies away only for a short time until it observes that its mate is
left behind. It then flies back, swims with evident distress round
its dead friend, and pushes it with its bill to get it to rise. It
does not, however, spend any special care on its nest or the rearing
of its young, at least to judge by the nest which Duner found at
Bell Sound in 1864. The position of the nest was indicated by three
eggs laid without anything below them on the bare ground, consisting
of stone splinters. The flesh of the phalarope is a great delicacy,
like that of other waders which occur in the regions in question,
but which I cannot now stay to describe.
During excursions in the interior of the land along the coast, one
often hears, near heaps of stones or shattered cliffs, a merry
twitter. It comes from an old acquaintance from the home land, the
_snoesparfven_ or _snoelaerkan_, the snow-bunting (_Emberiza
nivalis_, L.). The name is well chosen, for in winter this pretty
bird lives as far south as the snow goes on the Scandinavian
peninsula, and in summer betakes itself to the snow limit in
Lapland, the _tundra_ of North Siberia, or the coasts of Spitzbergen
and Novaya Zemlya. It there builds its carefully-constructed nest of
grass, feathers and down, deep in a stone heap, preferably
surrounded by a grassy plain. The air resounds with the twitter of
the little gay warbler, which makes the deeper impression because it
is the only true bird's song one hears in the highest north.[64]
On Spitzbergen there is sometimes to be met with in the interior of
the country, on the mountain slopes, a game bird, _spetsbergsripan_,
the rock ptarmigan (_Lagopus hyperboreus_, Sund.). A nearly allied
type occurs on the Taimur peninsula, and along the whole north coast
of Asia. It perhaps therefore can scarcely be doubted that it is
also to be found on Novaya Zemlya, though we have not hitherto seen
it there. On Spitzbergen this bird had only been found before 1872
in single specimens, but in that year, to our glad surprise, we
discovered an actual ptarmigan-fell in the neighbourhood of our
winter colony, immediately south of the 80th degree of latitude. It
formed the haunt of probably a thousand birds; at least a couple of
hundred were shot there in the course of the winter. They probably
breed there under stones in summer, and creeping in among the stones
pass the winter there, at certain seasons doubtless in a kind of
torpid state.
[Illustration: PTARMIGAN FELL. Mussel Bay on Spitzbergen,
after a photograph taken by A. Envall on the 21st June, 1872. ]
The mode of life of the Spitzbergen ptarmigan is thus widely
different from that of the Scandinavian ptarmigan, and its flesh
also tastes differently. For the bird is exceedingly fat, and its
flesh, as regards flavour, is intermediate between black-cock and
fat goose.[65] We may infer from this that it is a great delicacy.
[Illustration: THE SNOWY OWL. Swedish, Fjelluggla (Strix nyctea L.) ]
When I was returning, in the autumn of 1872, from an excursion of
some length along the shore of Wijde Bay, I fell in with one of our
sportsmen, who had in his hand a white bird marked with black spots,
which he showed me as a "very large ptarmigan." In doing so,
however, he fell into a great ornithological mistake, for it was not
a ptarmigan at all, but another kind of bird, similarly marked in
winter, namely, _fjellugglan_, the walrus-hunter's _isoern_, the
snowy owl (_Strix nyctea_, L.). It evidently breeds and winters at
the ptarmigan-fell, which it appears to consider as its own
poultry-yard. In fact, the marking of this bird of prey is so
similar to that of its victim that the latter can scarcely perhaps
know how to take care of itself. On Spitzbergen the snowy owl is
very rare; but on Novaya Zemlya and the North coast of Asia--where
the lemming, which is wanting on Spitzbergen, occurs in great
crowds--it is common. It commonly sits immoveable on an open mountain
slope, visible at a great distance, from the strong contrast of its
white colour with the greyish-green ground. Even, in the brightest
sunshine, unlike other owls, it sees exceedingly well. It is very
shy, and therefore difficult to shoot. The snow ptarmigan and the
snowy owl are the only birds of which we know with certainty that
they winter on Spitzbergen, and both are, according to Hedenstroem,
native to the New Siberian Islands (_Otrywki o Sibiri_, p. 112).
In the cultivated regions of Europe the larger mammalia are so rare
that most men in their whole lifetime have never seen a wild mammal
so large as a dog. This is not the case in the high north. The
number of the larger mammalia here is indeed no longer so large as
in the seventeenth century, when their capture yielded an abundant
living to from twenty to thirty thousand men; but sport on Novaya
Zemlya and Spitzbergen still supports several hundred hunters, and
during summer scarcely a day passes without a visitor of the coasts
of these islands seeing a seal or a walrus, a reindeer or a Polar
bear. In order to present a true picture of the Polar traveller's
surroundings and mode of life, it is absolutely necessary to give a
sketch of the occurrence and mode of life of the wild mammalia in
the Polar lands.
I shall make a beginning with the reindeer. This graminivorous
animal goes nearly as far to the north as the land in the old world.
It was not, indeed, observed by Payer on Franz Josef Land, but
traces of the reindeer were seen by us on the clay beds at Cape
Chelyuskin; remnants of reindeer were observed at Barents' winter
harbour on the northernmost part of Novaya Zemlya; some very fat
animals were killed by Norwegian walrus-hunters on King Karl's Land
east of Spitzbergen, and for some years back the reindeer was very
numerous even on the north coast of North East Land, and on
Castren's, Parry's, Marten's, and Phipps' Islands, lying still
farther to the north. Although these regions are situated between
80 deg. and 81 deg. N.L., the reindeer evidently thrives there very
well, and finds, even in winter, abundant food on the mountain
slopes swept clear of snow by storms, as is shown by the good
condition in which several of the animals shot by us were, and by
the numerous reindeer traces and tracks which we saw on Castren's
Island in the month of May, 1873. Nor does a winter temperature of
-40 deg. to -50 deg. appear to agree particularly ill with these
relatives of the deer of the south. Even the Norwegian reindeer can
bear the climate of Spitzbergen, for some of the selected draught
reindeer which I took with me to Spitzbergen in 1872, and which made
their escape soon after they were landed, were shot by hunters in
1875. They then pastured in company with wild reindeer, and were,
like them, very fat. It is remarkable that the reindeer,
notwithstanding the devastating pursuit to which it is exposed on
Spitzbergen,[66] is found there in much larger numbers than on North
Novaya Zemlya or the Taimur peninsula, where it is almost protected
from the attacks of the hunter. Even on the low-lying part of South
Novaya Zemlya, the reindeer, notwithstanding the abundance of the
summer pasture, is so rare that, when one lands there, any
reindeer-hunting is scarcely to be counted on. It first occurs in
any considerable numbers farther to the north, on both sides of
Matotschkin Schar.
It deserves to be mentioned here that three hundred years ago, when
the north part of Novaya Zemlya was for the first time visited by
man, reindeer do not appear to have been more numerous there than
now. In the narrative of Barents' third voyage (De Veer, _Diarium
Nauticum_, 21st June, 1506) it is expressly stated: "Here it may be
remarked that; although the land, which we consider as Groenland
(the present Spitzbergen), lies under and over the 80th degree of
latitude, there grow there abundant leaves and grass, and there are
found there such animals as eat grass, as _reindeer_, while on the
other hand, on Novaya Zemlya, under the 76th degree of latitude,
there are neither leaves nor grass nor any grass-eating animal."
After this, however, traces of reins were found even at the winter
station; a bear, for instance, was killed that had devoured a
reindeer.
On Spitzbergen the reindeer have been considerably diminished in numbers
by the hunting, first of the Dutch and English, and afterwards of the
Russians and Norwegians. In the northwestern part of the island, where
the Dutch had their train-boiling establishments, the animal has been
completely extirpated.[67] It still, however, occurs on Ice Fjord in
very great numbers, which, were the animal protected, would speedily
increase.
That so devastating a pursuit as that which goes on year after year
on Spitzbergen can be carried on without the animal being
extirpated, has even given rise to the hypothesis of an immigration
from Novaya Zemlya. But since I have become better acquainted with
the occurrence of the reindeer in the latter place, this mode of
explanation does not appear to me to be correct. If, therefore, as
several circumstances in fact indicate, an immigration of reindeer
to Spitzbergen does take place, it must be from some still unknown
Polar land situated to the north-north-east. In the opinion of some
of the walrus-hunters there are indications that this unknown land
is inhabited, for it has repeatedly been stated that _marked_
reindeer have been taken on Spitzbergen. The first statement on this
point is to be found in Witsen (_Noort ooster gedeelte van Asia en
Europa_, 1705, ii. page 904), where the reins are said to have been
marked on the horns and the ears; and I have myself heard hunters,
who in Norway were well acquainted with the care of reindeer, state
positively that the ears of some of the Spitzbergen reindeer they
shot were clipped--probably, however, the whole has originated from
the ears having been marked by frost. That no immigration to
Spitzbergen of reindeer from Novaya Zemlya takes place, is shown
besides by the fact that the Spitzbergen reindeer appears to belong
to a race differing from the Novaya Zemlya reindeer, and
distinguished by its smaller size, shorter head and legs, and
plumper and fatter body.
[Illustration: REINDEER PASTURE. Green Harbour on Spitzbergen,
after a photograph taken by A. Envall on the 20th July, 1873. ]
The life of the wild reindeer is best known from Spitzbergen. During
summer it betakes itself to the grassy plains in the ice-free
valleys of the island, in late autumn it withdraws--according to the
walrus-hunters' statements--to the sea-coast, in order to eat the
seaweed that is thrown up on the beach, and in winter it goes back
to the lichen-clad mountain heights in the interior of the country,
where it appears to thrive exceedingly well, though the cold during
winter must be excessively severe; for when the reindeer in spring
return to the coast they are still very fat, but some weeks
afterwards, when the snow has frozen, on the surface, and a crust of
ice makes it difficult for them to get at the mountain sides, they
become so poor as scarcely to be eatable. In summer, however, they
speedily eat themselves back into condition, and in autumn they are
so fat that they would certainly take prizes at an exhibition of fat
cattle. In the museum at Tromsoe there is preserved the backbone of
a reindeer, shot on King Karl's Land, which had a layer of fat seven
to eight centimetres in thickness on the loin.
The reindeer, in regions where it has been much hunted, is very shy,
but, if the ground is not quite even, one can creep within range, if
the precaution be taken not to approach it from the windward. During
the rutting season, which falls in late autumn, it sometimes happens
that the reindeer attacks the hunter.
The Spitzbergen reindeer is not tormented, like the reindeer in
Lapland and on Novaya Zemlya, by "gorm" (inch-long larvae of a fly,
which are developed under the animal's skin). Its flesh is also
better than that of the Lapp reindeer. None of the contagious
diseases which of late years have raged so dreadfully among the
reindeer in northern Europe has ever, at least during the last fifty
years, been common on Spitzbergen.
The Polar bear occurs principally on coasts and islands which are
surrounded by drift-ice, often even upon ice-fields far out at sea,
for his best hunting is among the ice-floes. Now he is rather rare
on the south-western coasts of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya which
are almost free of ice during summer, but more common on the
northern parts of these islands, which are almost always surrounded
by ice. Thus for instance during my many landings at Horn Sound,
Bell Sound, Ice Fjord, Foreland Sound, and King's Bay, on the west
coast of Spitzbergen, I have never seen a single bear. On the other
hand, bears were seen at nearly every resting-place during the boat
voyage I made in 1861 with Torell in Hinloopen Strait and along the
shores of the most northerly islands on Spitzbergen, also during the
sledge journey which Palander and I made in the spring of 1873
round North East Land. The Polar bear is besides found everywhere
along the north coast of Asia and America, apparently in greater
numbers the farther north we go. Sometimes too, first on ice
and then swimming, he has reached the north coast of Norway, for
instance, in March 1853, when, according to a statement in _Tromsoe
Stiftstidende_ (No. 4 for 1869), a Polar bear was killed in
Kjoellefjord in East Einmark.
The bear is not difficult to kill. When he observes a man he
commonly approaches in hope of prey, with supple movements, and in a
hundred zigzag bends, in order to conceal the direction he intends
to take, and thus keep his prey from being frightened. During his
approach he often climbs up on blocks of ice, or raises himself on
his hind legs, in order to get a more extensive view, or else stands
snuffing up the air with evident care in all directions, in order,
by the aid of smell, which he seems to rely upon more than sight, to
ascertain the true kind and nature of the surrounding objects. If he
thinks he has to do with a seal, he creeps or trails himself forward
along the ice, and is said then to conceal with the fore-paws the
only part of his body that contrasts with the white colour of the
snow--his large black nose. If one keeps quite still, the bear comes
in this way so near that one can shoot him at the distance of two
gun-lengths, or, what the hunters consider safer, kill him with the
lance. If an unarmed man falls in with a Polar bear, some rapid
movements and loud cries are generally sufficient to put him to
flight, but if the man himself flies, he is certain to have the bear
after him at full speed. If the bear is wounded, he always takes to
flight. He often lays snow upon the wound with his fore-paws;
sometimes in his death struggles he scrapes with his fore-feet a
hole in the snow, in which he buries his head.
When a vessel lies at anchor, the bear sometimes swims out to it,
and if one encamps in distant regions one often finds on getting up
in the morning a Polar bear in the neighbourhood, who during the
night has gone and nosed round the tent, without daring to attack
it. I remember only one case of a bear venturing to look into an
inhabited tent; it was during Kane's journey. He was frightened on
that occasion by the lighting of some lucifers. I have myself with
my comrades encamped without a watch in regions where we were
certain that our encampment would be visited, while we lay in deep
sleep, by some bear, that seldom, when the cook rose to make coffee,
failed to come within range of shot.
[Illustration: POLAR BEARS. Drawn by G Muetzel of Berlin. ]
The bear on the other hand has a special fancy for taking an
inventory of depots of provisions, of abandoned vessels, or of boats
that have been left drawn up on the beach. Most Arctic travellers
have remarkable adventures to relate, which both men and bears have
gone through on such occasions. During our expedition in 1864, for
instance, a large bear came and closely examined the contents of a
boat covered with a tent, which we had left unwatched for a few
hours at the bottom of Stor Fjord. He ate up a carefully-cooked
reindeer roast, tore the reserve clothes, scattered about the
ship-biscuit, &c.; and after we had returned in the evening,
gathered our things together in a heap, closed the tent and lain
down to sleep, the same bear returned, and, while we slept,
appropriated all the reindeer beef we had cooked to be used, in
place of the roast we had lost, during the following day's journey.
During one of the English expeditions in search of Franklin, there
was killed on one occasion, a bear in whose stomach there was found,
among many other articles, the stock of sticking-plaster from a
neighbouring depot. The bear can also roll away very large stones,
but a layer of frozen sand is too much for him.
The Polar bear swims exceedingly well, but not so fast as that he
can escape in this way, if he be pursued in a boat; if a boat and
stout rowers are at hand he is accordingly done for, if, as often
happens, he in attempting to escape seeks his deliverance in the
sea. There, he is, as the hunters say, "as easy to kill as a sheep,"
but one has to make haste to get hold of the killed animal with a
harpoon or in some other way, for it speedily sinks, unless it is
very fat.
The walrus-hunting vessels from Tromsoe brought home in 1868 twenty,
in 1869 fifty-three, in 1870 ninety-eight, in 1871 seventy-four, and
in 1872 thirty-three bears. It may be inferred from this that the
Norwegian walrus-hunters kill yearly on an average at least a
hundred bears. It is remarkable that in this large number a pregnant
female or one with newly-born young is never found.[68] The female
bear appears to keep herself well concealed during the time she is
pregnant; perhaps in some ice-hole in the interior of the country.
Whether the Polar bear hibernates during winter is not quite
settled; various facts, however, point in this direction. For
instance, he disappears almost completely from wintering stations
during the dark time, and holes have sometimes been met with in
which bears were concealed. Thus it once happened to Tobiesen that
he went down with one foot into such a hole, to the no small dismay
not only of the experienced walrus-hunter, but also of the bear.
It is also stated that the bear during the dark time goes to the
edge of the ice to seek his food. I cannot say positively whether
this is the case or not; but the fact points in an opposite
direction, that while only a single bear was seen in the course of
the winter in the open water in the neighbourhood of our winter
station at Mussel Bay in 1872-73, Palander and I almost daily saw
bears on the hard frozen sea north of North East Land. Tracks of
bears were visible there in all directions on the ice, and along
with them light, sinuous traces of the fox. There were, on the other
hand, no seal holes to be found, and it was accordingly difficult to
understand wherefore the bears had chosen just this desolate stretch
of ice as their haunt. The bears that were killed were besides
uncommonly lean, the fat which they yielded being scarcely available
as fuel for the sledge-party's cooking apparatus.
During their extended excursions after prey the male and the female,
the latter generally attended by one or two large young ones, keep
each other company. Larger numbers are seldom seen together, unless
at places where a good many carcases of walruses, seals, or white
fish are lying.
In former times the sight of a bear created great dismay in Polar
travellers, but now the walrus-hunters do not hesitate a moment to
attack, lance in hand, a large number of bears. They have sometimes
in this way killed as many as twelve within a short time. They
depend less on the gun. During the expedition of 1861 Carl Chydenius
shot three in a few minutes, close to his tent-covered boat.
I do not know a single case in which any Norwegian walrus-hunter has
been seriously wounded by a bear. It appears, however, as if this
animal were bolder and more dangerous in regions where he has not
made acquaintance with man's dangerous hunting implements. During
the first English and Dutch voyages to Novaya Zemlya, bears were met
with at nearly every place where a landing was effected, in regions
where the Polar bear is now wholly absent, and the travellers were
compelled to undertake actual combats--combats which cost several
human lives. During Barents' second voyage some men on the 26th/16th
September, 1593, landed on the mainland near the eastern mouth of
Yugor Schar, in order to collect "a sort of diamonds occurring
there" (valueless rock crystals), when a large white bear, according
to De Veer, rushed forward and caught one of the stone collectors by
the neck. On the man screaming "Who seizes me by the neck?" a
comrade standing beside answered, "A bear," and ran off. The bear
immediately bit asunder the head of his prey, and sucked the blood.
The rest of the men who were on land now came to his relief,
attacking the bear with levelled guns and lances. But the bear was
not frightened, but rushed forward and laid hold of a man in the
rank of the attacking party, and killed him too, whereupon all the
rest took to flight. Assistance now came from the vessel, and the
bear was surrounded by thirty men, but against their will, because
they had to do with a "grim, undaunted, and greedy beast." Of these
thirty men only three ventured to attack the bear, whom these
"courageous" men finally killed, after a rather severe struggle.
A large number of occurrences of a similar nature, though commonly
attended with fortunate results, are to be found recorded in most of
the narratives of Arctic travel. Thus a sailor was once carried off
from a whaler caught in the ice in Davis' Straits, and in 1820,
among the drift-ice in the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen,
the same fate was like to befall one of the crew of a Hull whaler;
but he succeeded in effecting his escape by taking to flight, and
throwing to the bear, first his only weapon of defence, a lance, and
then his articles of clothing, one after the other.[69] On the 6th
of March 1870, Dr. Boergen was attacked by a bear, and dragged a
considerable distance.[70] It is remarkable that the bear did not
this time either kill his prey, but that he had time to cry out, "A
bear is dragging me away;" and that, after the bear had dragged him
several hundred yards and he had got free, he could, though very
badly scalped, himself make his way back to the vessel. The scalping
had been done by the bear attempting to crush the skull in its
mouth, as it is accustomed to do to the seals it catches. Scoresby
considers it dangerous to hunt the Polar bear in deep snow. The
well-known Dane, C. Petersen, guide to McClintock, Kane and others,
on the other hand, considered it as little dangerous to attack a
bear as to slaughter a sheep. The Siberian traveller, Hedenstroem,
says that a man may venture to do so with a knife tied to a
walking-stick, and the Norwegian hunters, or at least the
Norwegian-Finnish harpooners, express themselves in much the same
way regarding "this noble and dangerous" sport.
The bear's principal food consists of the seal and walrus. It is
said that with a single stroke of his powerful paw he can cast a
walrus up on the ice. On the other hand he seldom succeeds in
catching the reindeer, because it is fleeter than the bear. I have,
however, in North East Land, on two occasions, seen blood and hair
of reindeer which had been caught by bears. There is not the least
doubt that, along with flesh, the bear also eats vegetable
substances, as seaweed, grass, and lichens. I have several times, on
examining the stomach of a bear that had been shot, found in it only
remains of vegetable substances; and the walrus-hunters know this so
well that they called a large old Polar bear, which Dr. Theel shot
at Port Dickson in 1875, "an old Land-king" that was too fat to go a
hunting, and therefore ate grass on land. He makes use besides of
food of many different kinds; a bear, for instance, in the winter
1865-66 consumed for Tobiesen the contents of two barrels of salt
fish, which he had left behind in a deserted hut.
The flesh of the bear, if he is not too old or has not recently
eaten rotten seal-flesh, is very eatable, being intermediate in
taste between pork and beef. The flesh of the young bear is white
and resembles veal. The eating of the liver causes sudden illness.
Although, as already mentioned, the Polar bear sometimes drifts to
land and is killed in the northernmost part of Norway, his skin is
not enumerated by Othere among the products of Finmark. It thus
appears to have become known in Europe first after the Norwegians'
discovery of Iceland and Greenland, and was at first considered an
extraordinary rarity. A Norwegian of importance, who had emigrated
to Iceland, and there succeeded in getting hold of a female bear
with two young, sent them in 880 to the King of Norway, and got in
return a small vessel laden with wood. This animal had not then been
seen in Norway before. The old sagas of the north are said to relate
further that the priest Isleif, in order to be nominated bishop of
Iceland, in the year 1056 presented a white bear to Kejsar Henrik.
In the year 1064 the King of Denmark gave in exchange for a white
bear from Greenland a well-equipped, full rigged, trading vessel, a
considerable sum of money, and a valuable gold ring.[71]
[Illustration: POLAR BEARS. After Olaus Magnus (1555). ]
Marco Polo also says in his account of the country of the
peace-loving nomad Tatar tribes living in the north, that there are
to be found there white bears most of them twenty hands long, large
black foxes, wild asses (reindeer), and a little animal called
"rondes," from which we get the sable fur.[72] As the Polar bear is
only to be found on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, these statements
prove that in the thirteenth century the northernmost part of Asia
was inhabited or at least visited by hunters. Olaus Magnus even
describes the bear's mode of life not incorrectly, with the addition
that it was customary to present their skins to the altars of
cathedrals and parish churches in order that the feet of the priest
might not freeze during mass.[73] The Polar bear however first
became more generally known in Western Europe by the Arctic voyages
of the English and Dutch, and its price has now sunk so much that
its skin, which was once considered an article of extraordinary
value, is now, in adjusting accounts between the owners of a vessel
and the walrus-hunters, reckoned at from twenty-five to fifty
Scandinavian crowns (say twenty-eight to fifty-six shillings).
In 1609 Stephen Bennet, during his seventh voyage to Bear Island,
captured two young Polar bears, which were brought to England and
kept at Paris Garden (Purchas, iii. p. 562). Now such animals are
very frequently brought to Norway in order to be sent from thence to
the zoological gardens of Europe, in which the Polar bear is seldom
wanting. The capture is facilitated by the circumstance that the
young bears seldom leave their mother when she is killed.
Along with the reindeer and the bear there are found in the regions
now in question only two other land-mammalia, the mountain fox
(_Vulpes lagopus_ L.) and the lemming (_Myodes obensis_ Brants).[74]
The fox is rather common both on Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. Its
abode sometimes consists of a number of passages excavated in the
ground and connected together, with several openings. Such a nest I
saw on Wahlberg's Island in Hinloopen Strait on the summit of a
fowl-fell; it was abundantly provided with a stock of half-rotten
guillemots, concealed in the passages. The old foxes were not
visible while we were there, but several young ones, some black,
some variegated red and white, ran hither and thither from out the
openings and played with supple movements in the neighbourhood of
the nest. A similar nest also, with young that ran between its
openings, played and hunted each other, I have seen on the north
shore of Matotschkin Schar, and uninhabited fox-holes and passages
at several places on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, commonly in
the tops of dry sandy knolls.
The lemming is not found on Spitzbergen, but must at certain seasons
occur in incredible numbers on Novaya Zemlya. For at the
commencement of summer, when the snow has recently melted away,
there are to be seen, everywhere in the level fertile places in the
very close grass of the meadows, footpaths about an inch and a half
deep, which have been formed during winter by the trampling of these
small animals, under the snow, in the bed of grass or lichens which
lies immediately above the frozen ground. They have in this way
united with each other the dwellings they had excavated in the
ground, and constructed for themselves convenient ways, well
protected against the severe cold of winter, to their fodder-places.
Thousands and thousands of animals must be required in order to
carry out this work even over a small area, and wonderfully keen
must their sense of locality be, if, as seems probable, they can
find their way with certainty in the endless labyrinth they have
thus formed. During the snow-melting season these passages form
channels for running off the water, small indeed, but everywhere to
be met with, and contributing in a considerable degree to the drying
of the ground. The ground besides is at certain places so thickly
strewed with lemming dung, that it must have a considerable
influence on the condition of the soil.
In the Arctic regions proper one is not tormented by the
mosquito,[75] and viewed as a whole the insect fauna of the entire
Polar area is exceedingly scanty, although richer than was before
supposed. Arachnids, acarids, and podurids occur most plentifully,
Dr. Stuxberg having been able during the Yenisej expedition of 1875
to collect a very large number of them, which were worked out after
his return--the podurids by Dr. T. TULLBERG of Upsala, the arachnids
by Dr. T. KOCH of Nurnberg. These small animals are found in very
numerous individual specimens, among mouldering vegetable remains,
under stones and pieces of wood on the beach, creeping about on
grass, straws, &c.
Of the insects proper there were brought home from Novaya Zemlya,
during the same expedition, nine species of coleoptera, which were
determined by Professor F.W. MAeKLIN, of Helsingfors.[76] Some few
hemiptera and lepidoptera and orthoptera, and a large number of
hymenoptera and diptera from the same expedition have been examined
by Lector A.E. HOLMGREN of Stockholm. Dr. Stuxberg also collected a
large number of land-worms, which have been described by our
countryman Dr. G. EISEN, now settled in California. The occurrence
of this animal group in a region where the ground at the depth of a
few inches is continually frozen, appears to me exceedingly
remarkable--and from a general point of view the occurrence of
insects in a land which is exposed to a winter cold below the
freezing-point of mercury, and where the animal cannot seek
protection from it by creeping down to a stratum of earth which
never freezes, presupposes that either the insect itself, its egg,
larva, or pupa, may be frozen stiff without being killed. Only very
few species of these small animals, however, appear to survive such
a freezing test, and the actual land-evertebrate-fauna of the Polar
countries is therefore exceedingly scanty in comparison with that of
more southerly regions.
[Illustration: WALRUSES. After a drawing by G von Yhlen (1861). ]
It is quite otherwise as regards the sea. Here animal life is
exceedingly abundant as far as man has succeeded in making his way to
the farthest north. At nearly every sweep the dredge brings up from the
sea-bottom masses of decapods, crustacea, mussels, asterids, echini,[77]
&c., in varying forms, and the surface of the sea on a sunny day swarms
with pteropods, beroids, surface-crustacea, &c. Dr. Stuxberg will give,
farther on, a sketch of this department of animal life, which in the
high north is so rich in variety. In the meantime I can but refer to the
large number of papers on this subject which have been issued in the
publications of the Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Of the higher animal types a greater number within the Polar
territory occur in the sea than on the land. Thus by far the greater
number of the birds I have enumerated above belong to the sea, not
to the land, and this is the case with nearly all the animals which
for three or four hundred years back have been the objects of
capture in the Arctic regions. This industry, which during the
whale-fishing period yielded a return perhaps equal to that of the
American oil-wells in our time, has not now in the most limited
degree the importance it formerly had. For the animal whose capture
yielded this rich return, the right whale (_Balaena mysticetus_ L.),
is now so extirpated in these navigable waters, that the whalers
were long ago compelled to seek new fishing-places in other parts of
the Polar seas. It is therefore no longer the whale, but other
species of animals which attract the hunter to the coasts of
Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya.
Of these animals the most important for the last fifty years has
been the walrus, but it too is in course of being extirpated. It is
now seldom found during summer on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya
south of Matotschkin Schar. During our visits to that island in
1875, 1876, and 1878 we did not see one of these animals. But in the
Kara Gate, on the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, and at certain places
in the Kara Sea, abundant hunting is still to be had. Earlier in the
year the walrus is also to be met with among the drift-ice on the
west coast, and to the south, off the mouth of the Petchora,
although the number of the animals that are captured by the Samoyeds
at Chabarova appears to be exceedingly small. On the other hand the
Dutch, in their first voyages hither, saw a considerable number of
these gregarious animals. The walrus, however, did not then occur
here in such abundance as they did at the same time on Spitzbergen
and Bear Island, which evidently formed their principal haunts.
During Stephen Bennet's third voyage to Bear Island in 1606, 700 to
800 walruses were killed there in six hours, and in 1608 nearly
1,000 in seven hours. The carcases left lying on the beach attracted
bears thither in such numbers that, for instance, in 1609 nearly
fifty of them were killed by the crew of a single vessel. At one
place eighteen bears were seen at once (Purchas, iii. p. 560). A
Norwegian skipper was still able during a wintering in 1824-25 to
kill 677 walruses. But when Tobiesen wintered there in 1865-66 he
killed only a single walrus, and on the two occasions of my landing
there I did not see one. Formerly the hunters almost every year,
during late autumn when the drift-ice had disappeared, found "walrus
on land," _i.e._ herds of several hundred walruses which had crept
up on some low, even, sandy beach, to pass days and weeks there in
an almost motionless state. During this period of rest most of them
appear to be sunk in deep sleep, yet not all, for--according to the
concurrent statements of all the walrus-hunters with whom I have
conversed on this subject--they keep a watch to warn their comrades
when danger is near. If necessary precautions are observed, _i.e._
if the hunters approach the beach where the animals are assembled
when the wind blows from the land, and kill with the lance those
that lie nearest the water, the rest are slaughtered without
difficulty, being prevented by the carcases of their dead comrades
from reaching the sea. Now such an opportunity for the hunter
happens exceedingly seldom; there are famous headlands on which in
former times the walrus was found by hundreds, in whose
neighbourhood now not a single one is to be seen.
In the sea too there are certain places which the walrus principally
haunts, and which are therefore known by the hunters as
walrus-banks. Such a bank is to be found in the neighbourhood of
Muffin Island, situated on the north coast of Spitzbergen in 80 deg.
north latitude, and the animals that have been killed here
must be reckoned by thousands. Another bank of the same kind is to
be met with in 72 deg. 15' north latitude, on the coast of Yalmal.
The reason why the walruses delight to haunt these places is
doubtless that they find there abundant food, which does not
consist, as has often been stated, of seaweed, but of various living
mussels from the bottom of the sea, principally _Mya truncata_ and
_Saxicava rugosa_. Their fleshy parts are freed, before they are
swallowed, so remarkably well from the shells, and cleaned so
thoroughly, that the contents of the stomach have the appearance of
a dish of carefully-shelled oysters. In collecting its food the
walrus probably uses its long tusks to dig up the mussels and worms
which are deeply concealed in the clay.[78] Scoresby states that in
the stomach of a walrus he found, along with small crabs, pieces of
a young seal.
The largest walrus tusks I have seen were two of a male walrus
purchased in the summer of 1879 at St. Lawrence Island, in the north
part of Behring's Sea. They measured 830 and 825 millimetres in
length, their largest circumference was 227 and 230 millimetres, and
they weighed together 6,680 gram. I have seen the tusks of females
of nearly the same length, but they are distinguished from those of
the male by being much more slender. The surface of the tusks is
always full of cracks, but under it there is a layer of ivory free
of cracks, which again incloses a grained kernel of bone which at
some places is semi-transparent, as if drenched with oil.
When the walrus ox gets very old, he swims about by himself as a
solitary individual, but otherwise animals of the same age and sex keep
together in large herds. The young walrus long follows its mother, and
is protected by her with evident fondness and very conspicuous maternal
affection. Her first care, when she is pursued, is accordingly to save
her young even at the sacrifice of her own life. A female walrus with
young is nearly always lost, if they be discovered from a hunting boat.
However eagerly she may try by blows and cuffs to get her young under
water or lead her pursuers astray by diving with it under her forepaw,
she is generally overtaken and killed. Such a hunt is truly grim, but
the walrus-hunter knows no mercy in following his occupation. The
walrus, especially the old solitary male, sleeps and rests during
autumn, when the drift-ice has disappeared, also in the water, with his
head now above the surface, now under it, and with his lungs so strongly
inflated that the body is kept floating, with part of the back
projecting out of the water. The latter way of sleeping is indeed
possible only for so long at once as the animal can keep below, but this
is said to be a very long time. If a hunting boat meets a walrus
sleeping in this way it is first wakened with a loud "strike up" before
it is harpooned, "in order that in its fright it may not knock a hole in
the boat with its tusks." The walrus sinks and is lost, if he is killed
by a shot while in the water, or if he be shot while lying on a piece of
ice, but without being killed so instantaneously that he cannot cast
himself into the water in his death struggles. He is killed accordingly
almost exclusively with the harpoon or lance.
[Illustration: WALRUS TUSKS. A. Tusk of male, outside. B. Tusk of
male, inside C. Tusks of female. One-tenth of natural size. ]
The harpoon consists of a large and strong iron hook, very sharp on
the outer edge, and provided with a barb. The hook is loosely fixed
to the shaft, but securely fastened to the end of a slender line ten
fathoms long, generally made of walrus hide. The line is fastened at
its other end to the boat, in the forepart of which it lies in a
carefully arranged coil. There are from five to ten such harpoon
lines in every hunting boat. When the hunters see a herd of walrus,
either on a piece of drift-ice or in the water, they endeavour
silently and against the wind to approach sufficiently near to one
of the animals to be able to harpoon it. If this is managed, the
walrus first dives and then endeavours to swim under water all he
can. But he is fixed with the line to the boat, and must draw it
along with him. His comrades swim towards the boat, curious to
ascertain the cause of the alarm. A new walrus is fixed with another
harpoon, and so it goes on, one after another, until all the
harpoons are in use. The boat is now drawn forward at a whizzing
speed, although the rowers hold back with the oars; but there is no
actual danger as long as all the animals draw in the same direction.
If one of them seeks to take a different course from that of his
comrades in misfortune, his line must be cut off, otherwise the boat
capsizes. When the walruses get exhausted by their exertions and by
loss of blood, the hunters begin to haul in the lines. One animal
after the other is drawn to the stem of the boat, and there they
commonly first get a blow on the head with the flat of a lance, and
when they turn to guard against it, a lance is thrust into the
heart. Since breechloaders have begun to be used by the
walrus-hunters, they often prefer to kill the harpooned walruses
with a ball instead of "lancing" them. To shoot an unharpooned
walrus, on the other hand, the walrus hunters formerly considered an
unpardonable piece of thoughtlessness, because the animal was in
this way generally wounded or killed without any advantage accruing.
They therefore expressed themselves with great irritation against
the tourists who sometimes came to Spitzbergen, and in this way
destroyed the hunting. It cannot however be denied that they
themselves in recent times have often followed the bad example, and
many consider that this is one of the main reasons of the great
diminution in the numbers of the walrus of late years. Should an
international code be established for hunting in the Polar sea, all
shooting of unharpooned walruses ought to be forbidden in the first
place.
[Illustration: HUNTING IMPLEMENTS.
(1) Harpoon, and (2) Lance for Walrus-hunting.
(3) "Skottel" for the capture of the White Whale. One-fifteenth of
natural size. ]
Gregariousness and curiosity appear to be the main characteristics
of the walrus. These qualities of theirs I had an opportunity of
observing when once, on a glorious northern summer day, I rowed
forward over a mirror-bright, drift-ice-bestrewn sea right into the
midst of a considerable herd of these animals. Part followed the
boat long distances quite peaceably, now and then emitting a
grunting sound; others swam quite close, and raised themselves high
out of the water in order to take a view of the foreigners; others,
again, lay so closely packed on pieces of drift-ice as to sink them
down to the water's edge, while their comrades swimming about in the
sea endeavoured with violence to gain a place on the already
overfilled resting-places, though a number of unoccupied pieces of
ice floated up and down in the neighbourhood.
When the hunters have killed a female walrus, it often happens that
they take the young living. It is easily tamed, and soon regards its
keeper with warm attachment. It seeks, as best it can--poorly
equipped as it is for moving about on dry land--to follow the seamen
on the deck, and gives itself no rest if it be left alone.
Unfortunately, one does not succeed in keeping them long alive,
probably because it is impossible to provide them with suitable
food. There are instances, however, of the young of the walrus being
brought to Europe alive. Thus it is said (Purchas, iii., p. 560),
that Master Welden and Stephen Bennet, on the 22nd/12th July, 1608,
caught two young walruses alive, one a male and the other a female.
The female died before they reached England, but the male lived ten
weeks. He was carried to court, shown to the king and many
honourable gentlemen, and excited general admiration for his
extraordinary form and great docility. A young walrus that was taken
to St. Petersburg in 1829-30, also died in a short time. It gave
occasion to K.E. von BAER'S famous treatise: "Anatomische und
zoologische Untersuchungen ueber das Wallross," printed in _Memoires
de l'Academie Imperiale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg_, ser. vi.,
t. iv. 2, 1838, p. 97.
The walrus is hunted for its skin, blubber, and oil. The value of a
full-grown walrus was calculated at Tromsoe, in 1868, in settling
accounts between the owners of hunting sloops and the hunters, at
eighty Scandinavian crowns (say 4_l_. 10s.), but it sank in 1871 to
only forty-eight crowns (say 2_l_. 15s.). The flesh of the walrus is
coarse and train-flavoured, and is eaten by the hunters only in
cases of necessity. From my own experience, however, I can certify
that its comparatively small tongue is very delicious. By the Eskimo
and the Chukchis the flesh of the walrus is considered a delicacy.
[Illustration: WALRUS HUNTING. After Olaus Magnus (1555). ]
The walrus was doubtless hunted by the Polar tribes long before the
historic period,[79] but it is mentioned for the first time in
writing in the sketch of Othere's Arctic journey. The narrative
shows that it was then captured on the north coast of Scandinavia.
This appears the less improbable, as a walrus now and then even in
our days drifts to land on the Norwegian coast, and walruses are
still annually killed off Swjatoinos on the Kola peninsula,[80] The
walrus is very correctly described in the well-known Norse
confession written in the end of the eleventh century, "Konungs
skuggsja" (the King's Mirror), as an animal resembling the seal,[81]
except that, besides several smaller teeth, it has two large tusks
which project beyond the upper jaw. This clear and unexaggerated
sketch is however replaced in the later writings of the middle ages
by the most extraordinary accounts of the animal's appearance and
mode of capture. Thus Albertus Magnus,[82] who died in 1280, says
that the walrus is taken by the hunter, while the sleeping animal
hangs by its large tusks to a cleft of the rock, cutting out a piece
of its skin and fastening to it a strong rope whose other end is
tied to trees, posts, or large rings fixed to rocks. The walrus is
then wakened by throwing large stones at its head. In its attempts
to escape it leaves its hide behind. It perishes soon after, or is
thrown up half dead on the beach. He further states that walrus
lines on account of their strength are suitable for lifting great
weights, and that they are always on sale at Cologne. They were
probably used at the building of the Cathedral there. Similar
extraordinary representations of the appearance and mode of life of
the walrus are repeated in a more or less altered form even by Olaus
Magnus, whose representation of the walrus is shown by the
accompanying woodcut.
[Illustration: WALRUSES (female with young). Old Dutch drawing.[83] ]
[Illustration: JAPANESE DRAWING OF THE WALRUS.[84] ]
The 11th/1st of August 1556, the year after the publication of the
work of Olaus Magnus, a West European saw for the first time some
actual walruses, which had been killed by Russian hunters at Vaygats
Island. No description of the animal, however, is given, but from
that period all the members of the English and Dutch north-east
expeditions had opportunities of seeing walruses in hundreds and
thousands. It was now first that man learned actually to know this
remarkable animal which had been decked out in so many fables. To
this period belongs the beautiful and natural delineation of the
walrus which is given above.
A peculiarity of the walrus may be mentioned here. The hide,
especially in old males, is often full of wounds and scratches,
which appear to be caused partly by combats and scraping against
sharp pieces of ice, partly by some severe disease of the skin. Mr.
H.W. Elliot has remarked this of the walrus in Behring's Sea[85].
The walrus is also troubled with lice, which is not the case, so far
as I know, with any kind of seal. Masses of intestinal worms are
found instead in the stomach of the seal, while on the contrary none
are found in that of the walrus.
With reference to the other animals that are hunted in the Polar Sea
I am compelled to be very brief, as I have scarcely any observations
to make regarding them which are not already sufficiently known by
numerous writings.
There are three kinds of seals on Novaya Zemlya. _Storsaelen_, the
bearded seal (_Phoca barbata_, Fabr.) occurs pretty generally even on
the coasts of Spitzbergen, though never in large flocks. The pursuit
of this animal is the most important part of the seal-fishing in
these waters, and the bearded seal is still killed yearly by
thousands. Their value is reckoned in settling accounts between
owners and hunters at twenty to twenty-five Scandinavian crowns (say
22s. to 27s. 6d.).
[Illustration: YOUNG OF THE GREENLAND SEAL. After a drawing by
A W. Quennerstedt (1864). ]
_Groenlands_ or _Jan-Mayen-saelen_, the Greenland seal (_Phoca
Groenlandica_ Muller), which at Jan Mayen gives occasion to so
profitable a fishing, also is of general occurrence among the
drift-ice in the Munnan and Kara seas.
_Snadden_, the rough or bristled seal (_Phoca hispida_, Erxl.) is
also common on the coast. These animals in particular are seen to
lie, each at its hole, on the ice of fjords, which has not been
broken up. It also many times follows with curiosity in the wake of
a vessel for long distances, and can then be easily shot, because it
is often so fat that, unlike the two other kinds of seals, it does
not sink when it has been shot dead in the water.
_Klapmytsen_, the bladdernose seal, (_Cystophora cristata_, Erxl.)
the walrus-hunters say they have never seen on Novaya Zemlya, but it
is stated to occur yearly in pretty large numbers among the ice
W.S.W. of South Cape on Spitzbergen. Only once during our many
voyages in the Polar Sea has a _Klapmyts_ been seen, viz, a young
one that was killed in 1858 in the neighbourhood of Bear Island.
Of the various species of whales, the narwhal, distinguished by its
long and valuable horn projecting in the longitudinal direction of
the body from the upper jaw, now occurs so seldom on the coast of
Novaya Zemlya that it has never been seen there by the Norwegian
walrus-hunters. It is more common at Hope Island, and Witsen states
(p. 903) that large herds of narwhals have been seen between
Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya.
[Illustration: THE BEARDED SEAL. Swedish, Storsal (_Phoca barbata_,
Fabr.) THE ROUGH SEAL. Swedish, Snadd. (_Phoca hispida_, Erxl.) ]
The white whale or beluga, of equal size with the narwhal, on the
other hand, occurs in large shoals on the coasts of Spitzbergen and
Novaya Zemlya, especially near the mouths of fresh-water streams.
These animals were formerly captured, but not with any great
success, by means of a peculiar sort of harpoon, called by the
hunters "skottel." Now they are caught with nets of extraordinary
size and strength, which are laid out from the shore at places which
the white whales are wont to frequent. In this way there were taken
in the year 1871, when the fishing appears to have been most
productive, by vessels belonging to Tromsoe alone, 2,167 white
whales. Their value was estimated at fifty-four Scandinavian crowns
each (about 3_l_.). The fishing, though tempting, is yet very
uncertain; it sometimes falls out extraordinarily abundant, as in
the spring of 1880, when a skipper immediately on arriving at
Magdalena Bay caught 300 of these animals at a cast of the net. Of
the whales thus killed not only the blubber and hide are taken away,
but also, when possible, the carcases, which, when cheap freight can
be had, are utilised at the guano manufactories in the north of
Norway. After having lain a whole year on the beach at Spitzbergen
they may be taken on board a vessel without any great inconvenience,
a proof that putrefaction proceeds with extreme slowness in the
Polar regions.
[Illustration: THE WHITE WHALE. (_Delphinapterus leucas_, Pallas)
After a drawing by A.W. Quennerstedt (1804). ]
With its blinding milk-white hide, on which it is seldom possible to
discover a spot, wrinkle, or scratch, the full-grown white whale is
an animal of extraordinary beauty. The young whales are not white,
but very light greyish brown. The white whale is taken in nets not
only by the Norwegians at Spitzbergen, but also by the Russians and
Samoyeds at Chabarova. In former times they appear to have been also
caught at the mouth of the Yenisej, to judge by the large number of
vertebrae that are found at the now deserted settlements there. The
white whale there goes several hundred kilometres up the river. I
have also seen large shoals of this small species of whale on the
north coast of Spitzbergen and the Taimur peninsula.
Other species of the whale occur seldom on Novaya Zemlya. Thus on
this occasion only two small whales were seen during our passage
from Tromsoe, and I do not remember having seen more than one in the
sea round Novaya Zemlya in the course of my two previous voyages to
the Yenisej. At the north part of the island, too, these animals
occur so seldom, that a hunter told me, as something remarkable,
that towards the end of July, 1873, W.N.W. of the western entrance
to Matotschkin Schar 20' to 30' from land, he had seen a large
number of whales, belonging to two species, of which one was a
_slaethval_, and the other had as it were a top, instead of a fin,
on the back.
It is very remarkable that whales still occur in great abundance on
the Norwegian coast, though they have been hunted there for a
thousand years back, but, on the other hand, if we except the little
white whale, only occasionally east of the White Sea. The whale
fishing which was carried on on so grand a scale on the west coast
of Spitzbergen, has therefore never been prosecuted to any great
extent on Novaya Zemlya; and fragments of skeletons of the whale
which are found thrown up in such quantities on the shores of
Spitzbergen, are not to be found, so far as my experience reaches,
either on the shores of Novaya Zemlya, on the coast of the Kara Sea,
or at the places on the north coast of Siberia between the Yenisej
and the Lena, at which we landed. The sacrifices which were so long
made in vain in the endeavour to find a passage to China in this
direction accordingly were not compensated, as on Spitzbergen, by
the rise of a profitable whale fishery. Meeting with a whale is
spoken of by the first seafarers in these regions as something very
remarkable and dangerous; for instance, in the account of Stephen
Burrough's voyage in 1556:--"On St. James his day, there was a
monstrous whale aboord of us, so neere to our side that we might
have thrust a sworde or any other weapon in him, which we durst not
doe for feare lie should have over-throwen our shippe; and then I
called my company together, and all of us shouted, and with the crie
that we made he departed from us; there was as much above water of
his back as the bredth of our pinnesse, and at his falling down he
made such a terrible noise in the water, that a man would greatly
have marvelled, except he had known the cause of it; but, God be
thanked, we were quietly delivered of him."[86] When Nearchus sailed
with the fleet of Alexander the Great from the Indus to the Red Sea,
a whale also caused so great a panic that it was only with
difficulty that the commander could restore order among the
frightened seamen, and get the rowers to row to the place where the
whale spouted water and caused a commotion in the sea like that of a
whirlwind. All the men now shouted, struck the water with their
oars, and sounded their trumpets, so that the large, and, in the
judgment of the Macedonian heroes, terrible animal, was frightened.
It seems to me that from these incidents we may draw the conclusion
that great whales in Alexander's time were exceedingly rare in the
sea which surrounds Greece, and in Burrough's time in that which
washes the shores of England. Quite otherwise was the whale regarded
on Spitzbergen some few years after Burrough's voyage by the Dutch
and English whalers. At the sight of a whale all men were out of
themselves with joy, and rushed down into the boats in order from
them to attack and kill the valuable animal. The fishery was carried
on with such success, that, as has already been stated, the right
whale (_Balaena mysticetus_ L.), whose pursuit then gave full
employment to ships by hundreds, and to men by tens of thousands, is
now practically extirpated. Thus during our many voyages in these
waters we have only seen one such whale, which happened on the 23rd
June, 1864, among the drift-ice off the west coast of Spitzbergen in
78 deg. N.L. As the right whale still occurs in no limited numbers
in other parts of the Polar Sea, and as there has been no whale
fishing on the coast of Spitzbergen for the last forty or fifty
years, this state of things shows how difficult it is to get an
animal type to return to a region where it has once been extirpated,
or from which it has been driven away.
The whale which Captain Svend Foeyn has almost exclusively hunted on
the coast of Finmark since 1864 belongs to quite another species,
_blaohvalen_ (_Balaenoptera Sibbaldii_ Gray); and there are likewise
other species of the whale which still in pretty large numbers
follow shoals of fish to the Norwegian coast, where they sometimes
strand and are killed in considerable numbers. A _tandhval_, killer
or sword-fish (_Orca gladiator_ Desm.) was even captured some years
ago in the harbour of Tromsoe. This whale was already dying of
suffocation, caused by an attempt to swallow an eider which entered
the gullet, not, as the proper way is, with the head, but with the
tail foremost. When the mouthful should have slidden down, it was
prevented by the stiff feathers sticking out, and the bird stuck in
the whale's throat, which, to judge by the extraordinary struggles
it immediately began to make, must have caused it great
inconvenience, which was increased still more when the inhabitants
did not neglect to take advantage of its helpless condition to
harpoon it.
[Footnote 60: The name _stormfogel_ is also used for the Stormy
Petrel (_Thalassidroma pelagica_, Vig.). This bird does not occur in
the portions of the Polar Sea with which we are now concerned. ]
[Footnote 61: At Bear Island, Tobiesen, on the 28th May, 1866, saw
fulmars' eggs laid immediately on the ice which still covered the
rock. At one place a bird sitting on its eggs was even frozen fast
by one leg to the ice on the 31/21 August, 1596. Barents found on
the north part of Novaya Zemlya that some fulmars had chosen as a
hatching-place a piece of ice covered with a little earth. In both
these cases the under part of the egg during hatching could never be
warmed above the freezing-point. ]
[Footnote 62: It deserves to be investigated whether some little
auks do not, like the Spitzbergen ptarmigan, pass the winter in
their stone mounds, flying out to sea only at pretty long intervals
in order to collect their food. ]
[Footnote 63: The quantity of eider-down which was brought from the
Polar lands to Tromsoe amounted in 1868 to 540, in 1869 to 963, in
1870 to 882, in 1871 to 630, and in 1872 to 306 kilograms. The total
annual yield may be estimated at probably three times as much. ]
[Footnote 64: There are, however, various other song-birds found
already on south Novaya Zemlya, for instance, _lappsparfven_, the
Lapland bunting (_Emberiza lapponica_, L.), and _berglaerkan_, the
shore-lark (_Alauda alpestris_, L.). They hatch on the ground under
bushes, tufts of grass, or stones, in very carefully constructed
nests lined with cotton-grass and feathers, and are not uncommon. ]
[Footnote 65: Hedenstroem also states (_Otrywki o Sibiri_, St.
Petersburg, 1830, p. 130,) that the ptarmigan winters on the New
Siberian Islands, and that there it is fatter and more savoury than
on the mainland. ]
[Footnote 66: The hunters from Tromsoe brought home, in 1868, 996;
in 1869, 975; and in 1870, 837 reindeer. When to this we add the
great number of reindeer which are shot in spring and are not
included in these calculations, and when we consider that the number
of walrus-hunting vessels which are fitted out from Tromsoe is less
than that of those which go out from Hammerfest, and that the
shooting of reindeer on Spitzbergen is also carried on by hunters
from other towns, and by tourists, we must suppose that at least
3,000 reindeer have been killed during each of those years. Formerly
reindeer stalking was yet more productive, but since 1870 the number
killed has considerably diminished. ]
[Footnote 67: When Spitzbergen was first mapped, a great number of
places were named after reindeer, which shows that the reindeer was
found there in large numbers, and now just at these places it is
completely absent. On the other hand, the Dutch and English
explorers during the sixteenth century saw no reindeer on Novaya
Zemlya. During the Swedish expedition of 1875 no reindeer were seen
on the west coast of this island south of Karmakul Bay, while a
number were shot at Besimannaja Bay and Matotschkin Schar. When some
of the companions of the well-known walrus-hunting captain, Sievert
Tobiesen, were compelled in 1872-73 to winter at North Goose Cape,
they shot during winter and spring only eleven reindeer. Some
Russians, who by an accident were obliged to pass six years in
succession somewhere on the coast of Stans Foreland (Maloy Broun),
and who, during this long time, were dependent for their food on
what they could procure by hunting without the use of fire-arms
(they had when they landed powder and ball for only twelve shots),
when the three survivors were found and taken home in 1749, had
killed two hundred and fifty reindeer (P.L. le Roy, _Relation des
Aventures arrivees a quatre matelots Russes jettes par une tempete pres
de l'Isle deserte d'Ost-Spitzbergen, sur laquelle ils ont
passe six ans et trois mois_, 1766). ]
[Footnote 68: During the wintering of 1869-70 on East Greenland, Dr.
Punsch once saw a female bear with quite small young (_Die zweite
deutsche Nordpolarfahrt_, Leipzig, 1873-74. Vol. II p. 157). ]
[Footnote 69: W. Scoresby's des Juengern, _Tagebuch einer Reise auf
dem Wallfischfang. Aus dem engl. ueebers_. Hamburg, 1825, p. 127. ]
[Footnote 70: _Die zweite deutsche Nordpolarfahrt_, Vol. I. p. 465. ]
[Footnote 71: _Groenlands historiske Mindesmaerker._ Kjoebenhavn, 1838,
III. p. 384. ]
[Footnote 72: Ramusio, Part II., Venice, 1583, p. 60. ]
[Footnote 73: Ol. Magnus. Rome edition, 1555, p. 621. ]
[Footnote 74: It is stated that wolves also occur on Novaya Zemlya
as far up as to Matotschkin Sound. They are exceedingly common on
the north coasts of Asia and Eastern Europe. ]
[Footnote 75: That is to say, not on Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya,
for it is otherwise on the coast of the mainland. In West Greenland
the mosquito as far north as the southern part of Disco Island is
still so terrible, especially to the new comer during the first
days, that the face of any one who without a veil ventures into
marshy ground overgrown with bushes, becomes in a few hours
unrecognisable. The eyelids are closed with swelling and changed
into water-filled bladders, suppurating tumours are formed in the
head under the hair, &c. But when a man has once undergone this
unpleasant and painful inoculation, the body appears, at least for
one summer, to be less susceptible to the mosquito-poison. ]
[Footnote 76: As the _only_ Chrysomela, which von Baer found at
Matotschkin Schar, played so great a _role_ in Arctic-zoological
literature, I shall here enumerate the species of coleoptera, now
known--after Professor Maeklim's determination of the collections
which we brought home with us--to exist on Novaya Zemlya. These
are:--_Feronia borealis_ Menetr., _F. gelida_ Maekl., _Amara alpina_
Fabr., _Agabus subquadratus_ Motsch., _Homalota sibirica_ Maekl.,
_Homalium angustatum_ Maekl., _Cylletron (?) hyperboreum_ Maekl.,
_Chrysomela septentrionalis_ (?) Menetr., _Prasocuris hannoverana_
Fabr., v. _degenerata_. From Vaygats Island we brought home seven
species more, which were not found on Novaya Zemlya. The insects
occur partly under stones, especially at places where lemming dung
is abundant, or in tracts where birds'-nests are numerous, partly in
warm days on willow-bushes. ]
[Footnote 77: Echini occur only very sparingly in the Kara Sea and
the Siberian Polar Sea, but west of Novaya Zemlya at certain places
in such numbers that they almost appear to cover the sea-bottom. ]
[Footnote 78: Compare Malmgren's instructive papers in the
publications of the Royal (Swedish) Academy of Sciences and
Scoresby's _Arctic Regions_, Edinburgh, 1820, i., p. 502. That the
walrus eats mussels is already indicated in the Dutch drawing from
the beginning of the seventeenth century reproduced below, page 160. ]
[Footnote 79: Implements of walrus-bone occur among the Northern
grave _finds_. ]
[Footnote 80: Compare note at page 48 above. ]
[Footnote 81: I saw in 1858 a _Phoca barbata_ with tusks worn away by
age, which in its reddish-brown colour very much resembled a walrus,
and was little inferior to it in size. ]
[Footnote 82: Albertus Magnus, _De animalibus_, Mantua, 1479, Lib.
xxiv. At the same place however is given a description of the
whale-fishery grounded on actual experience, but with the shrewd
addition that what the old authors had written on the subject did
not correspond with experience. ]
[Footnote 83: This drawing is made after a facsimile by Frederick
Mueller from Hessel Gerritz, _Descriptio et delineatio geographica
detectionis freti, &c._ Amsterodami, 1613. The same drawing is
reproduced coloured in Blavii _Atlas major_, Part I, 1665, p. 25,
with the inscription: "Ad vivum delineatum ab Hesselo G.A." ]
[Footnote 84: The drawing is taken from a Japanese manuscript book
of travels--No. 360 of the Japanese library which I brought home.
According to a communication by an attache of the Japanese embassy
which visited Stockholm in the autumn of 1880, the book is entitled
_Kau-kai-i-fun_, "Narrative of a remarkable voyage on distant seas."
The manuscript, in four volumes, was written in 1830. In the
introduction it is stated that when some Japanese, on the 21st
November, 1793 (?), were proceeding with a cargo of rice to Yesso,
they were thrown out of their course by a storm, and were driven far
away on the sea, till in the beginning of the following June they
came to some of the Aleutian islands, which had recently been taken
by the Russians. They remained there ten months, and next year in
the end of June they came to Ochotsk. The following year in autumn
they were carried to Irkutsk, where they remained eight years, well
treated by the Russians. They were then taken to St. Petersburg,
where they had an audience of the Czar, and got furs and splendid
food. Finally they were sent back by sea round Cape Horn to Japan in
one of Captain von Krusenstern's vessels. They were handed over to
the Japanese authorities in the spring of 1805, after having been
absent from their native country about thirteen years. From Nagasaki
they were carried to Yeddo, where they were subjected to an
examination. One person put questions, another wrote the answers,
and a third showed by drawings all the remarkable events they had
survived. They were then sent to their native place. In the
introduction it is further said that the shipwrecked were unskilful
seamen, by whom little attention was often given to the most
important matters. A warning accordingly is given against full
reliance on their accounts and the drawings in the book. The latter
occupy the fourth part of the work, consisting of more than 100
quarto pages. It is remarkable that the first Russian circumnavigation
of the globe, and the first journey of the Japanese round the world,
happened at the same time. ]
[Footnote 85: _A Report upon the Condition of Affairs in the
Territory of Alaska._ Washington, 1875, p. 160. ]
[Footnote 86: Hakluyt, first edition, p. 317. ]
CHAPTER IV.
The Origin of the names Yugor Schar and Kara Sea--Rules
for Sailing through Yugor Schar--The "Highest Mountain"
on Earth--Anchorages--Entering the Kara Sea--
Its Surroundings--The Inland-ice of Novaya Zemlya--True
Icebergs rare in certain parts of the Polar Sea--The Natural
Conditions of the Kara Sea--Animals, Plants, Bog Ore--
Passage across the Kara Sea--The Influence of the Ice on
the Sea-bottom--Fresh-water Diatoms on Sea-ice--Arrival at
Port Dickson--Animal Life there--Settlers and Settlements
at the Mouth of the Yenisej--The Flora at Port Dickson--
Evertebrates--Excursion to White Island--Yalmal--Previous
Visits--Nmmnelin's Wintering on the Briochov Islands.
In crossing to Vaygats Island I met the _Lena_, which then first
steamed to the rendezvous that had been fixed upon. I gave the
captain orders to anchor without delay, to coal from the _Express_,
and to be prepared immediately after my return from the excursion to
weigh anchor and start along with the other vessels. I came on board
the _Vega_ on the evening of the 31st July, much pleased and
gratified with what I had seen and collected in the course of my
excursion on Vaygats Island. The _Lena_, however, was not quite
ready, and so the start was put off till the morning of the 1st
August. All the vessels then weighed anchor, and sailed or steamed
through Vaygats Sound or Yugor Schar into the Kara Sea.
We do not meet with the name Yugor Schar in the oldest narratives of
travel or on the oldest maps. But it is found in an account dating
from 1611, of a Russian commercial route between "Pechorskoie
Zauorot and Mongozei," which is annexed to the letter of Richard
Finch to Sir Thomas Smith, already quoted (Purchas, iii. p. 539). The
name is clearly derived from the old name, Jugaria, for the land
lying south of the sound, and it is said, for instance, in the map
to Herberstein's work, to have its name from the Hungarians, who are
supposed to derive their origin from these regions. The first Dutch
north-east explorers called it Vaygats Sound or Fretum Nassovicum.
More recent geographers call it also Pet's Strait, which is
incorrect, as Pet did not sail through it.
There was at first no special name for the gulf between the Taimur
peninsula and Novaya Zemlya. The name "Carska Bay" however is to be
found already in the information about sailing to the north-east,
communicated to the Muscovie Companie by its principal factor,
Antonie Marsh (Purchas, iii. p. 805). At first this name was applied
only to the estuary of the Kara river, but it was gradually
transferred to the whole of the neighbouring sea, whose oldest
Samoyed name, also derived from a river, was in a somewhat
Russianised form, "Neremskoe" (compare Purchas, iii. p. 805, Witsen,
p. 917). I shall in the following part of this work comprehend under
the name "Kara Sea" the whole of that gulf which from 77 deg. N.L.
between Cape Chelyuskin and the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya
extends towards the south to the north coast of Europe and Asia.
Captain Palander gives the following directions for sailing through
the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland:--
"As Yugor Straits are difficult to discover far out at
sea, good solar observations ought to be taken on
approaching them, where such can be had, and after these
the course is to be shaped in the middle of the strait,
preferably about N.E. by the compass. On coming nearer
land (three to four English miles) one distinguishes the
straits with ease. Afterwards there is nothing else to
observe than on entering to keep right in the middle of
the fairway.
"If one wishes to anchor at the Samoyed village one ought
to keep about an English mile from the land on the
starboard, and steer N.E. by the compass, until the
Samoyed huts are seen, when one bends off from starboard,
keeping the church a little to starboard. For larger
vessels it is not advisable to go in shallower water than
eight to nine fathoms, because the depth then diminishes
rather suddenly to from three to four fathoms.
"From the Samoyed village the course is shaped right to
the south-east headland of Vaygats Island (Suchoi Nos),
which ought to be passed at the distance of half an
English mile. Immediately south-west of this headland lies
a very long shoal, which one ought to take care of.
"From this headland the vessel is to be steered N.-1/2E.
out into the Kara Sea. With this course there are two
shoals on starboard and two on port at the distance of
half an English mile.
"The depth is in general ten fathoms; at no place in the
fairway is it less than nine fathoms.
"Vessels of the greatest draught may thus sail through
Yugor Schar. In passing the straits it is recommended to
keep a good outlook from the top, whence in clear weather
the shoals may easily be seen."
In the oldest narratives very high mountains, covered with ice and
snow, are spoken of as occurring in the neighbourhood of the sound
between Vaygats Island and the mainland. It is even said that here
were to be found the highest mountains on earth, whose tops were
said to raise themselves to a height of a hundred German miles.[87]
The honour of having the highest mountains on earth has since been
ascribed by the dwellers on the plains of Northern Russia to the
neighbourhood of Matotschkin Schar, "where the mountains are even
much higher than Bolschoj Kamen," a rocky eminence some hundreds of
feet high at the mouth of the Petchora--an orographic idea which
forms a new proof of the correctness of the old saying:--"In the
kingdom of the blind the one-eyed is king." Matotschkin Schar indeed
is surrounded by a wild Alpine tract with peaks that rise to a
height of 1,000 to 1,200 metres. On the other hand there are to be
seen around Yugor Straits only low level plains, terminating towards
the sea with a steep escarpment. These plains are early free of
snow, and are covered with a rich turf, which yields good pasture to
the Samoyed reindeer herds.
Most of the vessels that wish to sail into the Kara Sea through
Yugor Schar require to anchor here some days to wait for favourable
winds and state of the ice. There are no good harbours in the
neighbourhood of the sound, but available anchorages occur, some in
the bay at Chabarova, at the western entrance of the sound; some,
according to the old Dutch maps, on the eastern side of the sound,
between Mestni Island (Staten Eiland) and the mainland. I have,
however, no experience of my own of the latter anchorages, nor have
I heard that the Norwegian walrus-hunters have anchored there.
Perhaps by this time they are become too shallow.
When we sailed through Yugor Schar in 1878, the sound was completely
free of ice. The weather was glorious, but the wind was so light
that the sails did little service. In consequence of this we did not
go very rapidly forward, especially as I wished to keep the three
vessels together, and the sailing ship _Express_, not to be left
behind, had to be towed by the _Fraser_. Time was lost besides in
dredging and taking specimens of water. The dredgings gave at some
places, for instance off Chabarova, a rich yield, especially of
isopods and sponges. The samples of water showed that already at a
limited depth from the surface it had a considerable salinity, and
that therefore no notable portion of the mass of fresh water, which
the rivers Kara, Obi, Tas, and Yenisej and others pour into the Kara
Sea, flows through this sound into the Atlantic Ocean.
In the afternoon of the 1st August we passed through the sound and
steamed into the sea lying to the east of it, which had been the
object of so many speculations, expectations, and conclusions of so
many cautious governments, merchants eager for gain, and learned
cosmographers, from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and
which even to the geographer and man of science of the present has
been a _mare incognitum_ down to the most recent date. It is just
this sea that formed the turning-point of all the foregoing
north-east voyages, from Burrough's to Wood's and Vlamingh's, and it
may therefore not be out of place here, before I proceed further
with the sketch of our journey, to give some account of its
surroundings and hydrography.
If attention be not fixed on the little new-discovered island,
"Ensamheten," the Kara Sea is open to the north-east. It is bounded on
the west by Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats Island; on the east by the Taimur
peninsula, the land between the Pjaesina and the Yenisej and Yalmal; and
on the south by the northernmost portion of European Russia, Beli
Ostrov, and the large estuaries of the Obi and the Yenisej. The coast
between Cape Chelyuskin and the Yenisej consists of low rocky heights,
formed of crystalline schists, gneiss, and eruptive rocks, from the
Yenisej to beyond the most southerly part of the Kara Sea, of the Gyda
and Yalmal _tundras_ beds of sand of equal fineness, and at Vaygats
Island and the southern part of Novaya Zemlya (to 73 deg. N.L.) of limestone
and beds of schist[88] which slope towards the sea with a steep
escarpment three to fifteen metres high, but form, besides, the
substratum of a level plain, full of small collections of water which is
quite free of snow in summer. North of 73 deg. again the west coast of the
Kara Sea is occupied by mountains, which near Matotschkin are very high,
and distributed in a confused mass of isolated peaks, but farther north
become lower and take the form of a plateau.
Where the mountains begin, some few or only very inconsiderable
collections of ice are to be seen, and the very mountain tops are in
summer free of snow. Farther north glaciers commence, which increase
towards the north in number and size, till they finally form a
continuous inland-ice which, like those of Greenland and
Spitzbergen, with its enormous ice-sheet, levels mountains and
valleys, and converts the interior of the land into a wilderness of
ice, and forms one of the fields for the formation of icebergs or
glacier-iceblocks, which play so great a _role_ in sketches of
voyages in the Polar seas. I have not myself visited the inland-ice
on the northern part of Novaya Zemlya, but doubtless the experience
I have previously gained during an excursion with Dr. Berggren on
the inland-ice of Greenland in the month of July 1870, _after all
the snow on it had melted_, and with Captain Palander on the
inland-ice of North-East Land in the beginning of June 1873, _before
any melting of snow had commenced_, is also applicable to the
ice-wilderness of north Novaya Zemlya.
[Illustration: SECTION OF INLAND-ICE.
A. Open glacier-canal.
B. Snow-filled canal.
C. Canal concealed by a snow-vault.
D. Glacier-clefts. ]
As on Spitzbergen the ice-field here is doubtless interrupted by
deep bottomless clefts, over which the snowstorms of winter throw
fragile snow-bridges, which conceal the openings of the abysses so
completely that one may stand close to their edge without having any
suspicion that a step further is certain death to the man, who,
without observing the usual precaution of being bound by a rope to
his companions, seeks his way over the blinding-white, almost
velvet-like, surface of this snow-field, hard packed indeed, but
bound together by no firm crust. If a man, after taking necessary
precautions against the danger of tumbling down into these
crevasses, betakes himself farther into the country in the hope that
the apparently even surface of the snow will allow of long day's
marches, he is soon disappointed in his expectations; for he comes
to regions where the ice is everywhere crossed by narrow
depressions, _canals_, bounded by dangerous clefts, with
perpendicular walls up to fifteen metres in height. One can cross
these depressions only alter endless zigzag wanderings, at places
where they have become filled with snow and thereby passable. In
summer again, when the snow has melted, the surface of the
ice-wilderness has quite a different appearance. The snow has
disappeared and the ground is now formed of a blue ice, which
however is not clean, but everywhere rendered dirty by a grey
argillaceous dust, carried to the surface of the glacier by wind and
rain, probably from distant mountain heights. Among this clay, and
even directly on the ice itself, there is a scanty covering of low
vegetable organisms. The ice-deserts of the Polar lands are thus the
habitat of a peculiar flora, which, insignificant as it appears to
be, forms however an important condition for the issue of the
conflict which goes on here, year after year, century after century,
between the sun and the ice. For the dark clay and the dark parts of
plants absorb the warm rays of the sun better than the ice, and
therefore powerfully promote its melting. They eat themselves down
in perpendicular cylindrical holes thirty to sixty centimetres in
depth, and from a few millimetres to a whole metre in diameter. The
surface of the ice is thus destroyed and broken up.
[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE INLAND-ICE OF GREENLAND. After a drawing
by S. Berggren, 23rd July, 1870. ]
[Illustration: GREENLAND ICE FJORD. After a design drawn and
lithographed by a Greenland Eskimo. ]
[Illustration: SLOWLY-ADVANCING GLACIER. At Foul Bay, on the west coast of
Spitzbergen, after a photograph taken by A. Envall, 30th August, 1872. ]
[Illustration: GLACIER WITH STATIONARY FRONT. Udde Bay, on Novaya
Zemlya, after a drawing by Hj. Theel (1875). ]
After the melting of the snow there appears besides a number of
inequalities, and the clefts previously covered with a fragile
snow-bridge now gape before the wanderer where he goes forward, with
their bluish-black abysses, bottomless as far as we can depend on
ocular evidence. At some places there are also to be found in the
ice extensive shallow depressions, down whose sides innumerable
rapid streams flow in beds of azure-blue ice, often of such a volume
of water as to form actual rivers. They generally debouch in a lake
situated in the middle of the depression. The lake has generally an
underground outlet through a grotto-vault of ice several thousands
of feet high. At other places a river is to be seen, which has bored
itself a hole through the ice-sheet, down which it suddenly
disappears with a roar and din which are heard far and wide, and at
a little distance from it there is projected from the ice a column
of water, which, like a geyser with a large intermittent jet in
which the water is mixed with air, rises to a great height.
Now and then a report is heard, resembling that of a cannon shot
fired in the interior of the icy mass. It is a new crevasse that has
been formed, or if one is near the border of the ice-desert, an
ice-block that has fallen down into the sea. For, like, ordinary
collections of water, an ice-lake also has its outlet into the sea.
These outlets are of three kinds, viz., _ice-rapids_, in which the
thick ice-sheet, split up and broken in pieces, is pressed forward
at a comparatively high speed down a narrow steeply-sloping valley,
where ice-blocks tumble on each other with a crashing noise and din,
and from which true icebergs of giant-like dimensions are projected
in hundreds and thousands; _broad; slowly-advancing glaciers_, which
terminate towards the sea with an even perpendicular face, from
which now and then considerable ice-blocks, but no true icebergs,
fall down; and _smaller stationary glaciers_, which advance so slowly
that the ice in the brim melts away about as fast as the whole mass
of ice glides forward, and which thus terminate at the beach not
with a perpendicular face but with a long ice-slope covered with
clay, sand, and gravel.
The inland-ice on Novaya Zemlya is of too inconsiderable extent to
allow of any large icebergs being formed. There are none such
accordingly in the Kara Sea[89], and it is seldom that even a large
glacier ice-block is to be met with drifting about.
The name ice-house, conferred on the Kara Sea by a famous Russian
man of science, did not originate from the large number of
icebergs[90], but from the fact that the covering of ice, which
during winter, on account of the severity of the cold and the slight
salinity of the surface-water, is immensely thick, cannot, though
early broken up, be carried away by the marine currents and be
scattered over a sea that is open even during winter[91]. Most of
the ice formed during winter in the Kara Sea, and perhaps some of
that which is drifted down from the Polar basin, is on the contrary
heaped by the marine currents against the east coast of Novaya
Zemlya, where during early summer it blocks the three sounds which
unite the Kara Sea with the Atlantic. It was these ice-conditions
which caused the failure of all the older north-east voyages and
gave to the Kara Sea its bad report and name of ice-house. Now we
know that it is not so dangerous in this respect as it was formerly
believed to be--that the ice of the Kara Sea melts away for the
most part, and that during autumn this sea is quite available for
navigation.
In general our knowledge of the Kara Sea some decades back was not
only incomplete, but also erroneous. It was believed that its animal
life was exceedingly scanty, and that algae were absolutely wanting;
no soundings had been taken elsewhere than close to the coast; and
much doubt was thrown, not without reason, on the correctness of the
maps. Now all this is changed to a great extent. The coast line,
bordering on the sea, is settled on the maps; the ice-conditions,
currents and depth of water in different parts of the sea are
ascertained, and we know that the old ideas of its poverty in
animals and plants are quite erroneous.
[Illustration: UMBELLULA FROM THE KARA SEA.
A. Polype stem entire, one-half the natural size.
B. Polype stem, upper part, one-and-a-half times the natural size. ]
In respect to depth the Kara Sea is distinguished by a special
regularity, and by the absence of sudden changes. Along the east
coast of Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats Island there runs a channel, up
to 500 metres in depth, filled with cold salt-water, which forms the
haunt of a fauna rich not only in individuals, but also in a large
number of remarkable and rare types, as Umbellula, Elpidia, Alecto,
asterids of many kinds, &c. Towards the east the sea-bottom rises
gradually and then forms a plain lying 30 to 90 metres below the
surface of the sea, nearly as level as the surface of the
superincumbent water. The bottom of the sea in the south and west
parts of it consists of clay, in the regions of Beli Ostrov of sand,
farther north of gravel. Shells of crustacea and pebbles are here
often surrounded by bog-ore formations, resembling the figures on
page 186. These also occur over an extensive area north-east of Port
Dickson in such quantity that they might be used for the manufacture
of iron, if the region were less inaccessible.
Even in the shallower parts of the Kara Sea the water at the bottom is
nearly as salt as in the Atlantic Ocean, and all the year round cooled
to a temperature of -2 deg. to -2.7 deg.. The surface-water, on the contrary, is
very variable in its composition, sometimes at certain places almost
drinkable, and in summer often strongly heated. The remarkable
circumstance takes place here that the surface water in consequence of
its limited salinity freezes to ice if it be exposed to the temperature
which prevails in the salt stratum of water next the bottom, and that it
forms a deadly poison for many of the decapoda, worms, mussels,
crustacea and asterids which crawl in myriads among the beds of clay or
sand at the bottom.
At many places the loose nature of the bottom does not permit the
existence of any algae, but in the neighbourhood of Beli Ostrov,
Johannesen discovered extensive banks covered with "sea-grass"
(algae), and from the east coast of Novaya Zemlya Dr. Kjellman in
1875 collected no small number of algae[92], being thereby enabled
to take exception to the old erroneous statements as to the nature
of the marine flora. He has drawn up for this work a full account of
the marine vegetation in the Kara Sea, which will be found further
on.
[Illustration: ELPIDIA GLACIALIS (THEEL) FROM THE KARA SEA.
Magnified three times. A. Belly. B. Back.
MANGANIFEROUS IRON-ORE FORMATIONS FROM THE KARA SEA.
Half the natural size. ]
I shall now return to the account of our passage across this sea. On
this subject my journal contains the following notes:
_August 2nd._ Still glorious weather--no ice. The _Lena_ appears to
wish to get away from the other vessels, and does not observe the
flag which was hoisted as the signal agreed upon beforehand that her
Captain should come on board, or at least bring his little vessel
within hail. The _Fraser_ was therefore sent in pursuit, and
succeeded in overtaking her towards night.
_August 3rd._ In the morning Captain Johannesen came on board the
_Vega_. I gave him orders to take on board Dr. Almquist and
Lieutenants Hovgaard and Nordquist, and go with them to Beli Ostrov,
where they should have freedom for thirty-six hours to study the
people, animals, and plants, as they pleased; the _Lena_ was then,
if possible, to pass through the Sound between the island and Yalmal
to Port Dickson, where the three other vessels should be found.
Almquist, Nordquist, and Hovgaard were already quite in order for
the excursion; they went immediately on board the _Lena_, and were
soon, thanks to the great power of the engine in proportion to the
size of the vessel, far on their way.
In the course of the day we met with very open and rotten ice, which
would only have been of use to us by its moderating effect on the
sea, if it had not been accompanied by the usual attendant of the
border of the ice, a thick fog, which however sometimes lightened.
Towards evening we came in sight of Beli Ostrov. This island, as
seen from the sea, forms a quite level plain, which rises little
above the surface of the water. The sea off the island is of an even
depth, but so shallow, that at a distance of twenty to thirty
kilometres from the shore there is only from seven to nine metres of
water. According to a communication from Captain Schwanenberg, there
is, however, a depth of three to four metres close to the north
shore. Such a state of things, that is, a uniform depth, amounting
near the shore to from four to ten metres, but afterwards increasing
only gradually and remaining unchanged over very extensive areas, is
very common in the Arctic regions, and is caused by the ice-mud-work
which goes on there nearly all the year round. Another remarkable
effect of the action of the ice is that all the blocks of stone to
be found in the sea next the beach are forced up on land. The beach
itself is formed accordingly at many places, for instance at several
points in Matotschkin Sound, of a nearly continuous stone rampart
going to the sea level, while in front of it there is a quite even
sea bottom without a fragment of stone.
[Illustration: SECTION FROM THE SOUTH COAST OF MATOTSCHKIN SOUND.
Showing the origin of Stone-ramparts at the beach. ]
_August 4th._ In the morning a gentle heaving indicated that the sea
was again free of ice, at least over a considerable space to
windward. Yesterday the salinity in the water was already diminished
and the amount of clay increased; now the water after being filtered
is almost drinkable. It has assumed a yellowish-grey colour and is
nearly opaque, so that the vessel appears to sail in clay mud. We
are evidently in the area of the Ob-Yenisej current. The ice we
sailed through yesterday probably came from the Gulf of Obi, Yenisej
or Pjaesina. Its surface was dirty, not clean and white like the
surface of glacier-ice or the sea-ice that has never come in contact
with land or with muddy river-water. Off the large rivers the ice,
when the snow has melted, is generally covered with a yellow layer
of clay. This clay evidently consists of mud, which has been washed
down by the river-water and been afterwards thrown up by the swell
on the snow-covered ice. The layer of snow acts as a filter and
separates the mud from the water. The former, therefore, after the
melting of the snow may form upon true sea-ice a layer of dirt,
containing a large number of minute organisms which live only in
fresh water.
_August 5th._ Still under sail in the Kara Sea, in which a few
pieces of ice are floating about. The ice completely disappeared
when we came north-west of Beli Ostrov. We were several times in the
course of the day in only nine metres of water, which, however, in
consequence of the evenness of the bottom, is not dangerous. Fog, a
heavy sea, and an intermittent but pretty fresh breeze delayed our
progress.
_August 6th._ At three o'clock in the morning we had land in sight.
In the fog we had gone a little way up the Gulf of Yenisej, and so
had to turn in order to reach our destination, Port Dickson. The
mast-tops of the _Express_ were seen projecting over islands to the
north, and both vessels soon anchored south of an island which was
supposed to be Dickson's Island, but when the _Fraser_ soon after
joined us we learned that this was a mistake. The shore, which, seen
from our first anchorage, appeared to be that of the mainland,
belonged in fact to the pretty extensive island, off which the haven
itself is situated.
After an excursion on land, in the course of which a covey of
partridges was seen, and Dr. Kjellman on the diorite rocks of the
island made a pretty abundant collection of plants, belonging partly
to species which he had not before met with in the Arctic regions,
we again weighed anchor in order to remove to the proper harbour.
Captain Palander went before in the steam launch in order to examine
the yet unsurveyed fairway. On the way he fell in with and killed a
bear, an exceedingly fat and large male. Like the bear Dr. Theel
shot here in 1875, he had only mosses and lichens in his stomach,
and as it is scarcely probable that the bear in this region can
catch a great many seals in summer, it is to be supposed that his
food consists principally of vegetable substances, with the addition
perhaps of a reindeer or two when he can succeed in getting hold of
them. In the year 1875 we saw here an old male bear that appeared to
pasture quite peaceably in company with some reindeer, probably with
a view to get near enough to spring upon them. Bears must besides be
very common in that part of the north coast of Siberia, for during
the few days we now remained there, two more were shot, both of them
very fat.
The haven, which has now been surveyed by Lieutenant Bove, was
discovered by me in 1875 and named Port Dickson. It is the best
known haven on the whole north coast of Asia, and will certainly in
the future be of great importance for the foreign commerce of
Siberia. It is surrounded on all sides by rocky islands, and is thus
completely sheltered. The anchorage is a good clay bottom. The haven
may be entered both from the north and from the south-west; but in
sailing in, caution should be used, because some rocky shoals may be
met with which are not shown on Lieutenant Bove's sketch chart,
which was made in the greatest haste. The water probably varies
considerably as to its salinity with the season of the year and with
ebb and flood tides, but is never, even at the surface, completely
fresh. It can therefore be used in cooking only in case of the
greatest necessity. But two streams on the mainland, one debouching
north and the other south of the harbour, yield an abundant supply
of good water, in case snow water cannot be obtained from any of the
beds of snow which up to autumn are to be found at several places
along the strand escarpments in the neighbourhood of the harbour.
At our arrival six wild reindeer were seen pasturing on Dickson's
Island; one of them was killed by Palander, the others were stalked
unsuccessfully. Some bears, as has already been stated, were also
seen, and everywhere among the heaps of stones there were numerous
remains of the lemming and the fox. With these exceptions there were
few of the higher animals. Of birds we thus saw only snow-buntings,
which bred among the stone heaps both on the mainland and on the
islands, a covey of ptarmigan, a large number of birds, principally
species of Tringa and Phalaropus, but not further determined,
eiders, black guillemots and burgomasters in limited numbers, and
long-tailed ducks and loons in somewhat greater abundance. There are
no "down islands," and as there are no precipitous shore cliffs
neither are there any looneries. A shoal of fish was seen in Lena
Sound, and fish are probably exceedingly abundant. Seals and white
whales also perhaps occur here at certain seasons of the year in no
small numbers. It was doubtless with a view to hunt these animals
that a hut was occupied, the remains of which are visible on one of
the small rocky islands at the north entrance into the harbour. The
ruin, if we may apply the term to a wooden hut which has fallen in
pieces, showed that the building had consisted of a room with a
fireplace and a storehouse situated in front, and that it was only
intended as a summer dwelling for the hunters and fishers who came
hither during the hunting season from the now deserted _simovies_[93]
lying farther south.
I am convinced that the day will come when great warehouses and many
dwellings inhabited all the year round will be found at Port Dickson.
Now the region is entirely uninhabited as far as Goltschicha, although,
as the map reproduced here shows, numerous dwelling-houses were to be
found built along the river bank and sea-shore beyond the mouth of the
Yenisej and as far as to the Pjaesina. They have long since been
abandoned, in the first place in consequence of the hunting falling off,
but probably also because even here, far away on the north coast of
Siberia, the old simple and unpretentious habits have given way to new
wants which were difficult to satisfy at the time when no steamers
carried on traffic on the river Yenisej. Thus, for instance, the
difficulty of procuring meal some decades back, accordingly before the
commencement of steam communication on the Yenisej, led to the
abandonment of a _simovie_ situated on the eastern bank of the river in
latitude 72 deg. 25' north.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE MOUTH OF THE YENISEJ FROM ATLAS RUSSICUS CURA
ET OPERE ACADEMIAE IMPERIALIS SCIENTIARUM PETROPOLITANAE PETROPOLI 1745. ]
The _simovies_ at the mouth of the Yenisej formed in their time the
most northerly fixed dwelling-places of the European races.[94]
Situated as they were at the foot of the cold _tundra_, exposed to
continual snowstorms in winter and to close fogs during the greater
part of summer, which here is extremely short, it seems as if they
could not offer their inhabitants many opportunities for enjoyment,
and the reason why this tract was chosen for a residence, especially
in a country so rich in fertile soil as Siberia, appears to be
difficult to find. The remains of an old _simovie_ (Krestovskoj),
which I saw in 1875 while travelling up the river along with Dr.
Lundstroem and Dr. Stuxberg, however, produced the impression that a
true home life had once been led there. Three houses with
turf-covered roofs then still remained in such a state that one
could form an idea of their former arrangement and of the life which
had been earned on in them. Each cabin contained a whole labyrinth
of very small rooms; dwelling-rooms with sleeping places fixed to
the walls, bake-rooms with immense fireplaces, bathing houses with
furnaces for vapour-baths, storehouses for train-oil with large
train-drenched blubber troughs hollowed out of enormous tree-stems,
blubber tanks with remains of the white whale, &c., all witnessing
that the place had had a flourishing period, when prosperity was
found there, when the home was regarded with loyalty, and formed in
all its loneliness the central point of a life richer perhaps in
peace and well-being than one is inclined beforehand to suppose.
[Illustration: RUINS OF A SIMOVIE AT KRESTOVSKOJ. After a drawing by A.
Stuxberg. ]
In 1875 a "prikaschik" (foreman) and three Russian labourers lived
all the year round at Goltschicha. Sverevo was inhabited by one man
and Priluschnoj by an old man and his son. All were poor; they dwelt
in small turf-covered cabins, consisting of a lobby and a dirty
room, smoked and sooty, with a large fireplace, wooden benches along
the walls, and a sleeping place fixed to the wall, high above the
floor. Of household furniture only the implements of fishing and the
chase were numerously represented. There were in addition pots and
pans, and occasionally a tea-urn. The houses were all situated near
the river-bank, so high up that they could not be reached by the
spring inundations. A disorderly midden was always to be found in
the near neighbourhood, with a number of draught dogs wandering
about on it seeking something to eat. Only one of the Russian
settlers here was married, and we were informed that there was no
great supply of the material for Russian housewives for the
inhabitants of these legions. At least the Cossack Feodor, who in
1875 and 1876 made several unsuccessful attempts to serve me as
pilot, and who himself was a bachelor already grown old and
wrinkled, complained that the fair or weaker sex was poorly
represented among the Russians. He often talked of the advantages of
mixed marriages, being of opinion, under the inspiration of memory
or hope, I know not which, that a Dolgan woman was the most eligible
_purti_ for a man disposed to marry in that part of the world.
A little farther south, but still far north of the limit of trees,
there are, however, very well-to-do peasants, who inhabit large
_simovies_, consisting of a great number of houses and rooms, in
which a certain luxury prevails, where one walks on floor-coverings
of skins, where the windows are whole, the sacred pictures covered
with plates of gold and silver, and the walls provided with mirrors
and covered with finely coloured copper-plate portraits of Russian
Czars and generals. This prosperity is won by traffic with the
natives, who wander about as nomads on the _tundra_ with their
reindeer herds.
The cliffs around Port Dickson consist of diorite, hard and
difficult to break in pieces, but weathering readily. The rocky
hills are therefore so generally split up that they form enormous
stone mounds. They were covered with a great abundance of lichens,
and the plains between them yielded to Dr. Kjellman the following
phanerogamous plants:
Cineraria frigida RICHARDS.
Erigeron uniflorus L.
Saussurea alpina DC.
Taraxacum phymatocarpum J. VAHL.
Gymnandra Stelleri CH. &c. SCHL.
Pedicularis sudetica WILLD.
Pedicularis hirsuta L.
Pedicularis Oederi VAHL.
Eritrichium villosum BUNGE.
Myosotis silvatica HOFFM.
Astragalus alpinus L.
Oxytropis campestris (L.) DC.
Dryas octopetala L.
Sieversia glacialis B. BR.
Potentilla emarginata PURSH.
Saxifraga oppositifolia L.
Saxifraga bronchialis L.
Saxifraga Hirculus L.
Saxifraga stellaris L.
Saxifraga nivalis L.
Saxifraga hieraciifolia WALDST. &c. KIT.
Saxifraga punctata L.
Saxifraga cernua L.
Saxifraga rivularis L.
Saxifraga caespitosa L.
Chrysosplenium alternifolium L.
Rhodiola rosea L.
Parrya macrocarpa R. BR.
Cardamine pratensis L.
Cardamine bellidifolia L.
Eutrema Edwardsii R. BR.
Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR.
Draba alpina L.
Draba oblongata (R. BR.) DC.
Draba corymbosa R. BR.
Draba Wahlenbergii HN.
Draba altaica (LEDEB.) BUNGE.
Papaver nudicaule L.
Banunculus pygmaeus WG.
Ranunculus hyperboreus ROTTB.
Ranunculus lapponicus L.
Ranunculus nivalis L.
Ranunculus sulphureus SOL.
Ranunculus affinis R. BR.
Caltha palustris L.
Wahlbergella apetala (L.) FR.
Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR.
Cerastium alpinum L.
Alsine arctica FENZL.
Alsine macrocarpa FENZL.
Alsine rubella WG.
Sagina nivalis FR.
Oxyria digyna (L.) HILL.
Rumex arcticus TRAUTV.
Polygonum viviparum L.
Polygonum Bistorta L.
Salix polaris WG.
Festuca rubra L.
Poa cenisea ALL.
Poa arctica R BR.
Glyceria angustata B. BR.
Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.
Catabrosa concinna TH. FR.
Colpodium latifolium E. BR.
Dupontia Fisheri E. BR.
Koeleria hirsuta GAUD.
Aira caespitosa L.
Alopecurus alpinus SM.
Eriophorum angustifolium ROTH.
Eriophorum vaginatum L.
Eriophorum Scheuchzeri HOPPE.
Carex rigida GOOD.
Carex aquatilis WG.
Juncus biglumis L.
Luzula hyperborea R BR.
Luzula arctica BL.
Lloydia serotina (L.) REICHENB.
Banunculus pygmaeus WG.
[Illustration: SIEVERSIA GLACIALIS R. BR. From Port Dickson. ]
Our botanists thus made on land a not inconsiderable collection,
considering the northerly position of the region. On the other hand
no large algae were met with in the sea, nor was it to be expected
that there would, for the samples of water taken up with Ekman's
instrument showed that the salinity at the bottom was as slight as
at the surface, viz. only 0.3 per cent. The temperature of the water
was also at the time of our visit about the same at the bottom as at
the surface, viz. +9 deg. to +10 deg.. In spring, when the snow
melts, the water here is probably quite fresh, in winter again cold,
and as salt as at the bottom of the Kara Sea. Under so variable
hydrographical conditions we might have expected an exceedingly
scanty marine fauna, but this was by no means the case. For the
dredgings in the harbour gave Dr. Stuxberg a not inconsiderable
yield, consisting of the same types as those which are found in the
salt water at the bottom of the Kara Sea. This circumstance appears
to show that certain evertebrate types can endure a much greater
variation in the temperature and salinity of the water than the
algae, and that there is a number of species which, though as a rule
they live in the strongly cooled layer of salt water at the bottom
of the Kara Sea, can bear without injury a considerable diminution
in the salinity of the water and an increase of temperature of about
12 deg..
For the science of our time, which so often places the origin
of a northern form in the south, and _vice versa_, as the foundation
of very wide theoretical conclusions, a knowledge of the types
which can live by turns in nearly fresh water of a temperature
of +10 deg., and in water cooled to -2.7 deg. and of nearly the same
salinity as that of the Mediterranean, must have a certain
interest. The most remarkable were, according to Dr. Stuxberg,
the following: a species of Mysis, _Diastylis Rathkei_ KR.,
_Idothea entomon_ LIN., _Idothea Sabinei_ KR., two species of
Lysianassida, _Pontoporeia setosa_ STBRG., _Halimedon brevicalcar_
GOES, an Annelid, a Molgula, _Yoldia intermedia_ M. SARS,
_Yoldia_ (?) _arctica_ GRAY, and a Solecurtus.
Driftwood in the form both of small branches and pieces of roots,
and of whole trees with adhering portions of branches and roots,
occurs in such quantities at the bottom of two well-protected coves
at Port Dickson, that the seafarer may without difficulty provide
himself with the necessary stock of fuel. The great mass of the
driftwood which the river bears along, however, does not remain on
its own banks, but floats out to sea to drift about with the marine
currents until the wood has absorbed so much water that it sinks, or
until it is thrown up on the shores of Novaya Zemlya, the north
coast of Asia, Spitzbergen or perhaps Greenland.
[Illustration: EVERTIBRATIS FROM PORT DICKSON.
A. Yoldia arctica GRAY One and two-thirds of natural size.
B. Diastylis Rathkei KR Magnified three times. ]
Another portion of the wood sinks, before it reaches the sea,
often in such a way that the stems stand upright in the river
bottom, with one end, so to say, rooted in the sand. They may
thus be inconvenient for the navigation, at least at the shallower
places of the river. A bay immediately off Port Dickson
was almost barred by a natural palisade-work of driftwood
stems.
_August 7th._ The _Vega_ coaled from the _Express_. In the evening
the _Lena_ arrived, 36 hours after the _Vega_ had anchored, that is
to say, precisely at the appointed time. Concerning this excursion.
Dr. Almquist reports:
"On the 2nd August we--Horgaard, Nordquist and I--went on
board the _Lena_ to make an excursion to Beli Ostrov. We
were to land on the south-western headland and there
undertake botanical and zoological researches. Thereafter
we were to direct some attention to the opposite shore of
Yalmal and visit the Samoyeds living there.
"We left the _Vega_ at eleven o'clock forenoon. In the
course of the day we saw here and there in the south
scattered ice, and at half-past ten at night we ran into a
large belt, about 300 metres broad, of scattered ice,
which lay stretched out from N.E. to S.W. It was passed
without difficulty. In the course of the night we now and
then fell in with a little scattered ice, and in the
morning with a belt of masses of ice of considerable
dimensions; sounding constantly in 10 to 3-1/2 metres
water we succeeded, notwithstanding the fog and rain, in
finding the straits between Beli Ostrov and the mainland,
and on the 3rd August at eleven o'clock forenoon we
anchored a little to the east of the southern extremity of
the island. The _Lena_ lay in 3-1/2 metres water, about an
English mile out to sea. The water was shallow for so
great a distance from the beach that we had to leave our
boat about 300 metres out to sea and wade to land.
"Beli Ostrov consists entirely of fine sand, and only on
that part of the beach which is washed by the sea-water
did we see any stones as large as walnuts; higher up we
did not find a piece of stone even of the size of the
nail. The highest point of the island appears to be
scarcely three metres above the surface of the sea. That
part of the island over which the sea water washes, that
is, the beach and the deep bays which indent the land here
and there, shows the fine sand bare, without trace of
vegetation. Where the ground rises a little, it becomes
covered with a black and white variegated covering of
mosses and lichens; scattered among which at long
intervals are small tufts of grass. First somewhat higher
up, and properly only round the marshy margins of the
numerous small fresh-water lakes and in hollows and bogs,
is the ground slightly green. The higher plants are
represented by only 17 species, all small and stunted,[95]
most of them rising only some few lines above the sand.
Very few plants reached a height of 15 centimetres. No
kind of willow was found, nor any flower seen of any other
colour than green or white.
"The lichen-flora too was scanty. No species showed any
great luxuriance, and seldom did the black and white
lichen-crust produce any 'apothecium,' The
lichen-vegetation was most abundant on the driftwood of
the beach and on the tufts in the marshes. The larger
lichens, as the reindeer and Iceland lichens, occurred
very sparingly. About 80 species were found. The land
evertebrates were so sparingly represented, that only
three diptera, one species of hymenoptera, and some insect
larvae and spiders could be collected. Only podurae were
found in great abundance; they completely covered the
whole ground at the beach.
"Several herds of reindeer were seen, but we did not
succeed in getting within range of them. A little fish of
the Cottus family was caught by Nordquist in a ditch which
was in connection with the sea. Driftwood still fresh was
found in great abundance, and farther up on land here and
there lay a more rotten stem.
"Rain and fog rendered impossible any determination of
position. During night we went across the sound and
anchored about an English mile and a half from the shore
of Yalmal, right opposite some Samoyed tents which we
discovered a little inland. In the same unfavourable
weather as that of the day before we attempted to land
there, but found the water too shallow. First pretty far
to the east we succeeded in reaching the beach at a place
where the land rose out of the sea with a steep bank about
nine metres high. Above the bank, which consisted of loose
clay, we found a plain with the appearance of a rich
watered _tundra_, full of marshes and streams, and
therefore presenting a very green appearance. In order to
meet with the Samoyeds we now went westwards, passing
several rivulets which cut deeply into the land and had
high banks, until after half an hour's walking we came to
a broad but not very deep river, which it was impossible
to ford. We therefore returned to our boat with the view
of seeking a landing-place on the other side of the river;
but as the _Lena's_ distance from land was considerable
and the breeze was freshening, the captain considered that
the time at our disposal did not permit us to undertake so
long an excursion.
"So far as we may judge from our hasty visit, the
vegetation on this part of Yalmal struck us as being
remarkably abundant. The high banks especially were richly
covered by phanerogamous plants and lichens, and would
have deserved a closer examination. Our cursory
observations of the plants here may however be interesting
for comparison with the flora of Beli Ostrov; we collected
and noted the higher plants[96] and about 40 species of
lichens. Nordquist found that the fauna resembled that of
the neighbouring island, and collected besides two species
of Coleoptera.
"After lying 26 hours in the sound we weighed anchor again
and went westwards, following a channel with ten to
sixteen metres water. We could not find its course farther
to the east, and were compelled, although we were near the
eastern extremity of Beli Ostrov, to turn in order to pass
out through the western entrance of the sound. We saw a
quantity of stranded ice on the north coast of the island,
which, seen from the sea, did not present any
dissimilarity to the part which we had visited. On the 7th
August we arrived at Port Dickson."
From Lieutenant Hovgaard's report on this excursion, a map is given
here of Beli Ostrov and the neighbouring coast of Yalmal, in which I
have named the sound between the island and the mainland after
MALYGIN, one of the gallant Russian seamen who first sailed through
it nearly a century and a half ago.
Yalmal has been visited by Europeans so seldom, and their
observations are scattered in printed papers so inaccessible, that
it may perhaps not be out of place here to collect the most
important facts which are known regarding this peninsula, along with
the necessary bibliographical references.
First as to its name, it is sometimes also written "Yelmert
Land,"[97] but this is quite incorrect.
"Yalmal" is of Samoyed origin, and has, according to a private
communication from the well-known philologist Dr. E.D. EUROPAEUS,
the distinctive meaning "land's-end." YELMERT again was a boatswain
with the Dutch whale-fisher VLAMINGH, who in 1664 sailed round the
northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya to Barents' winter haven, and
thence farther to the south-east. Vlamingh himself at his
turning-point saw no land, though all signs showed that land ought
to be found in the neighbourhood; but several of the crew thought
they saw land, and the report of this to a Dutch mapmaker, DICK
REMBRANTSZ. VAN NIEROP, led to the introduction of the supposed land
into a great many maps, commonly as a large island in the Kara Sea.
This island was named Yelmert Land. The similarity between the names
Yelmert Land and Yalmal, and the doubt as to the existence of the
Yelmert Island first shown on the maps, have led to the transfer of
the name Yelmert Land to the peninsula which separates the Gulf of
Obi from the Kara Sea. It is to be remarked, however, that the name
Yalmal is not found in the older accounts of voyages from the
European waters to the Obi. The first time I met with it was in the
narrative of Skuratov's journey in 1737, as the designation of the
most north-easterly promontory of the peninsula which now bears that
name.
Yalmal's grassy plains offer the Samoyeds during summer reindeer
pastures which are highly valued, and the land is said to have a
very numerous population in comparison with other regions along the
shores of the Polar Sea, the greater portion, however, drawing
southward towards winter with their large herds of reindeer. But the
land is, notwithstanding this, among the most imperfectly known
parts of the great Russian empire. Some information regarding it we
may obtain from sketches of the following journeys:
SELIFONTOV, 1737. In the months of July and August the surveyor
Selifontov travelled in a reindeer sledge along the coast of the
Gulf of Obi as far as to Beli Ostrov. About this journey
unfortunately nothing else has been published than is to be found in
LITKE, _Viermalige Reise_, &c., Berlin, 1835, p. 66, and WRANGEL,
_Sibirische Reise_, Berlin, 1839, p. 37.
SUJEFF, in 1771, travelled under the direction of Pallas over the
southern part of Yalmal from Obdorsk to the Kara Sea, and gives an
instructive account of observations made during his journey in
PALLAS, _Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des russischen Reiches_,
St. Petersburg, 1771--76, III. pp. 14--35.
KRUSENSTERN, 1862. During his second voyage in the Kara Sea, which
ended with the abandonment of the ship _Yermak_ on the coast of
Yalmal in about 69 deg. 54' N.L., Krusenstern junior escaped with
his crew to the shore, reaching it in a completely destitute
condition. He had lost all, and would certainly have perished if he
had not near the landing-place fallen in with a rich Samoyed, the
owner of two thousand reindeer, who received the shipwrecked men in
a very friendly way and conveyed them with his reindeer to Obdorsk,
distant in a straight line 500, but, according to the Samoyed's
reckoning, 1,000 versts. In the sketch of Krusenstern's travels, to
which I have had access, there is unfortunately no information
regarding the tribe with which he came in contact during this
remarkable journey.[98]
WALDBURG-ZEIL and FINSCH, 1876. A very full and exceedingly
interesting description of the natural conditions in the
southernmost part of the peninsula is to be found in the accounts of
Count Waldburg-Zeil and Dr. Finsch's journey in the year 1876.[99]
SCHWANENBERG, 1877. Captain Schwanenberg landed on the north part of
Beli Ostrov during the remarkable voyage which he made in that year
from the Yenisej to St. Petersburg. No traces of men, but some of
reindeer and bears, were visible. The sea was sufficiently deep
close to the shore for vessels of light draught, according to a
private communication which I have received from Captain
Schwanenberg.
THE SWEDISH EXPEDITION, 1875. During this voyage we landed about the
middle of the west coast of Yalmal. In order to give an idea of the
nature of the country, I make the following extract from my
narrative of the voyage,[100] which has had but a limited
circulation:
"In the afternoon of the 8th August I landed, along with Lundstroem and
Stuxberg, on a headland projecting a little from Yalmal, on the north
side of the mouth of a pretty large river. The landing place was
situated in lat. 72 deg. 18', long. 68 deg. 42'. The land was bounded here by a
low beach, from which at a distance of one hundred paces a steep bank
rose to a height of from six to thirty metres. Beyond this bank there is
an extensive, slightly undulating plain, covered with a vegetation which
indeed was exceedingly monotonous, but much more luxuriant than that of
Vaygats Island or Novaya Zemlya. The uniformity of the vegetation is
perhaps caused, in a considerable degree, by the uniform nature of the
terrain. There is no solid rock here. The ground everywhere consists of
sand and sandy clay, in which I could not find a stone so large as a
bullet or even as a pea, though I searched for a distance of several
kilometres along the strand-bank. Nor did the dredge bring up any stones
from the sea-bottom off the coast, a circumstance which, among other
things, is remarkable, because it appears to show that the strand-ice
from the Obi and Yenisej does not drift down to and melt in this part of
the Kara Sea. Nor do the sand beds contain any sub-fossil shells, as is
the case with the sand beds of the Yenisej _tundra_. 'Noah's wood' also
appears to be absent here. To judge from our observations at this place,
the peninsula between the Gulf of Obi and the Kara Sea thus differs very
essentially from the _tundra_ lying east of the Yenisej.
[Illustration: PLACE OF SACRIFICE ON YALMAL. After a drawing by A.N.
Lundstroem. ]
"We saw no inhabitants, but everywhere along the beach numerous
traces of men--some of them barefoot--of reindeer, dogs and Samoyed
sleighs, were visible. On the top of the strand-bank was found a
place of sacrifice, consisting of forty-five bears' skulls of
various ages placed in a heap, a large number of reindeer skulls,
the lower jaw of a walrus, &c. From most of the bears' skulls the
canine teeth were broken out, and the lower jaw was frequently
entirely wanting. Some of the bones were overgrown with moss and lay
sunk in the earth; others had, as the adhering flesh showed, been
placed there during the present year. In the middle of the heap of
bones stood four erect pieces of wood. Two consisted of sticks a
metre in length with notches cut in them, serving to bear up the
reindeer and bears' skulls, which were partly placed on the points
of the sticks or hung up by means of the notches, or spitted on the
sticks by four-cornered holes cut in the skulls. The two others,
which clearly were the proper idols of this place of sacrifice,
consisted of driftwood roots, on which some carvings had been made
to distinguish the eyes, mouth, and nose. The parts of the pieces of
wood, intended to represent the eyes and mouth, had recently been
besmeared with blood, and there still lay at the heap of bones the
entrails of a newly-killed reindeer. Close beside were found the
remains of a fireplace, and of a midden, consisting of reindeer
bones of various kinds and the lower jaws of bears.
"As the sandy slopes of the beach offered no suitable breeding-place
for looms, black guillemots, or other sea-fowl, and there were no
islands along the coast which could serve as breeding-places for
eiders and other species of geese which breed in colonies, the
abundant bird-life of the Polar Sea was wanting here. At the mouth
of the river, however, large flocks of eiders and long-tailed ducks
flew about, and on the sandy banks along the shore, flocks of
_Calidris arenaria_ and a Tringa or two ran about restlessly seeking
their food. The solitude of the _tundra_ was broken only by a couple
of larks and a pair of falcons (_Falco peregrinus_) with young.
Traces of reindeer were also seen, and two fox-traps set on the
strand-bank showed that foxes occur in these regions in sufficient
numbers to be the object of capture.
"Later in the afternoon, when some solar altitudes had been taken,
in order to determine the geographical position of the place, we
rowed back to our vessel and sailed on, keeping at some distance
from the coast, and at one place passing between the shore and a
long series of blocks of ground-ice, which had stranded along the
coast in a depth of nine to sixteen metres. During night we passed a
place where five Samoyed tents were pitched, in whose neighbourhood
a large number of reindeer pastured. The land was now quite low, and
the sea had become considerably shallower. The course was therefore
shaped for the N.W., in which direction deeper water was soon met
with. Notwithstanding the slight salinity and high temperature
(+ 7.7 deg.) of the surface water a _Clio borealis_ and a large
number of Copepoda were taken at the surface."
The excursion now described and Almquist's and Hovgaard's landing in
1878 were, as far as I am aware, the only occasions on which
naturalists have visited the northern part of that peninsula which
separates the Kara Sea from the Obi. The Norwegian hunters also
visit the place seldom, the main reasons being the inaccessibility
of the shallow east coast, and the want of harbours. They now,
however, land occasionally to take in water, and perhaps to barter
the tobacco they have saved from their rations, knives they have no
use for, and old-fashioned guns, gunpowder, lead, &c., for the
products of the Samoyeds' reindeer husbandry, hunting and fishing.
At first the natives fled when they saw the Norwegians coming, and,
when they could not make their escape, they saluted them with great
humility, falling on their knees and bending their heads to the
earth, and were unwilling to enter into any traffic with them or to
show them their goods. But since the Samoyeds observed that the
Norwegians never did them any harm, the mistrust and excessive
humility have completely disappeared. Now a visit of Europeans is
very agreeable to them, partly for the opportunity which it offers
of obtaining by barter certain articles of necessity, luxury, or
show, partly perhaps also for the interruption thereby caused in the
monotony of the _tundra_ life. When the walrus-hunters row or sail
along that open coast, it often happens that natives run backwards
and forwards on the shore, and by signs eagerly invite the
foreigners to land; if they do so, and there are any wealthy
Samoyeds in the neighbourhood, there immediately begins a grand
entertainment, according to the customs of the people, with more
than one trait reminding us of the sketches from the traditionary
periods of the civilised nations.
What I have stated here is about all that we know of Yalmal, and we
see from this that a very promising, yet untouched field for
researches in ethnography and natural history here lies before
future travellers to the Yenisej.
What sort of winter is there at the mouth of the Yenisej? We have
for the present no information on this point, as no scientific man
has wintered there. But on the other hand we have a very exciting
narrative of the wintering of the Fin, NUMMELIN, at the Briochov
Islands in the Yenisej in lat. 70 deg. 48' north.
[Illustration: "JORDGAMMOR" ON THE BRIOCHOV ISLANDS. After a sketch
by the Author. ]
I visited the place on the 27th August 1875. It consisted of a fishing
post, occupied only in summer, and at that season of the year very
attractive, surrounded as it is by luxuriant vegetation of grass and
bushes. The houses were situated on a sound running between the Briochov
Islands, which form the northernmost group of the labyrinth of islands
which occupy the channel of the Yenisej between 69-1/2 deg. and 71 deg. N.L. At
the time of our visit the fishing was over for the season and the
place deserted. But two small houses and a number of earth-huts
(_jordgammor_), all in good repair, stood on the river bank and gave
evidence, along with a number of large boats drawn up on land, and
wooden vessels intended for salting fish, of the industry which had
been carried on there earlier in the summer. It was at this place that
Nummelin passed one of the severest winters that Arctic literature has
to record.[101]
In 1876 M. Sidoroff, well known for the lively interest which he
takes in navigation in the Siberian waters, had a ship _Severnoe
Sianie_ (the _Aurora_) built and fitted out at Yeniseisk, in order
to carry goods from the Yenisej to Europe. The vessel was placed
under the command of a Russian sea-captain, Schwanenberg. Under him
Nummelin served as mate, and the vessel had a crew of eighteen men,
most of whom had been exiled to Siberia for crime. In consequence of
various mishaps the vessel could not get farther the first year than
to the neighbourhood of the mouth of the Yenisej, where it was left
in winter quarters at the place which has been named above. Nummelin
and four exiles remained on board, while Schwanenberg and the rest
of the crew returned to Yeniseisk on the 28th September. Frost had
already commenced. During the two following weeks the temperature
kept in the neighbourhood of the freezing point; clear weather
alternating with snow and rain.
On the 5th of October the crew withdrew to their winter quarters,
having previously collected driftwood and placed it in heaps in
order that they might easily find it under the snow.
On the 16th October the thermometer at eight o'clock in the morning
showed -4.5 deg. and afterwards sank lower every day, until after the 21st
October the mercury for some days was constantly under -10 deg.. On the 26th
October the temperature was -18 deg., but in the beginning of November it
rose again to -2 deg.. On the 6th November it sank again to -17 deg., but rose
on the 11th to -3.5 deg.. On the 14th November the thermometer showed
-23.5 deg., on the 21st -29.5 deg.. Next day in the morning it stood at -32 deg.,
and in the evening at -37 deg., but these figures were arrived at _by
guess_, the instrument not indicating so low temperatures. This
temperature of -30 deg. to -32 deg., varying with frozen mercury, continued till
the end of November, when it rose again to -11.5 deg.. At Christmas there
was again a temperature of -31 deg. and the six following days the mercury
was frozen, with which the new year came in. The temperature then rose
again to -20 deg., but soon sank so that from the 16th January the mercury
was frozen for five days. On the 22nd January the reading was -9 deg.. On
the 26th the mercury froze again, and on the 29th the temperature was
-6 deg.. During the month of February the temperature never rose above -24 deg.;
the mercury was frozen on the 20th, 25th, 26th, and 28th. This was the
case on the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 14th, 16th, and 18th March; on the 22nd
March the reading was -7 deg., on the 30th -29 deg.. April began with -31 deg., but
the temperature afterwards rose, so that on the 16th it reached -11 deg. and
varied between -21 deg. and -6 deg. (the 25th). On the 2nd May the reading in
the morning and evening was -12 deg., at mid-day -2 deg. to -5 deg.. On the 8th May
it was +0, on the 17th -10.5 deg., on the 31st +0.5 deg.. June began with +1.5 deg..
On the 8th the reading at mid-day was +11 deg., on the morning and evening
of the same day +2 deg. to +3 deg.. During the remainder of June and the month
of July the temperature varied between +2 deg. and +21 deg..
It was in such circumstances that Nummelin and his four companions
lived in the ill-provided house of planks on the Little Briochov
Island. They removed to it, as has been already said, on the 5th
October; on the 20th the ice was so hard frozen that they could walk
upon it. On the 26th snowstorms commenced, so that it was impossible
to go out of the house.
The sun was visible for the last time on the 21st November, and it
reappeared on the 19th January. On the 15th May the sun no longer
set. The temperature was then under the freezing point of mercury.
That the upper edge of the sun should be visible on the 19th January
we must assume a horizontal refraction of nearly 1 deg.. The
islands on the Yenisej are so low that there was probably a pretty
open horizon towards the south.
Soon after Christmas scurvy began to show itself. Nummelin's
companions were condemned and punished criminals, in whom there was
to be expected neither physical nor moral power of resistance to
this disease. They all died, three of scurvy, and one in the attempt
to cross from the Briochov Islands to a _simovie_ at Tolstoinos. In
their stead Nummelin succeeded in procuring two men from Tolstoinos,
and later on one from Goltschicha. On the 11th May a relief party
arrived from the south. It consisted of three men under the mate
Meyenwaldt, whom Sidoroff had sent to help to save the vessel. They
had first to shovel away the snow which weighed it down. The snow
lay nearly six metres deep on the river ice, which was three metres
thick. When they at last had got the vessel nearly dug out, it was
buried again by a new snowstorm.
In the middle of June the ice began to move, and the river water
rose so high that Nummelin, Meyenwaldt, and four men, along with two
dogs, were compelled to betake themselves to the roof of the hut,
where they had laid in a small stock of provisions and fuel. Here
they passed six days in constant peril of their lives.
The river had now risen five metres; the roof of the hut rose but a
quarter of a metre above the surface of the swollen river, and was
every instant in danger of being carried away by a floating piece of
ice. In such a case a small boat tied to the roof was their only
means of escape.
The whole landscape was overflowed. The other houses and huts were
carried away by the water and the drifting ice, which also
constantly threatened the only remaining building. The men on its
roof were compelled to work night and day to keep the pieces of ice
at a distance with poles.
The great inundation had even taken the migrating birds at unawares.
For long stretches there was not a dry spot for them to rest upon,
and thus it happened that exhausted ptarmigan alighted among the men
on the roof; once a ptarmigan settled on Meyenwaldt's head, and a
pair on the dogs.
On the 23rd June the water began to fall, and by the 25th it had
sunk so low that Nummelin and his companions could leave the roof
and remove to the deserted interior of the house.
The narrative of Nummelin's return to Europe by sea, in company with
Schwanenberg, belongs to a following chapter.
[Footnote 87: _Les moeurs et usages des Ostiackes_, par Jean Bernard
Muller, Capitaine de dragon au service de la Suede, pendant sa
captivite en Siberie (_Recueil de Voiages au Nord._ T. VIII.,
Amsterdam, 1727, p. 389). ]
[Footnote 88: I come to this conclusion from the appearance of the
strata as seen from the sea, and from their nature on Vaygats Island
and the west coast of Novaya Zemlya. So far as I know, no geologist
has landed on this part of the east coast. ]
[Footnote 89: Sometimes, however, icebergs are to be met with in the
most northerly part of the Kara Sea and on the north coast of Novaya
Zemlya, whither they may drive down from Franz Josef Land or from
other yet unknown Polar lands lying farther north. ]
[Footnote 90: In most of the literary narratives of Polar journeys
colossal icebergs play a very prominent part in the author's
delineations both with the pencil and the pen. The actual fact,
however, is that icebergs occur in far greater numbers in the seas
which are yearly accessible than in those in which the advance of
the Polar travellers' vessel is hindered by impenetrable masses of
ice. If we may borrow a term from the geography of plants to
indicate the distribution of icebergs, they may be said to be more
_boreal_ than _polar_ forms of ice. All the fishers on the coast of
Newfoundland, and most of the captains on the steamers between New
York and Liverpool, have some time or other seen true icebergs, but
to most north-east voyagers this formation is unknown, though the
name iceberg is often in their narratives given to glacier
ice-blocks of somewhat considerable dimensions. This, however, takes
place on the same ground and with the same justification as that on
which the dwellers on the Petchora consider Bolschoj-Kamen a very
high mountain. But although no true icebergs are ever formed at the
glaciers so common on Spitzbergen and also on North Novaya Zemlya,
it however often happens that large blocks of ice fall down from
them and give rise to a swell, which may be very dangerous to
vessels in their neighbourhood. Thus a wave caused by the falling of
a piece of ice from a glacier on the 23rd (13th) of June, 1619,
broke the masts of a vessel anchored at Bell Sound on Spitzbergen,
threw a cannon overboard, killed three men, and wounded many more
(Purchas, iii., p. 734). Several similar adventures, if on a smaller
scale, I could relate from my own experience and that of the
walrus-hunters. Care is taken on this account to avoid anchoring too
near the perpendicular faces of glaciers. ]
[Footnote 91: It may, however, be doubted whether the _whole_ of the
Kara Sea is completely frozen over in winter. ]
[Footnote 92: Already in 1771 one of Pallas' companions, the student
Sujeff, found large algae in the Kara Sea (Pallas, _Reise_. St.
Petersburg, 1771--1776, ii. p. 34). ]
[Footnote 93: Dwellings intended both for winter and summer
habitation. ]
[Footnote 94: The most northerly fixed dwelling-place, which is at
present inhabited by Europeans, is the Danish commercial post
Tasiusak, in north-western Greenland, situated in 73 deg. 24' N.L.
How little is known, even in Russia, of the former dwellings at the
mouth of the Yenisej may be seen from _Neueste Nachrichten ueber die
noerdlichste Gegend von Sibirien zwischen den Fluessen Pjassida und
Chatanga in Fragen und Autworten abgefasst. Mit Einleitung und
Anmerkungen vom Herausgeber_ (K.E. v. Baer und Gr. v. Helmersen,
_Beitraege sur Kenntniss des russischen Reiches_, vol. iv. p. 269.
St. Petersburg, 1841). ]
[Footnote 95: The collections made here were after our return
determined by Dr. Kjellman, who has communicated the following list:
Saxifraga stellaris L.
Saxifraga cernua L.
Saxifraga rivularis L.
Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR.
Stellaria humifusa ROTTB.
Sagina nivalis FR.
Arctophila pendulina (LAEST.) ANDS.
Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.
Dupontia Fisheri R. BR.
Aira caespitosa L.
Hierochloa pauciflora R. BR.
Eriophorum russeolum FR.
Eriophorum Scheuchzeri HOPPE.
Carex salina WG.
Carex ursina DESV.
Luzula hyperborea R. BR.
Luzula arctica BL. ]
[Footnote 96: These according to Dr. Kjellman's determination are:
Saxifraga cernua L.
Saxifraga caespitosa L.
Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR.
Draba alpina L.
Ranunculus sulphureus SOL.
Ranunculus nivalis L.
Ranunculus pygmaeus WG.
Ranunculus lapponicus L.
Ranunculus borealis TRAUTV.
Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR.
Salix glauca L.
Arctophila pendulina (LAEST.) AND.
Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.
Catabrosa concinna TH. FR.
Dupontia Fisheri R. BR.
Calamagrostis lapponica L.
Carex salina WG.
Carex rigida GOOD.
Eriophorum russeolum FR.
Luzula arcuata SM. f. hyperborea R. BR.
Lloydia serotina (L.) REICHENB.
]
[Footnote 97: On the maps in Linschoten's work already quoted,
printed in 1601, and in Blavii _Atlas Major_ (1665, t. i. pp. 24,
25), this land is called "Nieu West Vrieslant" and "West Frisia
Nova," names which indeed have priority _in print_, but yet cannot
obtain a preference over the inhabitants' own beautiful name. ]
[Footnote 98: Paul von Krusenstern, _Skizzen aus seinem Seemannsleben_.
Hirschberg in Silesia. Farther on I intend to give a more detailed
account of von Krusenstern's two voyages in the Kara Sea. ]
[Footnote 99: _Deutsche Geogr. Blaetter_ von Lindemann Namens d.
Geogr. Gesellsch., Bremen. I. 1877. II. 1878. O. Finsch, _Reise nach
West-Sibirien im Jahre 1876_. Berlin, 1879. A bibliographical list
has been drawn up by Count von Waldburg-Zeil under the title,
_Litteratur-Nachweis fur das Gebiet des unteren, Ob_. ]
[Footnote 100: Nordenskioeld, _Redogoerelse for en expedition till
mynningen af Jenisej och Sibirien ar 1875_, Bih. till Kongl.
Vet.-Ak. Handl, vol. iv., No. 1, p. 38-42. ]
[Footnote 101: I give the particulars of this wintering partly after
communications made to me in conversation by Nummelin, partly after
_Goeteborgs Handelsoch Sjofartstidning_ for the 20th and 21st
November, 1877. This _first_ and, as far as I know, only detailed
narrative of the voyage in question, was dictated to the editor of
that journal, _reference being made to the log_ by Schwanenberg and
Nummelin. Schwanenberg had come to Gothenburg some days before with
his Yeniseisk-built vessel. ]
CHAPTER V.
The history of the North-east Passage from 1556 to 1878--
Burrough, 1556--Pet and Jackman, 1580--The first voyage of
the Dutch, 1594--Oliver Brunel--The second voyage, 1595--
The third voyage, 1596--Hudson, 1608--Gourdon, 1611--Bosman,
1625--De la Martiniere, 1653--Vlamingh, 1664--Snobberger,
1675--Roule reaches a land north of Novaya Zemlya--Wood
and Flawes, 1676--Discussion in England concerning the state
of the ice in the Polar Sea--Views of the condition of the
Polar Sea still divided--Payer and Weyprecht, 1872-74.
The sea which washes the north coast of European Russia is named by
King Alfred (_Orosius_, Book I. Chaps, i. ii.) the Quaen Sea (in
Anglo-Saxon _Cwen Sae_),[102] a distinctive name, which
unquestionably has the priority, and well deserves to be retained.
To the inhabitants of Western Europe the islands, Novaya Zemlya and
Vaygats, first became known through Stephen Burrough's voyage of
discovery in 1556. Burrough therefore is often called the discoverer
of Novaya Zemlya, but incorrectly. For when he came thither he found
Russian vessels, manned by hunters well acquainted with the
navigable waters and the land. It is clear from this that Novaya
Zemlya had then already been known to the inhabitants of Northern
Russia for such a length of time that a very actively prosecuted
hunting could arise there. It is even probable that in the same way
as the northernmost part of Norway was already known for a thousand
years back, not only to wandering Lapps, but also to Norwegians and
Quaens, the lands round Yugor Schar and Vaygats were known several
centuries before Burrough's time, not only to the nomad Samoyeds on
the mainland, but also to various Beorma or Finnish tribes. Probably
the Samoyeds then, as now, drove their reindeer herds up thither to
pasture on the grassy plains along the coast of the Polar Sea, where
they were less troubled by the mosquito and the reindeer fly than
further to the south, and probably the wild nomads were accompanied
then, as now, by merchants from the more civilised races settled in
Northern Russia. The name Novaya Zemlya (New Land), indicates that
it was discovered at a later period, probably by Russians, but we
know neither when nor how.[103] The narrative of Stephen Burrough's
voyage, which, like so many others, has been preserved from oblivion
by Hakluyt's famous collection, thus not only forms a sketch of the
first expedition of West-Europeans to Novaya Zemlya, but is also the
principal source of our knowledge of the earliest Russian voyages to
these regions. I shall on this account go into greater detail in the
case of this voyage than in those of the other voyages that will be
referred to here.
It is self-evident that the new important commercial treaties, to
which Chancelor's discovery of the route from England to the White
Sea led, would be hailed with great delight both in England and in
Russia, and would give occasion to a number of new undertakings. At
first, as early as 1555, there was formed in England a company of
"merchant adventurers of England for the discoverie of landes,
territories, isles, dominions, and seigniories unknowen," commonly
called "the Muscovy Company," Sebastian Cabot, then almost an
octogenarian, was appointed governor for the term of his natural
life, and a number of privileges were conferred upon it by the
rulers both of England and Russia. At the same time negotiators,
merchants, and inquirers were sent by different ways from England to
Russia in order to confirm the amity with that country, and more
thoroughly examine the, at least to England, new world, which had
now been discovered in the East. But a detailed account of these
journeys does not enter into the plan of this work.
With this, however, men were not content. They considered
Chancelor's voyage as but the first step to something far more
important, namely, the opening of the North-East Passage to China
and India. While Chancelor himself the year after his return was
sent along with several merchants to the White Sea, a further
attempt was planned to reach the east coast of Asia by the same
route. A small vessel, the _Searchthrift_, was fitted out for this
purpose and placed under the command of Stephen Burrough.[104] The
most important occurrences during the voyage were the following:--
On the 3rd May/23rd April, 1556, the start was made from Ratcliffe
to Blackwall and Grays. Here Sebastian Cabot came on board, together
with some distinguished gentlemen and ladies. They were first
entertained on board the vessel and gave liberal presents to the
sailors, alms being given at the same time to a number of poor
people, in order that they might pray for good luck and a good
voyage; "then at the signe of the Christopher, Master Cabot and
his friends banketted, and made them that were in the company
great cheere; and for very joy that he had to see the towardness
of our intended discovery, he entered into the dance himselfe,
amongst the rest of the young and lusty company." At Orwell Burrough
left his own vessel, in order, at the wish of the merchants,
to make the passage to Vardoehus in the _Edward Bonaventure_.
In the end of May he was off the North Cape, which name Burrough
says he gave to this northernmost headland of Europe during his first
voyage.[105] When Burrough left the _Edward Bonaventure_ and went
on board his own vessel is not stated, but on the 17th/7th June he
replied on the _Searchthrift_ to the parting salute of the
_Edward Bonaventure_. On the 20th/10th June Kola was reached,
and its latitude fixed at 63 deg. 48'.[106]
"On Thursday the 21st/11th June at 6 of the clocke in the
morning, there came aboord of vs one of the Russe Lodiaes,
rowing with twentie oares, and there were foure and
twentie men in her. The master of the boate presented me
with a great loafe of bread, and six rings of bread, which
they call Colaches, and foure dryed pikes, and a peck of
fine otemeale, and I gave vnto the Master of the boate a
combe, and a small glasse. He declared vnto me that he was
bound to Pechora, and after that I made to drinke, the
tide being somewhat broken, they gently departed. The
Master's name was Pheother (Feodor).... Thursday (the
28th/18th June) we weyed our ankers in the Riuer Cola, and
went into the Sea seuen or eight leagues, where we met
with the winde farre Northerly, that of force it
constrained vs to goe againe backe into the sayd riuer,
where came aboord of vs sundry of their Boates, which
declared unto me that they were also bound to the
northwards, a fishing for Morse and Salmon, and gave me
liberally of their white and wheaten bread.
"As we roade in this riuer, wee saw dayly comming downe
the riuer many of their Lodias, and they that had least,
had foure and twentie men in them, and at the last they
grew to thirtie saile of them; and amongst the rest, there
was one of them whose name was Gabriel, who shewed me very
much friendshippe, and he declared vnto mee that all they
were bound to Pechora, a fishing for salmons, and morses:
insomuch that hee shewed mee by demonstrations, that with
a faire winde we had seuen or eight dayes sailing to the
riuer Pechora, so that I was glad of their company. This
Gabriel promised to giue mee warning of shoales, as he did
indeede.... Sunday being the one and twentieth day [of
June, 1st July new style], Gabriel gaue mee a barrell of
Meade, and one of his speciall friends gaue me a barrell
of beere, which was caryed upon mens backs at least 2
miles.
"Munday we departed from the riuer Cola, with all the rest
of the said Lodias, but sailing before the wind they were
all too good for vs:[107] but according to promise, this
Gabriel and his friend did often strike their sayles, and
taryed for us forsaking their owne company. Tuesday at an
Eastnortheast sunne we were thwart of Cape St. John.[108]
It is to be vnderstood, that from the Cape S. John vnto
the riuer or bay that goeth to Mezen, it is all sunke
land, and full of shoales and dangers, you shall haue
scant two fadome water and see no land. And this present
day wee came to an anker thwart of a creeke, which is 4 or
5 leagues to the northwards of the sayd Cape, into which
creeke Gabriel and his fellow rowed, but we could not get
in: and before night there were aboue 20 saile that went
into the sayd creeke, the wind being at the Northeast. We
had indifferent good landfang. This afternoone Gabriel
came aboord with his skiffe, and then I rewarded him for
the good company that he kept with vs ouer the Shoales,
with two small iuory combes, and a steele glasse with two
or three trifles more, for which he was not ungratefull.
But notwithstanding, his first company had gotten further
to the Northwards. Wednesday being Midsummer day we sent
our skiffe aland to sound the creeke, where they found it
almost drie at a low water. And all the Lodias within were
on ground. (In consequence of the threatening appearance
of the weather Burrough determined to go into the bay at
high water. In doing so he ran aground, but got help from
his Russian friends.) Gabriel came out with his skiffe,
and so did sundry others also, shewing their good will to
help us, but all to no purpose, for they were likely to
have bene drowned for their labour, in so much that I
desired Gabriel to lend me his anker, because our owne
ankers were too big for our skiffe to lay out, who sent me
his owne, and borrowed another also and sent it vs."
[Illustration: RUSSIAN "LODJA." After G. de Veer. ]
After much trouble Burrough succeeded in getting his vessel off the
shoal, and then sought for a better anchorage on the other side of
Cape St. John.
"Friday (6th July/26th June) at afternoone we weyed, and
departed from thence, the wether being mostly faire, and
the winde at East-southeast, and plied for the place where
we left our cable and anker, and our hawser, and as soone
as we were at an anker the foresaid Gabriel came aboord of
vs, with 3 or foure more of their small boats, and brought
with them of their Aquauitae and Meade, professing unto me
very much friendship, and reioiced to see vs againe,
declaring that they earnestly thought that we had bene
lost. This Gabriel declared vnto me that they had saued
both the ankers and our hauser, and after we had thus
communed, I caused 4 or 5 of them to goe into my cabbin,
where I gaue them figs and made them such cheere as I
could. While I was banketing of them, there came another
of their Skiffes aboord with one who was a Kerill
(Karelian), whose name afterwards I learned, and that he
dwelt in Colmogro, and Gabriel dwelled in the towne of
Cola, which is not far from the river's mouth. This
foresaid Keril said vnto me that one of the ankers which I
borrowed was his. I gave him thanks for the lone of it,
thinking it had bene sufficient. And as I continued in our
accustomed maner, that if the present which they brought
were worth enterteinment, they had it accordingly, he
brought nothing with him, and therfore I regarded him but
litle. And thus we ended, and they took their leaue and
went ashore. At their comming ashore, Gabriel and Keril
were at vnconvenient words, and by the eares, as I
vnderstand; the cause was because the one had better
enterteinment than the other; but you shal vnderstand that
Gabriel was not able to make his party good, because there
were 17 lodias of the Kerils company who tooke his part,
and but 2 of Gabriel's company. The next high water
Gabriel and his company departed from thence, and rowed to
their former company and neighbours, which were in number
28 at the least, and all of them belonging to the river
Cola. And as I vnderstood Keril made reckoning that the
hauser which was fast in his anker should have bene his
owne, and at first would not deliver it to our boat,
insomuch that I sent him worde that I would complain vpon
him, whereupon he deliuered the hauser to my company. The
next day being Saturday, I sent our boat on shore to fetch
fresh water and wood, and at their comming on shore this
Keril welcomed our men most gently, and also banketed
them, and in the meanetime caused some of his men to fill
our baricoes with water, and to help our men to beare wood
into their boat; and then he put on his best silke coate,
and his collar of pearles and came aboorde againe, and
brought his present with him: and thus having more respect
vnto his present than to his person, because I perceiued
him to be vain-glorious, I bade him welcome and gaue him a
dish of figs; and then he declared vnto me that his father
was a gentleman, and that he was able to shew me pleasure,
and not Gabriel, who was but a priest's sonne."
After Burrough has given account of a storm, during which he lost a
jolly boat, which he had purchased at Vardoehus, and by which they
were detained some time in the neighbourhood of Cape St. John (whose
latitude was fixed at 66 deg. 50') he continues:--
"Saturday (the 14/24th July) at a Northnorthwest sunne the
wind came at Eastnortheast, and then we weied, and plied
to the Northwards, and as we were two leagues shot past
the Cape, we saw a house standing in a valley, which is
dainty to be seene in those parts and by and by I saw
three men on the top of the hil. Then I iudged them, as it
afterwards proued, that they were men which came from some
other place to set traps to take vermin[109] for their
furres, which trappes we did perceiue very thicke alongst
the shore as we went."
The 14th to the 19th July, new style, were passed on the coast of
Kanin Nos.[110] On the 19th at noon Burrough was in lat. 68 deg.
40' north. On Friday, the 10/20th July another storm appeared to
threaten.
"And as I was musing what was best to be done, I saw a
sail come out of a creeke under the foresayd Caninoz,
which was my friend Gabriel, who forsook his harborough
and company, and came as neere us as he might, and pointed
vs to the Eastwards, and then we weyed and followed him.
Saturday we went eastsoutheast and followed Gabriel, and
he brought vs into an harborough called Morgiouets, which
is 30 leagues from Caninoz. This morning Gabriel saw a
smoke on ye way, who rowed vnto it with his skiffe, which
smoke was two leagues from the place where we road; and at
a Northwest sunne he came aboord again, and brought with
him a Samoed,[111] which was but a young man; his apparell
was then strange vnto vs, and he presented me with three
young wild geese, and one young barnacle."
On the 24th/14th July Burrough sailed past Dolgoi Island, and the
following day entered the mouth of the Petchora, the latitude of
which was fixed at 69 deg. 10'.[112] On the 30th/20th they sailed
out again over sandbanks in only five feet of water, and thanked God
that their vessel was of so light draught. The day after ice was met
with for the first time. On the 4th Aug./6th July in lat. 70 deg.
20' north, they had the meeting already described with an enormous
whale.[113] Somewhat later on the same day the _Searchthrift_
anchored in a good haven between two islands, situated in 70 deg.
42' N.L.[114] They were named by Burrough St. James's Islands.
"Tuesday, the 7th Aug./29th July we plyed to the Westwards
alongst the shoare, the wind being at Northwest, and as I
was about to come to anker, we saw a sail comming about
the point whereunder we thought to have ankered. Then I
sent a skiffe aboorde of him, and at their comming aboord,
they tooke acquaintance of them, and the chiefe man said
hee had bene in our company in the riuer Cola, and also
declared vnto them that we were past the way which should
bring vs to the Ob. This land, sayd he, is called Nova
Zembla, that is to say, the New Land; and then he came
aboord himselfe with his skiffe he told me the like ... he
made me also certaine demonstrations of the way to the Ob.
I gave him a steele glasse, two pewter spoons, and a paire
of veluet sheathed knives; and then he seemed somewhat the
more willing to tary and shewed me as much as he knew for
our purpose; he also gave me 17 wild geese.... This man's
name was Loshak. Wednesday, as we plied to Eastwards, we
espied another saile, which was one of this Loshak's
company, and we bare roome and spake with him, who in like
sort tolde us of the Ob, as the other had done.... Friday
(the 10th Aug./31st July) the gale of winde began to
increase, and came Westerly withall, so that by a
Northwest sunne we were at an anker among the Islands of
Waigats, where we saw two small lodias; the one of them
came aboord of us and presented me with a great loafe of
bread; and they told me they were all of Colmogro, except
one man that dwelt at Pechora, who seemed to be the
chiefest among them in killing of the Morse.[115] There
were some of their company on shoare which did chase a
white beare ouer the high clifs into the water, which
beare the lodia that was aboord of us killed in our sight.
This day there was a great gale of wind at North, and we
saw so much ice driving a seaboord that it was then no
going to sea."
During the first days of August the vessel lay for the most part in
company with or in the neighbourhood of Loshak, who gave them
information about the Samoyeds, after which Burrough visited their
sacrificial places.[116]
"Tuesday (the 14/4th) August we turned for the harborough
where Loshak's barke lay,[117] where, as before, we road
vnder an Island. And there he came aboord of vs and said
unto me: if God send wind and weather to serve, I will go
to the Ob with you, because the Morses were scant at these
Islands of Vaigats; but if he could not get to the riuer
of Ob, then he sayd hee would goe to the riuer of
Narainzay,[118] where the people were not altogether so
savage as the Samoyds of the Ob are: hee shewed me that
they will shoot at all men to the vttermost of their
power, that cannot speake their speech."
On the 15/5th of August much ice was seen to drift towards the haven
where the vessel lay, wherefore Burrough removed back to the place
where he had lain a few days before, and whose latitude he now found
to be 70 deg. 25'. Loshak left him unexpectedly the following day,
while Burrough was taking solar altitudes, and on the 19/9th
Burrough too weighed anchor to sail south along the coast of
Vaygats. After sailing about in these waters for a time, and being
exposed to a severe storm with an exceedingly heavy sea, Burrough,
on the 3rd Sept./23rd Aug., determined to turn. On the 21st/11th
September he arrived at Colmogro, where he wintered with a view to
continue his voyage next year to the Obi. This voyage, however, was
abandoned, because he instead went westwards in order to search for
two of the ships which accompanied Chancelor, and which had been
lost during the return voyage from Archangel.[119]
From this narrative we see that a highly developed Russian or
Russian-Finnish navigation was carried on as early as the middle of
the fifteenth century between the White Sea, the Petchora, Vaygats,
and Novaya Zemlya, and that at that time the Russians or Finns even
sailed to the Obi. The sketch, which Burrough gives of the Russian
or Russian-Finnish hunters, shows, besides, that they were brave and
skilful seamen, with vessels which for the time were very good, and
even superior to the English in sailing before the wind. With very
few alterations this sketch might also be applied to the present
state of things in these regions, which shows that they continue to
stand at a point which was then high, but is now low. Taking a
general view of matters, it appears as if these lands had rather
fallen behind than advanced in well-being during the last three
hundred years.
To judge by a letter from the Russian Merchant Company, which was
formed in London, it was at his own instance that Stephen Burrough
in 1557 sailed from Colmogro, not to Obi, but to the coast of
Russian Lapland to search for the lost vessels.[120] The following
year the English were so occupied with their new commercial treaties
with Russia and with the fitting out of Frobisher's three
expeditions to the north-west, that it was long before a new attempt
was made in the direction of the north-east, namely till ARTHUR
PETS' voyage in 1580.[121] He was the first who penetrated from
Western Europe into the Kara Sea, and thus brought the solution of
the problem of the North-East Passage to the Pacific a good way
forward. The principal incidents of this voyage too must therefore
be briefly stated here.
PET and JACKMAN, the former in the _George_, the latter in the
_William_, sailed from Harwich on the 9th June/30th May, 1580. On
the 2nd July/22nd June they doubled the North Cape, and on the
12th/2nd July, Pet was separated from Jackman after appointing to
meet with him at "Verove Ostrove or Waygats." On the 15/5th land was
in sight, the latitude having the preceding day been ascertained to
be 71 deg. 38'. Pet was thus at Gooseland, on the west coast of
Novaya Zemlya. He now sailed E.S.E., and fell in with ice on the
16/6th July. On the 20/10th July, land was seen, and the vessel
anchored at an island, probably one of the many small islands in the
Kara Port, where wood and water were taken on board.
On the 24/14th July, Pet was in the neighbourhood of land in 70 deg. 26'. At
first he thought that the land was an island, and endeavoured to sail
round it, but as he did not succeed in doing so, he supposed it to be
Novaya Zemlya. Hence he sailed in different directions between S.W. and
S.E., and was on the 26/16th in 69 deg. 40' N.L. Next day there was
lightning with showers of rain. Pet believed himself now to be in
Petchora Bay, and after sighting, on the 28/18th July, the headland
which bounds the mouth of the river on the north-east, he sailed, it
would seem, between this headland and the Selenetz Islands into the
great bay east of Medinski Savorot. Here he made soundings on the
supposition that the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland would
open out at this place, but the water was found to be too shallow, even
for a boat. Pet now sailed past Yugor Schar along the coast of Vaygats
towards Novaya Zemlya, to a bay on the west coast of Vaygats Island,
where he anchored between two small islands, which were supposed to be
Woronski Ostrov. _The entrance to an excellent haven was indicated on
both sides by two crosses._[122] On the islands there was abundance of
driftwood, and on one of them was found a cross, at the foot of which a
man was buried. Pet inscribed his name on the cross, and likewise on a
stone at the foot of the cross, "in order that Jackman, if he came
thither, might know that Pet had been there." In the afternoon Pet again
weighed anchor, doubled the western extremity of Vaygats Island, and
continued his voyage, following all along the coast of Vaygats, first to
the north and north-east, then to the south, between an ice-field and
the land, until the ice came so close to the shore that the vessel could
make no headway, when he anchored in a good haven by an island which lay
on the east side of Vaygats in the neighbourhood of the mainland. It was
perhaps the island which in recent maps is called Mestni Island. Pet was
thus now in the Kara Sea.[123] The latitude given--69 deg. 14'--shows even,
if it is correct, that he went far into the bay at the mouth of the Kara
river. Here Pet fell in with his comrade Jackman, from whom he had
parted on the coast of Kola, and of whose voyage during the interval we
know nothing. When the vessels met they were both damaged by ice. As,
in addition, the sea to the north and east was barred by compact masses
of ice, the captains, after deliberating with the inferior officers,
determined to return. They had, also, during the return voyage, to
contend with formidable ice obstacles, until, on the 25/15th August, in
Lat. 69 deg. 49' north, near the southeastern extremity of Vaygats they met
with open water. They sailed along the east coast of Vaygats through the
Kara Port, which was passed on the 27/17th August. Hence the course was
shaped for Kolgujev Island, on whose sandbanks both vessels ran aground,
but were soon got off again without loss. The latitude of the sandbanks
was correctly fixed at 68 deg. 48'.
On the 1st Sept./22nd Aug. _William_ was again lost sight of.[124]
On the 8th Sept./29th Aug. the _George_ anchored in Tana Fiord, on
which there was a town named Hungon.[125] Two days afterwards the
_George_ doubled the North Cape, and on the 5th Nov./26th Oct. again
anchored at Ratcliffe.
Pet and Jackman were the first north-east explorers who ventured
themselves in earnest amongst the drift-ice. In navigating among ice
they showed good judgment and readiness of resource, and in the
history of navigation the honour falls to them of having commanded
the first vessels from Western Europe that forced their way into the
Kara Sea. It is therefore without justification that BARROW says of
them that they were but indifferent navigators.[126]
With Pet and Jackman's voyage the English North-east Passage expeditions
were broken off for a long time. But the problem was, instead, taken up
with great zeal in Holland. Through the fortunate issue of the war of
freedom with Spain, and the incitement to enterprise which civil
freedom always brings along with it, Holland, already a great industrial
and commercial state, had begun, towards the close of the sixteenth
century, to develop into a maritime power of the first rank. But
navigation to India and China was then rendered impossible for the
Dutch, as for the English, by the supremacy of Spain and Portugal at
sea, and through the endeavours of these countries to retain the sole
right to the commercial routes they had discovered. In order to become
sharers in the great profits which commerce with the land of silks and
perfumes brought with it, it therefore appeared to be indispensable to
discover a new sea route north of Asia or America to the Eastern seas.
If such a route had been actually found, it was clear that the position
of Holland would have been specially favourable for undertaking this
lucrative trade. In this state of things we have to seek for the reason
of the delight with which the Dutch hailed the first proposal to force a
passage by sea north of Asia to China or Japan. Three successive
expeditions were at great expense fitted out for this purpose. These
expeditions did not, indeed, attain the intended goal--the discovery of
a north-eastern sea route to Eastern Asia, but they not only gained for
themselves a prominent place in the history of geographical discovery,
but also repaid a hundred fold the money that had been spent on them, in
part directly through the whale-fishing to which they gave rise, and
which was so profitable to Holland, and in part indirectly through the
elevation they gave to the self-respect and national feeling of the
people. They compared the achievements of their countrymen among the ice
and snow of the Polar lands to the voyage of the Argonauts, to
Hannibal's passage of the Alps, and to the campaign of the Macedonians
in Asia and the deserts of Libya (see, for instance, BLAVIUS. _Atlas
major_, Latin edition, t. i., pp. 24 and 31.) As these voyages together
present the grandest attempts to solve the problem that lay before the
_Vega_ expedition, I shall here give a somewhat detailed account of
them.
[Illustration: DUTCH SKIPPER. After G. de Veer. ]
THE FIRST DUTCH EXPEDITION, 1594.--This was fitted out at the expense of
private persons, mainly by the merchants BALTHASAR MUCHERON, JACOB
VALCKE, and FRANCISCUS MAELSON. The first intention was to send out only
two vessels with the view of forcing a passage through the sound at
Vaygats towards the east, but on the famous geographer PLANCIUS
representing that the route north of Novaya Zemlya was that which would
lead most certainly to the desired goal, other two were fitted out, so
that no fewer than four vessels went out in the year 1594 on an
exploratory expedition towards the north. Of these, two, viz. a large
vessel, specially equipped, it would appear, for the northern waters,
called the _Mercurius_, and commanded by WILLEM BARENTS,[127] and a
common fishing-sloop, attempted the way past the northern extremity of
Novaya Zemlya. The two others, viz. the _Swan_ of Zeeland, commanded by
CORNELIS CORNELISZ. NAY, and the _Mercurius_ of Enkhuizen, commanded by
BRANDT YSBRADTSZ. TETGALES, were to pass through the sound at Vaygats
Island.
All the four vessels left the Texel on the 15/5th June, and eighteen
days later arrived at Kilduin in Russian Lapland, a place where at
that time vessels, bound for the White Sea, often called. Here the
two divisions of the expedition parted company.
Barents sailed to Novaya Zemlya, which was reached on the 14/4th
July in 73 deg. 25'; the latitude was determined by measuring the
altitude of the midnight sun at an island which was called Willem's
Island. Barents sailed on along the coast in a northerly direction,
and two days afterwards reached the latitude of 75 deg. 54' north.
On the 19/9th July there was a remarkable chase of a Polar bear. The
bear was fallen in with on land and was pierced by a bullet, but
notwithstanding this he threw himself into the water, and swam with
a vigour "that surpassed all that had been heard of the lion or
other wild animal." Some of the crew pursued him in a boat, and
succeeded in casting a noose round his neck in order to catch him
living, with a view to carry him to Holland. But when the bear knew
that he was caught "he roared and threw himself about so violently
that it can scarcely be described in words." In order to tire him
they gave him a little longer line, rowing forward slowly the while,
and Barents at intervals struck him with a rope. Enraged at this
treatment, the bear swam to the boat, and caught it with one of his
forepaws, on which Barents said: "he wishes to rest himself a
little." But the bear had another object in view, for he cast
himself into the boat with such violence that half his body was soon
within it. The sailors were so frightened that they rushed to the
fore and thought that their last hour was come. Fortunately the bear
could make no further advance, because the noose that was thrown
round his neck had fastened in the rudder. A sailor taking courage,
now went aft and killed the bear with the stroke of an axe. The skin
was sent to Amsterdam. On account of this occurrence the place was
called "Bear Cape."
[Illustration: CAPTURE OF A POLAR BEAR. After G. de Veer. ]
Barents sailed on towards the north and north-east, past the place
which he called Cruys Eylandt (Cross Island)[128] and Cape Nassau, a
name which has been retained in recent maps, to the latitude of 77 deg.
55', which was reached on the 23rd/13th July. Here from the
mast-top an ice-field was seen, which it was impossible to see
beyond, which compelled Barents to turn. However, he still remained
in these northern regions, waiting for a better state of the ice,
till the 8th August/29th July, when the vessel was due west of a
promontory situated in latitude 77 deg. north, which was named Ice
Cape. Some gold-glittering stones were found here on the ground.
Such _finds_ have played a not inconsiderable _role_ in the history
of Arctic voyages, and shiploads of worthless ore have on several
occasions been brought home. On the 16th August/31st July, while
sailing among the Orange Islands, they saw 200 walruses on land. The
sailors attacked them with axes and lances, without killing a single
walrus, but they succeeded during the attempt to kill them in
striking out several tusks, which they carried home with them.
Convinced that he could not reach the intended goal by this northern
route, Barents determined, after consulting with his men, to turn
south and sail to Vaygats. While sailing down, Barents, in latitude
71 deg. north, makes the remark that he was now probably at a
place where OLIVER BRUNEL[129] had been before, and which had been
named by him Costinsark, evidently the present Kostin Schar, a
Russian name still in use for the sound which separates Meschduschar
Island from the main island. It ought to be observed, however, that
on old maps Matotschkin Schar is often marked with some perversion
of the word Kostin Schar.
South of "St. Laurens Bay,"[130] in 70-3/4 deg., Barents, on the
21st/11th August, found upon a headland across erected, and in the
neighbourhood of it three wooden buildings, the hull of a Russian
vessel and several sacks of meal, and at the same place some graves,
all clearly remains of some Russian salmon-fishers. On the 25/15th
August he arrived at Dolgoi Island, where he fell in with the two
other vessels from Zeeland and Enkhuizen that had come thither
shortly before. All the four vessels sailed back thence to Holland,
arriving there in the middle of September. The narrative of this
voyage closes with the statement that Barents brought home with him
a walrus, which had been fallen in with and killed on the drift-ice.
Barents during this journey discovered and explored the northern
part of Novaya Zemlya, never before visited by West-European
seafarers.
The two other vessels, that left the Texel at the same time as
Barents, also made a remarkable voyage, specially sketched by the
distinguished voyager JAN HUYGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN.[131]
The vessels were manned by fifty men, among them two interpreters--a
Slav, CHRISTOFFEL SPLINDLER, and a Dutch merchant, who had lived
long in Russia, FR. DE LA DALE. Provisions for eight months only
were taken on board. At first Nay and Tetgales accompanied Barents
to Kilduin, which island is delineated and described in considerable
detail in Linschoten's work.
[Illustration: JAN HUYGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN. Born in 1563 at Haarlem,
died in 1611 at Enkhuizen. After a portrait in his work,
_Navigatio in Orientalem sive Lusitanorum Indiam_, Hagae Comitis, 1590. ]
[Illustration: KILDUIN, IN RUSSIAN LAPLAND, IN 1504. After Linschoten. ]
[Illustration: Russian Map of the North Polar Sea from the beginning of
the 17th century, published in Holland in 1612 by Isaac Massa ]
On the 12th/2nd July Nay and Tetgales sailed from Kilduin for
Vaygats Island. Three days afterwards they fell in with much
drift-ice. On the 20/10th they arrived at Toxar, according to
Linschoten's map an island on the Timan coast, a little west of the
entrance to Petchora. They there met with a Russian _lodja_, whose
captain stated that he believed, after hearsay, that the Vaygats
Sound[132] was continually covered with ice, and that, when it was
passed, men came to a sea which lay to the south of, and was warmer
than, the Polar Sea. Some other Russians added, the following day,
that it was quite possible to sail through Vaygats Sound, if the
whales and walruses, that destroy all vessels that seek to pass
through, did not form an obstacle; that the great number of rocks
and reefs scarcely permitted the passage of a vessel; and finally,
that the Grand Duke had ordered three vessels to attempt the
passage, but that they had all been crushed by ice.
On the 22nd/12th July there came to Toxar hunters from the White
Sea, who spoke another language than the Russians, and belonged to
another race of men--they were evidently Finns or Karelians. A large
number of whales were seen in the haven, which gave occasion to a
remark by Linschoten that whale-fishing ought to be profitable
there. After the ice had broken up, and crosses with inscriptions
giving information of their movements had been erected on the shore,
they sailed on. On the 31/21st July they sighted Vaygats. They
landed at a headland marked with two crosses, and there fell in with
a native, clad in much the same way as a Kilduin Lapp, who soon took
to flight. Other headlands marked with crosses were afterwards
visited, and places where idols were found set up by hundreds.
Linschoten also landed on that Idol Cape which was visited during
the voyage of the _Vega_. There were then from three to four hundred
wooden idols, which, according to Lindschoten's description, were
very similar in appearance to those we saw. They were so ill made,
says he, that one could scarcely guess that they were intended to
represent men. The visage was very broad, the nose projecting, there
were two holes in place of the eyes, and another hole represented
the mouth. Five, six, or seven faces were often found carved on one
and the same stock "perhaps intended to represent a whole family."
Many Russian crosses were also erected there. Some days later they
found on the south shore of the sound a small house filled with
idols, much better made than the former, with eyes and paps of
metal. While the Dutch were employed in examining this collection of
idols, a reindeer sledge was driven forward in which sat a man armed
with a bow. When he saw the foreigners, he called loudly, on which a
number of sledges with about thirty men drove out of a valley and
endeavoured to surround the Dutch. They now fled in haste to their
boat, and when it had left the beach the Samoyeds shot at it with
their arrows, but without hitting it. This bloodless conflict is, so
far as we know, the only one that took place between the natives and
the north-east voyagers. The latter are thus free from the great
bloodguiltiness which attaches to most of those, who in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries made voyages of discovery in
southern regions.
Some days later, on the 10th August/31st July, the Dutch had a
friendly meeting with the Samoyeds, who gave them very correct
information concerning the state of the land and the sea, telling
them that "after ten or twelve days they would meet with no more
ice, and that summer would last six or seven weeks longer." After
the Dutch had learned all they could from these "barbarians, who had
greater skill in managing their bow than a nautical gnomon, and
could give better information regarding their hunting than about the
navigable water," they took their departure. When one of the sailors
hereupon blew a horn, the savages were so frightened, that they
begun to take to flight, but, quieted by the assurance that the
blast of the horn was only a sign of friendship, they returned and
on the beach saluted the departing strangers, bowing themselves to
the earth with uncovered heads and crossed hands.
On the 11th/1st August the Dutch, full of hope, sailed into the Kara
Sea, or, as they called it, the "North Tartaric Ocean." They soon
fell in with ice, on which account on the 13th/3rd they sought
protection under Mestni Island (Staten Eiland). Here they found a
sort of rock crystal resembling diamonds in all respects except
hardness, a disappointing circumstance which was ascribed to the
action of cold. Here also were seen images and sacrificial places,
but no houses and no trees.
When Nay and Tetgales sailed on, they came to an extensive open sea,
and on the 20/10th August they believed that they were off the mouth
of the Obi. Two of its principal mouth-arms they named, after the
vessels, "Swan" and "Mercurius," names which have since been
forgotten. It is quite evident that the river which the Dutch took
for the Obi was the Kara, and that the mouth-arms, Swan and
Mercurius, were two small coast rivers which debouch from Yalmal
into the Kara Sea.
On the 21st/11th August they determined to return home, taking it
for proved that, from the point which had been reached, it would be
easy to double "Promontorium Tabin," and thus get to China by the
north-east passage. A large number of whales were seen raising half
their bodies out of the sea and spouting jets of water from their
nostrils in the common way, which was considered a further sign that
they had an extensive ocean before them.
On the 24/14th August, Nay and Tetgales sailed again through Yugor
Schar (Fretum Nassovicum), and the day after at three small islands,
which were called Mauritius, Orange, and New Walcheren, they fell in
with Barents, and all sailed home to Holland, fully convinced that
the question of the possibility of a north-east passage to China was
now solved. It was shown indeed, in the following year, that this
supposition rested on quite too slight a foundation, but the voyages
of Nay and Tetgales deserve in any case an honoured place in the
history of navigation, for they extended considerably the knowledge
of the northern regions through the discovery, or at least through
the first passage of, Yogor Schar, and, like Barents, these
seafarers must get the credit of carrying out the task assigned to
them with skill, insight, resolution, and resource.
[Illustration: MAP OF FRETUM NASSOVICUM OR YUGOR SCHAR. After
Linschoten. ]
THE SECOND DUTCH EXPEDITION, 1595.[133] After the return of the
first expedition a report of the discoveries which had been made was
given in to Prince MAURICE of ORANGE, JAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT,
Advocate of Holland, and the other authorities at home. They were so
convinced by this report that the sea route to China was actually
discovered, that they immediately made arrangements to send out the
following year a flotilla of seven vessels, two from Amsterdam, two
from Zeeland, two from Enkhuizen, and one from Rotterdam, with a
view to open the new commercial communication.
The commanders of the vessels were CORNELIS NAY (Admiral), BRANDT
TETGALES (Second in Command), BARENTS, LAMBERT GERRITSZ. OOM, THOMAS
WILLEMSZ., HARMAN JANSZ., and HENDRIK HARTMAN. The lieutenants were
LINSCHOTEN, JACOB HEEMSKERK, FRANCOYS DE LA DALE, JAN CORNELISZ.,
RIJP, and N. BUYS. Six of the vessels were laden with goods and
coin; the seventh was to return, home with news when the fleet had
sailed through Vaygats Sound. The great preparations, however,
occupied so much time that it was not until the 12th/2nd July that
the voyage could be begun. On the 22nd/12th August, Kegor on the
Ribatschni peninsula was sighted, and on the 29/19th August the
fleet arrived at the Sound between Vaygats and the mainland, and
found a great deal of ice there.
On the 3rd Sep./24th Aug. the Dutch met with some Russians, who told
them that the winter had been very severe, but that the ice would in
a short time disappear, and that the summer would still last six
weeks. They also stated that the land to the northward, which was
called Vaygats, was an island, separated on its north side from
Novaya Zemlya; that it was visited in summer by natives, who towards
winter returned to the mainland; that Russian vessels, laden with
goods, yearly sailed through Vaygats Sound past the Obi to the river
Gillissy (Yenisej), where they passed the winter; that the dwellers
on the Yenisej were of the Greek-Christian religion, &c.
On the 10th Sept./31st Aug. the Dutch came in contact with the
Samoyeds south of Vaygats Sound. Their "king" received the strangers
in a very hospitable and friendly manner, and informed them that in
three or four weeks the cold would begin; that in some years the
drift-ice did not disappear; that during winter the whole sound and
the bays and coves were frozen over, but that the sea on both sides
did not freeze; that beyond the mouth of the river Ob there were the
mouths of two other rivers, of which the more remote was called the
"Molconsay," the nearer, which was often visited by Russian trading
vessels, the Gillissy; that the land continued beyond the Ob to a
cape which projected towards Novaya Zemlya, and that beyond this
promontory there was a great sea, which extended along Tartary to
warm regions.[134]
When the Dutch sailed into the Kara Sea they fell in with much ice,
on which account they anchored at the island, Staten Eiland, where
during the preceding voyage rock crystal had been found. Here two
men were killed in the way that has already been described.[135]
Depressed by this unfortunate occurrence and afraid to expose their
vessels, laden with valuable goods, too late in the season, to the
large quantity of ice which drifted about in the Kara Sea, the
commanders determined to turn. The fleet returned to Holland without
further adventure, passing through Vaygats Sound on the 25/15th
September.
This expedition did not yield any new contribution to the knowledge
of our globe. But it deserves to be noted that we can state with
certainty, with the knowledge we now possess of the ice-conditions
of the Kara Sea, that the Dutch during both their first and second
voyages had the way open to the Obi and Yenisej. If they had availed
themselves of this and continued their voyage till they came to
inhabited regions on either of these rivers, a considerable commerce
would certainly have arisen between Middle Asia and Europe by this
route as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century.
THE THIRD DUTCH EXPEDITION, 1596-97.[136] After the unfortunate
issue of the expedition of 1595, which had been fitted out at so
great an expense, and which had raised so great expectations, the
States-General would not grant the necessary funds for a third
voyage, but they offered instead a great prize to the states or
merchants that at their own expense should send out a vessel that
should by the route north of Asia force a passage to Asia and
China.[137] Encouraged by this offer the merchants of Amsterdam sent
out two vessels, one under the command of Willem Barents and Jacob
van Heemskerk, the other under Jan Cornelisz. Rijp. The crew were
chosen with care, unmarried men being preferred, with the idea that
wife and children would detract from the bravery of the members of
the expedition and lead them to return home prematurely.
[Illustration: UNSUCCESSFUL FIGHT WITH A POLAR BEAR. During the
Second Dutch Expedition. From De Veer. ]
On the 20/10th May these vessels left Amsterdam. On the 14/4th June
they saw in lat. 71 deg. North some beautiful parhelia, which are
found delineated in De Veer's work, and Blavii _Atlas Major_.
[Illustration: Map showing Barents' Third Voyage, from _J.L. Pontani
Rerum et urbis Amstelodamensium historia_, Amst., 1611 ]
On the 15/5th June one of the crew cried out from the deck that he
saw white swans, but on a closer examination it appeared that they
consisted of large pieces of ice, which drifted along the edge of
the pack.[138] On the 19/9th they discovered, north of North Cape, a
new island, situated in latitude 74 deg. 30' North. A large bear
was killed here, and on this account the island was called Bear
Island. On the 29/19th they came in the 80th degree of latitude to
another formerly unknown land, which they believed to be connected
with Greenland. It was in fact the large group of islands, which
afterwards obtained the name Spitzbergen. There were found here on a
small island the eggs of a species of goose--_rotgansen_[139] which
comes yearly to Holland in great flocks, but whose breeding place
was before unknown. With reference to this, De Veer says that it is
finally proved that this goose is not, as has been hitherto
supposed, propagated in Scotland by the goose laying her eggs from
the branches of trees overhanging the water, the eggs being broken
in pieces against the surface of the water, and the newly hatched
young immediately swimming about.
After an unsuccessful attempt had been made to sail to the north of
Spitzbergen the vessels proceeded southwards along the west
coast,[140] and on the 11th/1st July came again to Bear Island. Here
the vessels parted company, Barents sailing eastwards towards Novaya
Zemlya, Rijp northwards towards the east coast of Spitzbergen. On
the 27/17th July, Barents reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya in
latitude 73 deg. 20' North. On the 30/20th July, no further
advance could be made for ice, which still lay close to the shore.
During the stay here there were several adventures with bears, all
of which, came off successfully. In consequence of ice obstacles
their progress was exceedingly slow, so that it was not until the
25/15th August that they reached the Orange Islands. The following
day several of the crew ascended a high mountain, from which they
saw open water on the other side of an island. As glad at the sight
of the sea as the ten thousand under Xenophon, they rushed back to
the vessel to give Barents the important news. He now did all he
could to pass the north extremity of Novaya Zemlya. He was
successful in doing so, and on the 31/21st a haven, situated in
about the latitude of 76 deg. North, was reached with great
difficulty, but all attempts to sail eastwards from it were
unsuccessful. Finally, on the 4th Sept./25th Aug. Barents determined
to return to Holland.
[Illustration: BARENTS' AND RIJP'S VESSELS. From De Veer. ]
Now, however, it was too late. The haven was blocked with drift-ice,
which was in constant motion, several times pressed the vessel high up
between the pieces of ice, and finally broke the rudder in pieces. It
was now evident that it would be necessary to winter, and for this
purpose the requisite tools, household articles, and provisions were
landed and men sent out to examine the neighbourhood. Reindeer tracks
were seen, and, what was more important, there were found on the beach
large tree-stems with their roots still adhering, and other wood which
the marine currents had drifted to this otherwise completely woodless
region. The drift-wood was collected in large heaps that it might not be
buried under the snow in winter. A place was chosen for a house, and
the Dutch began to draw timber to the place. The openings in the
drift-ice were on the 25/15th September covered with a crust of ice two
inches thick, but on the 5th Oct./15th Sept. the ice was again somewhat
broken up, which however was of no advantage to the imprisoned, because
their vessel was forced up so high on a block of ground ice that it
could not be got off. Bears were hunted almost daily. They were very
bold and sometimes came on board the vessel. On the 15/5th October all
ice was driven off as far as the eye could see, but the vessel still lay
motionless on the blocks of ground ice. Round these the ice closed in
again, to break up anew at a greater or less distance from the beach. On
the 4th March/22nd Feb. there was still much open water visible from the
beach, and on the 16/6th and 18/8th March, the sea appears to have been
in one direction completely free of ice.
On the 31/21st October, the crew began to remove into the house,
where they afterwards passed the winter 1596-97 with many
sufferings, dangers, difficulties, and privations which are
described in De Veer's work. The crew, however, never lost courage,
which undoubtedly was a principal cause of most of them being saved.
The house was built on the north-east side of Novaya Zemlya, on the
shore of Barents' Ice Haven. It was situated far to the north of any
other place where men had previously passed the winter. The land and
its animal life was unknown, the hard frozen, almost rock-fast and
yet continually moving ice-covering, with which the sea was bound,
was something quite novel, as also were the effects which long
continued and severe cold exerts on animate and inanimate objects.
Before the attempt was made it was not considered at all certain
that men could actually endure the severe cold of the highest north
and the winter night three or four months long. No wonder therefore
that the skill and undaunted resolution of the Dutch Polar explorers
aroused unmingled admiration among all civilised nations, and that
the narrative of their wintering was received with unbounded
interest and formed the subject of innumerable writings and
reproductions both in prose and verse in almost all civilised
languages. Only a few facts from the journal of the wintering need
therefore be given here.
[Illustration: BARENTS' HOUSE, OUTSIDE. From De Veer. ]
[Illustration: BARENTS' HOUSE, INSIDE. From De Bry. ]
On the 14/4th November the sun disappeared, and was again visible on
the 3rd Feb./24th Jan. These dates have caused scientific men much
perplexity, because in latitude 76 deg. North, the upper edge of
the sun ought to have ceased to be visible when the sun's south
declination in autumn became greater than 13 deg.,[141] and to
have again become visible when the declination again became less
than that figure; that is so say, the sun ought to have been seen
for the last time at Barents' Ice Haven on the 27/17th October, and
it ought to have appeared again there on the 14/4th February. It has
been supposed that the deviation arose from some considerable error
in counting the days, but this was unanimously denied by the crew
who wintered.[142] The bears disappeared and reappeared with the
sun. Instead, foxes came during winter to the building, and were
caught for food in numbers, many on the roof of the house. In order
to pass the time and keep up their courage, the Dutch sometimes had
entertainments, at which the cheerfulness of the partakers had to
make up for the meagreness of the fare. After the return of the sun
the bears again came very close, so that there was a number of
hunting adventures with them, all of which came off successfully.
Several bears made themselves at home in the vessel abandoned by the
crew, casting everything about, and broke up the hatch of the
kitchen, covered as it was with deep snow. An attempt to eat bear's
liver resulted in those that ate of it becoming very ill, and after
recovery renewing their skin over the whole body. Once during severe
cold, when pitcoal was used to warm the building, all the men in it
were like to have died of the fumes. On one or two occasions, for
instance on the 25/15th February, so much snow had collected outside
the door, that it was necessary to go out by the chimney. For the
preservation of their health the Dutch often took a vapour bath in a
barrel fitted up for the purpose.
On the 7th May/27th April the first small birds were seen, and on
the 25/15th May Barents declared that if the vessel were not got off
before the end of the month, they should return in boats, which were
therefore immediately got ready. This was, however, attended with
great difficulty, because most of the crew had during the course of
the winter become exceedingly weak, evidently from scurvy. After the
equipment of the boats had been completed and they had been properly
laden with provisions, the Dutch at last started on the 23rd/13th June.
A man had died on the 6th Feb./27th Jan. At beginning of the boat
voyage Barents himself was very ill, and six days after, on the
30/20th June, he died, while resting with his companions on a large
floe, being compelled to do so by the drift-ice. On the same day one
of the crew died, and on the 15/5th July another.
On the 7th Aug./28 July returning Arctic explorers at St. Lawrens'
Bay fell in with two vessels manned by Russian hunters, whose
acquaintance the Dutchmen had made the year before, and who now
received them with great friendliness and pity for their sufferings.
They continued their voyage in their small open boats, and all
arrived in good health and spirits at Kola, where they were received
with festivities by the inhabitants. It gave them still greater joy
to meet here Jan Cornelisz. Rijp, from whom they had parted at Bear
Island the preceding year, and of whose voyage we know only that he
intended to sail up along the east coast of Spitzbergen, and that,
when this was found to be impossible, he returned home the same
autumn.
After the two boats, in which Barents' companions had travelled with
so many dangers and difficulties from their winter haven to Russian
Lapland, had been left in the merchant's yard[143] at Kola, as a
memorial of the journey--the first memorial of a Polar expedition
was thus raised at Kola--they went on board Rijp's vessel, and
sailed in it to Holland, arriving there the 8th November/29th
October. Sixteen men had left Holland with Barents, twelve men
returned in safety to their native land, and among them JACOB VAN
HEEMSKERK, a man who during the whole voyage had played a prominent
part, and afterwards lived long enough to see the time when the
Dutch were a match at sea for the Spaniards. For he fell as
commander of the Dutch fleet which defeated the Spanish at Gibraltar
on April 25, 1607.
[Illustration: JACOB VAN HEEMSKERK. Born in 1567 at Amsterdam,
died in 1607 at Gibraltar After a contemporary engraving by N.
de Clerck. ]
During Barents' third voyage Bear Island and Spitzbergen were
discovered, and the natural conditions of the high northern regions
during winter first became known. On the other hand, the unfortunate
issue of the maritime expeditions sent out from Holland appears to
have completely deterred from farther attempts to find a
north-eastern commercial route to China and Japan, and this route
was also now less necessary, as Houtman returned with the first
Dutch fleet from the East Indies the same year that Barents'
companions came back from their wintering. The problem was therefore
seriously taken up anew for the first time during the present
century; though during the intervening period attempts to solve it
were not wholly wanting.
For the desire to extend the White Sea trade to Siberia, and
jealousy of the companies that had known how to procure for
themselves a monopoly of the lucrative commerce with eastern Asia,
still led various merchants now and then during the seventeenth
century to send out vessels to try whether it was possible to
penetrate beyond Novaya Zemlya. I shall confine myself here to an
enumeration of the most important of these undertakings, with the
necessary bibliographical references.
1608. HENRY HUDSON, during his second voyage, landed on Novaya
Zemlya at Karmakul Bay and other places, but did not succeed in his
attempt to sail further to the east, north of this island. He made
the voyage on account of English merchants. A narrative of it is to
be found in _Purchas_ (iii. p. 574), and an excellent critical
collection of all the original documents relating to Hudson's life
and voyages in G.M. Asher's _Henry Hudson the Navigator_, London,
1860 (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, No. 26). It was west of
the Atlantic that Hudson earned the laurels which gave him for all
time so prominent a place in the history of navigation, and the sea
there also became his grave. Eastwards he did not penetrate so far
as his predecessors. I cannot therefore here find room for any
account of his voyage to Novaya Zemlya; it may only be mentioned
that two of his crew on the morning of the 25/15th of June, 1608, in
75 deg. N.L., saw a mermaid. The following statement is taken from
his journal: "This morning one of the crew, as he looked over the
side, saw a mermaid. Another of his comrades came up at his call.
She was close to the vessel's side, looking steadily at the men.
Soon after she was thrown down by a wave. From the middle upwards
her back and breast were like a woman's. Her body was as large as a
man's, her skin very white, and long dark hair hung down her back.
When she dived, they saw her tail, which resembled that of a dolphin
and was spotted like a mackerel's. The names of the men who saw her
were Thomas Hiller and Robert Bayner." It was probably a curious
seal that gave occasion to this version of the old yarn.
1611. WILLIAM GOURDON, with the title "appointed chief pilote for
discoverie to Ob," brought this year a cargo of goods to Pustosersk,
and sailed thence to Novaya Zemlya. At the mouth of the Petchora he
saw 24 _lodjas_, manned with ten to 16 men each, bound for
"Mangansei" east of Ob (_Purchas_, iii. pp. 530, 534). While
attempting to get further information regarding these voyages to
Siberia, the Muscovy Company's envoy learned that, at least as a
rule, the question was only of carrying goods by sea to the bottom
of Kara Bay, whence they were transported overland to Ob, advantage
being taken of two small rivers and a lake (_Purchas_, iii. p. 539).
But other accounts lead us to infer that the Russian _lodjas_
actually sailed to Ob, even through Matotschkin Schar, as appears
from statements in _Purchas_ (iii. pp. 804, 805). At the same place
we find the statement, already quoted, of a Russian, who in 1584
offered for fifty roubles to act as guide overland from the Petchora
to the Ob, that a West-European ship was wrecked at the mouth of the
Ob, and its crew killed by the Samoyeds who lived there. The Russian
also said that it was an easy matter to sail from Vaygats to the
mouth of the Ob.
1612. The whaling captain JAN CORNELISZ. VAN HOORN endeavoured to
sail north of Novaya Zemlya towards the east, but met with ice in
77 deg. N.L., which compelled him to return (_Witsen_, p. 906).
1625. CORNELIS BOSMAN, at the instance of the Northern Company of
the Netherlands, with a vessel of 90 tons, manned by 24 men, and
provisioned for two and a half years, passed through Yugor Schar
eastwards, but fell in with so much ice in the Kara Sea that he was
compelled to seek for a harbour in that sound. There he waited for
more favourable conditions, but was finally compelled by storm and
ice to return with his object unaccomplished. (S. Muller,
_Geschiedenis der Noordsche Compagnie_, Utrecht, 1874, p. 185.)
1653.[144] This year a Danish expedition was sent out to the
North-east. An account of the voyage was given by DE LA MARTINIERE,
surgeon to the expedition, in a work published for the first time at
Paris in 1671, with the following title: _Voyage des Pais
Septentrionaux. Dans lequel se void les moeurs, maniere de vivre, &c.
superstitions des Norweguiens, Lappons, Kiloppes, Borandiens,
Syberiens, Samojedes, Zembliens, &c. Islandois, enrichi de plusieurs
figures_.[145] This work afterwards attained a considerable
circulation, doubtless in consequence of Martiniere's easy style,
contrasting so strongly with the common dry ship's-log manner, and
the large number of wonderful stories he narrates, without the least
regard to truth or probability. He is the Munchhausen of the
North-east voyages. The Norse peasants, for instance, are said to be
all slaves to the nobles, who have sovereign power over their
property, tyrannise over their inferiors, and are prone to
insurrection. The elks are said to be liable to falling sickness,
and therefore fall down in convulsions when they are hunted--hence
their name "eleend." Sailors are said to have purchased on the
north-west coast of Norway for ten crowns and a pound of tobacco
three knots of wind from the Lapps living there, who were all
magicians; when the first knot was loosed, a gentle breeze arose,
the second gave a strong gale, the third a storm, during which the
vessel was in danger of being wrecked.[146]. Novaya Zemlya is stated
to be inhabited by a peculiar tribe, "the Zembliens," of whom two
were taken prisoners and carried to Copenhagen. De la Martiniere
also got the head of a walrus, which had been harpooned with great
difficulty; the animal was drawn as a fish with a long horn
projecting from its head. As a specimen of the birds of Novaya
Zemlya a penguin was drawn and described, and finally the work
closed with a rectification of the map of the Polar Regions, which
according to the author's ideas ought to be as represented below. I
refer to these absurdities, because the account of Martiniere's
voyage exerted no little influence on the older writings relating to
the Arctic Regions.
1664 and 1668. A whaling captain, WILLEM DE VLAMINGH, sailed in 1664
round the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya to Barents' winter
quarters, and thence eastwards, where one of his men thought he saw
land ("Jelmert-landt," _Witsen_, p. 902).[147] The same Vlamingh
says that in 1668 he discovered, twenty-five miles N.N.E. of
Kolgujev, a new island three to four miles in circumference. This
island, which was described in great detail, and named by the
discoverer "Witsen's Island," has not since been seen again
(_Witsen_, p. 923).
1666. In this year some vessels were sent from the Netherlands to
the north-east. There were Jews among the owners, and the seafarers
were furnished with letters in Hebrew, because it was believed that
they would come in contact with some of the lost tribes of Israel.
Nothing farther appears to have been known of the voyage, which
undoubtedly was without result. (_Witsen_, p. 962.)
[Illustration: DE LA MARTINIERE'S MAP. ]
1675. A Dutch whaling captain, CORNELIS PIERSZ. SNOB-BERGER, visited
Novaya Zemlya, on whose coast he killed three whales and six hundred
walruses. He would probably have got still more "fish," if he had
not in 72-1/2 deg. found an ore, which appeared to contain silver,
gold, and other metals. Instead of blubber the skipper now loaded
ore, which in his opinion was precious, but afterwards on being
tested at home was found to be valueless (_Witsen_, p. 918).
17th Century, year not stated. Shipmaster CORNELIS ROULE is said to
have sailed in the longitude of Novaya Zemlya to 84-1/2 deg. or 85 deg.
N.L. and there discovered a fjord-land, along which he sailed
ten miles. Beyond that a large open sea was seen. From a high
mountain situated on a sound, in which he rode, it appeared that he
might sail one or two watches further to the north. He found there
large numbers of birds, which were exceedingly tame (_Witsen_, p.
920). If we take some degrees from the latitude stated, which is
perhaps not very unreasonable in dealing with the narratives of old
whalers, which have passed through two or three hands, Roule may, as
far back as two hundred years ago, have reached Franz-Josef's Land,
and sailed along its coast to a very high latitude for those
regions.
1676. WOOD and FLAWES were sent out from England by Charles II. to
sail by the north-east passage to the Pacific. For this purpose the
English Admiralty fitted out a vessel, the _Speedwell_, while "as
all exploratory voyages are exposed to the possibility of disaster,"
another small ship, the _Prosperous_, was purchased and handed over
to the expedition by private gentlemen.[148] The command of the
first vessel was given to Captain Wood, the chief promoter of the
undertaking, and the other vessel was commanded by Captain Flawes.
The voyage was completely without result, as Wood did not penetrate
so far, either to the north or east, as his predecessors or as the
whalers, who appear to have at that time frequently visited North
Novaya Zemlya. Wood had previously accompanied Sir John Narborough
during a voyage through the dangerous Magellan Straits, in the
course of which he became known as a bold and skilful seaman, but he
not only wanted experience in sailing amongst ice, but also the
endurance and the coolness that are required for voyages in the high
north. He thereby showed himself to be quite unfit for the command
which he undertook. Before his departure he was unreasonably certain
of success; with the first encounter with ice his self-reliance gave
way entirely; and when his vessel was wrecked on the coast of Novaya
Zemlya, he knew no other way to keep up the courage of his men and
prevent mutiny than to send the brandy bottle round.[149] Finally
after his return he made Barents and other distinguished seafarers
in the Arctic Regions answerable for all the skipper tales collected
from quite other quarters, which he before his departure held to be
proved undoubtedly true. This voyage would therefore not have been
referred to here, if it had not been preceded and followed by lively
discussions regarding the fitness of the Polar Sea for navigation,
during which at least a portion of the experience which Dutch and
English whalers had gained of the state of the ice between Greenland
and Novaya Zemlya was rescued from oblivion, though unfortunately
almost exclusively in the form of unconfirmed statements of very
high latitudes, which had been occasionally reached. Three papers
mainly led to Wood's voyage. These were:--
1. A letter, inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Society,[150]
on the state of Novaya Zemlya, said to be founded on discoveries
which had been made at the express command of the Czar.
The letter was accompanied by a map, drawn by an artist named
Panelapoetski, who sent it from Moscow as a present to the writer.
The Kara Sea is said to be a freshwater inland lake which freezes
strongly in winter, and it is stated that according to the unanimous
accounts of the Samoyeds and Tartars it is quite possible to sail
north of Novaya Zemlya to Japan.
2. Another letter was inserted in the _Transactions_ of the Royal
Society,[151] in which the statement in the former letter on the
connection of Novaya Zemlya with the mainland is repeated, and the
difficulties which Barents met with ascribed to the circumstance
that he sailed too near the land, along which the sea is often
frozen; some miles from the shore, on the other hand, it never
freezes, even at the Pole, unless occasionally. It is also said that
some Amsterdam merchants sailed more than a hundred leagues eastward
of Novaya Zemlya, and on that account petitioned the States-General
for privileges.[152] However, in consequence of opposition from the
Dutch East India Company, their petition was not granted, on which
the merchants turned to Denmark. Here their proposal was immediately
received with favour. Two vessels were fitted out, but instead of
sailing to Japan, they went to Spitzbergen to the whale-fishing. It
is further stated in the letter that it would not be unadvisable to
let some persons live for a time with the Samoyeds, in order to find
out what they knew of the matter, and that, when a more complete
knowledge of the navigable waters was acquired, the whole voyage
from England to Japan might be accomplished in five or six weeks.
Were a wintering necessary, it would not be attended with any
danger, if, instead of a house of thick planks standing by itself,
earth huts were used.
3. A pamphlet, whose contents are given in the long and peculiar
title: "A brief Discourse of a Passage by the North-Pole to Japan,
China, etc. Pleaded by Three Experiments: and Answers to all
Objections that can be urged against a Passage that way. As: 1. By a
Navigation from Amsterdam into the North-Pole, and two Degrees
beyond it. 2. By a Navigation from Japan towards the North-Pole. 3.
By an Experiment made by the Czar of Muscovy, whereby it appears,
that to the Northwards of Nova Zembla is a free and open Sea as far
as Japan, China, etc. With a Map of all the Discovered Lands neerest
to the Pole. By Joseph Moxon, Hydrographer to the King's most
Exellent Majesty. London, 1674."
The most remarkable passage in this scarce little book is the
following:--
"Being about twenty-two years ago in Amsterdam, I went
into a drinking-house to drink a cup of beer for my
thirst, and sitting by the public fire, among several
people, there happened a seaman to come in, who, seeing a
friend of his there, whom he knew went in the Greenland
voyage, wondered to see him, because it was not yet time
for the Greenland fleet to come home, and asked him what
accident brought him home so soon; his friend (who was the
steer-man aforsaid in a Greenland ship that summer) told
him, that their ship went not out to fish that summer, but
only to take in the lading of the whole fleet, to bring it
to an early market. But, said he, before the fleet had
caught fish enough to lade us, we, by order of the
Greenland Company, sailed unto the north pole and back
again. Whereupon (his relation being novel to me) I
entered into discourse with him, and seemed to question
the truth of what he said; but he did ensure me it was
true, and that the ship was then in Amsterdam, and many of
the seamen belonging to her to justify the truth of it;
and told me, moreover, that they had sailed two degrees
beyond the pole. I asked him if they found no land or
islands about the pole? He told me, No, they saw no ice; I
asked him what weather they had there? He told me fine
warm weather, such as was at Amsterdam in the summer time
and as hot."[153]
In addition to these stories there were several contributions to a
solution of the problem, which Wood himself collected, as a
statement by Captain Goulden, who had made thirty voyages to
Spitzbergen, that two Dutchmen had penetrated eastward of that group
of islands to 89 deg. N.L.; the observation that on the coast of
Corea whales had been caught with European harpoons in them;[154]
and that driftwood eaten to the heart by the sea-worm was found on
the coasts of the Polar lands, &c.[155]
When Wood failed, he abandoned the views he had before maintained,
declaring that the statements on which he had founded his plans were
downright lies and delusions. But the belief in a polar sea that is
occasionally navigable is not yet given up. It has since then been
maintained by such men as DAINES BARRINGTON,[156] FERDINAND VON
WRANGEL, AUGUSTUS PETERMANN,[157] and others. Along with nearly all
Polar travellers of the present day, I had long been of an opposite
opinion, believing the Polar Sea to be constantly covered with
impenetrable masses of ice, continuous or broken up, but I have come
to entertain other views since in the course of two winterings--the
first in 79 deg.53', that is to say, nearer the Pole than any
other has wintered in the old world, the second in the neighbourhood
of the Asiatic Pole of cold--I have seen that the sea does not
freeze completely, even in the immediate neighbourhood of land. From
this I draw the conclusion that the sea scarcely anywhere
permanently[158] freezes over where it is of any considerable depth,
and far from land. If this be the case, there is nothing
unreasonable in the old accounts, and what has happened once we may
expect to happen another time.
However this may be, it is certain that the ignominious result of
Wood's voyage exerted so great a deterring influence from all new
undertakings in the same direction, that nearly two hundred years
elapsed before an expedition was again sent out with the distinctly
declared intention, which was afterwards disavowed, of achieving a
north-east passage. This was the famous Austrian expedition of PAYER
and WEYPRECHT in 1872-74, which failed indeed in penetrating far to
the eastward, but which in any case formed an epoch in the history
of Arctic exploration by the discovery of Franz-Josef's Land and by
many valuable researches on the natural conditions of the Polar
lands. Considered as a North-east voyage, this expedition was the
immediate predecessor of that of the _Vega_.
It is so well known through numerous works recently published, and
above all by Payer's spirited narrative, that I need not go into
further detail regarding it.
But if the North-east voyages proper thus almost entirely ceased
during the long interval between Wood's and Payer's voyages, a large
number of other journeys for the purpose of research and hunting
were instead carried out during this period, through which we
obtained the first knowledge founded on actual observations of the
natural conditions of Novaya Zemlya and the Kara Sea. Of these
voyages, mainly made by Russians and Scandinavians, I shall give an
account in the next chapter. It was these that prepared the way for
the success which we at last achieved.
[Footnote 102: In Bosworth's translation this name is replaced by
_White Sea_, an unnecessary modernising of the name, and incorrect
besides, as the White Sea is only a bay of the ocean which bounds
Europe on the north. ]
[Footnote 103: The Russian chronicles state that the land between
the Dwina and the Petchora (Savolotskaja Tchud) was made tributary
under the Slavs in Novgorod during the first half of the ninth
century. A monastery is spoken of in the beginning of the twelfth
century at the mouth of the Dwina, whence we may conclude that the
land was even then partly peopled by Russians, but we want
trustworthy information as to the time when the Russian-Finnish
Arctic voyages began (compare F. Litke, _Viermalige Reise durch das
noerdliche Eismeer_. Berlin, 1835, p. 3). ]
[Footnote 104: The voyage is described in _Hakluyt_, 1st Edition, p.
311. It is inserted in the list of contents in the following terms:
"The voyage of Steven Burrough towarde the river Ob, intending the
discoverie of the north-east passage. An. 1556." It appears from the
introduction to Hakluyt's work that the narrative was revised by
Burrough himself. In the text Burrowe is written instead of
Burrough. ]
[Footnote 105: As I have already mentioned, von Herbertstein states
that the Russians (Istoma and others) as early as 1496 sailed round
the northern extremity of Norway in boats, which when necessary
could be carried over land. North Cape, or rather Nordkyn, was
called at that time Murmanski Nos (the Norman Cape). When Hulsius in
his collection of travels gives von Herbertstein's account of
Istoma's voyage, he considers Swjatoi Nos on the Kola peninsula to
be North Cape (Harnel, _Tradescant_, St. Petersburg, 1847, p. 40). ]
[Footnote 106: This must be a slip of the pen or an error of the
press; it was probably intended to be 68 deg. 48'. Kola lies in 68 deg.
51' N.L. ]
[Footnote 107: This statement is very remarkable. For it shows that
the vessels, that were then used by the Russians and Fins, were not
very inferior as compared with those of the West-Europeans, which is
confirmed by the fact, among others, that, nowhere in accounts of
the voyages of the English or Dutch in former times to Novaya
Zemlya, do we find it stated that in respect to navigation they were
very superior to the Kola men. As the Russian-Finnish _lodjas_ of
the time were probably beyond the influence of the shipbuilding art
of Western Europe, it is of importance to collect all that is known
about the way in which these vessels were built. Several drawings of
them occur in the accounts of the Dutch voyages, but it is uncertain
how far they are accurate. According to these the _lodja_ was
klinker-built, with boards not riveted together but bound fast with
willows, as is still occasionally practised in these regions. The
form of the craft besides reminds us of that of the present
walrus-hunting sloop. ]
[Footnote 108: Cape Voronov, on the west side of the mouth of the
river Mesen. ]
[Footnote 109: Probably mountain foxes. Remains of these fox-traps
are still frequently met with along the coast of the Polar Sea,
where the Russians have carried on hunting. ]
[Footnote 110: Kanin Nos is in 68 deg. 30' N.L. ]
[Footnote 111: This was the first meeting between West-Europeans and
Samoyeds. ]
[Footnote 112: The capes which bound the mouth of the Petchora--Cape
Ruski Savorot and Cape Medinski Savorot,--are very nearly in lat.
69 deg.. ]
[Footnote 113: See above, page 168. ]
[Footnote 114: Evidently islands near the southern extremity of
Novaya Zemlya. ]
[Footnote 115: Probably he was of Finnish race. The Quaens in North
Norway are still the most skilful harpooners. In recent times they
have found rivals in skill with the harpoon and gun in the Lapps. ]
[Footnote 116: The information Burrough obtained regarding the
Samoyeds is given above at page 100. ]
[Footnote 117: From the context, and the circumstance that "much ice
was drifting in the sea," we may conclude that this haven was
situated on the north side of the island at the entrance to the Kara
Port. ]
[Footnote 118: Probably the river which on Massa's map is called
Narontza, and debouches on the west coast of Yalmal. ]
[Footnote 119: All the three vessels that were employed in the first
English expedition to the North-east had an unfortunate fate, viz.:
The _Edward Bonaventure_, commanded by Chancelor and Burrough,
sailed in 1553 from England to the White Sea, returned to England in
1554 and was on the way plundered by the Dutch (_Purchas_, iii. p.
250); started again with Chancelor for the Dwina in 1555, and
returned the same year to England under Captain John Buckland;
accompanied Burrough in 1556 to the Kola peninsula; went thence to
the Dwina to convey to England Chancelor and a Russian embassy,
consisting of the ambassador Ossip Gregorjevitsch Nepeja and a suite
of sixteen men; the vessel besides being laden with goods to the
value of 20,000_l_. It was wrecked in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen
(Aberdour Bay) on the 20th (10th) November. Chancelor himself, his
wife, and seven Russians were drowned, and most of the cargo lost.
The _Bona Esperanza_, admiral of the fleet during the expedition of
1553. Its commander and whole crew perished, as has been already
stated, of disease at Arzina on the coast of Kola in the beginning
of 1554. The vessel was saved and was to have been used in 1556 to
carry to England the Russian embassy already mentioned. After having
been driven by a storm into the North Sea, it reached a harbour in
the neighbourhood of Trondhjem, but after leaving that harbour
disappeared completely, nothing being known of its fate.
The _Bona Confidentia_ was saved like the _Bona Esperanza_ after the
disastrous wintering at Arzina; was also used in conveying the
Russian embassy from Archangel in 1556, but stranded on the
Norwegian coast, every man on board perishing and the whole cargo
being lost.
Of the four vessels that left the Dwina on the 2nd August, 1556,
only the _Philip and Mary_ succeeded, after wintering at Trondhjem,
in reaching the Thames on the 28th (18th) April, 1557. (A letter of
Master Henrie Lane to the worshipfull Master William Sanderson,
containing a brief discourse of that which passed in the north-east
discoverie, for the space of three and thirtie yeeres, _Purchas_,
iii. p. 249.) ]
[Footnote 120: Hamel, _Tradescant der aeltere_, p. 106. Hakluyt, 1st
Edition, p. 326. _The voiage of the foresaid M. Stephen Burrough
An_. 1557 _from Colmogro to Wordhouse, &c._ This voyage of Burrough
has attracted little attention; from it however we learn that the
Dutch even at that time carried on an extensive commerce with
Russian Lapland. In the same narrative there is also a list of words
with statements of prices and suitable goods for trade with the
inhabitants of the Kola peninsula. ]
[Footnote 121: Two accounts of this voyage are to be found in
Hakluyt's collection (pp. 466 and 476). A copy of Pet's own journal
was discovered some years ago, along with other books, frozen in
among the remains of Barents' wintering on the north-east side of
Novaya Zemlya. It has not been published, but is in the possession
of Consul Rein at Hammerfest. ]
[Footnote 122: The Russians had thus landmarks on Novaya Zemlya 300
years ago. ]
[Footnote 123: It is commonly assumed that Pet sailed into the Kara
Sea through Yugor Schar, but that this was not the case is shown
partly by the fact that he never speaks of sailing through a long
and narrow sound, partly by the account of the many islands which he
saw in his voyage, and partly by the statement that coming from the
south he sailed round the westernmost promontory of Vaygats Island.
If we except small rocks near the shore, there are no islands off
the southern part of Vaygats Island. In sailing east of Medinski
Savorot, Pet took the land south of Yugor Schar for Vaygats, and the
soundings on the 29th (19th) July were carried out undoubtedly in
the mouth of some small river debouching there. ]
[Footnote 124: Of Jackman Hakluyt says (2nd Edition, i. p. 453):
"William with Charles Jackman came to a haven in Norway between
Tronden and Rostock in October, 1580, and wintered there. Thence the
following February he went with a vessel, belonging to the king of
Denmark, to Iceland, and since then nothing has been heard of him."
About that time an English ship stranded at the Ob, and the crew
were killed by the Samoyeds. It has been conjectured that it
possibly was Jackman (compare _Purchas_, iii. p. 546; _Hamel_, p.
238). It is more probable that the vessel which suffered this fate
was that which, two years before Pet and Jackman's voyage, appears
to have been sent out by the Muscovy Company to penetrate eastwards
from the Petchora. The members of this expedition were James
Bassendine, James Woodcocke, and Richard Brown, but we know nothing
concerning it except the very sensible and judicious rules that were
drawn up for the expedition (_Hakluyt_, 1st Edition, p. 406). ]
[Footnote 125: I have not been able to find any name resembling this
on modern maps. ]
[Footnote 126: _A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic
Regions._ London, 1818, p. 99. ]
[Footnote 127: His proper name was Willem Barentszoon; it was also
written Barentz, Barendsz, Bernardsson, &c. Barents' three voyages
formed the subject of a work by GERRIT DE VEER, which was published
for the first time in 1598 at Amsterdam in a Dutch, a Latin, and a
French edition. The last-mentioned has the following title: _Vray
Description de Trois Voyages des Mer tres admirables faicis_ ...
_par les navires d'Hollande &c. Zelande au nord_ ... _vers les
Royaumes de China &c. Catay, etc._ Afterwards this work was
frequently reprinted in different languages, both singly and in DE
BEY'S, PURCHAS', and other collections of Travels. See on this point
P.A. Tiele, _Memoire bibliographique sur les journaux des
navigateurs Neerlandais_. Amsterdam, 1867. ]
[Footnote 128: From two large crosses which were found erected on
the island. This shows that the Russians had also explored the north
part of Novaya Zemlya before the West-Europeans. ]
[Footnote 129: The name Oliver Brunel occurs so often in accounts of
the first voyages to Novaya Zemlya, and the man who bore it appears
to have exercised so great an influence on the development of
commercial communications with Russia, and the sending out of
exploratory expeditions to the North Polar Sea, that I shall give a
brief sketch of his life, mainly after S. Muller, _Geschiedenis der
Noordsche Compagnie_, Utrecht, 1874, p. 26.
Oliver Brunel was born in Brussels, and in 1565 went in a Russian
vessel from Kola to Kolmogor in order to learn the Russian language
and make himself acquainted with the trade of the region. But the
English, who of course eagerly endeavoured to prevent any intrusion
on their newly-discovered commercial territory, prevailed on the
Russians to keep him in prison for several years. In the end he was
set at liberty, or rather handed over to the rich merchants Jakov
and Grigory Anikiev (Stroganov). In consequence of this, Brunel came
to take part in the commercial expeditions sent out by this
mercantile house, (which by the conquest of Siberia acquired a
world-historical importance, both by land and sea,) to the parts of
Asia bordering on Russia, whereby he became well acquainted with the
Polar Sea and the Gulf of Obi. Brunel afterwards brought about
direct communication between the Netherlands and the great
commercial house, almost sovereign _de facto_ if not _de jure_ in
extensive countries. In connection with this Brunel made strenuous
exertions to open in earnest the navigation of the Netherlands to
the White Sea, and there found a Netherlands factory, which was
placed not on Rosen Island, which was occupied by the English, but
on the spot where the present Archangel is situated. Brunel next
took part in preparations for a Russian North-east expedition, for
which Swedish shipbuilders were received into Stroganov's service.
Brunei himself travelled by land to Holland to enlist men. A number
of particulars regarding these undertakings of Brunel are contained
in a letter of JOHN BALAK to GERARD MERCATOR, dated "Arusburgi ad
Ossellam fluvium" the 20th February, 1581. The letter is printed in
the second edition of _Hakluyt_, 1598, i. p. 509. Scarcely however
had Brunel returned to his native country, before he altered his
plan and wished to procure for his own fatherland the honour and
advantage of the undertaking. The first attempt of the Dutch to
reach China and Japan by the north-east thus came about. Of this
voyage we know only that Brunel endeavoured without success to sail
through Yugor Schar, and that his vessel, heavily laden with furs,
plates of mica, and rock-crystal, was wrecked on the way home at the
mouth of the Petchora (_Beschryvinghe vander Samoyeden Landt in
Tartarien, &c._ Amsterdam, 1612. S. Muller's Photolithographic
Reproduction, 1878). The mica and rock-crystal were undoubtedly
brought from the Ural, as no useful plates of mica or large
rock-crystals are found in the region of the Petchora. Brunel then
entered the Danish service. For we know that an Oliver Brunel during
the reign of King Fredrik II. in Denmark offered to explore
Greenland, and for that purpose in 1583 obtained the right to settle
in Bergen and there enjoy six years freedom from taxes (Cf.
_Groenlands historiske Mindesmoerker_, Copenhagen, 1838, vol. iii.
p. 666). ]
[Footnote 130: Probably the Sachanich Bay of the Russians. ]
[Footnote 131: _Voyagie, ofte Schip Vaert, van Jan Huyghen van
Linschoten, van by Noorden, om langes Noorwegen de Noortcaep,
Laplant, Vinlant, Ruslandt_ ... _tot voorby de revier Oby_, Franeker,
1601. Another edition at Amsterdam in 1624, and in abstract in
Saeghman's collection of travels in 1665. The voyage is also
described in Blavii _Atlas Major_, 1665. Linschoten was "commis" on
board, a post which included both the employment of supercargo and
that of owners' commissioner. ]
[Footnote 132: That is Yugor Schar. This name also occurs, though in
a somewhat altered form, as "Wegorscoi tzar," on Isaac Massa's map
of 1612, which, according to the statement of the publisher, is a
copy of a Russian chart. ]
[Footnote 133: Accounts of this expedition are given both by De Veer
and Linschoten in the above-named works. ]
[Footnote 134: These remarkable statements are found in Linschoten's
above quoted work printed in 1601, and cannot therefore be spurious.
They thus show that Taimur Land was inhabited by Samoyeds, and that
the geography of this region was then well known. ]
[Footnote 135: See above, page 142. ]
[Footnote 136: The sketch of this voyage forms the main portion of
the above mentioned work of De Veer. Undoubtedly the adventures
during the wintering, the first in so high a latitude, in the first
place procured for De Veer's work the enormous popularity it
enjoyed, and led to its being translated into so many languages. ]
[Footnote 137: The resolution regarding the offer of this prize is
given below: Extract nit het Register der Resolutien van de Hoog
Mogende Heeren Staten Generael der Vereenigde Nederlanden.
Folio 158 vso 13 April 1596.
De Gedeputeerde van de Heeren Staten van Holland verclaren dat heure
principalen geadviseert hebbende op de hervattinge van het voyagie
naer China en Japan, benoorden om, deselve voyage afgeslagen hebben,
ten aenzien van de groote costen die nu twee Jaren achter den
anderen om de reyse te verzoeken te vorgeefs angewent zijn, maer dat
Hare E. goetgevonden ende geconsenteert hebben, mede tgevolgh van de
andere provincien bij zoeverre datter eenige coopluijden aventuriers
bij compagnie ofte anderssine de voerscreven reijse op heure costen
ende risique, zonder te schepen ende tgelt van den lande, zonde
begeren te verzoeken, dat men dezelve aventuriers de reijse gevonden
ende gedaen hebbende, daervan brengende goet ende geloofflijck
beschijt, tot haer luijder wedercomste, zal vereeren mette somme van
vijff en twintich duysent gulden eens. Item daar enboven accorderen
den vrijdom voor twee jaren van convoyen der goederen die zij uit
dese landen naer China off Japan zullen transporteren, ende noch
vrijdom voer den tyd van acht jaren van te goederen die zij uit
China ofte Japan in dese landen sullen bringen. Waerop geadviseert
wesende hebben de Gedeputeerde van d'andere provincien hen daarmede
geconformeert, die van Seelant opt welbehagen van heure principalen,
maer die van Utrecht hebben verclart niet te consenteren in de
vereeringe van XXVm. ]
[Footnote 138: Every Polar traveller has at one time or other made
the same or a similar mistake. In 1861, for instance, a boat party,
of whom I was one, thought that they saw clearly sailors in
sou'-westers and with white shirtsleeves building a cairn on a point
which appeared to be at no great distance. But the cairn was found
to be a very distant mountain, the shirt-sleeves were formed of
snow-fields, the sou'-westers of pointed cliffs, and the motion
arose from oscillatory changes in the atmospheric strata. ]
[Footnote 139: Undoubtedly _Anser bernicla_, which is common on the
west coast of Spitzbergen. The Dutch name ought neither to be
translated _red goose_, as some Englishmen have done, nor confounded
with _rotges_. ]
[Footnote 140: See the copy of Barents' own map with his course laid
down upon it, which is to be found in Pontanus, _Rerum et urbis
Amstelodamensium Historia_ (Amst. 1611), and is annexed to this work
in photolithographic facsimile. ]
[Footnote 141: On the assumption of a horizontal refraction of about
45'. ]
[Footnote 142: See on this point De Veer, leaf 25 and an unpaged
leaf between pages 30 and 31 in Blavii _Atlas Major_, tom. i. That a
mistake occurred in the date is not possible, because the latitude
was determined by solar observations on the 29th (19th) February,
the 21st (11th) and 31st (21st) March (see De Veer, I. 27). Besides,
at the correct date, the 3rd February (24th January), a conjunction
of Jupiter and the moon was observed, whereby the difference of
longitude between Ice Haven and Venice was determined to be 75 deg..
However erroneous this determination may be, it shows, however,
that the date was correct. ]
[Footnote 143: Built along with a weigh-house intended for the
Norwegians in 1582 by the first vojvode in Kola (_Hamel_, p. 66).
In Pontanus (_Rerum et urbis Amstelodamensium Historia_, Amsterodami,
1611, p. 142), there is a drawing of the inner yard of this house,
and of the reception of shipwrecked men there. ]
[Footnote 144: The year is incorrectly given as 1647 by F. von
Adelung (_Kritisch-Litteraerische Uebersicht_, &c.). ]
[Footnote 145: The following editions are enumerated: four French,
Paris, 1671, 1672, 1676, and Amsterdam, 1708; six German, Hamburg,
1675, Leipzig, 1703, 1706, 1710, 1711, and 1718; one Latin,
Glueckstadt, 1675; two Dutch, Amsterdam, 1681 and 1685; one Italian,
printed in Conte Aurelio degli Anzi's _Il Genio Vagante_, Parma,
1691; two English, one printed separately in 1706, the other in
Harris, _Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibl_., 3rd edition. London,
1744-48, Vol. II. p. 457. ]
[Footnote 146: The story of the wind knots is taken from Olaus
Magnus, _De gentibus septentrionalibus_, Rome, 1555, p. 119. There a
drawing of the appearance of the knots is also given. ]
[Footnote 147: Compare page 203. ]
[Footnote 148: These were James Duke of York, Lord Berkley, Sir John
Williamson, Sir John Bankes, Mr. Samuel Peeps, Captain Herbert, Mr.
Dupey, and Mr. Hoopgood (Harris, _Nav. Bibl._, vol. ii. p. 453). ]
[Footnote 149: "All I could do in this exigency was to let the
brandy-bottle go round, which kept them allways fox'd, till the 8th
July Captain Flawes came so seasonably to our relief" (Barrow, _A
Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions_. London,
1818, p. 268). ]
[Footnote 150: "A letter, not long since written to the Publisher by
an Experienced person residing at Amsterdam," etc. (_Philosophical
Transactions_, vol. IX. p. 3, London, 1674). ]
[Footnote 151: "A summary Relation of what hath been hitherto
discovered in the matter of the North-East passage; communicated by
a good Hand" (_Phil. Trans._, vol. x. p. 417. London, 1675). ]
[Footnote 152: The time when the voyage was made is not stated in
the letter quoted. Harris says that he with great difficulty
ascertained the year of the successful voyage to the eastward to be
1670. He says further that the persons who gave him this information
also stated that, at the time when this petition was given in to the
States-General, it was also asserted that there was no difficulty in
sailing northwards from Spitzbergen (Greenland), and that many Dutch
vessels had actually done it. To confirm this statement the
merchants proposed that the logs of the Spitzbergen fleet for the
year 1655 should be examined. This was done. In seven of them it was
found recorded that the vessels had sailed to 79 deg. N.L. Three
other logs agreed in the point that on the 1st August, 1655, 88 deg.
56' _was observed_. The sea here was open and the swell heavy
(Harris, _Nav. Bibl._, ii. p. 453). J.R. Forster (_Geschichte der
Entdeckungen und Schiffsfahrten im Norden_, Frankfurt a. d. Oder,
1874) appears to place the voyage eastward of Novaya Zemlya in the
period before 1614. It is, however, probable that the voyage in
question is Vlamingh's remarkable one in 1664, or that in 1666, of
which I have already given an account. ]
[Footnote 153: In more recent times the whalers have been more
modest in their statements about high northern latitudes reached.
Thus a Dutchman who had gone whale-fishing for twenty-two years, at
an accidental meeting with Tschitschagoff in Bell Sound in the
year 1766, stated among other things that he himself had once been
in 81 deg., but that he heard that other whalers had been in 83 deg.
and had seen land over the ice. He had seen the east coast of
Greenland (Spitzbergen) only once in 75 deg. N.L. (Herrn von
Tschitschagoff Russisch-kaiserliehen Admirals _Reise nach dem
Eissmeer_, St. Petersburg, 1793, p. 83). Dutch shipmasters too,
who in the beginning of the seventeenth century penetrated north
of Spitzbergen to 82 deg., said that they had thence seen land towards
the north (Muller, _Geschiedenis der Noordsche Compagnie_. p. 180). ]
[Footnote 154: Witsen states, p. 43, that he had conversed with a
Dutch seaman, Benedictus Klerk, who had formerly served on board a
whaler, and afterwards been a prisoner in Corea. He had asserted
that in whales that were killed on the coast of that country he had
found Dutch harpoons. The Dutch then carried on whale-fishing only
in the north part of the Atlantic. The _find_ thus shows that whales
can swim from one ocean to the other. As we know that these colossal
inhabitants of the Polar Sea do not swim from one ice-ocean to the
other across the equator, this observation must be considered very
important, especially at a time when the question whether Asia and
America are connected across the Pole was yet unsettled. Witsen also
enumerates, at p. 900, several occasions on which stone harpoons were
found in the skins of whales caught in the North Atlantic. These
harpoons, however, may as well be derived from the wild races,
unacquainted with iron, at Davis\ Strait, as from tribes living
on the north part of the Pacific. At Kamschatka, too, long before
whale-fishing by Europeans began in Behring's Sea, harpoons marked
with Latin letters were found in whales (Steller, _Beschreibung von
dem Lande Kamtschatka_, Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1774, p. 102). ]
[Footnote 155: The account of Wood's voyage was printed in London in
1694 by Smith and Walford, printers to the Royal Society (according
to a statement by Barrington, _The possibility of approaching the
North Pole asserted_, 2nd Edition, London, 1818, p. 34). I have only
had an opportunity of seeing extracts from the account of this
voyage in _Harris_ and others. ]
[Footnote 156: Barrington published a number of papers on this
question, which are collected in the work whose title is given
above, of which there were two editions. ]
[Footnote 157: At several places in his _Mittheilungen_, 1855-79. ]
[Footnote 158: That thin sheets of ice are formed in clear and calm
weather, even in the open sea and over great depths, was observed
several times during the expedition of 1868. But when we consider
that salt water has no maximum of density situated above the
freezing-point, that ice is a bad conductor of heat, and that the
clear, newly-formed ice is soon covered by a layer of snow which
hinders radiation, it appears to me to be improbable that the
ice-covering at deep, open places can become so thick that it is not
broken up even by a moderate storm. Even the shallow harbour at
Mussel Bay first froze permanently in the beginning of February, and
in the end of January the swell in the harbour was so heavy, that
all the three vessels of the Swedish Expedition were in danger of
being wrecked--_in consequence of the tremendous sea in 80 deg.
N.L. in the end of January!_ The sea must then have been open very
far to the north-west On the west coast of Spitzbergen the sea in
winter is seldom completely frozen within sight of land. Even at
Barents' winter haven on the north-east coast of Novaya Zemlya, the
sea during the coldest season of the year was often free of ice, and
Hudson's statement, "that it is not surprising that the navigator
falls in with so much ice in the North Atlantic, when there are so
many sounds and bays on Spitzbergen," shows that even he did not
believe in any ice being formed in the open sea. ]
CHAPTER VI.
The North-east Voyages of the Russians and Norwegians--
Rodivan Ivanov, 1690--The great Northern Expedition, 1734-37
--The supposed richness in metals of Novaya Zemlya--
Juschkov, 1757--Savva Loschkin, 1760--Rossmuislov, 1768--
Lasarev, 1819--Luetke, 1821-24--Ivanov, 1822-28--
Pachtussov, 1832-35--Von Baer, 1837--Zivolka and Moissejev,
1838-39--Von Krusenstern, 1860-62--The Origin and History
of the Polar Sea Hunting--Carlsen, 1868--Ed. Johannesen,
1869-70--Ulve, Mack, and Quale, 1870--Mack, 1871--
Discovery of the Relics of Barents' wintering--Tobiesen's
wintering, 1872-73--The Swedish Expeditions, 1875 and 1876
--Wiggins, 1876--Later Voyages to and from the Yenisej.
From what I have stated above it follows that the coast population
of North Russia earned on an active navigation on the Polar Sea long
before the English and the Dutch, and that commercial expeditions
were often undertaken from the White Sea and the Petchora to the Ob
and the Yenisej, sometimes wholly by sea round Yalmal, but most
frequently partly by sea and partly by land transport over that
peninsula. In the latter case the Russians went to work in the
following way; they first sailed through Yugor Straits, and over the
southern part of the Kara Sea to the mouth of the Mutnaja, a river
debouching on Yalmal; they then rowed or towed the boats up the
river and over two lakes to a ridge about 350 metres broad, which
forms the watershed on Yalmal between the rivers running west and
those running east; over this ridge the boats and the goods were
dragged to another lake, Selennoe, from which they were finally
carried down the River Selennaja to the Gulf of Obi.[159]
These and similar accounts were collected with great difficulty, and
not without danger, by the Muscovy Company's envoys; but among the
accounts that have been thus preserved we do not find a single
sketch of any special voyage, on the ground of which we could place
a Russian name beside that of Willoughby, Burrough, Pet and Barents
in the older history of the North-East Passage. The historical
sources of Russia too must be similarly incomplete in this respect,
to judge from the otherwise instructive historical introduction to
Luetke's voyage. Gallant seamen, but no Hakluyt, were born during the
sixteenth and seventeenth century on the shores of the White Sea,
and therefore the names of these seamen and the story of their
voyages have long since fallen into complete obscurity, excepting
some in comparatively recent times.
In the second edition of Witsen's great work we find, at page 913,
an account of an unsuccessful hunting voyage to the Kara Sea,
undertaken in 1690, that is to say, at a time when voyages between
the White Sea and the Obi and Yenisej were on the point of ceasing
completely. The account was drawn up by Witsen from an oral
communication by one of the shipwrecked men, Rodivan Ivanov, who was
for several years mate on a Russian vessel, employed in seal-fishing
on the coast of Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats Island.
On the 11th/1st September this Rodivan Ivanov suffered shipwreck
with two vessels on Serapoa Koska (Serapov's Bank), probably
situated in the Southern part of the Kara Sea. The ice was thrown up
here in winter into lofty ice-casts with such a crashing noise that
"the world was believed to be coming to an end," and at high water
with a strong breeze the whole island was submerged with the
exception of some knolls. On one of these the winter house was
erected. It was built of clay, which was kneaded with the blood and
hair of the seal and walrus. This mixture hardened to a solid mass,
of which the walls were built with the help of boards from the
vessel. The house thus afforded good protection not only from cold
and bad weather, but also from bears. A furnace was also built
inside the house and fired with driftwood collected on the beach.
Train oil from the captured animals was used for lighting. There
wintered here fifteen men in all, of whom eleven died of scurvy.
Want of exercise perhaps mainly conduced to bring on this disease.
For most of them did not leave the house during the winter night,
five weeks long. Those were most healthy who had most exercise, as,
for instance, the mate, who was the youngest among the crew, and
therefore had to go round the island to collect wood. Another cause
of the great mortality was the total want of provisions brought from
home. For the first eight days their food consisted of seaweed
dredged up from the bottom of the sea, with which some meal was
mixed. Afterwards they ate the flesh of the seal and walrus, and of
the Polar bear and the fox. The flesh of the bear and the walrus,
however, was considered _unclean_[160] on which account it was eaten
only in case of necessity, and the flesh of the fox had an
unpleasant flavour. Sometimes the want of food was so great that
they were compelled to eat the leather of their boots and furs. The
number of the seals and walruses which they caught was so great,
"that the killed animals, laid together, would have formed a heap
ninety fathoms in length, of the same breadth, and six feet
high."[161] They found, besides, on the island a stranded whale.
In spring Samoyeds came from the mainland, and plundered the
Russians of part of their catch. Probably for fear of the Samoyeds,
the surviving hunters did not go over the ice to the mainland, but
remained on the desert island until by a fortunate accident they
were rescued by some of their countrymen engaged in a hunting
expedition. In connection with the account of this voyage Witsen
states that the previous year a Russian hunting vessel stranded
_east of the Ob_.
It is probable that towards the close of the sixteenth century the
Russian hunting voyages to Novaya Zemlya had already fallen off
considerably. The commercial voyages perhaps had long before
altogether ceased. It appears as if after the complete conquest of
Siberia the land route over the Ural mountains, formerly regarded
with such superstitious feelings, was preferred to the unsafe sea
route across the Kara Sea, and as if the Government even put
obstacles in the way of the latter by setting watches at Matvejev
Island and at Yugor Straits.[162] These were to receive payments
from the hunters and merchants, and the regulations and exactions
connected with this arrangement deprived the Polar Sea voyages of
just that charm which had hitherto induced the bravest and hardiest
of the population to devote themselves to the dangerous traffic to
the Ob, and to the employment of hunting, in which they were exposed
to so many dangers, and subject to so great privations.
The circumstance to which we have referred may also be the reason
why we do not know of a single voyage in this part of the Polar Sea
during the period which elapsed from the voyage of Rodivan Ivanov to
"the great Northern Expedition." It examined, among other parts of
the widely extended north coast of the Russian empire, the southern
portion also of the navigable waters here in question, in the years
1734, 35, under Muravjev and Paulov, and in 1736, 37 under Malygin,
Skuratov, and Suchotin. Their main working field however did not lie
here, but in Siberia itself; and I shall give an account of their
voyages in the Kara Sea further on, when I come to treat of the
development of our knowledge of the north coast of Asia. Here I will
only state that they actually succeeded, after untold exertions, in
penetrating from the White Sea to the Ob, and that the maps of the
land between that river and the Petchora, which are still in use,
are mainly grounded on the work of the great northern expedition,
but that the bad repute of the Kara Sea also arose from the
difficulties to which these explorers were exposed, difficulties
owing in no small degree to the defective nature of the vessels, and
a number of mistakes which were made in connection with their
equipment, the choice of the time of sailing, &c.
[Illustration: AMMONITE WITH GOLD LUSTRE. From Novaya Zemlya.
_Ammonites alternans_. V. BUCH. ]
Like all distant unknown regions, Novaya Zemlya was of old renowned
for its richness in the noble metals. The report indeed has never
been confirmed, and probably was occasioned only by the occurrence
of traces of ore, and the beautiful gold-glancing film of pyrites
with which a number of the fossils found here are covered; but it
has, notwithstanding, given occasion to a number of voyages to
Novaya Zemlya, of which the first known is that of the mate
JUSCHKOV, in 1757. As the mate of a hunting-vessel he had observed
the stones glittering with gold and silver, and he succeeded in
convincing an Archangel tallow-merchant that they indicated great
riches in the interior of the earth. In order to get possession of
these treasures the tallow-merchant fitted out a vessel, promising
Juschkov at the same time a reward of 250 roubles for the discovery.
The whole undertaking, however, led to no result, because the
discoverer of these treasures died during the passage to Novaya
Zemlya (Luetke, p. 70).
Three years after, in 1760,[163] a hunting mate, SAVVA LOSCHKIN, a
native of Olonets, hit on the idea, which was certainly a correct
one, that the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, which was never visited
by hunters, ought to be richer in game than other parts of the
island. Induced by this idea, and probably also by the wish to do
something extraordinary, he undertook a hunting expedition thither.
Of this expedition we know only that he actually succeeded in
travelling round the whole island, thanks to the resolution which
led him to spend on this self-imposed task two winters and three
summers. It was proved by this journey that Novaya Zemlya is
actually an island, a fact which in the middle of last century was
still doubted by many geographers.[164]
Even after the failure of Juschkov's expedition the report of the
richness of Novaya Zemlya in metals still maintained itself, and
accordingly Lieutenant[165] ROSSMUISLOV was sent out with second
mate GUBIN, the Polar Sea pilot TSCHIRAKIN, and eleven men, to
search for the supposed treasures, and at the same time to survey
the unknown portions of the island. The vessel that was used in this
Polar Sea voyage must have been a very remarkable one. For shortly
before the start, leaks, which had to be stopped, were discovered at
many different places in it, and of its power of sailing Rossmuislov
himself says: "So long as the wind came from the stern the large
sail helped us exceedingly well, but, as soon as it turned and
became a head wind, we were compelled to hoist another smaller sail,
in consequence of which we were driven back to the point from which
we came." Rossmuislov appears to have been a very skilful man in his
profession. Without meeting with any obstacle from ice, but at all
events with difficulty enough in consequence of the unsuitableness
of the vessel, he arrived at Matotschkin Sound, which he carefully
surveyed and took soundings in. From a high mountain at its eastern
mouth he saw on the 10th Sept./30th Aug. the Kara Sea completely
free of ice--and the way to the Yenisej thus open; but his vessel
was useless for further sailing. He therefore determined to winter
at a bay named Tjulnaja Guba, near the eastern entrance to
Matotschkin Sound. To this place he removed a house which some
hunters had built on the sound farther to the west, and erected
another house, the materials of which he had brought from home,
on a headland jutting out into the sound a little more to the east.
The latter I visited in 1876. The walls were then still standing,
but the flat roof, loaded with earth and stones, had fallen in,
as is often the case with deserted wooden houses in the Polar regions.
The house was small, and had consisted of a lobby and a room with an
immense fireplace, and sleeping places fixed to the walls.
[Illustration: VIEW FROM MATOTSCHKIN SCHAR. (After a drawing by Hj
Theel. 1875.) ]
On the 1st Oct./20th Sept., Matotschkin Sound was frozen over, and
some days after the Kara Sea was covered with ice as far as the eye
could reach. Storms from the north-east, west, and north-west, with
drifting snow of such violence prevailed during the course of the
winter that one could scarcely go ten fathoms from the house. In its
neighbourhood a man was overtaken by such a storm of drifting snow
while hunting a reindeer. When he did not return after two days'
absence it was determined to note him in the journal as having
"perished without burial."
On the 28/17th April, 1769, there was a storm from the south-west,
with mist, rain, and hail as large as half a bullet. On the 2nd
June/22nd May a dreadful wind raged from the north-west, bringing
from the high mountains a "sharp smoke-like air,"--it was certainly
a _foehn_ wind. The painful, depressing effect of this wind is
generally known from Switzerland and from north-western Greenland.
At the latter place it rushes right down with excessive violence
from the ice-desert of the interior. But far from on that account
bringing cold with it, the temperature suddenly rises above the
freezing-point, the snow disappears as if by magic through melting
and evaporation, and men and animals feel themselves suffering from
the sudden change in the weather. Such winds besides occur
everywhere in the Polar regions in the neighbourhood of high
mountains, and it is probably on their account that a stay in the
hill-enclosed kettle-valleys is in Greenland considered to be very
unhealthy and to lead to attacks of scurvy among the inhabitants.
The crew remained during the winter whole days, indeed whole weeks
in succession, in their confined dwellings, carefully made tight,
without taking any regular exercise in the open air. We can easily
understand from this that they could not escape scurvy, by which
most of them appear to have been attacked, and of which seven died,
among them Tschirakin. It is surprising that any one of them could
survive with such a mode of life during the dark Polar night. The
brewing of _quass_, the daily baking of bread, and perhaps even the
vapour-baths, mainly contributed to this.
On the 29/18th July the ice on Matotschkin Schar broke up, and on
the 13th/2nd August the sound was completely free of ice. An attempt
was now made to continue the voyage across the Kara Sea, and an
endeavour was made for this purpose to put the vessel, defective
from the first, and now still further damaged by ice, in repair,
by stopping the leaks, as far as possible, with a mixture of clay and
decayed seaweed. "Floating coffins" have often been used in Arctic
voyages, and many times with greater success than the stateliest
man-of-war. This time, however, Rossmuislov, after having sailed
some few miles eastward from Matotschkin Sound, in order to avoid
certain loss, had to return to his winter quarters, where he
fortunately fell in with a Russian hunter, with whom he commenced
his return to Archangel. No precious metals were found, nor "any
pearl-mussels," but Tschirakin confided to Rossmuislov the secret
that at a certain place on the south coast he had found a block of
stone of such extraordinary beauty that in the light of day it shone
with the most splendid fire. After Tschirakin's death Rossmuislov
sought for the stone, but without success, and he therefore broke
out in violent reproaches of his deceased comrade. I can, however,
free him from the blame of deception; for, during my voyage in 1875,
I found in several of the blocks of schist in the region small veins
of quartz, crossing the mass of stone. The walls of these veins were
covered with hundreds of sharply-developed rock crystals with
mirror-bright faces. Tschirakin's precious stone was doubtless
nothing else than a druse of this shining but valueless mineral.
Once more, nearly fifty years after Rossmuislov's voyage, in the
year 1807, a miner, LUDLOW, was sent out to investigate more
thoroughly the supposed richness of the island in metals.
He returned without having found any ore, but with the first accounts
of the geological formation of the country; and we have his
companion POSPJELOV to thank for some careful surveys on the west
coast of Novaya Zemlya.
The next expedition to the island was equipped and sent out from the
naval dockyard at Archangel in 1819 under Lieutenant LASAREV, and
had, in comparison with its predecessors, very abundant resources.
But Lasarev was clearly unfit for the task he had undertaken, of
commanding an Arctic exploratory expedition. In the middle of summer
many of his crew were attacked by scurvy. Some few weeks after his
departure from Archangel, at a time when pools of excellent
drinking-water are to be found on nearly every large piece of
drift-ice, and rapid torrents of melted snow empty themselves
everywhere along the coast into the sea, he complains of the
difficulty of procuring fresh water, &c. The expedition accordingly
was altogether fruitless.
[Illustration: FRIEDRICH BENJAMIN VON LUeTKE. Born in 1797 in St.
Petersburg. ]
Of much greater importance were Captain-lieutenant (afterwards
Admiral Count) LUeTKE's voyages to Novaya Zemlya in the summers of
1821, 1822, 1823, and 1824, voyages conducted with special skill and
scientific insight. The narrative of them form one of the richest
sources of our knowledge of this part of the Polar Sea. But as he
did not penetrate in any direction farther than his predecessors, an
account of these voyages does not enter into the plan of the
historical part of this work.
Among Russian journeys the following may be noticed:--
Those of the mate IVANOV in 1822-28, during which he surveyed the
coast between the Kara river and the Petchora by overland travelling
in Samoyed sleighs.
PACHTUSSOV'S voyages in 1832-35.[166] W. BRANDT, merchant, and
KLOKOV, chief of the civil service, at Archangel, sent out in 1832
an expedition with very comprehensive aims from that town, for the
purpose of re-establishing the sea-route to the Yenisej, of surveying
the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, and of walrus-hunting there.
Three vessels were employed, viz., a "carbasse" manned by ten men,
including the Commander-lieutenant in the corps of mates Pachtussov,
who in previous voyages with Ivanov had become well acquainted
with land and people along the coasts of the Polar Sea;[167]
the schooner _Yenisej_ under Lieutenat KROTOV with ten men;
and a hunting _lodja_ commanded by the hunting mate GWOSDAREV.
Pachtussov was to undertake the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, Krotov
to sail through Matotschkin Sound and across the Kara Sea to the
Yenisej, and Gwosdarev to carry on hunting in order to cover part of
the costs of the expedition.
Pachtussov could not penetrate into the Kara Sea, but wintered the first
time on South Novaya Zemlya in 70 deg. 36' N.L. and 59 deg.32' E.L. (Greenwich),
in an old house which lie found there, and which according to an
inscription on a cross in its neighbourhood had been built in 1759. This
ruinous house was repaired with driftwood, which was found in great
abundance in that region. A separate bath-house was built, and was
connected with the dwelling-house by a passage formed of empty barrels
and covered with canvas. Eleven days were spent in putting the old house
into such repair that it could be occupied. It was afterwards kept so
warm that the inmates could stay there in their shirt-sleeves without
freezing. The Commander, clear-headed and specially fit for his post as
he was, did not permit his crew to fall into habits of idleness, dirt,
and laziness, but kept them to regular work, bathing and change of linen
twice a week. Every second hour meteorological observations were taken.
During the whole winter the crew remained in good health, but in spring
(March) scurvy broke out, notwithstanding the precautions that were
taken, and two men died of it in May. Many times during winter the ice
broke up, and at a short distance from the land the Kara Sea was open as
far as the eye could reach. A herd of reindeer numbering about 500 head
were seen in the end of September; a number of foxes were taken in
traps, and two Polar hears were killed. Geese were seen for the first
time in spring on the 27th/15th of May.
Next summer Pachtussov rowed up along the east coast to 71 deg. 38' N.L.
On the west bank of a river, called Savina, he found a very
good harbour. He found there the remains of a hut, with a cross
erected beside it, on which was the inscription "Savva Th----anov
9th June 1742," which he considered to belong to the time of Savva
Loschkin's voyage. After his return from this boat journey
Pachtussov went on board his vessel and sailed along the east coast
north of Matotschkin Sound from the 23rd/11th July to the 25th/13th
August without meeting with any obstacle from ice. During this
voyage he passed a very good harbour in 72 deg. 26' N.L., in a
bay, called Luetke's Bay. Pachtussov then returned through
Matotschkin Sound to the Petchora. Even along the east coast of
North Novaya Zemlya the sea was open, but the stock of provisions,
intended at their departure from Archangel for fourteen months, was
now so low, that the gallant Polar explorer could not avail himself
of this opportunity of perhaps circumnavigating the whole of Novaya
Zemlya.
Of the two other vessels that sailed from Archangel at the same time
as Pachtussov's, the _lodja_ returned heavily laden with the spoils
of the chase, but on the other hand nothing was ever heard of the
_Yenisej_. A concern, not without justification, for its fate, and
the desire to acquire as good knowledge of the east coast of the
North Island as had been obtained of that of the South, gave
occasion to Pachtussov's second voyage.
For this the Government fitted out two vessels, a schooner and a
"carbasse," which were named after the two officers of the
_Yenisej_, Krotov and Kasakov. The command of the former was
undertaken by Pachtussov, and of the latter by the mate ZIVOLKA.
This time they wintered in 1834-35 on the south side of Matotschkin
Sound at the mouth of the river Tschirakina, in a house built for
the purpose, for which they used, besides materials brought with
them, the remains of three old huts, found in the neighbourhood, and
the wreck of Rossmuislov's vessel which still lay on the beach. The
house was a palace in comparison with that in which Pachtussov
wintered before. It consisted of two rooms, one 21 feet by 16 feet,
intended for the crew (fourteen men), the other 12 feet by 10 feet,
for the officers and surgeon, with a bath-house in addition.
Matotschkin Sound was frozen over for the first time on the 28/16th
November. The thermometer never sank below the freezing-point of
mercury, and the cold of winter could be easily borne, because the
crew wore the Samoyed dress. But the snowstorms were so severe, that
sometimes it was impossible for eight days at a time to leave the
house, which was so snowed up that the opening in the roof for smoke
had several times to be used as a door. The house had no true
chimney, but was built like a Lapp hut. Eleven of the bears, who
came in large numbers to the hut, were killed, one of them on the
roof and another in the porch. During winter the crew were kept in
constant employment in killing foxes and at other work. Their state
of health was also very good for the circumstances of the time. Only
two men died. In spring Matotschkin Sound and part of the east coast
of the North Island were surveyed by means of sledge journeys, after
which an attempt was made during summer to circumnavigate the North
Island, but without success. Lightning accompanied by heavy rain was
observed on the 24/12th June. On the 15th/3rd September they sailed
back to Archangel. Unfortunately soon after his arrival there
Pachtussov fell ill of nervous fever and died on the 19/7th
November, 1835. It was a great loss, for by his devotion to the task
he had undertaken, by judgment, courage, and endurance, he takes one
of the foremost places among the Polar explorers of all countries.
Besides, few of the older Arctic expeditions have brought home such
a series of valuable astronomical determinations of position,
geodetical measurements, meteorological and tidal observations, &c.,
as Pachtussov.[168]
In 1837 the famous naturalist K.E. VON BAER undertook a voyage to Novaya
Zemlya, accompanied by Lieutenant ZIVOLKA, LEHMANN the geologist, ROeDER
the draughtsman, and PHILIPPOV the conservator.[169] They visited
Matotschkin Schar, penetrated by boat to its eastern end and found the
Kara Sea open, landing afterwards at Besimannaja Bay, Nechvatova, and on
an island in Kostin Schar. The expedition thus nowhere penetrated so far
as its predecessors, but it is of importance as the first examination of
the natural history of the Polar Sea surrounding Novaya Zemlya carried
out by actual men of science. With all the respect we must entertain for
von Baer's great name as a scientific man, it cannot be denied that,
through his papers on the natural history of the island, grounded on a
cursory inspection, a number of erroneous ideas regarding the natural
conditions of the eastern Polar Sea obtained a footing in scientific
literature.
In order to complete the survey of the island the Russian Government
sent out in 1838 a new expedition under Lieutenants Zivolka and
MOISSEJEV. They wintered in 1838-39 in Melkaja Guba on the west
coast of Novaya Zemlya in 73 deg. 57' N.L.; but on this occasion
Pachtussov's judgment and insight were wanting, and the wintering
was very unfortunate. Of the twenty-five men belonging to the
expedition most were attacked during winter by scurvy; nine died,
among them Zivolka himself. During spring, excursions for the
purpose of surveying the neighbouring coasts had to be broken off
because they had not brought snow-glasses with them--a thing that
Pachtussov did not neglect, being accustomed besides to blacken the
under eyelid as a protection against the blinding brightness of the
snow. By the expedition, however, considerable stretches of the west
coast of Novaya Zemlya were surveyed, and valuable contributions to
a knowledge of the climatic conditions of this region obtained.
These turned out to be less severe than had been expected. During
winter the thermometer never sank below -33 deg.; in July there
were only two nights of frost, and on two occasions + 18 deg. was
observed in the shade; in August there were only three hours of
frost. All this depends of course on the neighbourhood of warm
marine currents and of a sea open all the year round at a short
distance from the coast.
With this unfortunate and to all appearance ill-arranged expedition
the Russian Novaya Zemlya voyages ceased for a long time. For before
the beginning of the Norwegian hunting we have only two other
Russian voyages to notice in our sketch of the history of the North
East passage.
[Illustration: AUGUST KARLOVITZ ZIVOLKA. Born in 1810 at Warsaw, died
in 1839 on Novaya Zemlya. (After a pen-and-ink drawing communicated by
Herr Paul Daschkoff.) ]
The first of these owed its origin to the desire of the captain of a
Russian man-of-war, PAUL VON KRUSENSTERN, to undertake a voyage in
the Polar Sea in a schooner, the _Yermak_, which belonged to him and
which was for the time lying at the Petchora, in order to survey the
coasts lying to the eastward. He intended himself to undertake the
command, and to take with him as second in command his son PAUL VON
KRUSENSTERN. lieutenant in the Russian marine. The latter was sent
before to equip the _Yermak_, which he did with wonderful judgment
and skill, in the best way possible, in a region where at that time
nearly every requisite for the equipment of a vessel was wanting.
The elder Krusenstern was unable to reach the place of sailing in
time, on which account the command was given to the son.
[Illustration: PAUL VON KRUSENSTERN, JUNIOR. Born at Revel in 1834;
died at Dorpat in 1871. ]
He left the mouth of the Petchora on the 10th Sept/29th Aug, 1860. Three
days after he reached the Kara port, which was completely free of ice,
as was the sea to the eastward. But the late season of the year, the
defective equipment of the _Yermak_, and, it would appear, the wording
of the orders he had received, compelled him to turn after he had
penetrated some distance into the Kara Sea. On the 19/7th September
accordingly he was again at the Petchora, without having reached his
goal. The attempt to penetrate eastwards from this river was resumed at
the instance of MICHAEL SIDOROFF, afterwards so well known as the
restless promoter of sea-communication between Siberia and Europe. The
_Yermak_ was repaired, along with a decked Norwegian pilot-boat,
which was named the _Embrio_. The command was undertaken by P. von
Krusenstern, junior. He left the anchorage Kuya on the Petchora on the
13th/1st August. On the 26th/14th August, the two small vessels sailed
into Yugor Schar, after having been long detained during their course by
storms and head-winds. Some huts erected by hunters were seen on the
right shore of the sound, and on both sides of it Samoyed "chums"
(tents of reindeer skin) and reindeer. The inhabitants had climbed up
on the roofs and indicated their astonishment by gesticulations. Both
vessels anchored in the neighbourhood of Vaygats Island. But a couple of
hours afterwards large masses of ice drove with an altered current into
the harbour, forced the _Yermak_ from its anchor and carried the vessel
into the Kara Sea. It was only with great trouble that it was released
from the ice and anchored in the eastern mouth of Yugor Schar.
[Illustration: MICHAEL KONSTANTINOVITSCH SIDOROFF. Born in 1823 at
Archangel. ]
On the 27/15th von Krusenstern again weighed anchor, either to sail
to the eastward or to search for a more secure anchorage than that
which he had been compelled for the time to make use of. But the
wind was so light that he could not hold a course independent of the
currents. It was, therefore, necessary to moor the vessel to a large
ice-field, and with this the _Yermak_ during the following days
drifted farther and farther. Soon the vessel was completely enclosed
by the ice, and thus rendered unmanageable. The weather was often
fine, the thermometer showed +4 deg., a strong aerial reflection
elevated images of the pieces of ice at the horizon, and gave them
the most wonderful and beautiful forms. Everywhere there were upon
the ice fresh-water pools, some of which were of great extent and of
no inconsiderable depth. Thus, on the ice-field lying nearest the
vessel there were different "lakes," one of which was used for
drinking, another for filling the water-casks, a third to supply
washing-water to the crew, and a fourth for washing their clothes.
On the 3rd Sept./22nd Aug. the ice began to be pressed together by a
light W.S.W. wind. Convinced that the vessel would soon be nipped, the
men on board began to save the stock of provisions and the boats, by
placing them on the ice, but the pressure soon ceased. There fell a
heavy rain, which afterwards, when the wind changed to north-west,
passed into snow. On the 7th Sept./26th Aug. the coast of Yalmal was
sighted. A fathom-thick ice-floe shot under the vessel and caused it to
heel over to starboard. The following day there was a storm from the
S.S.W. with snow. The ice forcing itself forward shook the vessel
several times so violently that the crew rushed up to save the
provisions, &c., on the ice. They were now in the neighbourhood of 70 deg.
N.L. and 65 deg. E.L. (Greenwich), almost right off the mouth of the Kara
river. The crew worked the whole day with axes and iron bars hewing off
the sharp projecting corners of the ice-blocks that were pressed against
the vessel. On the 11th Sept./20 Aug. there was warm weather with rain.
The ice was in so violent motion that it was impossible to walk upon it.
On the afternoon of the same day the _Yermak_ sustained several violent
concussions, and the hull was lifted one foot. On the 13th/1st
September, a violent storm broke out, which drove the vessel to the
north-east. It was expected every moment that the vessel would be
nipped, and a tent was accordingly pitched on the ice, in order that
part of the provisions from the hold might be placed in it. Wood even
was carried to it. It was Russia's thousand-years' day, and it was
celebrated with a festive ball and merry songs, although they every
instant expected their vessel to be crushed by the masses of ice that
were pressed together by the fearful storm. On the 14th/2nd September,
the stem of the vessel was forced five feet above the water-line, and
the whole night a continual cracking of timbers was heard in the hull.
The water rose rapidly to a depth of two feet. Every man left the
vessel and removed to the ice, but soon after the immense ice-field on
which the tent was pitched went in pieces, while the leak in the vessel
closed, and the crew in consequence went on board again. On the 15th/3rd
September, the vessel was again pressed so, that the deck at times was
bent to the form of a vault. On the 19th/7th September, von Krusenstern
called the crew together that they might choose from their number three
persons to advise with the commander on the best means of making their
escape, and two days after the vessel was abandoned, after a meal at
which the crew were literally offered all the house afforded. They then
broke up for a journey to land, which was exceedingly difficult on
account of the unevenness of the ice. They were soon obliged to leave
the boat, which they had at first endeavoured to drag along with them
over the ice, and take the most indispensable of the provisions on their
own backs. On leaving the ship a sailor had secretly got possession of
so much brandy, that during the first day's march he had the opportunity
of drinking himself dead drunk. To carry him along was not possible, to
wait was not advisable. He was left therefore to sleep off the drink;
and in order that he might do so as soon as possible they took off his
clothes and left him lying upon the ice with only his shirt on. Next
day, however, he got up with his comrades after following their track in
the darkness the whole night. Open places were often met with, which the
travellers had to cross on pieces of drift-ice rowed forward by
boat-hooks. Once when the shipwrecked men were ferrying themselves over
upon a piece of ice which was already fully loaded, six walruses were
seen in the neighbourhood. They showed a disposition to accompany the
seafarers on the piece of ice, which in that case would certainly have
sunk, and it was only after a ball had been sent through the leader's
head that the animals gave up their plan for resting, which gave
evidence of a gregariousness as great as their want of acquaintance with
mankind. After Krusenstern and his companions had for several days in
succession drifted backwards and forwards on a piece of ice in the
neighbourhood of land, and traversed long stretches by jumping from one
piece of ice to another, they at last reached the shore on the 28/16th
September. In the immediate neighbourhood they found an encampment,
whose inhabitants (Samoyeds) gave the shipwrecked men a friendly
reception, and entertained them with the luxuries of the reindeer
herd--raw and cooked reindeer flesh, reindeer tongues, reindeer
marrow--raw fish and goose-fat. After the meal was finished the
exhausted wanderers lay down to sleep in the Samoyed tents on the soft
reindeer skins; "all sorrows and difficulties were forgotten; we felt a
boundless enjoyment, as if we had come to paradise." Thence they
travelled in reindeer sledges to Obdorsk, everywhere received in a
friendly and hospitable manner by the wild tribes on the way, although
the hospitality sometimes became troublesome; as for instance when an
Ostyak compelled von Krusenstern to drink tea six times a day, and six
cups each time, and offered him as a special luxury an extract of
tobacco in brandy.[170]
Krusenstern's adventurous journey across the Kara Sea is one of the
many proofs that a Polar navigator ought above everything to avoid
being beset. The very circumstance that the ice-field, in which he
became fixed in the neighbourhood of Yugor Schar, could drift across
to the east coast of the Kara Sea, shows that it was for the most
part open, and that a steamer or a good sailing-vessel that year,
and probably also the preceding, might very readily have reached the
mouth of the Ob or the Yenisej. The narrative of von Krusenstern's
journey is besides the first complete sketch we have of a passage
from west to east over the Kara Sea. Little idea could any one then
have that within a single decade a number of vessels should sail
free and unhindered along this route.
Soon after the two voyages I have described above, and before they
became generally known in the geographical literature of Western
Europe, a new era began in the navigation of the Kara Sea, which was
brought about by the Norwegian hunters being compelled to seek for
new fields of sport on and beyond Novaya Zemlya.
The history of the Spitzbergen hunting has not yet been written in a
satisfactory way, and is in many respects very obscure. It is
supposed that after the discovery of Spitzbergen in 1596 by Barents,
the hunting in the Polar Seas began during BENNET'S first voyage in
1603, and that the whale-fishing was introduced by JONAS POOLE in
1610. But already in the following year Poole, whose vessel was then
wrecked on the west coast of Spitzbergen, found in Horn Sound a ship
from Hull, to which he gave charge of saving his cargo, and two
years after the English were compelled, in order to keep foreigners
from the fishing field they wished to monopolise, to send out six
men-of-war, which found there eight Spanish, and a number of Dutch
and French vessels (_Purchas_, iii. pp. 462, 716, &c.). Even in our
days the accounts of new sources of wealth do not spread so speedily
as in this case, unless, along with the history of the discovery
which was written by Hakluyt, Purchas, De Veer, &c., there had been
an unknown history of discovery and the whale-fishing, of which it
may still be possible to collect some particulars from the archives
of San Sebastian, Dunkirk, Hull, and other ports.
However this may be, it is certain that the English and Dutch
North-east voyages gave origin to a whale-fishery in the sea round
Spitzbergen, which increased by many millions the national wealth of
these rich commercial states. The fishing went on at first
immediately along the coasts, from which, however, the whales
were soon driven, so that the whale-fishers had to seek new
fishing-grounds, first farther out to sea between Spitzbergen and
Greenland, then in Davis' Strait, and finally in the South Polar
Sea, or in the sea on both sides of Behring's Straits.
Spitzbergen, when the whale-fishing ceased in its neighbourhood, was
mostly abandoned, until the Russians began to settle there,
principally for the hunting of the mountain fox and the reindeer. Of
their hunting voyages we know very little, but that they had been
widely prosecuted is shown by the remains of their dwellings or huts
on nearly all the fjords of Spitzbergen.
[Illustration: NORWEGIAN HUNTING SLOOP. The _Proeven_,
employed by the Swedish Expedition to the Yenisej in 1875. ]
They seem to have often wintered, probably because the defective
build of their vessels only permitted them to sail to and from
Spitzbergen during the height of summer, and they could not thus
take part without wintering in the autumn hunting, during which the
fattest reindeer are got; nor could the thick and valuable fur of
the winter-fox be obtained without wintering.[171] But the hunting
voyages of the Russians to Spitzbergen have also long ceased. The
last voyage thither took place in 1851-52, and had a very
unfortunate issue for most of those who took part in it, twelve men
dying out of twenty. On the other hand, the Norwegian voyages to
Spitzbergen for the seal and walrus-hunting, begun in the end of
last century, still go on. Their history, too, is, even here in the
North, very incompletely known, at least to 1858, when the Swedish
scientific expeditions began regularly to visit those regions, and
to include in the narratives of their voyages more or less complete
accounts of the Norwegian hunting, an example that has since been
followed, though by no means very completely or systematically, by
the editors of Norwegian and foreign journals, in the first place by
Petermann's _Mittheilungen_.[172]
Between 1860 and 1870 the game (walrus, seal, bear, and reindeer)
began to diminish in such a degree that the hunters were compelled
to seek for themselves new hunting-grounds. They turned to the north
and east, the less accessible parts of Spitzbergen, afterwards still
farther eastwards towards Novaya Zemlya, and beyond this island to
the Kara Sea, and they penetrated farther than all their
predecessors. In the history of the North-east Passage therefore
some pages must always be devoted to the bold voyages to Novaya
Zemlya of these small hunting sloops, provisioned only for the
summer.
[Illustration: ELLING CARLSEN. Born at Tromsoe in 1819. ]
The Norwegian hunter who first visited Novaya Zemlya was ELLING
CARLSEN, afterwards known as a member of the Austrian Polar
expedition. In 1868 he sailed in a sloop from Hammerfest on a
hunting voyage eastward, forced his way into the Kara Sea through
the Kara Port, but soon returned through Yugor Schar, and then
sailed northwards as far as Cape Nassau. Induced by the abundance of
game, he returned next year to the same regions, and then succeeded
in penetrating the Kara Sea as far as the neighbourhood of Beli
Ostrov, whence he returned to Norway through Matotschkin Schar.
Carlsen's lead was immediately followed by several Norwegian
hunters, one of whom, EDWARD JOHANNESEN, made a very remarkable
voyage, of which I will here give a brief account.
[Illustration: EDWARD HOLM JOHANNESEN. Born in 1844, at Balsfjord
Parsonage. ]
Johannesen anchored on the 31st May, 1869, at Meschduschar Island,
without having seen any drift-ice in the course of his voyage. He
then sailed up along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya in nearly open
water past Matotschkin Sound to Cape Nassau, which was reached on
the 19th June. Hence he returned, following the coast toward the
south, until, on the 29th June, he sailed through the Kara Port into
the Kara Sea. This was passed in very open water, and after coming
to its eastern side he followed the coast of Yalmal towards the
north to Beli Ostrov. This island was reached on the 7th August, and
from it he steered south along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya to
the Kara Port, through which he returned to Norway.[173]
The same year, the English sportsman, Mr. JOHN PALLISER[174] sailed
across the Kara Sea, through Matotschkin Schar to Beli Ostrov. He
returned through Yugor Schar with abundance of booty[175] from the
hunting grounds where formerly the walruses tumbled undisturbed
among the drift-ice, and where the white bear has not yet met his
superior.[176]
These voyages are amongst the most remarkable that the history of
Arctic navigation can show. They at once overturned all the theories
which, on the ground of an often superficial study of preceding
unsuccessful voyages, had been set up regarding the state of the ice
east of Novaya Zemlya, and they thus form the starting-point of a
new era in the history of the North-east Passage.
After his return to Norway Johannesen sent to the Academy of
Sciences in Stockholm a paper on his voyage in 1869, and on his
hydrographical observations in the Kara Sea, for which he received a
silver medal. This I was commissioned to send him, and in the
correspondence which took place regarding it I on one occasion said
in jest that a circumnavigation of Novaya Zemlya would certainly
entitle him to a gold medal from the same famous scientific
institution that had given him the silver medal. I myself travelled
the following summer, in 1870, to Greenland, and returned thence
late in autumn. I then had the pleasure of receiving from Captain
Johannesen a new paper, afterwards inserted in the _Oefcersigt_, of
the transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences for the year 1871,
p. 157, "Hydro-grafiske Iakttagelser under en Fangsttour 1870 rundt
om Novaja Zemlja." Johannesen now as on the first occasion sailed
backwards and forwards along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, then
through the Kara Port, which was passed on the 12th July. He then
followed the east coast of Vaygats to Mestni Island, where he came
in contact with Samoyeds, in connection with which he makes the
remark, certainly quite unexpected by philologists, that in the
language of the Samoyeds "certain Norwegian words were recognised."
Their exterior was not at all attractive. They had flat noses, their
eyes were dreadfully oblique, and many had also oblique mouths. The
men received the foreigners drawn up in a row, with the women in the
second rank. All were very friendly. On the 11th August he was on
the coast of Yalmal in 71 deg. 48' N.L., whence he sailed over to
Novaya Zemlya in order to take on board wood and water. He anchored
in the neighbourhood of Udde Bay in 73 deg. 48' N.L., and saw
there twenty wild reindeer. Then he sailed again over the Kara Sea
to Yalmal.
During these cruisings in the Kara Sea the summer had passed.
Johannesen's vessel was now full, but notwithstanding this he
determined, at a season of the year when the walrus-hunters commonly
return to Norway, to see whether the offered prize could not be won
into the bargain. The course was shaped first to the north-east,
then westward to the north coast of Novaya Zemlya, which was reached
on the 3rd September. The whole sea here was open, which Johannesen,
on the ground of finding Norwegian fishing-net floats among the
driftwood, attributed to the action of the Gulf Stream. Hence he
returned to Norway, after having completed a voyage which some years
before all geographical authorities would have considered an
impossibility. I need scarcely mention that the Academy in Stockholm
redeemed the promise which one of its members had given without the
necessary authority. Johannesen was then twenty-six years old. Son
of a skilful hunter, he had from his childhood taken part in Arctic
voyages, and thus grown up in the employment to which he had devoted
himself.
The same year several other walrus-hunters also made remarkable
voyages in the Kara Sea. Captain E.A. ULVE first sailed along the
west coast of Novaya Zemlya to 76 deg. 47' N.L., then back to
Matotschkin Schar, through which he passed on the 7th and 8th August
into the Kara Sea, which was completely free of ice, with the
exception of some few very scattered pieces. After sailing backwards
and forwards in different directions in the Kara Sea, he returned
through the Kara Port on the 24th August. Captain F.E. MACK made a
similar voyage. He sailed from the 28th June to the 8th July
northwards along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, which was free of
ice between the Petchora and the Admiralty peninsula, where fast ice
was found, and fourteen sailing vessels and two steamers were now
assembled. On the 8th and 9th June thunder was heard here. From the
Admiralty peninsula Mack sailed again, first to the south, and then,
on the 18th July, through Matotschkin Sound into the Kara Sea, which
was nearly free of ice. Captain P. QUALE, again, and A.O.
NEDREVAAG, sailing master, penetrated through Yugor Sound into the
Kara Sea, and sailed there to 75 deg. 22' N.L., and 74 deg. 35'
E.L. (Greenwich).[177]
Also in 1871 a number of walrus-hunters made remarkable voyages in
the Kara Sea. Of these, however, only one, Mack, in the schooner
_Pole Star_, penetrated eastwards farther than all his predecessors.
On the 14th June he sailed into the Kara Sea through the Kara Port,
but found the sea still covered with continuous fast ice, from 1.8
to 2 metres in thickness. He therefore turned and sailed northwards
along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya to the Gulf Stream Islands
(76 deg. 10' N.L.), where he remained till the 3rd of August. The
temperature of the air rose here to +10.5 deg.. The name, which
the Norwegian walrus-hunters have given these islands, owes its
origin to the large number of objects from southern seas which the
Gulf Stream carries with it thither, as floats from the Norwegian
fisheries, with their owner's marks frequently recognisable by the
walrus-hunters--beans of _Entada gigalobium_ from the West Indies,
pumice-stone from Iceland, fragments of wrecked vessels, &c. On the
3rd of August Mack passed the northernmost promontory of Novaya
Zemlya. Hence he sailed into the Kara Sea, where at first he fell
in with ice. Farther on, however, the ice disappeared completely,
and Mack on the 12th of September reached 75 deg. 25' N.L. and 82 deg.
30' E.L. (Greenwich) according to Petermann, but 81 deg. 11' Long,
according to the _Tromsoe Stiftstidende_. He returned through Yugor
Schar, which was passed on the 26th September.[178] The same year E.
Johannesen, after long endeavouring without success to make his way
into the Kara Sea through the southern strait, sailed northwards
along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, and did not leave Cape Nassau
until the 15th October.
From the same year too Petermann also publishes very remarkable
journals of the Norwegian walrus-hunting captains, S. TOBIESEN, H.
CH. JOHANNESEN, J.N. ISAKSEN, SOeREN JOHANNESEN, DOERMA, SIMONSEN,
and E. CARLSEN; but as none of these gallant seamen that year
penetrated to the north or east beyond the points which their
predecessors had reached, I may be allowed with regard to their
voyages to refer to _Mittheilungen_ for 1872 (pp. 386-391 and 395),
also to the maps which are inserted in the same volume of that
journal (pl. 19 and 20), and which are grounded on the working out
by Prof. H. MOHN, of Christiania, of his countrymen's observations.
With respect to Captain E. Carlsen's voyage, however, it may be
stated, that in the course of it a discovery was made, which has
been represented as that of an Arctic Pompeii, remarkably well
protected against the depredation of the tooth of Time, not indeed
by lava and volcanic ashes, but by ice and snow. For when Carlsen on
the 9th September landed on the north-east coast of Novaya Zemlya in
76 deg. 7' N.L., he found there a house, 10 metres long and 6
metres wide, with the roof fallen in, long since abandoned and
filled with gravel and ice. From this frozen gravel were dug up a
large number of household articles, books, boxes, &c., which showed
that they were relics of Barents' winter dwelling, which now, almost
three hundred years after the place had been abandoned, came to the
light of day, so well preserved that they gave a lively idea of the
way in which the European passed his first winter in the true Polar
regions. When Carlsen had erected a cairn in which he placed a tin
canister containing an account of the discovery, he took on board
the most important of the articles which he had found and returned
to Norway. There he sold them at first for 10,800 crowns to an
Englishman, Mr. Ellis C. Lister Kay, who afterwards made them over
for the price he had paid for them to the Dutch Government. They are
now to be found arranged at the Marine Department at the Hague in a
model room, which is an exact reproduction of the interior of
Barents' house on Novaya Zemlya.[179]
After Carlsen, Barents' winter haven was visited in the year 1875 by
the Norwegian walrus-hunter, M. GUNDERSEN, who among other things
found there a broken chest containing two maps and a Dutch
translation of the narrative of Pet's and Jackman's voyages, and in
the year 1876 by Mr. CHARLES GARDINER, who through more systematic
excavations succeeded in collecting a considerable additional number
of remarkable things, among which were the ink-horn and the pens
which the Polar travellers had used nearly three centuries ago, and
a powder-horn, containing a short account, signed by Heemskerk and
Barents, of the most important incidents of the expedition.
Gundersen's _find_ is still, as far as I know, at Hammerfest;
Gardiner's has been handed over to the Dutch Government to be
preserved along with the other Barents relics at the Hague.
In 1872 the state of the ice both north of Spitzbergen and round
Novaya Zemlya was exceedingly unfavourable,[180] and several of the
scientific expeditions and hunting vessels, which that year visited
the Arctic Ocean, there underwent severe calamities and misfortunes.
Five of the best hunting vessels from Tromsoe were lost in the ice;
the Swedish expedition, which that year started for the north, could
not, as was intended, erect its winter dwelling on the Seven
Islands, but was compelled to winter at the more southerly Mussel
Bay; and the Austrian expedition under the leadership of Payer and
Weyprecht was beset by ice a few hours after its campaign had
commenced in earnest. It is well known how this carefully equipped
expedition afterwards for two winters in succession drifted about in
the Polar Sea, until it finally came to a standstill at a previously
unknown land lying north of Novaya Zemlya, which was named after the
Austrian Emperor, Franz Josef. These two expeditions, however, did
not touch the territory of the _Vega's_ voyage, on which account I
cannot here take any further notice of them.[181] But the same year
a wintering took place on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, of which
I consider that I ought to give a somewhat more detailed account,
both because in the course of it one of the most gallant Polar
voyagers of Norway met his fate, and because it shows us various
new, hitherto untouched sides of winter life in the High North.
SIVERT TOBIESEN was one of the oldest and boldest of the Norwegian
walrus-hunting skippers; he had with life and soul devoted himself
to his calling, and in it was exposed to many dangers and
difficulties, which he knew how to escape through courage and skill.
In 1864 he had sailed round the northeastern part of North-east
Land, and had been very successful in hunting; but as he was about
to return home, his vessel was beset by ice near the southern
entrance to Hinloopen Strait, where the same fate also overtook two
other hunting sloops, one of them commanded by the old hunting
skipper MATTILAS, who in the winter of 1872-73 died in a tent at
Grey Hook, the other by the skipper J. ASTROM. They were compelled
to save themselves in boats, in which they rowed through Hinloopen
Strait to the mouth of Ice Fjord, where the shipwrecked crews were
met and saved by the Swedish expedition of 1864. He passed the
winter of 1865-66 happily, in a house built for the purpose on Bear
Island, and communicated to the Swedish Academy of Sciences a series
of valuable meteorological observations, made during the
wintering.[182] After 1868 he had made several successful voyages to
Novaya Zemlya, some of which were also remarkable from a
geographical point of view, and in 1872 he was also on a hunting
expedition to the same regions.
[Illustration: SIVERT KRISTIAN TOBIESEN. Born at Tromsoe in 1821,
died on Novaya Zemlya in 1873. ]
As he could not enter the Kara Sea, he sailed up along the west
coast, where in the middle of September he was beset in the
neighbourhood of the Cross Islands. Hence seven of the crew
travelled south in a boat to seek for a vessel, but Tobiesen
himself, his son and two men, remained on board. Their stock of
provisions consisted of only a small barrel of bread, a sack of
corners and fragments of ship biscuit, a small quantity of coffee,
tea, sugar, syrup, groats, salt meat, salt fish, a few pounds of
pork, a couple of tin canisters of preserved vegetables, a little
bad butter, &c. There was abundance of wood on board and on the
land. Notwithstanding the defective equipment they went on bravely
and hopefully with the preparations for wintering, gathered
drift-wood in heaps on the beach, threw a tent of sails over the
vessel, threw up snow about its sides, covered the deck with, the
hides of the seals and walruses that had been captured during
summer, did what could be done to bring about good ventilation on
board, &c. A large number of bears came to the winter station at the
commencement of the wintering, affording an abundant supply of fresh
bears' flesh. So long as this lasted, the health of the party was
good, but when it came to an end at the new year, their food for
three weeks consisted mainly of ill-smelling salt bears' flesh.
Tobiesen and one of the men were now taken ill. The cold sank to
-39-1/2 deg. C.[183] On the 29th April, 1873, Tobiesen died of
scurvy. In the month of May his son was also attacked, and died on
the 5th July. The two men also suffered from scurvy, but recovered.
They rowed south in the month of August, and were rescued by a
Russian hunting-vessel.
[Illustration: TOBIESEN'S WINTER HOUSE ON BEAR ISLAND. (After a sketch
by the Author.) ]
The seven men, the harpooner Henrik Nilsen, Ole Andreas Olsen, Axel
Henriksen, Amandus Hansen, Nils Andreas Foxen, Johan Andersson and
Lars Larsen, who rowed away in autumn, had an exceedingly remarkable
fate. When they left the vessel they could only take with them
fourteen ship biscuits, six boxes of lucifers, two guns, with
ammunition, a spy-glass, a coffeepot and an iron pot, but no winter
clothes to protect them from the cold. At first, in order to get to
open water, they had to drag the boat about seven kilometres over
the ice. They then steered southwards along the land. The journey
was made under circumstances of great difficulty and privation. The
darkness and cold increased, as did the storm, and what was worst of
all their stock of provisions was very soon consumed. On the second
day, however, they wore fortunate enough to shoot a bear; afterwards
they also succeeded in killing a pair of seals. Finally, after
having partly rowed and partly sailed about three weeks (they had no
almanac with them), and travelled nearly 400 kilometres, they came
to two small hunting or store houses, which the Russians had built
on the north side of Gooseland. In order to have at least a roof
over their heads the exhausted men settled there, though in the
house they found neither food, clothes, nor hunting implements. They
were all much enfeebled by hunger, thirst, cold, and the long boat
journey; their feet were swollen and partly frost-bitten.
They remained in the house three weeks, and during that time shot a
seal, two white foxes, and four reindeer, with which they kept in
their lives; but as it appeared that there were no more reindeer to
be had, and there were no more opportunities of shooting seals or
reindeer, they determined to leave the house and endeavour to get to
Vaygats Island. When they broke up, Ole Andreas Olsen and Henrik
Nilsen took the guns and ammunition, while the other five commenced
the journey with some small sledges they had found at the house, on
which they loaded what they had of clothes and other articles. The
boat was left behind. Soon after they left the house Ole Andreas
Olsen and Henrik Nilsen were separated in a snowstorm from the
others who drew the sledges. The latter now agreed to determine by
lot whether they should return to the house or continue their
journey, and when the lot fell for the latter they allowed it to
settle the matter, and so went south.[184]
Their position was now desperate in the extreme. When they left the
house they had about half a pound of reindeer flesh and a little
blubber remaining. The weather was dreadful; they were badly
clothed, and they wanted water. In consequence they could make only
very short days' marches. At night they buried themselves in the
snow, and while the rest slept, one man kept constant watch, to
prevent the others from being snowed up and to keep the bears at a
distance. They all held out till the sixth night. Then Amandus
Hansen died. The rest were compelled to leave him in the snow and
continue their journey as well as they could, but they had by
degrees become so weak and exhausted that, after having traversed
probably about 100 kilometres, for the most part along the coast,
they had to leave even the sledges and the most of what they had
with them. The seventh or eighth day they caught sight of a little
pile of fuel, and the track of a sledge in the snow. By following
this track for about ten kilometres they found a small house,
inhabited by Samoyeds, who immediately gave them a friendly
reception, and entertained them in the most hospitable way. In
particular they showed much kindness to Nils Andreas Foxen, whose
toes were frost-bitten, and who was in other respects much
enfeebled.
These Samoyeds, three men, three women, and a boy, spoke Russian.
They had settled for the winter on the south part of Gooseland to
shoot the seal and the walrus. They had with them a large barge,
besides some small Samoyed boats, and were comparatively well
provided with reindeer flesh, meal, tea, sugar, &c. Their guns were
old flint-lock fowling-pieces, but they were good shots. With these
Samoyeds the four shipwrecked men remained the whole winter, and
were tolerably well off. When the weather permitted they assisted
the Samoyeds in capturing seals, and when the weather was bad they
passed the time as well as they could, the Samoyeds generally
employing themselves in playing cards or draughts. In order to avoid
scurvy the Samoyeds often took exercise in the open air, and ate
reindeer flesh, partly cooked and partly raw, and drank the blood.
They lived in the house until March was well advanced, when, for
want of fuel, they were obliged to hew it down. Instead they removed
into a tent of reindeer skin. These Samoyeds appear to have been
Christians in name, though they must have had strange ideas of their
new God. When, for instance, they saw a seal and missed shooting it,
they shot at the sun, because they believed that God was angry with
them. They lived in a sort of marriage, but if the man became
unfriendly to the woman, or tired of her, he could take another;
they had no clocks, but, notwithstanding, had a tolerably good idea
of time by the help of the stars and the sun; instead of an almanac
they used a piece of wood, in which for every day they cut a notch.
Although they sometimes quarrelled with and threatened one another,
they were, however, on the whole friendly, and reasonable, and
showed much kindness to the four shipwrecked men, whom they provided
with warm skin clothes, and during the whole time with food in
abundance, according to their circumstances, so that they did not
suffer any want.
Ole Andreas Olsen and Henrik Nilsen had, when they were separated in
the snowstorm from the sledge party, half a pound of flesh and their
guns, and nothing more. They did not succeed in finding any game,
and though they were not very far from the house, they required
three days and a half to get back to it. In the meantime, also,
these two comrades in misfortune had been separated. Henrik Nilsen
found the house first, lighted a fire, roasted and ate some pieces
of fox flesh that he found remaining. Ole Andreas Olsen, who in
desperation had endeavoured to quench his thirst with sea-water, was
so weak that, when late at night he came to the boat, he could not
crawl up to the house. He had kept himself in life by eating snow
and devouring large pieces of his "pesk," which was made of the raw
hides of reindeer he had previously shot. After having lain a while
in the boat he crept up to the house, where he found Henrik sleeping
by the fire, which was not yet quite extinguished. The following day
they both began to make arrangements for a lengthened stay in the
house. But here they found nothing, neither food, household
furniture, nor aught else. Nor did they succeed at first in getting
any game; and for more then a fortnight they sustained life by
boiling and gnawing the flesh from the bones of the reindeer, the
seal, and the bear, that lay under the snow, remains from the
Russian hunting excursions of the preceding year. Finally, before
Christmas they succeeded in killing a reindeer. Their lucifers were
now done, but they lighted a fire by loading their guns with a
mixture of which gunpowder formed a part, and firing into old ropes,
left behind by the Russians, which they picked asunder and dried.
One of the Russian huts they tore down and used as fuel. They had
neither axe nor saw, but they split up the fuel by means of a piece
of iron, which they took from the keel of the boat, and of which
they made, by hammering with stones, a sort of knife. Of some nails,
which they also took from the boat, they likewise forged needles by
means of stones; they used reindeer sinews for thread, and of the
hides they sewed clothes for themselves. They lived in the hut until
some time in April. During this time they shot eleven reindeer and a
bear, so that they did not actually suffer hunger; but in the middle
of April they had powder remaining for only three shots, and they
now saw the impossibility of supporting themselves longer at that
place, wherefore they determined to go farther south, in order, if
possible, to reach Vaygats Island. They went by land along the
sea-shore, leaving the boat behind. After the lapse of some days
they came to the same Samoyeds with whom the other four of the crew
were, and they now remained till the middle of June with the
Samoyeds, who gave them the same hospitable treatment as their
companions in misfortune. When at the time specified it was
determined to fetch the boat from the Russian hut, in order that
they might make their way southwards, Johan Andersson, a Swede by
birth, declared that he wished to remain with the Samoyeds, and was
not willing to accompany the other five on their homeward journey.
The latter now dragged the boat for two days over the ice but when it
became too heavy they had to cut it through the middle and leave a half
behind. Of a large sealskin, which they got from the Samoyeds, they made
a stern to the other half, which they continued to drag over the ice for
three days, until they came to open water. Then they rowed in the
truncated boat ten days, until they reached a fast ice-border at the
Vaygats Island, where they again fell in with Samoyeds. Even by these,
who could speak neither Russian nor Quaen, and by whom they could with
difficulty make themselves understood, they were well received. They
remained there eight days and got good entertainment. These Samoyeds had
tame reindeer, with which they sent the shipwrecked men on their way
southwards, till they fell in with a vessel, with which four returned to
Norway. Lars Larsen now did not wish to go home, preferring to remain
with the Samoyed family which he had last met with. Samoyed life,
however, must not be so pleasant after all, for in a year or two both
the men who had remained among the Samoyeds returned home. As a reward
for the hospitality which the shipwrecked walrus-hunters had received
from the Samoyeds on Gooseland, the Norwegian Government presented them
with a number of gifts, consisting of clothes, pearls, breechloaders,
with ammunition, &c., which were handed over to them with festive
speeches and toasts on the 17th July, 1880. During the entertainment
which took place on this occasion on the coast of Novaya Zemlya, toasts
were drunk in champagne, and it is said that this liquor was very much
relished by the Samoyeds.[185]
As little as Tobiesen could any other walrus-hunter make his way,
either in 1872 or 1873, into the Kara Sea, the entrances of which
were during these summers blocked by a compact belt of ice, which
extended along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats Island to
the mainland. In the belief of a large number of experienced
walrus-hunters, with whom I have conversed on the subject, this belt
of ice was only some few nautical miles broad, and it is therefore
probable that even in those years there would have been no obstacle
to prevent a passage eastwards by this route in autumn.
In 1874, on the contrary, the state of the ice became very
favourable, and many walrus-hunters again as formerly sailed in all
directions across the Kara Sea, which this year was also visited by
an Englishman, Captain J. WIGGINS. None of them, however, penetrated
farther to the east or north than Johannesen, Carlsen, Mack, and
others had done during the years 1869-70.
It was not until the following year that the North-east voyages took
a step forward, important both in a purely geographical as well as a
practical point of view, when I succeeded in a walrus-hunting sloop,
the _Proeven_, commanded by the walrus-hunting Captain Isaksen, in
sailing through Yugor Straits, which were passed on 2nd August, and
over the nearly ice-free Kara Sea as far as to the mouth of the
Yenisej. The _Proeven_ anchored there on the 15th August 1875, in,
or more correctly immediately off, the same splendid haven where the
_Vega_ expedition lay at anchor from the 6th to the 10th August,
1878. Hence I sailed under various difficulties along with Dr.
Stuxberg and Dr. Lundstroem and three men in a Nordland boat, up the
river to Saostrovskoj, where we fell in with a steamer, in which we
afterwards travelled to Yenisejsk. On leaving Port Dickson I handed
over the command to Dr. Kjellman, who along with Dr. Theel returned
by sea to Europe across the Kara Sea and through Matotschkin Schar,
which was passed during the return voyage on the 4th to the 11th
September.
By this voyage of 1875 I was the first who succeeded in penetrating
from the Atlantic Ocean in a vessel to the mouths of the great
Siberian rivers. One of the objects which the old North-east
voyagers had aimed at was thus at last accomplished, and that in a
way that promised to be of immense practical importance for the
whole of Siberia. The voyage was also regarded in that light by
leading men in the great empire of the East, and our return journey
from Yenisejsk by Krasnojarsk, Tomsk, Omsk, Yekaterinburg,
Nischni-Novgorod, Moscow and St. Petersburg, became therefore a
journey from _fete_ to _fete_. But a number of voices were
simultaneously raised, which asserted that the success of the
_Proeven_ depended on an accidental combination of fortunate
circumstances, which would not soon occur again. In order to show
that this was not the case, and that I might myself bring the first
goods by sea to Siberia, I undertook my second voyage to the Yenisej
in 1876, in which I penetrated with the steamer _Ymer_, not only to
the mouth of the river, but also up the river to the neighbourhood
of Yakovieva in 71 deg. N.L. Hence I returned the same year by sea
to Europe.[186] In the gulf of Yenisej a large island was
discovered, which I named after Mr. Alexander Sibiriakoff, who
defrayed the principal expenses of the expedition. Before starting
on this voyage, I visited the Philadelphia Exhibition, and it may
perhaps deserve to be mentioned, that leaving New York on the 1st
July by one of the ordinary steamers, and going on board my own
vessel in Norway, I reached the mouth of the Yenisej on the 15th
August, that is to say, in forty-six days.
The same year Captain Wiggins also undertook a voyage to the
Yenisej, in which he penetrated with a steamer up the river beyond
the labyrinth of islands lying between 70 deg. and 71 deg. N.L.
The vessel wintered there, but was lost the following spring at the
breaking up of the ice.[187]
The voyages of the _Proeven_ and the _Ymer_ led to several purely
commercial voyages to the Yenisej and the Ob, of which however I can
here with the greatest brevity mention only the following:
[Illustration: JOSEPH WIGGINS ]
The Swedish steamer _Fraser_, commanded by the German Captain
DALLMANN, after having been fitted out at Gothenburg on
Sibiriakoff's account, sailed in 1877 with a cargo from Bremen to
the Yenisej and back. The vessel left Hammerfest on the 9th August,
arrived at Goltschicha on the 21st August, commenced the return
voyage on the 14th September, and on the 24th of the same month was
back at Hammerfest.
The steamer _Louise_ commanded by Captain DAHL, with a cargo of
iron, olive oil, and sugar, the same year made the first voyage from
England to Tobolsk, starting from Hull on the 18th July and arriving
at Tobolsk on the 20th September.[188]
Captain SCHWANENBERG sailed in a half-decked sloop, the _Utrennaja
Saria_, from the Yenisej to Europe. To what has been already said of
this voyage, I may here add a few words more.
[Illustration: DAVID IVANOVITSCH SCHWANENBERG. Born in Courland in
1831. ]
During the inundation in the spring of 1877, which compelled the
mate Nummelin to betake himself for eight days to the roof of the
fragile dwelling in which he had passed the winter, the
Yenisejsk-built vessel, the _Aurora_ (or _Sewernoe Sianie_) was
lost. Schwanenberg, who soon afterwards came to the neighbourhood,
succeeded in purchasing from an Englishman, Mr. SEEBOHM, another
little vessel, which was also built at Yenisejsk by Mr. Boiling for
the purpose of transporting thither the goods which I had carried in
the _Ymer_ to Korepovskoj, a _simovie_ on the bank of the Yenisej in
71 deg. 19' N.L. The goods however had been taken up the river by
a steamer, on which account the vessel was sold by Boiling to Mr.
Seebohm, who made an excursion in it to the lower courses of the
Yenisej for ornithological researches. He named the vessel the
_Ibis_. When Mr. Seebohm no longer required it, there was at first a
proposal that it should be taken over by Captain Wiggins, who, as
has been already stated, had the year before come to the Yenisej
with a small steamer, which wintered at the islands in the river,
and had now stranded during the breaking up of the ice. He wished to
carry his men on the _Ibis_ either home or to the Ob, but the
English seamen declared that they would not for all the world's
honour and riches sail in that vessel. Schwanenberg had thus an
opportunity of purchasing the vessel, whose name he altered to the
_Utrennaja Saria_ (the _Dawn_), and to the surprise of all
experienced seamen he actually made a successful passage to Norway.
The vessel was then towed along the coast to Gothenburg, and through
the Goeta Canal to Stockholm, and finally crossed the Baltic to St.
Petersburg.
On the 13th August Schwanenberg hoisted the Russian flag on his
little vessel. During his outward passage he met, in the mouth of
the Yenisej, Sibiriakoff's steamer the _Fraser_, Captain Dallmann,
who in vain endeavoured to dissuade him from prosecuting the
adventurous voyage. He anchored at Beli Ostrov on the 24th August,
passed the Kara Port on the 30th August, and reached Vardoe on the
11th September. The _Utrennaja Saria_ arrived at Christiania on the
31st October, at Gothenburg on the 15th November, passed Motala on
the 20th, reached Stockholm on the 23rd November and St. Petersburg
on the 3rd December. Everywhere in Scandinavia the gallant seamen
met with the heartiest reception. Their vessel was the first that
sailed from the town of Yenisejsk to Europe, and is still, when this
is being written, the only one.
[Illustration: GUSTAF ADOLF NUMMELIN. Born at Viborg in 1853. ]
The _Dawn_ is 56 feet long, 14 feet beam, and draws 6 feet of water.
Aft there is a little cabin in which there is scant space for three
men. Cooking is done in the fore. The cargo consisted of a small
quantity of graphite, fish, furs, and other samples of the products
of Siberia.
The vessel was manned by Captain Schwanenberg, the mates Nummelin
and Meyenwaldt, and two exiled criminals, who in this unexpected way
returned to their native country. I take it for granted that by the
rare nautical exploit they took part in, they there won forgiveness
for former offences.
[Illustration: THE SLOOP UTRENNAJA SARIA. ]
[Footnote 159: Compare: "The names of the places that the Russes
sayle by, from Pechorskoie Zauorot to Mongozey" (_Purchas_, III. p.
539): "The voyage of Master Josias Logan to Pechora, and his
wintering there with Master William Pursglove and Marmaduke Wilson,
Anno 1611" (_loc. cit._ p. 541): "Extracts taken out of two letters
of Josias Logan from Pechora, to Master Hakluyt, Prebend of
Westminster" (_loc. cit._ p. 546): "Other obseruations of the sayd
William Pursglove" (_loc. cit._ p. 550). The last paper contains
good information regarding the Obi, Tas, Yenisej, Pjaesina, Chatanga,
and Lena. ]
[Footnote 160: The stringent regulations regarding fasting of the
Russians, especially the Old Believers, if they be literally
observed, form an insuperable obstacle to the colonisation of
high-northern regions, in which, to avoid scurvy, man requires an
abundant supply of fresh flesh. Thus, undoubtedly, religious
prejudices against certain kinds of food caused the failure of the
colony of Old Believers which was founded in 1767 on Kolgujev
Island, in order that its members might undisturbed use their old
church books and cross themselves in the way they considered most
proper. The same cause also perhaps conduced to the failure of the
attempts which are said to have been made after the destruction of
Novgorod by Ivan the Terrible in 1570 by fugitives from that town to
found a colony on Novaya Zemlya (_Historische Nachrichten von den
Samojeden und den Lapplaendern_, Riga und Mietau, 1769, p. 28). This
book was first printed in French at Koenigsberg in 1762. The author
was Klingstedt, a Swede in the Russian service, who long lived at
Archangel. ]
[Footnote 161: The statement is incredible, and probably originated
in some mistake. To form such a heap of walruses at least 50,000
animals would have been required, and it is certain that fifteen men
could not have killed so many. If we assume that in the statement of
the length and breadth, feet ought to stand in place of fathoms, we
get the still excessive number of 1,500 to 3,000 killed animals.
Probably instead of 90 we should have 9, in which case the heap
would correspond to about 500 walruses and seals killed. The walrus
tusks collected weighed 40 pood, which again indicates the capture
of 150 to 200 animals. ]
[Footnote 162: _Witsen_, p. 915. Klingstedt states that fifty
soldiers with their wives and children were removed in 1648 to
Pustosersk, and that the vojvode there had so large an income that
in three or four years he could accumulate 12,000 to 15,000 roubles
(_Historische Nachrichten von den Samojeden_, &c., p. 53). ]
[Footnote 163: According to Luetke, p. 70. Hamel, _Tradescant d.
aeltere_, gives the date 1742-44. ]
[Footnote 164: Thus on the first map in an atlas published in 1737
by the St. Petersburg Academy, Novaya Zemlya is delineated as a
peninsula projecting from Taimur Land north of the Pjaesina. ]
[Footnote 165: Properly "Mate, with the rank of Lieutenant," from
which we may conclude that Rossmuislov wanted the usual education of
an officer. ]
[Footnote 166: These remarkable voyages were described for the first
time, after the accounts of Zivolka, by the academician K.E. v. Baer
in _Bulletin scientifique publ. par l'Acad. Imp. des Sciences de St.
Petersburg_, t. ii. No. 9, 10, 11 (1837). Before this there does not
appear to have been in St. Petersburg any knowledge of Pachtussov's
voyages, the most remarkable which the history of Russian Polar Sea
exploration has to show. ]
[Footnote 167: The carbasse was named, like the vessels of Lasarev
and Luetke, the _Novaya Zemlya_. It was forty-two feet long, fourteen
feet beam, and six feet deep, decked fore and aft, and with the open
space between protected by canvas from breakers. ]
[Footnote 168: The details of Pachtussov's voyages are taken partly
from von Baer's work already quoted, partly from Carl Svenske,
_Novaya Zemlya_, &c., St. Petersburg, 1866 (in Russian, published at
the expense of M.K. Sidoroff), and J. Spoerer, _Nowaja Semlae in
geographischer, naturhistorischer und volkswirthschaftlicher
Beziehung, nach den Quellen bearbsitet_. Ergaenz-Heft. No. 21 zu
Peterm. _Geogr. Mittheilungen_, Gotha, 1867. ]
[Footnote 169: _Bulletin scientifique publie par l'Academie Imp. de
St. Petersburg_, t. ii. (1837), p. 315; iii. (1838), p. 96, and
other places. ]
[Footnote 170: Paul von Krusenstern, _Skizzen aus sienem
Seemannsleben. Seinen Freunden gewidmet_. Hirschberg in Silesia,
without date. ]
[Footnote 171: Information regarding the mode of life of the Russian
hunters on the coasts of Spitzbergen is to be found in P.A. le Roy,
_Relation des avantures arrivees a quatre matelots Russes, &c._
1766; Tschitschagov's _Reise nach dem Eismeer_, St. Petersburg,
1793; John Bacstrom, _Account of a voyage to Spitzbergen_, 1780,
London, 1808 (as stated; I have not seen this work); B.M. Keilhau,
_Reise i Oest og Vest Finmarken, samt til Beeren-Eiland og
Spetsbergen i Aarene 1827 og 1828_, Christiania, 1831; A. Erman,
_Archiv fuer wissenschastliche Kunde von Russland_, Part 13 (1854),
p. 260; K. Chydenius, _Svenska expeditionen till Spetsbergen 1861_
(p. 435); Duner and Nordenskioeld, _Svenska Expeditioner till
Spetsbergen och Jan Mayen 1863 och 1864_ (p. 101). ]
[Footnote 172: Before 1858 there is to be found in Petermann's
_Mittheilungen_ only a single notice of the Norwegian Spitzbergen
hunting, the existence of which was at the time probably known to no
great number of European geographers. ]
[Footnote 173: The first account of this voyage was published in
_Oefversigt af Svenska Vetenskaps-akademiens forhandlingar_, 1870,
p. 111. ]
[Footnote 174: _Athenoeum_, 1869, p. 498. Petermann's
_Mittheilungen_, 1869, p. 391. ]
[Footnote 175: Palliser's game consisted of 49 walruses, 14 Polar
bears and 25 seals; that of the working hunters was many times
greater. All the vessels which went from Tromsoe that year captured
805 walruses, 2,302 seals, 53 bears, &c. ]
[Footnote 176: Sidoroff too started in 1869 on a north-east voyage
in a steamer of his own, the _George_. However, he only reached the
Petchora, and the statement that went the round of the press, that
the _George_ actually reached the Ob, is thus one of the many
mistakes which so readily find their way into the news of the day. ]
[Footnote 177: Petermann's _Mittheilungen_, 1871, p. 97. Along with
Ulve's, Mack's, and Quale's voyages, Petermann refers to a voyage
round Novaya Zemlya by T. Torkildsen. In this case, however,
Petermann was exposed to a possibly unintended deception.
Torkildsen, who visited the Polar Sea for the first time in 1870,
indeed made the voyage round Novaya Zemlya, but only as a rescued
man on Johannesen's vessel. Torkildsen's own vessel, the _Alfa_, had
been wrecked on the 13th July at the bottom of Kara Bay, after which
the skipper and six men were saved by Johannesen, yet by no means so
that Torkildsen, as is stated by Petermann, had the least command of
the vessel that saved him. (Cf. _Tromsoe Stiftstidende_, 1871, No. 23.) ]
[Footnote 178: _Tromsoe Stiftstidende_, 1871, No. 83; Petermann's
_Mittheilungen_, 1872, p. 384. ]
[Footnote 179: Cf. _The Three Voyages of William Barents_, by Gerrit
de Veer, 2nd Edition, with an Introduction by Lieutenant Koolemaens
Beynen. London, 1876 (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, No. 54). ]
[Footnote 180: The sea in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen on the
east was on the other hand very open that year, so that it was
possible for the same time to reach and circumnavigate the large
island situated to the east of Spitzbergen, which had been seen in
1864 by Duner and me from the top of White Mount in the interior of
Stor Fjord. ]
[Footnote 181: Nor does space permit me to give an account of
various expeditions, which indeed concerned Novaya Zemlya, but did
not penetrate farther eastward than their predecessors; for
instance, the Rosenthal expedition of 1871, in which the well-known
African traveller and Spitzbergen voyager Baron von Heuglin, and the
Norwegian botanist Aage Aagaard, took part as naturalists; Payer and
Weyprecht's voyage of reconnaissance in the sea between Spitzbergen
and Novaya Zemlya in 1871, &c. ]
[Footnote 182: Kongl. _Svenska Vetenskaps-akademiens
handlingar_, 1869. ]
[Footnote 183: At Mussel Bay, too, during the winter of 1872-73, the
greatest deg. of cold was the same; that is to say, at neither
place did it reach the freezing-point of mercury. At the _Vega's_
winter station, on the contrary, it was considerably greater. ]
[Footnote 184: It is very common that the hunters in cases of
importance and danger when it is difficult to settle what course
ought to be taken, permit the drawing of lots to determine the
choice. ]
[Footnote 185: The statements made here regarding the wintering of
Tobiesen and his companions are taken partly from a copy which I
caused to be made of his journal, partly from an account of the
adventures of the seven hunters, copied from _Finmarksposten_ into
_Aftonbladet_ for 1873, No. 220. Finally, the account of the
distribution of presents to the Samoyeds is copied from Norwegian
journals into _Aftonbladet_ for 1880, No. 197. ]
[Footnote 186: The dates of the _Ymer's_ voyage are as
follows:--Left the coast of Norway on the 26th July; stay at
Matotschkin Sound, through which I, on this occasion, steamed into
the Kara Sea from the 30th July to the 5th August; arrival at the
Yenisej on the 15th August; arrival at the anchorage at Goltschicha
on the 16th August; commenced the return voyage on the 1st
September, in the course of it passed Matotschkin Schar on the 7th
September. ]
[Footnote 187: Of Captain Wiggins' voyage I know only that his
original destination was the Ob, but that on account of currents and
shoals which, he encountered at the mouth of this river, he altered
his plan, and reached the Yenisej in the beginning of September. ]
[Footnote 188: _Deutsche Geographische Blaetter_, Bremen, 1870, i. p.
216, and ii. p. 35. ]
[Illustration: Map of Port Dickson, by G. Bove. Map of Cape Bolvan on
Vaygats Island, by the author. The _Lena's_ cruise in Malygin Sound,
by A. Hovgaard. Map of Cape Chelyuskin, by G. Bove ]
CHAPTER VII.
Departure from Port Dickson--Landing on a rocky island
east of the Yenisej--Self-dead animals--Discovery of
crystals on the surface of the drift-ice--Cosmic dust--
Stay in Actinia Bay--Johannesen's discovery of the island
Ensamheten--Arrival at Cape Chelyuskin--The natural state
of the land and sea there--Attempt to penetrate right
eastwards to the New Siberian Islands--The effect of the
mist--Abundant dredging-yield--Preobraschenie Island--
Separation from the _Lena_ at the mouth of the river Lena.
When on the morning of the 9th August the _Fraser_ and _Express_
sailed for the point higher up the river where their cargo was
lying, the _Vega_ and the _Lena_ were also ready to sail. I,
however, permitted the vessels to remain at Port Dickson a day
longer, in order to allow Lieutenant Bove to finish his survey, and
for the purpose of determining astronomically, if possible, the
position of this important place. In consequence of a continuous
fog, however, I had as little opportunity of doing so on this
occasion as during the voyage of 1875, which serves to show of what
sort the weather is during summer at the place where the warm water
of the Yenisej is poured into the Arctic Ocean. It was thus not
until the morning of the 10th August that the _Vega_ and the _Lena_
weighed anchor in order to continue their voyage. The course was
shaped for the most westerly of the islands, which old maps place
off the estuary-bay of the Pjaesina, and name Kammenni Ostrova (Stone
Islands), a name which seems to indicate that in their natural state
they correspond to the rocky islands about Port Dickson. The sky was
hid by mist, the temperature of the air rose to +10.4 deg. C.;
that of the water was at first +10 deg., afterwards +8 deg.; its
salinity at the surface of the sea was inconsiderable. No ice was
seen during the course of the day. Favoured by a fresh breeze from
the south-east, the _Vega_ could thus begin her voyage with all sail
set. Small rocky islands, which are not to be found on the chart,
soon reminded us of the untrustworthiness of the maps. This,
together with the prevailing fog, compelled Captain Palander to sail
forward with great caution, keeping a good outlook and sounding
constantly. Warm weather and an open sea were also favourable for
the next day's voyage. But the fog now became so dense, that the
_Vega_ had to lie-to in the morning at one of the many small islands
which we still met with on our way.
Dr. Kjellman, Dr. Almquist, Lieutenant Nordquist, and I, landed
here. The bare and utterly desolate island consisted of a low gneiss
rock, rising here and there into cliffs, which were shattered by the
frost and rather richly clothed with lichens. On the more low-lying
places the rock was covered with a layer of gravel, which, through
drying and consequent contraction, had burst into six-sided figures,
mostly from 0.3 to 0.5 metre in diameter. The interior of the
figures was completely bare of vegetation, only in the cracks there
was to be seen an exceedingly scanty growth of stunted mosses,
lichens, and flowering plants. Of the last-named group there were
found fifteen species,[189] which could with success, or more
correctly without succumbing, survive the struggle for existence on
the little poor archipelago, protected by no mountain heights, from
the storms of the Polar Sea; but of these species, perhaps a couple
seldom develop any flowers. The mosses, too, were in great part
without fruit, with the exception of those which grew on the margin,
formed of hard clay covered with mud, of a pool, filled with
brackish water and lying close to the sea-margin. A large number of
pieces of driftwood scattered round this pool showed that the place
was occasionally overflowed with sea-water, which thus appears to
have been favourable to the development of the mosses. Of lichens
Dr. Almquist found a number of species, well developed, and
occurring in comparative abundance. On the contrary, the sea,
although the surrounding rocky islands indicated a good bottom for
algae, was so completely destitute of the higher algae, that only a
single microscopic species was found by Dr. Kjellman. No mammalia
were seen, not even the usual inhabitant of the desolate rocky
islands of the Polar Sea, the Polar bear, who, in regions where he
has not made acquaintance with the hunter's ball or lance, in secure
reliance on his hitherto unvanquished might, seldom neglects to
scrutinise the newly arrived guests from the tops of high rocks or
ice-blocks. We saw here only six species of birds. The first of
these that attracted our attention was the snow-bunting, which had
left the more fertile mountain heights of the south to choose this
bare and desolate island in the Arctic Ocean for its breeding-place,
and now fluttered round the stone mounds, where it had its nest,
with unceasing twitter, as if to express its satisfaction with its
choice. Further, two species of waders, _Tringa maritima_ and
_Phalaropus fulicarius_, were observed running restlessly about the
beach to collect their food, which consists of insects. The birds
that were killed often had their crops full of the remains of
insects, although living at a place where the naturalist has to
search for hours to find a dozen gnats or their equals in size, a
circumstance that tells very favourably for these birds' powers of
vision, of locomotion, and of apprehension. It is difficult in any
case to understand what it is that attracts this insectivorous bird
to one of the regions that is poorest in insect life in the whole
world. The glaucous gulls' plunderer, the skua, and its chastiser
the bold tern, were also observed, as were a few barnacle geese. On
the other hand, no eiders were met with. All the birds named
occurred only in inconsiderable numbers, and there was nothing found
here resembling the life which prevails on a Spitzbergen
fowl-island. Finally, it may be mentioned that Lieutenant Nordquist
found under stones and pieces of drift-wood a few insects, among
them a beetle (a _staphylinid_). Dr. Stuxberg afterwards found a
specimen of the same insect species at Cape Chelyuskin itself. No
beetle is found on Spitzbergen, though the greater portion of that
group of islands is, in respect of climate, soil, and vegetation,
much better favoured than the region now in question. This seems to
me to show that the insect fauna of Spitzbergen, exceedingly
inconsiderable and limited in numbers as it is, has migrated thither
in comparatively recent times, and in how high a degree the
migration of beetles is rendered difficult by their inability to
pass broad expanses of water.
[Illustration: THE VEGA AND LENA MOORED TO AN ICE-FLOE. On the morning
of the 12th August, 1878. (After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) ]
By afternoon the air had again cleared somewhat, so that we could
sail on. A piece of ice was seen here and there, and at night the
ice increased for a little to an unpleasant extent. Now, however, it
did not occur in such quantity as to prove an obstacle to navigation
in clear weather or in known waters.
On the 12th August we still sailed through considerable fields of
scattered drift-ice, consisting partly of old ice of large
dimensions, partly of very rotten year's ice. It formed, however, no
serious obstacle to our advance, and nearer the shore we would
probably have had quite open water, but of course it was not
advisable to go too near land in the fog and unknown waters, without
being obliged. A large number of fish (_Gadus polaris_) were seen
above the foot of a large block of ground ice, near which we lay-to
for some hours. Next day we saw near one of the islands, where the
water was very clear, the sea-bottom bestrewed with innumerable fish
of the same species. They had probably perished from the same cause,
which often kills fish in the river Ob in so great numbers that the
water is infected, namely, from a large shoal of fish having been
enclosed by ice in a small hole, where the water, when its surface
has frozen, could no longer by absorption from the air replace the
oxygen consumed, and where the fish have thus been literally
drowned. I mention this inconsiderable _find_ of some self-dead
fish, because self-dead vertebrate animals, even fish, are found
exceedingly seldom. Such _finds_ therefore deserve to be noted with
much greater care than, for instance, the occurrence of animal
species in the neighbourhood of places where they have been seen a
thousand times before. During my nine expeditions in the Arctic
regions, where animal life during summer is so exceedingly abundant,
the case just mentioned has been one of the few in which I have
found remains of recent vertebrate animals which could be proved to
have died a natural death. Near hunting-grounds there are to be seen
often enough the remains of reindeer, seals, foxes, or birds that
have died from gunshot wounds, but no self-dead Polar bear, seal,
walrus, white whale, fox, goose, auk, lemming or other vertebrate.
The Polar bear and the reindeer are found there in hundreds, the
seal, walrus, and white whale in thousands, and birds in
millions.[190] These animals must die a "natural" death in untold
numbers. What becomes of their bodies? Of this we have for the
present no idea, and yet we have here a problem of immense
importance for the answering of a large number of questions
concerning the formation of fossiliferous strata. It is strange in
any case that on Spitzbergen it is easier to find vertebrae of a
gigantic lizard of the Trias, than bones of a self-dead seal,
walrus, or bird, and the same also holds good of more southerly
inhabited lands.
On the 13th August we again sailed past a large number of small
rocks or islands. The sea was at first pretty free of ice, but was
afterwards bestrewed with even, thin pieces of drift-ice, which were
not forced up on each other, and thus had not been exposed in winter
to any ice-pressure. This ice did not cause any inconvenience to the
navigation, but at the same time all was wrapt in a very close mist,
which soon compelled us to anchor near the shore in a little bay. I
endeavoured without success to determine the position of the place
by astronomical observations. Along the shore there still remained
nearly everywhere a pretty high snow and ice-foot, which in the fog
presented the appearance of immense glaciers. The land besides was
free of ice. In respect of its geological formation and its animals
and plants it resembled completely the island I have just described.
But the sea-water here was clear and salt, and the dredging
therefore yielded to Dr. Kjellman some large algae, and to Dr.
Stuxberg a large number of marine evertebrates.
When the fog lightened, we immediately steamed on, but we had
scarcely got to sea before we were again wrapped in so close a fog
that we were compelled to lie-to for the night beside a large piece
of drift-ice. The hempen tangles were used, and brought up a very
abundant yield of large, beautiful animal forms, a large number of
asterids, Astrophyton, Antedon, &c. There was besides made here an
exceedingly remarkable, and to me still, while I write, a very
enigmatical _find_.
For several years back I have been zealous for the examination of
all substances of the nature of dust which fall to the surface of
the earth with rain or snow, and I have proved that a portion of
them is of cosmic origin. This inconsiderable fall of dust is thus
of immense importance for the history of the development of our
globe, and we regard it, besides, with the intense interest which we
inevitably cherish for all that brings us an actual experience
regarding the material world beyond our globe. The inhabited
countries of the earth, however, are less suitable for such
investigations, as the particles of cosmic dust falling down here in
very limited quantity can only with difficulty be distinguished from
the dust of civilization, arising from human dwellings, from the
offal of industry, from furnaces and the chimneys of steam-engines.
The case is quite different on the snow and ice-fields of the High
North, remote from human habitations and the tracks of steamers.
Every foreign grain of dust can here he easily distinguished and
removed, and there is a strong probability that the offal of
civilization is here nearly wholly wanting. It is self-evident from
this that I would not be disposed to neglect the first opportunity
for renewed investigations in the direction indicated, our
involuntary rest at the drift-ice field offered.
[Illustration: HAIRSTAR FROM THE TAIMUR COAST. _Antedon Eschrichtii_,
J. MUeLLER. Three-fifths of the natural size. ]
Immediately after the _Vega_ lay-to, I therefore went down on the
ice in order to see whether here too some such metalliferous dust,
as I had before found north of Spitzbergen, was not to be found on
the surface of the ice. Nothing of the kind, however, was to be
seen. On the other hand, Lieutenant Nordquist observed small yellow
specks in the snow, which I asked him to collect and hand over for
investigation to Dr. Kjellman. For I supposed that the specks
consisted of diatom ooze. After examining them Dr. Kjellman however
declared that they did not consist of any organic substance, but of
crystallised grains of sand. I too now examined them more closely,
but unfortunately not until the morning after we had left the
ice-field, and then found that the supposed ooze consisted of pale
yellow crystals (not fragments of crystals) without mixture of
foreign matter. The quantity of crystals, which were obtained from
about three litres of snow, skimmed from the surface of the snow on
an area of at most 10 square metres, amounted to nearly 0.2 gram.
The crystals were found only near the surface of the snow, not in
the deeper layers. They were up to 1 mm. in diameter, had the
appearance shown in the accompanying woodcut, and appeared to belong
to the rhombic system, as they had one perfect cleavage and formed
striated prisms terminated at either end by truncated pyramids.
Unfortunately I could not make any actual measurements of them,
because after being kept for some time in the air they weathered to
a white non-crystalline powder. They lay, without being sensibly
dissolved, for a whole night in the water formed by the melting of
the snow. On being heated, too, they fell asunder into a tasteless
white powder. The white powder, that was formed by the weathering of
the crystals, was analysed after our return--21 months after the
discovery of the crystals--and was found to contain only carbonate
of lime.
[Illustration: FORM OF THE CRYSTALS. Found on the ice off the
Taimur coast. Magnified thirty to forty times. ]
The original composition and origin of this substance appears to me
exceedingly enigmatical. It was not common carbonate of lime, for the
crystals were rhombohedral and did not show the cleavage of calcite. Nor
can there be a question of its being arragonite, because this mineral
might indeed fall asunder "of itself," but in that case the newly-formed
powder ought to be crystalline. Have the crystals originally been a new
hydrated carbonate of lime, formed by crystallising out of the sea-water
in intense cold, and then losing its water at a temperature of 10 deg. or
20 deg. above the freezing-point? In such a case they ought not to have been
found on the surface of the _snow_, but lower down on the surface of the
_ice_. Or have they fallen down from the inter-planetary spaces to the
surface of the earth, and before crumbling down have had a composition
differing from terrestrial substances in the same way as various
chemical compounds found in recent times in meteoric stones? The
occurrence of the crystals in the uppermost layer of snow and their
felling asunder in the air, tell in favour of this view. Unfortunately
there is now no possibility of settling these questions, but at all
events this discovery is a further incitement to those who travel in the
High North to collect with extreme care, from snow-fields lying far from
the ordinary routes of communication, all foreign substances, though
apparently of trifling importance.
As this question can be answered with the greatest ease and
certainty by investigations in the Polar regions, I shall here, for
the guidance of future travellers, enumerate some discoveries of a
like nature which have been made by me, or at my instance.
1. In the beginning of December, 1871, there happened at Stockholm
an exceedingly heavy fall of snow, perhaps the heaviest which has
taken place in the memory of man. Several persons perished in the
snow in the immediate neighbourhood of Stockholm. During the last
days of the snowfall I had about a cubic metre of snow collected and
melted in a vessel. It left a residue of black powder, which
contained grains of metallic iron that were attracted by the magnet.
2. In the middle of March, 1872, a similar investigation was made by
my brother, KARL NORDENSKIOeLD, in a remote forest settlement, Evois,
in Finland. Here, too, was obtained, on the melting of the snow, a
small residuum, consisting of a black powder containing metallic
iron.
[Illustration: SECTION OF THE UPPER PART OF THE SNOW ON A DRIFT-ICE
FIELD IN 60 deg. N.L. One-half the natural size. ]
3. On the 8th August and 2nd September of the same year, I examined,
north of Spitzbergen, in 80 deg. N.L., and 13 deg. to 15 deg. E.L., the layer of
snow that there covered the ice. The nature of this layer is shown by
the accompanying woodcut, in which 1, is new-fallen snow; 2, a layer of
hardened old snow, eight mm. in thickness; 3, a layer of snow
conglomerated to a crystalline granular mass; and 4, common granular
hardened snow. Layer 3 was full of small black grains, among which were
found numerous metallic particles that were attracted by the magnet, and
were found to contain iron, cobalt, and possibly nickel also.
4. On the melting of 500 gram. hail, which fell in Stockholm in the
autumn of 1873, similar metallic particles containing cobalt
(nickel) were obtained, which, in this case, might possibly have
come from the neighbouring roofs, because the hail was collected in
a yard surrounded by houses roofed with sheet-iron painted red. The
black colour of the metallic particles enclosed in the hail, their
position in the hail, and finally, the cobalt they contained,
however, indicate in this case too, a quite different origin.
5. In a dust (kryokonite), collected on the inland ice of Greenland
in the month of July, 1870, there were also found mixed with it
grains of metallic iron, containing cobalt. The main mass consisted
of a crystalline, double-refracting silicate, drenched through with
an ill-smelling organic substance. The dust was found in large
quantities at the bottom of innumerable small holes in the surface
of the inland ice. This dust could scarcely be of volcanic origin,
because by its crystalline structure it differs completely from the
glass-dust that is commonly thrown out of volcanoes, and is often
carried by the wind to very remote regions, as also from the dust
which, on the 30th March, 1875, fell at many places in the middle of
Scandinavia, and which was proved to have been thrown out by
volcanoes on Iceland. For, while kryokonite consists of small
angular double-refracting crystal-fragments without any mixture of
particles of glass, the volcanic Haga-dust[191] consists almost
wholly of small microscopic glass bubbles that have no action on the
polarisation-planes of the light that passes through them.
Similar investigations have since been made, among others, by M.
TISSANDIER in Paris, and during NARES' English Polar Expedition.
It may appear to many that it is below the dignity of science to
concern one's self with so trifling an affair as the fall of a small
quantity of dust. But this is by no means the case. For I estimate
the quantity of the dust that was found on the ice north of
Spitzbergen at from 0.1 to 1 milligram per square metre, and
probably the whole fall of dust for the year far exceeded the latter
figure. But a milligram on every square metre of the surface of the
earth amounts for the whole globe to five hundred million kilograms
(say half a million tons)! Such a mass collected year by year during
the geological ages, of a duration probably incomprehensible by us,
forms too important a factor to be neglected, when the fundamental
facts of the geological history of our planet are enumerated. A
continuation of these investigations will perhaps show, that our
globe has increased gradually from a small beginning to the
dimensions it now possesses; that a considerable quantity of the
constituents of our sedimentary strata, especially of those that
have been deposited in the open sea far from land, are of cosmic
origin; and will throw an unexpected light on the origin of the
fire-hearths of the volcanoes, and afford a simple explanation of
the remarkable resemblance which unmistakably exists between
plutonic rocks and meteoric stones.[192]
On the 14th August, when the fog had lightened a little, we got up
steam, but were soon compelled to anchor again in a bay running into
Taimur Island from the north side of Taimur Sound, which I named
Actinia Bay, from the large number of actinia which the dredge
brought up there. It is, besides, not the only place in the Kara Sea
which might be named from the evertebrate life prevailing there, so
unexpectedly abundant.
[Illustration: GRASS FROM ACTINIA BAY. _Pleuropogon Sabini_, R. BR. ]
Unfavourable weather detained us in Actinia Bay, which is a good and
well-protected haven, till the 18th August, during which time
excursions were made in various directions, among others farther
into Taimur Sound, where a variable strong current was found to
prevail. The Sound is too shallow to be passed through by large
vessels. The rocks round Taimur Sound consist of gneiss strata,
which form low ridges that have been so shattered by the frost that
they have been converted into immense lichen-clad stone mounds.
Between these stretch extensive valleys and plains, now free of
snow, if we except a snow-drift remaining here and there in the
hollows. The plains were all covered with a very green continuous
vegetation, which however on a closer examination was found to be
not a true turf, but a mixture of grasses, allied plants, and a
large number of different kinds of mosses and lichens. Actual
flowers were found here only sparingly.[193] In this respect the
coast _tundra_ shows a remarkable difference from the coast lands on
Vaygats Island and Novaya Zemlya. On the other hand, the abundance
of luxuriant lichens and mosses was striking. The mosses along the
beach and the borders of the snow-drifts remaining here and there
bore fruit in abundance. Animal life on land was scanty; some few
reindeer were seen, a mountain fox was killed, and a lemming caught.
[Illustration: Sketch-Map of Taimur Sound; Map of Actinia Bay,
both by G. Bove. ]
Only the following birds were seen: owls (_Strix nyctea_) rather
numerous, of which one was killed; a species of falcon, which was
hunted unsuccessfully; snow buntings, breeding very generally in the
stone mounds; a covey of snow ptarmigan, of which some young birds
were shot; six species of waders, the most common birds of the
region, of which a large number were shot; two kinds of gulls
(_Larus glaucus_ and _tridactylus_); _Lestris parasitica_ and
_Buffonii_, the latter the more common of the two; _Anser bernicla_,
very common; and finally the long-tailed duck (_Harelda glacialis_)
in great flocks swimming in the Sound. Bird life, viewed as a whole,
was still scanty here, in comparison with that which we were
accustomed to see in the northern regions west of Novaya Zemlya.
In the sea the higher animal life was somewhat more abundant. A
walrus had been seen during the passage from the Yenisej, and on the
ice drifting about in the Sound a number of seals, both _Phoca
barbata_ and _Phoca hispida_, were observed. This gave rise to the
supposition that at the sea-bottom animal life was richer, which was
also confirmed by the dredging yield. Nowhere was seen on our
arrival any trace of man, but a cairn now indicates the place, off
which the _Vega_ and the _Lena_ were anchored.
In this sea never before visited by any vessel, however, we were nearly
coming in contact with a countryman. For while we lay at anchor in
Taimur Sound, Captain Edward Johannesen came into the neighbourhood of
the same place with his sailing vessel _Nordland_ from Tromsoe. He had
left Norway on the 22nd May 1878, had come to Gooseland in Novaya Zemlya
on the 6th June, and had reached the northernmost point of that island
on the 22nd July. Here loud thunder was heard on the 26th July. On the
10th August he steered eastwards from Novaya Zemlya across the Kara Sea
between 76 deg. and 77 deg. N.L. in open water. On the 16th he had the Taimur
country in sight. Here he turned, and steered first to the west, then to
the north. In 77 deg. 31' N.L. and 86 deg. E.L. from Greenwich he discovered and
circumnavigated a new island, which was named "Ensamheten" (Solitude).
The island was free of snow, but not overgrown with grass. The animals
that were seen were some bears and bearded seals, terns, fulmars, ivory
gulls, flocks of black guillemots, and a "bird with a rounded tail and
long bill," probably some wader. On the north-east side of the island a
strong northerly current prevailed. The remote position and desolate
appearance of the island gave occasion to the name proposed by
Johannesen. Hence Johannesen sailed with a great bend to the north,
which brought him to 78 deg. N.L., back to the northern extremity of Novaya
Zemlya, and thence on the 12th September to Norway. During the return
voyage across the Kara Sea also scarcely any ice was met with.[194]
An exceedingly persistent fog prevailed during the whole of the time
we remained here, but at last on the 18th it lightened a little. We
immediately weighed anchor and steamed along the western shore of
Taimur Island. It is surrounded by a large number of islands that
are not given on the map, and possibly Taimur Island itself is
divided by sounds into several parts. During our voyage, however,
the fog that was still very close hindered us from mapping,
otherwise than in a very loose way, the islands, large and small,
between and past which the _Vega_ searched for a passage. So much we
could in any case see, that the northern extremity of Taimur Island
does not run so far north as the common maps show.
Ice we met with only in small quantity, and what we saw was very
rotten fjord or river ice. I scarcely believe that in the course of
the day we met with a single piece of ice large enough to flense a
seal upon. We had as yet seen no true old drift-ice such as is to be
met with north of Spitzbergen. In respect to the nature of the ice,
there is a complete dissimilarity between the Kara Sea and the sea
north and east of Spitzbergen. Another striking difference is the
scarcity of warm-blooded animals which prevails in this region,
hitherto exempted from all hunting. In the course of the day we had
not seen a single bird--something which never before happened to me
during a summer journey in the Arctic regions--and scarcely any
seals.
On the 19th August we continued to sail and steam along the coast,
mostly in a very close fog, which only at intervals dispersed so
much that the lie of the coast could be made out. In order that they
might not be separated, both vessels had often to signal to each
other with the steam-whistle. The sea was bright as a mirror.
Drift-ice was seen now and then, but only in small quantity and very
rotten; but in the course of the day we steamed past an extensive
unbroken ice-field, fast to the land, which occupied a bay on the
west side of the Chelyuskin peninsula. The ice, of which it
consisted, appeared in the mist immensely rough and high, although
in fact it was nearly as rotten as that of which the narrow belts of
ice were formed which we now and then met with out at sea.
The fog prevented all view far across the ice, and I already feared
that the northernmost promontory of Asia would be so surrounded with
ice that we could not land upon it. But soon a dark, ice-free cape
peeped out of the mist in the north-east. A bay open to the north
here cuts into the land, and in this bay both the vessels anchored
on the 19th August at 6 o'clock p.m.
We had now reached a great goal, which for centuries had been the
object of unsuccessful struggles. For the first time a vessel lay at
anchor off the northernmost cape of the old world. No wonder then
that the occurrence was celebrated by a display of flags and the
firing of salutes, and, when we returned from our excursion on land,
by festivities on board, by wine and toasts.
[Illustration: THE VEGA AND LENA SALUTING CAPE CHELYUSKIN.
(After a drawing by A. Hovgaard.) ]
As on our arrival at the Yenisej, we were received here too by a
large Polar bear, who, even before the vessel anchored, was seen to
go backwards and forwards on the beach, now and then turning his
glance and his nose uneasily out to sea in order to investigate what
remarkable guests had now for the first time come to his kingdom. A
boat was put off to kill him. Brusewitz was the chosen shot; but on
this occasion the bear took care not to form any closer acquaintance
with our guns. The firing of the salute put him so thoroughly to
flight, that he did not, as bears are wont, return the following
day.
[Illustration: VIEW AT CAPE CHELYUSKIN DURING THE STAY OF THE
EXPEDITION. (After a drawing by A. Hovgaard.) ]
The north point of Asia forms a low promontory, which a bay divides
into two, the eastern arm projecting a little farther to the north
than the western. A ridge of hills with gently sloping sides runs
into the land from the eastern point, and appears within sight of
the western to reach a height of 300 metres. Like the plains lying
below, the summits of this range were nearly free of snow. Only on
the hill-sides or in deep furrows excavated by the streams of melted
snow, and in dales in the plains, were large white snow-fields to be
seen. A low ice-foot still remained at most places along the shore.
But no glacier rolled its bluish-white ice-masses down the mountain
sides, and no inland lakes, no perpendicular cliffs, no high
mountain summits, gave any natural beauty to the landscape, which
was the most monotonous and the most desolate I have seen in the
High North.
As on the island off which we lay at anchor on the 11th August, the
ground was everywhere burst asunder into more or less regular
six-sided figures, the interior of which was usually bare of
vegetation, while stunted flowering-plants, lichens and mosses, rose
out of the cracks. At some few places, however, the ground was
covered with a carpet of mosses, lichens, grasses and allied plants,
resembling that which I previously found at Actinia Bay. Yet the
flowering-plants were less numerous here, and the mosses more
stunted and bearing fruit less abundantly. The lichen flora was
also, according to Dr. Almquist's examination, monotonous, though
very luxuriant. The plants were most abundant on the farthest
extremity of the Cape. It almost appeared as if many of the plants
of the Taimur country had attempted to migrate hence farther to the
north, but meeting the sea, had stood still, unable to go farther
and unwilling to turn. For here Dr. Kjellman found on a very limited
area nearly all the plants of the region. The species which were
distinctive of the vegetation here were the following: _Saxifraga
oppositifolia_ L., _Papaver nudicaule_ L., _Draba alpina_ L.,
_Cerastium alpinum_ L., _Stellaria Edwardsii_ R. BR., _Alsine
macrocarpa_ FENZL., _Aira coespitosa_ L., _Catabrosa algida_ (SOL.)
FR., and _Alopecurus alpinus_ SM. The following plants occurred less
frequently: _Eritrichium villosum_ BUNGE, _Saxifraga nivalis_ L.,
_S cernua_ L., _S. rivularis_ L., _S. stellaris_ L., _S. caspitesa_
L., _S. flagellaris_ WILLD., _S. serpyllifolia_ PURSH., _Cardamine
bellidifolia_ L., _Cochlearia fenestrata_ R. BR., _Oxyria digyna_
(L.) HILL., _Salix polaris_ WG, _Poa flexuosa_ WG., and _Lucula
hyperborea_ R. BR. There were thus found in all only twenty-three
species of inconsiderable flowering-plants, among them eight species
belonging to the Saxifrage family, a sulphur-yellow poppy, commonly
cultivated in our gardens, and the exceedingly beautiful,
forget-me-not-like Eritrichium. That the vegetation here on the
northernmost point of Asia has to contend with a severe climate is
shown, among other things, as Dr. Kjellman has pointed out, by most
of the flowering-plants there having a special tendency to form
exceedingly compact half-globular tufts.
[Illustration: DRABA ALPINA L. FROM CAPE CHELYUSKIN. Natural size. ]
[Illustration: THE BEETLE LIVING FARTHEST TO THE NORTH.
Micralymma Dicksoni MAKL. Magnified twelve times. ]
The only insects which occurred here in any large number were
podurae, but some flies were also seen, and even a beetle, the
before-mentioned Staphylinid. Of birds, there were seen a large
number of sandpipers, an exceedingly numerous flock of barnacle
geese--evidently migrating to more southerly regions, perhaps from
some Polar land lying to the north of Cape Chelyuskin--a loom, some
kittiwakes and ivory gulls, and remains of owls. Mammalia were
represented by the bear already mentioned, and by the reindeer and
the lemming, whose traces and dung were seen on the plains. In the
sea, a walrus, several rough seals (_Phoca hispida_), and two shoals
of white whales were seen.
All rivers were now dried up, but wide, shallow river-beds indicated
that during the snow-melting season there was an abundant flow of
water. The rush of snow rivulets and the cry of birds then certainly
cause an interruption in the desolation and silence which were now
spread over the clay beds of the plains, nearly bare of all
vegetation. Probably, however, a little farther into the country, in
some valley protected from the winds of the Polar Sea, we might find
quite different natural conditions, a more abundant animal life, and
a vegetable world, in summer, as rich in flowers as that which we
meet with in the valleys of Ice Fjord or the "Nameless Bay"
(Besimannaja Bay). We saw no trace of man here. The accounts, which
were current as early as the sixteenth century, relating to the
nature of the north point of Asia, however, make it probable that
the Siberian nomads at one time drove their reindeer herds up
hither. It is even not impossible that Russian hunters from Chatanga
may have prosecuted the chase here, and that Chelyuskin actually was
here, of which we have evidence in the very correct way in which the
Cape, that now rightly bears his name, is laid down on the Russian
maps.[195]
The rocks consist of a clay-slate, with crystals resembling
chiastolite and crystals of sulphide of iron interspersed. At the
Cape itself the clay-slate is crossed by a thick vein of pure white
quartz. Here, according to an old custom of Polar travellers, a
stately cairn was erected.
[Illustration: OPHIURID FROM THE SEA NORTH OF CAPE CHELYUSKIN.
_Ophlacantha bidentata_, RETZ. One and one-third of the natural size. ]
In order to get a good astronomical determination of the position of
this important point I remained there until the 20th August at noon.
The _Lena_ was ordered to steam out to dredge during this time.
Eight minutes north of the bay, where we lay at anchor, heavy and
very close ice was met with. There the depth of the sea increased
rapidly. Animal life at the sea-bottom was very abundant, among
other things in large asterids and ophiurids.
According to the plan of the voyage I now wished to steam from this
point right eastwards towards the New Siberian Islands, in order to
see if we should fall in with land on the way. On the 20th and 21st
we went forward in this direction among scattered drift-ice, which
was heavier and less broken up than that which we had met with on
the other side of Taimur Land, but without meeting with any serious
obstacles. We fell in also with some very large ice-floes, but not
with any icebergs. We were besides again attended by so close a mist
that we could only see ice-fields and pieces of ice in the immediate
neighbourhood of the vessel. Besides species of Lestris and
kittiwakes we now also saw looms, birds that are almost wanting in
the Kara Sea. Johannesen was of opinion that the presence of these
birds showed that the sea is not completely frozen over in winter,
because it is not probable that the loom in autumn and spring would
fly across the frozen Kara Sea to seek in this distant region their
food and their breeding-haunts.
The night before the 22nd we steamed through pretty close ice. The
whole day so thick a fog still prevailed that we could not see the
extent of the ice-fields in the neighbourhood of the vessel. Towards
noon we were, therefore, compelled to take a more southerly course.
When we found that we could not advance in this direction, we lay-to
at a large ice-floe, waiting for clear weather, until in the
afternoon the fog again lightened somewhat, so that we could
continue our voyage. But it was not long before the fog again became
so thick that, as the sailors say, you could cut it with a knife.
There was now evidently a risk that the _Vega_, while thus
continuing to "box the compass" in the ice-labyrinth, in which we
had entangled ourselves, would meet with the same fate that befell
the _Tegetthoff_. In order to avoid this, it became necessary to
abandon our attempt to sail from Cape Chelyuskin straight to the New
Siberian Islands, and to endeavour to reach as soon as possible the
open water at the coast.
When it cleared on the morning of the 23rd, we therefore began again
to steam forward among the fields of drift-ice, but now not with the
intention of advancing in a given direction, but only of getting to
open water. The ice-fields we now met with were very much broken up,
which was an indication that we could not be very far from the edge
of the _pack_. But notwithstanding this, all our attempts to find
penetrable ice in an easterly, westerly, or southerly direction were
unsuccessful. We had thus to search in a northerly direction for the
opening by which we had sailed in. This was so much the more
unpleasant as the wind had changed to a pretty fresh N.W. breeze, on
which account, with the _Vega's_ weak steam-power, we could make way
only slowly. It was not until 6.30 p.m. that we at last came to the
sack-formed opening in the ice through which we had sailed in at
noon of the previous day.
One can scarcely, without having experienced it, form any idea of
the optical illusions, which are produced by mist, in regions where
the size of the objects which are visible through the fog is not
known beforehand, and thus does not give the spectator an idea of
the distance. Our estimate of distance and size in such cases depend
wholly on accident. The obscure contours of the fog-concealed
objects themselves, besides, are often by the ignorance of the
spectator converted into whimsical fantastic forms. During a boat
journey in Hinloopen Strait I once intended to row among drift-ice
to an island at a distance of some few kilometres. When the boat
started the air was clear, but while we were employed, as best we
could, in shooting sea-fowl for dinner, all was wrapt in a thick
mist, and that so unexpectedly, that we had not time to take the
bearings of the island. This led to a not altogether pleasant row by
guess among the pieces of ice that were drifting about in rapid
motion in the sound. All exerted themselves as much as possible to
get sight of the island, whose beach would afford us a safe
resting-place. While thus occupied, a dark border was seen through
the mist at the horizon. It was taken for the island which we were
bound for, and it was not at first considered remarkable that the
dark border rose rapidly, for we thought that the mist was
dispersing and in consequence of that more of the land was visible.
Soon two white snow-fields, that we had not observed before, were
seen on both sides of the land, and immediately after this was
changed to a sea-monster, resembling a walrus-head, as large as a
mountain. This got life and motion, and finally sank all at once to
the head of a common walrus, which lay on a piece of ice in the
neighbourhood of the boat; the white tusks formed the snow-fields
and the dark-brown round head the mountain. Scarce was this illusion
gone when one of the men cried out "Land right a head--high land!"
We now all saw before us a high Alpine region, with mountain peaks
and glaciers, but this too sank a moment afterwards all at once to a
common ice-border, blackened with earth. In the spring of 1873
Palander and I with nine men made a sledge journey round North-east
Land. In the course of this journey a great many bears were seen and
killed. When a bear was seen while we were dragging our sledges
forward, the train commonly stood still, and, not to frighten the
bear, all the men concealed themselves behind the sledges, with the
exception of the marksman, who, squatting down in some convenient
place, waited till his prey should come sufficiently within range to
be killed with certainty. It happened once during foggy weather on
the ice at Wahlenberg Bay that the bear that was expected and had
been clearly seen by all of us, instead of approaching with his
usual supple zigzag movements, and with his ordinary attempts to
nose himself to a sure insight into the fitness of the foreigners
for food, just as the marksman took aim, spread out gigantic wings
and flew away in the form of a small ivory gull. Another time during
the same sledge journey we heard from the tent in which we rested
the cook, who was employed outside, cry out: "A bear! a great bear!
No! a reindeer, a very little reindeer!" The same instant a
well-directed shot was fired, and the bear-reindeer was found to be
a very small fox, which thus paid with its life for the honour of
having for some moments played the part of a big animal. From these
accounts it may be seen how difficult navigation among drift-ice
must be in unknown waters.
On the two occasions on which the vessel was anchored to ice-floes
the trawl-net was used, and the hempen tangles. The net was drawn
forward slowly with the ice which was drifting to the north-west
before a fresh S.E. breeze which was blowing at the time. The yield
of the trawling was extraordinarily abundant; large asterids,
crinoids, sponges, holothuria, a gigantic sea-spider (Pycnogonid),
masses of worms, crustacea, &c. _It was the most abundant yield that
the trawl-net at any one time brought up during the whole of our
voyage round the coast of Asia_, and this from the sea off the
northern extremity of that continent.
[Illustration: SEA SPIDER (PYCNOGONID) FROM THE SEA EAST OF
CAPE CHELYUSKIN. Half the normal size. ]
Among the forms collected here we may specially refer to the large
sea-spider, of which a drawing is given (p. 349); and three specimens of
small stalked crinoids. The depth varied between 60 and 100 metres. The
temperature of the water was at the surface +0 deg. to--0.6 deg.; at the
bottom--1.4 deg. to 1.6 deg.; its salinity was considerable, both at the bottom,
where it was very nearly equal to that of the other great oceans, and at
the surface, where it was indeed about a fifth-part less, but yet much
greater than that of the surface-water in the Kara Sea.
It is singular that a temperature under the freezing-point of pure
water should be advantageous for the development of an animal life
so extremely rich as that which is found here, and that this animal
life should not suffer any harm from the complete darkness, which
during the greater portion of the year prevails at the bottom of the
ice-covered sea.
When we got out of the ice we steamed towards the land, which was
sighted on the 23rd at 8.45 p.m. The land was low and free from
snow; the depth of the sea at a distance of ten kilometres from the
coast varied between thirteen and fifteen metres. The coast here
stretched from north to south. We followed it at a distance of seven
to ten kilometres. A north-westerly breeze here carried the vessel,
without the help of steam, rapidly forward over a completely smooth
sea.
On the 24th August we still sailed along the land towards the south.
The depth of the sea now increased to thirty-three metres at a
distance of ten kilometres from land. The land rose gradually, and
some distance from the coast beautiful mountain chains were seen,
which, judging by the eye, rose to a height of from 600 to 900
metres. They were, like the plains along the coast, quite free from
snow. Only in the clefts of the mountains there remained some few
collections of snow or ice, which at two places appeared to form
true glaciers, which however terminated at a considerable height
above the sea. The snow-free slopes between the foot of the mountain
and the shore bank, thirty to sixty metres high, formed an even
plain, covered by a brownish-green turf, probably of the same nature
as that we saw on Taimur Island.
During the forenoon we had splendid clear weather, and often we
could see from the vessel no trace of ice. We saw a large number of
walruses, and to judge by the fire which this sight kindled in the
eyes of our hunters, it will not be long till the Norwegian hunting
voyages are extended to the sea north and east of the north point of
Asia. We saw besides a large number of looms and black guillemots,
the former accompanied by young of the year, as large as rotges.
About noon we sighted "land ahead to larboard." It was evidently
Preobraschenie Island. I determined to land on it for a few hours to
carry on researches in natural history, and to fix the position of
the place by astronomical observations, if the weather should
permit. The distance of this high-lying island was however greater
than we expected. So that it was not until six o'clock in the
evening that we could anchor off its south-west side, near the
almost perpendicular face of cliffs abounding in sea-fowl.
During the last two days we had been sailing over a region, which on
recent maps is marked as land. This shows that a considerable change
must be made on the map of North Siberia, and I shall therefore
quote here the observations on which the determination of our course
is grounded.
Latitude. Longitude
Cape Chelyuskin[196]................. 77 deg. 36.8' 103 deg. 17.2'
On board the _Vega_[197] at noon of the
21st Aug. 77 deg. 25' 109 deg. 12'
,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 22nd Aug. 76 deg. 33' 116 deg. 9'
,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 23rd Aug. 76 deg. 48' 115 deg. 0'
,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 24th Aug. 73 deg. 0' 113 deg. 33'
At the last mentioned point we had laud to starboard of us at an
estimated distance of 4'. Preobraschenie Island lay S. 21 deg. W.
17.5' off. It is on the ground of these data and of the courses
recorded in the log, that the track of the _Vega_ has been laid down
on the map, and no doubt can arise that the position of the east
coast of Taimur peninsula, as indicated by us, is in the main
correct.
Preobraschenie Island forms a pretty even grassy plain, lying from
thirty to sixty metres above the sea-level, which in the north-west
terminates towards the sea with an almost perpendicular rocky wall,
but to the south-east sinks gradually down to two sand-banks which
run far out to sea. At the time of our visit the island was free of
snow and covered with a carpet of mosses mixed with grass, which was
exceedingly abundant, especially on the south-west slopes of the
island, protected as they were from the north winds. Here we
encountered anew the Arctic animal world in all its profusion. The
ledges of the perpendicular shore-cliffs of the island formed the
breeding-place of numberless looms and kittiwakes, to which a few
black guillemots attached themselves. Along the farthest margin of
the beach waders ran busily backwards and forwards in order to
collect their food. At the summits of the cliffs a flock of glaucous
gulls were breeding, and on the slopes of the low land the white
mountain owl was seen lying in wait for its prey, quiet and
motionless for hours, but as usual it was wary and shy, so that it
was only with difficulty that the hunter could get within range of
it. At some places there extended between the foot of the "loomery"
and the sea a stone-bestrewn beach, which at high water was mostly
covered by the sea, and at low water was full of shallow salt-water
pools. Here had settled two Polar bears that were soon killed, one
by Lieutenant Brusewitz, the other by Captain Johannesen. The bears
had evidently been on the hunt for looms, which along with their
young, large as rotges and already able to swim, were swimming in
the pools of water at the foot of the "loomery," and above all
perhaps they were lying in wait for birds which by some accident
happened to fall down from the breeding-place. In the sea no small
number of seals were seen, and but a few hours before our arrival at
the island we had sailed past herds of walrus.
[Illustration: PREOBRASCHENIE ISLAND. (After a sketch by O. Nordquist.) ]
Vegetation was much more luxuriant and richer in species than at
Cape Chelyuskin, and naturally bore a more southern stamp, not only
in consequence of the more southerly position of the island, but
also on account of its shores being washed by the water of the
Chatanga river, which is warm during summer.[198]
Unfortunately, on account of the advanced season of the year I could
only allow the _Vega_ to remain a few hours off this interesting
island, and at 10.30 p.m. accordingly the anchor was weighed and our
voyage along the coast resumed.
On the 25th, 26th and 27th August we had for the most part calm,
fine weather, and the sea was completely free of ice. The
temperature of the water again rose to +5.8 deg., and its salinity
diminished considerably. But the depth now decreased so much, that,
for instance, on the night before the 26th we had great difficulty
in getting past some shoals lying west of the delta of the Lena, off
the mouth of the Olonek.
It had originally been my intention to let the _Vega_ separate from
the _Lena_ at some anchorage in one of the mouth-arms of the Lena
river. But on account of the shallowness of the water, the
favourable wind and the ice-free sea, that now lay before us to the
eastward, I determined to part from the _Lena_ in the open sea off
Tumat Island. This parting took place on the night between the 27th
and 28th August, after Captain Johannesen had been signalled to come
on board the _Vega_, to receive orders, passport,[199] and letters
for home. As a parting salute to our trusty little attendant during
our voyage round the north point of Asia some rockets were fired, on
which we steamed or sailed on, each to his destination.
During our passage from Norway to the Lena we had been much troubled
with fog, but it was only when we left the navigable water along the
coast to the east of Cape Chelyuskin that we fell in with ice in
such quantity that it was an obstacle to our voyage. If the coast
had been followed the whole time, if the weather had been clear and
the navigable water sufficiently surveyed, so that it had been
possible to keep the course of the vessel near the land, the voyage
of the _Vega_ to the mouth of the Lena _would never have been
obstructed by ice_, and I am convinced that this will happen year
after year during the close of August, at least between the Yenisej
and the Lena. For I believe that the place where ice-obstacles will
perhaps be met with most frequently will not be the north point of
Asia, but the region east of the entrance to the Kara Sea.
[Footnote 189: Namely, according to Dr. Kjellman's determination,
the following:
Saxifraga oppositifolia L.
Saxifraga rivularis L.
Saxifraga caespitosa L.
Cardamine bellidifolia L.
Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR.
Ranunculus hyperboreus ROTTB.
Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR.
Cerastium alpinum L.
Alsine macrocarpa FENZL.
Sagina nivalis FR.
Salix polaris WG.
Glyceria vilfoidea (ANDS.) TH. FR.
Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.
Aira caespitosa L.
Juncus biglumis L. ]
[Footnote 190: I can remember only one other instance of finding
self-dead vertebrate animals, viz. when in 1873, as has already been
stated (p. 110), I found a large number of dead rotges on the
ice at the mouth of Hinloopen Strait. ]
[Footnote 191: I use this name because the ash-rain of March 1875
was first observed at Haga palace near Stockholm, and thus at the
outer limit of the known area of distribution of the dust. It was
first through the request which in consequence of this observation
was published in the newspapers, that communications regarding
singular observations in other quarters should be sent to the
Swedish Academy of Sciences, that it became known that a similar
rain had about the same time taken place over a very large part of
middle Sweden and Norway. The dust however did not fall evenly, but
distributed in spots, and at several different times. The distance
from Stockholm of the volcanoes, where the outbreak took place, is
nearly 2000 kilometres. ]
[Footnote 192: Namely, by showing that the principal material of the
plutonic and volcanic rocks is of cosmic origin, and that the
phenomena of heat, which occur in these layers, depend on chemical
changes to which the cosmic sediment, after being covered by thick
terrestrial formations, is subjected. ]
[Footnote 193: Dr. Kjellman has given the following list of the
flowering plants collected by him in this region:--
Cineraria frigida RICHARDS.
Potentilla emarginata PURSH.
Saxifraga stellaris L. f. comosa.
Saxifraga nivalis L.
Saxifraga cernua L.
Saxifraga rivularis L.
Chrysosplenium alternifolium L.
Cardamine bellidifolia L.
Draba corymbosa R. BR.
Papaver nudicaule L.
Ranunculus pygmaeus WG.
Ranunculus hyperboreus ROTTB.
Ranunculus sulphureus SOL.
Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR.
Cerastium alpinum L.
Alsine macrocarpa FENZL.
Salix polaris WG.
Poa arctica R. BR.
Arctophila peudulina (LAEST.) ANDS.
Catabrosa algida (Sol.) FR.
Colpodium latifolium R. BR.
Dupontia Fisheri R. BR.
Pleuropogon Sabini R. BR.
Aira caespitosa L.
Hierochloa pauciflora R. BR.
Calamagrostis lapponica (WG.) HN.
Alopecurus alpinus SM.
Eriophorum angustifolium ROTH.
Eriophorum Scheuchzeri HOPPE.
Carex aquatilis WG.
Carex rigida GOOD.
Juncus biglumis L.
Luzula hyperborea R. BR.
Luzula arctica BL. ]
[Footnote 194: _H. Mohn._ Die Insel Einsamkeit, &c., with a map
(Petermann's _Mittheilungen_, 1879, p. 57). ]
[Footnote 195: This has been doubted by Russian geographers. Von
Baer for instance says:--
"Daruber ist gar kein Zweifel, dass dieses Vorgebirge nie umsegelt
ist, und dass es auf einem Irrthum beruhte, wenn Laptew auf einer
Seefahrt die Bucht, in welche der Taimur sich muendet, erreicht zu
haben glaubte. Seine eigenen spaeteren Fahrten erwiesen diesen
Irrthum. Die Vergleichung der Berichte und Verhaeltnisse laesst mich
aber auch glauben, dass selbst zu Lande man das Ende dieses
Vorgebirges nie erreicht habe; sondern Tscheljuskin, um dieser, man
kann wohl sagen, graesslichen Versuche endlich ueberhoben zu seyr,
sich zu der ungegruendeten Behauptung entschloss, er habe das Ende
gesehen, und sich ueberzeugt, Sibirien sei nach Norden ueberall vom
Meere umgraenzt," [statement by von Baer in _Neueste Nachrichten ueber
die noerdlichste Gegend von Siberien_; von Baer and von Helmersen,
_Beitraege zur Kenntniss des Russischen Reiches_. IV. St. Petersburg,
1841, p. 275]. In the following page in the same paper von Baer
indeed says that he will not lay any special weight on Strahlenberg's
statement that Siberia and Novaya Zemlya hang together, but he appears
to believe that they are connected by a bridge of perpetual ice. ]
[Footnote 196: According to an observation with an artificial
horizon on land. ]
[Footnote 197: According to an observation on board. The
observations for longitude that were made some hours before or after
noon, are reduced to noon. ]
[Footnote 198: The following 65 species were collected here by Dr.
Kjellman.--Saussurea alpina DC. Gymnandra Stelleri CHAM. &c.
SCHLECHT. Pedicularis hirsuta L. Eritrichium villosum BUNGE.
Myosotis silvatica HOFFM. Phaca frigida L. Dryas octopetala L.
Sieversia glacialis R. BR. Potentilla emarginata PURSH. Saxifraga
oppositifolia L. Saxifraga bronchialis L. Saxifraga flagellaris
WILLD. Saxifraga Hirculus L. Saxifraga serpyllifolia PURSH.
Saxifraga stellaris L.f. comosa. Saxifraga nivalis L. Saxifraga
hieraciifolia WALDST. &c. KIT. Saxifraga punctata L. Saxifraga cernua
L. Saxifraga rivularis L. Saxifraga caespitosa L. Chrysosplenium
alternifolium L. Eutrema Edwardsii R. BR. Parrya macrocarpa R. BR.
Cardamine bellidifolia L. Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR. Draba alpina
L. Papaver nudicaule L. Ranunculus pygmaeus WG. Ranunculus
hyperboreus ROTTB. Ranunculus nivalis L. Ranunculus sulphurous SOL.
Caltha palustris L. Wahlbergella apetala (L.) FR. Stellaria humifusa
ROTTB. Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR. Cerastium alpinum L. Alsine
macrocarpa FENZL. Alsine rubella WG. Sagina nivalis FR. Oxyria
digyna (L.) HILL. Polygonum viviparum L. Salix arctica PALL. Salix
reticulata L. Salix polaris WG. Poa arctica R. BR. Poa pratensis L.
Glyceria angustata R. BR. Glyceria vilfoidea (ANDS.) TH. FR.
Arctophila pendulina (LAEST.) AND. Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.
Colpodium latifolium R. BR. Dupontia Fisheri R. BR. Aira caespitosa
L. Hierochloa pauciflora R. BR. Alopecurus alpinus SM. Eriophorum
angustifolium ROTH. Eriophorum russeolum FR. Eriophorum Scheuchzeri
HOPPE. Carex ursina DESV. Carex aquatilis WG. Juncus biglumis L.
Luzula hyperborea R. BR. Luzula arctica BL. Lloydia serotina (L.)
REICHENB. ]
[Footnote 199: Before our departure, I had through the Swedish
Foreign Office obtained from the Russian Government letters patent
in which the Russian authorities with whom we might come in contact
were instructed to give us all the assistance that circumstances
might call for. ]
CHAPTER VIII.
The voyage of the _Fraser_ and the _Express_ up the Yenisej
and their return to Norway--Contract for the piloting of
the _Lena_ up the Lena river--The voyage of the _Lena_
through the delta and up the river to Yakutsk--The natural
state of Siberia in general--The river territories--The
fitness of the land for cultivation and the necessity for
improved communications--The great rivers, the future
commercial highways of Siberia--Voyage up the Yenisej in
1875--Sibiriakoff's Island--The _tundra_--The primeval
Siberian forest--The inhabitants of Western Siberia:
the Russians, the Exiles, the "Asiatics"--Ways of travelling
on the Yenisej: dog-boats, floating trading stores propelled
by steam--New prospects for Siberia.
I have mentioned in the Introduction that the _Vega_ during the
first part of the voyage was accompanied by three other vessels,
which together with the principal vessel of the Expedition stood at
my disposal and under my orders, and I have stated in passing that
their voyages too deserve a place in the history of navigation. Now,
when we were parted from the vessel which had accompanied the _Vega_
farthest in her route eastwards, it may be the proper place to give
a brief account of the close of the voyages of the _Fraser_, the
_Express_, and the _Lena_ and give reasons for what I have said of
the importance of these voyages.
[Illustration: THE STEAMER "FRASER." ]
On the 9th August at 10 a.m., after Mr. Serebrenikoff had gone on
board the _Express_ to take command, as Sibiriakoff's commissioner,
of the two vessels bound for the Yenisej, the _Fraser_, with the
_Express_ in tow, started from Port Dickson for the river. The
voyage passed without other adventures than that in consequence of
unacquaintance with the navigable waters the vessel sometimes gently
grounded. On the 11th August Korepovskoj was reached, the same place
where I laid up in 1876 the goods which I had brought with me in the
_Ymer_. Here my old friend from my voyages of 1875 and 1876, the
Cossack Feodor, was taken on board. He however proved now as
unskilful a pilot as before. Notwithstanding his experience in 1876,
when, he several times ran the _Ymer_ aground, he had not yet got a
clear idea of the difference between the build of an ocean vessel
and of the common flat-bottomed Yenisej lighters, and his conception
of the responsibility of a pilot was expressed by his seeking, when
he was allowed to take his own course, to forget in the arms of
sleep all dangers and difficulties. Mr. Serebrenikoff and the
captains of the vessels were therefore themselves compelled by means
of frequent soundings, which were commonly made from a steam launch
in advance, to endeavour to find out the proper course. The
navigable water between the level islands covered with bushy
thickets and rich grassy meadows was often very narrow, but appears
to have been pretty deep, as, even when the vessels went forward
without the guidance of a skilful pilot, there was a depth of from 5
to 30 metres; and after a fisher, who knew the river better than
Feodor, had been taken on board, it was found possible to go at full
speed between the more southerly of the Briochov Islands[200] in a
depth of 30 to 50 metres. On 14th August the vessels reached
Tolstojnos, where a very well preserved _simovie_ is situated about
70 deg. 10' N.L., 370 kilometres south of Port Dickson. On the
15th August they anchored in a good haven at Saostrovskoj, a
_simovie_ lying 100 kilometres farther up the river at the limit of
trees, where the goods were to be discharged and another cargo taken
on board. After a jetty had been constructed on the 16th, the
landing of the goods began on the 17th, and was finished on the
20th. The _Fraser_ went still farther up the river to Dudino, in
order to load various goods laid up there--tallow, wheat, rye, and
oats. On the 2nd September the steamer returned to Saostrovskoj,
where in the meantime the _Express_ had taken on board her cargo.
Dudino is a church village, situated at the point where the river
Dudinka flows into the Yenisej. Here live two priests, a _smotritel_ (a
police official), a couple of exiles, some Russian workmen, and a number
of natives, as well as the owner of the place, the influential merchant
SOTNIKOFF. This active and able man is in an economical point of view
ruler over the whole of the surrounding region, all whose inhabitants
are in one way or other dependent upon him. He exchanges grain, brandy,
sugar, tea, iron goods, powder and lead, cloth and leather, for furs,
fish, mammoth-ivory, &c.; and these goods are sent by steamer to
Yenisejsk to be forwarded from thence to China, Moscow, St. Petersburg,
&c. Among other things he is also the owner of very thick coal-seams in
the Noril Mountains lying about 60 kilometres from Dudino. This simple
and unostentatious man has been very obliging to all the scientific men
who have visited the region. His dwelling, situated in the neighbourhood
of the limit of trees, is probably the stateliest palace of the Siberian
_tundra_, admired by natives from far and near. It is built of large
logs, consists of two stories, has a roof painted green, many windows
with decorated frames painted white and blue; the rooms are warm,
provided with carpets of furs, pot-flowers in the windows, numerous
sacred pictures, photographs, and copper engravings.
On the 7th September all was ready for departure. The _Fraser_ and
_Express_ weighed anchor to commence the return voyage down the
river. At Tolstojnos two days after they met the steamer
_Moskwa_[201] of Bremen, Captain Dallmann, having on board the crew
of the Norwegian steamer _Zaritza_, Captain Brun, which had stranded
at the mouth of the Yenisej and been abandoned by the crew. In the
case of this stranding, however, the damage done had not been
greater than that, when the _Fraser_ fell in with the stranded
_Zaritza_, it could be pumped dry, taken off the shoal, and, the
engine having first been put in order, carried back to Norway. On
the 19th September all the three vessels arrived at Matotschkin
Sound, where they lay some days in Beluga Bay in order to take in
water and trim the cargo and coal; after which on the 22nd of the
same month they sailed through the sound to the west, and on the
26th anchored at Hammerfest in good condition and with full
cargoes.[202] The goods, which now for the first time were carried
from the Yenisej to Europe, consisted of about 600 tons--tallow,
wheat, rye and oats. The goods imported into Siberia consisted
mainly of 16 tons nails, 8 tons horseshoes, 4 tons horsenails,
16-1/2 tons bar iron, 33 tons tobacco, 60 tons salt, 24 casks
petroleum, an iron lighter in pieces with the necessary adjuncts of
anchors, &c.[203]
Before I begin to give an account of the voyage of the _Lena_ I must
briefly mention the steps which Mr. Sibiriakoff took for her safety
during her voyage from the mouth of the river, where she was to part
from the _Vega_, to her proper destination, the town of Yakutsk. It
is naturally very difficult for a vessel to seek her way without a
pilot through an extensive delta completely unknown in a
hydrographic respect, and crossed by a large number of deeper or
shallower river arms. Mr. Sibiriakoff had therefore arranged that a
river pilot should meet the _Lena_ at the north point of the delta,
and had through Mr. Kolesoff negotiated with him the following
contract, which I reproduce here in full, because it gives in
several respects a very graphic picture of various social relations
in these remote regions. The copy of the contract which has been
communicated to me when translated runs thus:--
At Yakutsk, in the year one thousand eight hundred and
seventy-eight on the 18th February, I, the undersigned
Yakut AFONASII FEODOROFF WINOKUROFF, have concluded the
following contract with IVAN PLATONOWITSCH KOLESOFF,
merchant of the second guild in the town of Yakutsk.
1. I, Winokuroff bind myself as pilot to carry the vessel
of Professor Nordenskioeld's expedition up the river Lena
from the village Tas-Ary, which lies about 150 versts
below the village Bulun. From Tumat Island, which is
situated in the northeastern part of the Lena delta, I
bind myself for the piloting of the same vessel to procure
at my own cost among the inhabitants of the place a pilot
who knows well the deepest channel of the Lena river as
far as the village Tas-Ary. This pilot the chief of the
expedition shall discharge at the village Tas-Ary.
2. As I am not master of the Russian language I bind
myself to bring along with me a Yakut interpreter, who
knows the Russian language and is able to write. In May of
this year, I, Winokuroff, with the interpreter shall
travel from the town of Yakutsk down the Lena river to
Tumat Island and there along with the interpreter wait for
the expedition.
3. During the passage down the river I am bound to hire
among the inhabitants of the regions a competent guide,
who shall accompany us in my own boats to the island by
the deepest channel in the Lena delta. During the passage
from the village Tas-Ary I shall take soundings and record
the depth of the fairway.
4. Between the village Bulun and Tumat Island, I bind
myself to seek for two places for the wintering of the
vessel, which are quite suitable for the purpose, and
protected from ice. I shall further lay before the
commander of the expedition a journal containing
everything which I can find that it would be advantageous
to know for the safety of navigation and for the wintering
of the vessels, also accounts of the places which are
dangerous or unsuitable for navigation.
5. On my arrival at Tumat Island I shall make it my first
duty to find a deep and convenient haven for the seagoing
vessels on the western side of the island. For this
purpose I bind myself to have with me two boats, which, if
necessary, shall be given over to the expedition. At the
haven when found I bind myself to erect on some eminence
near the shore of the island, which can be seen from Cape
Olonek, a signal tower of driftwood or earth, like a
Cossack mound, not lower than seven feet. On this
foundation I shall raise a pyramidal frame of three or
more thick logs, on the top of which I shall fix a
flagstaff with a pulley block for the flag. The flag is to
be flown at least 42 feet from the ground. I shall guard
the landmark thus erected until the river freezes. For
this purpose Herr Kolesoff has provided me with a
ready-made flag, a pulley block and a line. And when the
nights become dark I shall light two or three large fires
or hang up lanterns on the landmark itself, so that these
fires or lanterns may be seen from the sea.
6. From the village Tas-Ary I shall carry the vessel of
the expedition to the town of Yakutsk, inasmuch as I shall
show the proper fairway on the Lena river. The interpreter
shall be at my side during the whole journey.
7. During the whole time from the day when I start from
Yakutsk, up to the close of my time of service in
Nordenskioeld's expedition we, I, Winokuroff, and my
interpreter, must be always sober (never intoxicated),
behave faithfully and courteously, and punctually comply
with the captain's orders.
8. For all these obligations Herr Kolesoff has to pay me
900 roubles.
9. After the arrival of the expedition at Yakutsk I will
not be allowed to leave the ship without the permission of
the chief, but shall still remain on board. If the captain
finds it necessary that I accompany him back to the mouth
of the Lena, I shall conform to his wish in consideration
of an extra fee of 300 roubles. During this latter passage
I am not bound to have with me any interpreter.
10. If the arrival of the expedition at Tumat Island is
delayed by any circumstance to the month of November, I
have the right to betake myself along with my interpreter
to Yakutsk and here to produce to Herr Kolesoff an
official certificate given by Commandant Baschleff or any
other local official that I had erected a landmark on
Tumat Island and remained there until the river was frozen
over, and that I did not leave until the expedition was no
longer to be expected. Then Herr Kolesoff on the ground of
this contract must settle with me by paying me the whole
sum of 900 roubles, together with 200 roubles for my
return journey.
11. If the vessel of the expedition arrive at Tumat Island
so late that the voyage becomes impossible, we, I and my
interpreter, shall winter with the expedition until the
river becomes open in 1879. And in this case we, I and my
interpreter, shall live at our own expense, and serve the
expedition as belonging to its crew. After the
commencement of navigation in 1879 I shall conduct the
vessel from the wintering station to the town of Yakutsk.
On this account I have to receive, besides the 900 roubles
coming to me, 800 roubles more. If during this voyage too
it should be necessary to accompany the vessels from
Yakutsk back to the mouth of the Lena, I shall do that,
and receive on that account 300 roubles. But if the
vessels winter at Yakutsk, I shall be free during winter,
and only during next year's voyage, if so required,
accompany them to the mouth of the Lena. In that case I
have to receive 300 roubles.
12. Of this sum agreed upon Herr Kolesoff shall pay me in
advance on the conclusion of this contract 300 roubles, in
the month of May at my departure 150 roubles, and at the
village Bulun 250 roubles, for my payment to my companions
and pilot and other expenses. The balance shall be paid to
me after my return to Yakutsk.
13. In the month of May, at the time for starting, if I be
prevented by illness from betaking myself to Tumat Island,
I shall repay to Herr Kolesoff the sum paid to me at the
conclusion of this contract, with the exception of the
money I have paid to the interpreter as pocket-money and
for the boats. Should I not be able to repay the sum, I,
Winokuroff, shall work out the amount not repaid at Herr
Sibiriakoff's gold mines.
14. All this are we, the two contracting parties, bound to
observe in full and without infringement.
A note to the copy further informs us that to this contract the Yakut
Afonasii Feodoroff Winokuroff had, in place of his signature, attached
his own seal, which the Yakut Alexii Zassimoff Mironoff had engraved,
and that the conditions had been approved by the merchant Ivan Kolesoff,
and the whole registered at the police-office of the Yakutsk circle.
The contract had been entered into with the friendly co-operation of the
Governor and Bishop of Yakutsk, who were much interested in the proposed
voyage. The latter knew the coast of the Polar Sea from his own
experience. But notwithstanding all this, the affair was attended with
no better success than that the pilot celebrated the receipt of the
large sum of money by getting thoroughly intoxicated, and while in that
state he broke one of the bones of the fore-arm. He was thus unable ever
to reach the appointed rendezvous, and Johannesen was allowed to manage
by his own hand, as best he could, his little steamer.
[Illustration: THE STEAMER "LENA." ]
After the _Lena_ had parted with the _Vega_ during the night between
the 27th and 28th August, she steamed towards land, and came the
same day to the northernmost cape of the Lena delta, situated in 73 deg.
47' N.L.[204] It was here that the pilot's landmark was to
have been erected, but there was no pilot here, and no flagstaff was
visible. In order to fall in with this landmark Johannesen sailed
forty kilometres westward along the shore, but as his search in this
direction was not attended with success, he turned back to the
first-mentioned place and landed there. On the shore stood a very
old hut, already completely filled with earth. It probably dated
from some of the expeditions which visited the region in the
beginning of the century. Wild reindeer were seen in large numbers.
As according to the contract which has been quoted the landmark was
to be visible from Cape Olonek, Johannesen steamed once more to the
west, running as close to the land as possible. But as the water
here became shallower and shallower without any signal-tower being
visible, Johannesen had to find his way himself through the delta;
and for this purpose he determined to search for the easternmost arm
of the river, which, on the maps, is drawn as being very broad,
and also appears to have been made use of by the vessels of
"the great northern expeditions."[205]
[Illustration: HANS CHRISTIAN JOHANNESEN.
Captain of the "Lena." Born in 1846. ]
Forty kilometres east of the northern extremity of the Lena delta
Johannesen encountered three sandbanks, which he sailed round. After
passing these the water became deeper, so that he could advance at a
distance of five kilometres from land. On the 1st September Johannesen
anchored in a bay on the mainland in the neighbourhood of the Bychov
mouth, whence on the 3rd September, at 2.30 a.m., he continued his
course up the river, but by 10 o'clock the _Lena_ was aground. The water
was falling, and did not begin to rise until an hour after midnight. It
was not, therefore, until 8 a.m. the following day that the _Lena_ was
got off, and that with great difficulty. The sailing through the delta
was rendered difficult by the maps, which were made 140 years ago, being
now useless. For the delta has undergone great alterations since then.
Where at that time there were sandbanks, there are now large islands,
overgrown with wood and grass. At other places again whole islands have
been washed away by the river.
While the vessel was aground nine Tunguses came on board. They rowed in
small boats, which were made of a single tree stem, hollowed out, and
could just carry a man each. Johannesen endeavoured in vain to induce
some of the Tunguses to pilot the steamer; he did not succeed in
explaining his wish to them, notwithstanding all the attempts of the
Russian interpreter, a proof of the slight contact these Tunguses had
had with the rulers of Siberia, and also of the difficulty and
unwillingness with which the savage learns the language of the civilised
nations.
It was not until the 7th September that the delta was finally
passed, and the _Lena_ steamed in the river proper, where the
fairway became considerably better. Johannesen says in his
account of the voyage that it is improbable that any of the
western arms of the Lena are of importance, partly because the
mass of water which flows in an easterly direction is very
considerable in comparison with the whole quantity of water in
the river, partly because the western and northern arms which
Johannesen visited contained only salt water, while the water
in the eastern arm was completely free from any salt taste. On
the 8th, early in the morning, the first fixed dwelling-place on
the Lena, Tas-Ary, was reached. Here the voyagers landed to
get information about the fairway, but could not enter into
communication with the natives, because they were Tunguses.
In the afternoon of the same day they came to another river
village, Bulun. Impatient to proceed, and supposing that it
too was inhabited wholly by "Asiatics,"[206] Johannesen intended
to pass it without stopping. But when the inhabitants saw the
steamer they welcomed it with a salute from all the guns that
could be got hold of in haste.[207] The _Lena_ then anchored. Two
Crown officials and a priest came on board, and the latter
performed a thanksgiving service.
Even at that remote spot on the border of the _tundra_ the Asiatic
comprehended very well the importance of vessels from the great oceans
being able to reach the large rivers of Siberia. I too had a proof of
this in the year 1875. While still rowing up the river in my own
Nordland boat with two scientific men and three hunters, before we got
up with the steamer _Alexander_ we landed, among others, at a place
where a number of Dolgans were collected. When they understood clearly
that we had come to them, not as brandy-sellers or fish-buyers from the
south, but from the north, _from the ocean_, they went into complete
ecstasies. We were exposed to unpleasant embraces from our skin-clad
admirers, and finally one of us had the misfortune to get a bath in the
river in the course of an attempt which the Dolgans in their excitement
made to carry him almost with violence to the boat, which was lying in
the shallow water some distance from the shore. At Dudino, also, the
priests living there held a thanksgiving service for our happy arrival
thither. Two of them said mass, while the clerk, clad in a sheepskin
caftan reaching to his feet, zealously and devoutly swung an immense
censer. The odour from it was at first not particularly pleasant, but it
soon became so strong and disagreeable that I, who had my place in front
of the audience, was like to choke, though the ceremony was performed in
the open air. Soon the clerk was completely concealed in a dense cloud
of smoke, and it was now observed that his skin cloak had been set fire
to at the same time as the incense. The service, however, was not
interrupted by this incident, but the fire was merely extinguished by a
bucket of water being thrown, to the amusement of all, over the clerk.
At nine in the morning the _Lena_ continued her voyage up the river with
the priest and the Crown officials on board, but they had soon to be
landed, because in their joy they had become dead drunk. On the 13th
September Schigansk was reached, and samples of the coal found there
were taken on board, but these proved unserviceable,[208] and on the
21st September the _Lena_ reached Yakutsk. The first vessel which,
coming from the ocean, reached the heart of Siberia was received with
great goodwill and hospitality, both by the authorities and the common
people. But when Johannesen did not find here Sibiriakoff's
representative, Kolesoff, he continued his voyage up the river, until,
on the 8th October, he came to the village Njaskaja, 220 versts from
Vitim, in about 60 deg. N.L. Here he turned back to Yakutsk and laid up the
steamer in winter quarters a little to the south of that town.
[Illustration: YAKUTSK IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. (After Witsen.) ]
Both the _Fraser_ and _Express_ and the _Lena_ had thus fully
answered the purposes intended before the departure of the
expedition, and their voyages will always form an important
link in the chain of the attempts through which navigation in
the Siberian Polar Sea has been opened.
In order to give an idea of the influence which this sea-route
may have on the commerce of the world, and the new source of
fortune and prosperity which thereby maybe rendered accessible
to millions, I shall in a few words give an account of the nature
of the territory which by means of this sea-communication
will be brought into contact with the old civilised countries
of Europe.
[Illustration: YAKUTSK IN OUR DAYS. (After a recent Russian drawing.) ]
If we take Siberia in its widest sense, that is to say, if we
include under that name not only Siberia proper, but also the parts
of High Asia which lie round the sources of the great Siberian
rivers, this land may very well be compared in extent, climate,
fertility, and the possibility of supporting a dense population,
with America north of 40 deg. N.L. Like America, Siberia is
occupied in the north by woodless plains. South of this region,
where only the hunter, the fisher, and the reindeer nomad can find a
scanty livelihood, there lies a widely extended forest territory,
difficult of cultivation, and in its natural conditions, perhaps,
somewhat resembling Sweden and Finland north of 60 deg. or 61 deg.
N.L. South of this wooded belt, again, we have, both in
Siberia and America, immeasurable stretches of an exceedingly
fertile soil, of whose power to repay the toil of the cultivator the
grain exports during recent years from the frontier lands between
the United States and Canada have afforded so striking evidence.
There is, however, this dissimilarity between Siberia and America,
that while the products of the soil in America may be carried easily
and cheaply to the harbours of the Atlantic and the Pacific, the
best part of Siberia, that which lies round the upper part of the
courses of the Irtisch-Ob and the Yenisej, is shut out from the
great oceans of the world by immense tracts lying in front of it,
and the great rivers which in Siberia cross the country and appear
to be intended by nature to form not only the arteries for its inner
life, but also channels of communication with the rest of the world,
all flow towards the north and fall into a sea which, down to the
most recent times, has been considered completely inaccessible.
[Illustration: Map of the River System of Siberia. ]
Of these rivers the double river, Ob-Irtisch, with its numerous
affluents, occupies an area of more than 60,000 geographical square
miles, the Yenisej-Angara, not quite 50,000, and the Lena, somewhat
over 40,000.[209] As the map of the river system of Siberia, which
accompanies this work, shows, but a small part of these enormous
territories lies north of the Arctic Circle, and only very
inconsiderable portions of it are occupied by woodless _tundra_,
which is explained by the fact that the greater part of the
coast-land bordering on the Arctic Ocean is drained by small rivers
of its own, and therefore cannot be considered to belong to the
river territories now in question. If we draw the northern boundary
of the land that may be cultivated with advantage at 60 deg. N.L.,
there remains a cultivable area of 90,000 geographical square miles.
Perhaps a third part of this is occupied by rocky country which is
wooded, and probably capable of being cultivated only with
considerable difficulty, but the rest consists for the most part of
easily cultivated grassy plains, with little wood, and covered with
the most luxuriant vegetation. The soil, in many places resembling
the black earth or _tscherno-sem_ of Russia, recompenses with
abundant harvests even the slightest labour of cultivation.
Notwithstanding this, these regions now support only an exceedingly
sparse population, but many, many millions may without difficulty
find their subsistence there when once cultivation has developed the
rich natural resources of the country.
It is a circumstance specially fortunate for the future development
of Siberia that its three great rivers are already navigable for the
greater part of their course. The Ob is navigable from Biisk (52-1/2 deg.
N.L.), and the Irtisch at least from Semipalitinsk (50 deg.
18' N.L.). The Yenesej, again, which, after leaving the region of
its sources in China, crosses with its two main arms the whole of
Siberia from north to south, from the forty-sixth to the
seventy-third degree of latitude, and thus traverses a territory
which corresponds in length to the distance between Venice and the
North Cape, or between the mouth of the Mississippi and the north
part of Lake Winnipeg, and is already navigable by nature from the
sea to Yenisejsk. To this town goods are already transported _down_
both the main arms from Minusinsk and the region of Lake Baikal. It
is said that the Angara might be made quite navigable during its
whole course at an expenditure trifling in comparison with the
advantages that would thus be gained, as well as its continuation,
the Selenga, in its lower part between the Chinese frontier and Lake
Baikal. In this way a river route would be opened for the conveyance
of the products of North China and South Siberia to a sea which an
ordinary steamer would cross in five or six days to the White Sea or
the North Cape. A similar communication with the Atlantic may be
opened on the double river Ob-Irtisch with Western Siberia and High
Asia as far as to Chinese Dsungaria, where the Irtisch begins its
course as a small river, the Black Irtisch, which falls into Lake
Saisan, and rises south of the Altai Mountains in the neighbourhood
of the Selenga, the source-river of the Yenisej. At several places
the river territories of the Ob and the Yenesej nearly reach hands
to one another through affluents, which rise so close to each other
that the two river systems might easily be connected by canals. This
is also the case with the affluents of the Yenesej and the Lena,
which at many places almost meet, and the Lena itself is, according
to Latkin's statement, navigable from the village of Kotschuga to
the sea. We see from this how extraordinarily advantageous is the
natural system of interior communication which Siberia possesses,
and at the same time that a communication by sea between this
country and the rest of the world is possible only by the Arctic
Ocean. It is on this that the enormous importance of the navigation
of the Siberian Polar Sea depends. If this can be brought about,
Siberia, with an inconsiderable expenditure in making canals, will
not only become one of the most fortunate countries of the globe in
respect of the possibility of the cheap transport of goods, but the
old proposal of a north-eastern commercial route to China may even
become a reality. If, on the other hand, navigation on the Polar Sea
be not brought about, Siberia will still long remain what it is at
present--a land rich in raw materials, but poor in all that is
required for the convenience and comfort with which the civilised
man in our days can with difficulty dispense.
Many perhaps believe that the present want of commercial
communication may be removed by a railway running across Russia and
Southern Siberia. But this is by no means the case. On the contrary,
communication by sea is an indispensable condition of such a railway
being profitable. For it can never come in question to carry on a
railway the products of the forest or the field over the stretch of
three to five thousand kilometres which separates the fertile river
territory of the Ob-Irtisch from the nearest European port. Even if
we suppose that the railway freight, inclusive of all costs, could
be reduced to a farthing the kilometre-ton, it would in any case
rise, from the grain regions of Siberia to a harbour on the Baltic,
to from 4_l_. to nearly 7_l_. per ton. So high a freight, with the
costs of loading in addition, none of the common products of
agriculture or forestry can stand, as may easily be seen if we
compare this amount with the prices current in the markets of the
world for wheat, rye, oats, barley, timber, &c. But if the Siberian
countryman cannot sell his raw products, the land will continue to
be as thinly peopled as it is at present, nor can the sparse
population which will be found there procure themselves means to
purchase such products of the industry of the present day as are
able to bear long railway carriage. In the absence of contemporaneous
sea-communication the railway will therefore be without traffic, the
land such as it is at present, and the unprosperous condition of the
European population undiminished.
In order to give the reader an idea of the present natural
conditions, and the present communication on a Siberian river, I
shall, before returning to the sketch of the voyage of the _Vega_,
give some extracts from notes made during my journey up the Yenesej
in 1875, reminding the reader, however, that the natural conditions
of the Ob-Irtisch and the Lena differ considerably from those of the
Yenisej, the Ob-Irtisch flowing through lower, more fertile, and
more thickly peopled regions, the Lena again through a wilder, more
beautiful, but less cultivated country.
When one travels up the river from Port Dickson, the broad sound
between Sibiriakoff's Island and the mainland is first passed, but
the island is so low that it is not visible from the eastern bank of
the river and which is usually followed in sailing up or down the
river. The mainland, on the other hand, is at first high-lying, and
in sailing along the coast it is possible to distinguish various
spurs of the range of hills, estimated to be from 150 to 200 metres
high, in the interior. These are free of snow in summer. A little
south of Port Dickson they run to the river bank, where they form a
low rock and rocky island projecting into the river, named after
some otherwise unknown Siberian Polar trapper, Yefremov Kamen.
Sibiriakoff's Island has never, so far as we know, been visited by
man, not even during the time when numerous _simovies_ were found at
the mouth of the Yenesej. For no indication of this island is found
in the older maps of Siberia, although these, as appears from the
fac-simile reproduced at page 192, give the names of a number of
_simovies_ at the mouth of the Yenisej, now abandoned. Nor is it
mentioned in the accounts of the voyages of the great northern
expeditions. The western strand of the island, the only one I have
seen, completely bore the stamp of the _tundra_ described below.
Several reindeer were seen pasturing on the low grassy eminences of
the island, giving promise of abundant sport to the hunter who first
lands there.
Still at Yefremov Kamen we saw in 1875 three Polar bears who
appeared to pasture in all peacefulness among the rocks, and did not
allow themselves to be disturbed by the enormous log-fire of
driftwood we lighted on the strand to make our coffee. Here were
found for the last time during our journey up the river actual
marine animals: Appendicularia, Olio, medusae, large beroids, &c.
Large bushy plants were still completely wanting, but the vegetable
world already began to assume a stamp differing from the Arctic
Ocean flora proper. A short distance south of Yefremov Kamen begins
the veritable _tundra_, a woodless plain, interrupted by no mountain
heights, with small lakes scattered over it, and narrow valleys
crossing it, which often make an excursion on the apparently level
plain exceedingly tiresome.
[Illustration: RIVER VIEW ON THE YENISEJ. (From a drawing by A.N.
Lundstroem.) ]
As is the case with all the other Siberian rivers running from south
to north,[210] the western strand of the Yenisej, wherever it is
formed of loose, earthy layers, is also quite low and often marshy,
while on the other hand the eastern strand consists of a steep bank,
ten to twenty metres high, which north of the limit of trees is
distributed in a very remarkable way into pyramidal pointed mounds.
Numerous shells of crustacea found here, belonging to species which
still live in the Polar Sea, show that at least the upper earthy
layer of the _tundra_ was deposited in a sea resembling that which
now washes the north coast of Siberia.[211]
The _tundra_ itself is in summer completely free of snow, but at a
limited depth from the surface the ground is continually frozen. At
some places the earthy strata alternate with strata of pure, clear
ice. It is in these frozen strata that complete carcases of
elephants and rhinoceroses have been found, which have been
protected from putrefaction for hundreds of thousands of years. Such
_finds_, however, are uncommon, but on the other hand single bones
from this primeval animal world occur in rich, abundance, and along
with them masses of old driftwood, originating from the Mammoth
period, known by the Russian natives of Siberia under the
distinctive name of "Noah's wood." Besides there are to be seen in
the most recent layer of the Yenesej _tundra_, considerably north of
the present limit of actual trees, large tree-stems with their roots
fast in the soil, which show that the limit of trees in the Yenesej
region, even during our geological period, went further north than
now, perhaps as far as, in consequence of favourable local
circumstances, it now goes on the Lena.
[Illustration: SUB-FOSSIL MARINE CRUSTACEA FROM THE TUNDRA. ]
On the slopes of the steep _tundra_ bank and in several of the _tundra_
valleys there is an exceedingly rich vegetation, which already, only 100
kilometres south of Yefremov Kamen, forms actual thickets of flowering
plants, while the _tundra_ itself is overgrown with an exceedingly
scanty carpet, consisting more of mosses than of grasses. Salices of
little height go as far north as Port Dickson (73 deg. 30' N.L.), the dwarf
birch (_Betula nana_, L.) is met with, though only as a bush creeping
along the ground, at Cape Schaitanskoj (72 deg. 8' N.L.); and here in 1875,
on the ice-mixed soil of the _tundra_, we gathered ripe cloudberries.
Very luxuriant alders (_Alnaster fruticosus_, LEDEB.) occur already at
Mesenkin (71 deg. 28' N.L.), and the Briochov Islands (70 deg. to 71 deg. N.L.), are
in several places covered with rich and luxuriant thickets of bushes.
But the limit of trees proper is considered to begin first at the great
bend which the river makes in 69 deg. 40' N.L., a little north of Dudino.
Here the hills are covered with a sort of wood consisting of
half-withered, grey, moss-grown larches (_Larix sibirica_), which seldom
reach a height of more than seven to ten metres, and which much less
deserve the name of trees than the luxuriant alder bushes which grow
nearly 2 deg. farther north. But some few miles south of this place, and
still far north of the Arctic Circle, the pine forest becomes tall. Here
begins a veritable forest, the greatest the earth has to show, extending
with little interruption from the Ural to the neighbourhood of the Sea
of Ochotsk, and from the fifty-eighth or fifty-ninth degree of latitude
to far north of the Arctic Circle, that is to say, about one thousand
kilometres from north to south, and perhaps four times as much from east
to west. It is a primeval forest of enormous extent, nearly untouched by
the axe of the cultivator, but at many places devastated by extensive
forest fires.
On the high eastern bank of the Yenisej the forest begins
immediately at the river bank. It consists principally of pines: the
cembra pine (_Pinus Cembra_, L.), valued for its seeds, enormous
larches, the nearly awl-formed Siberian pine (_Pinus sibirica_,
LEDEB.), the fir (_Pinus obovata_, TURCZ.), and scattered trees of
the common pine (_Pinus sylvestris_, L.). Most of these already
north of the Arctic Circle reach a colossal size, but in such a case
are often here, far from all forestry, grey and half-dried up with
age. Between the trees the ground is so covered with fallen branches
and stems, only some of which are fresh, the others converted into a
mass of wood-mould held together only by the bark, that there one
willingly avoids going forward on an unbroken path. If that must be
done, the progress made is small, and there is constant danger of
breaking one's bones in the labyrinth of stems. Nearly everywhere
the fallen stems are covered, often concealed, by an exceedingly
luxuriant bed of mosses, while on the other hand tree-lichens,
probably in consequence of the dry inland climate of Siberia, occur
sparingly. The pines, therefore, want the shaggy covering common in
Sweden, and the bark of the birches which are seen here and there
among the pines is distinguished by an uncommon blinding whiteness.
The western bank of the Yenesej consists, like the innumerable
islands of the river, for the most part of lowlying and marshy
stretches of land, which at the season of the spring floods are
overflowed by the river and abundantly manured with its mud. In this
way there is formed here a fertile tract of meadow covered partly
with a grassy turf untouched by the scythe, partly with a very
peculiar bush vegetation, rising to a height of eight metres, among
which there are to be found a number of families of plants well
known by us in Sweden, as Impatiens, Urtica, Sonchus, Heracleum,
&c., but in gigantic forms unknown at home. Often a dense thicket of
a willow (_Salix vitellenia_, L.), whose straight, branchless stems
resemble at a distance the bamboo woods of the south, alternates
with level, grassy carpets of a lively green and small streams in
such a way as gives the whole the appearance of the most smiling
park carefully kept free of fallen branches and dry grass. It is the
river water which in spring has played the gardener's part in these
parks, seldom trodden by the foot of man and endlessly rich in the
most splendid greenery. Near the river there are also to be found
carpets of a uniform green, consisting of a short kind of Equisetum,
unmixed with any other plants, which forms a "gazon," to which no
nobleman's country seat can show a match. The drawback is, that a
stay in these regions during summer is nearly rendered impossible by
the enormous number of mosquitoes with which the air is infested.
A table drawn up by Dr. Arnell, to be found in _Redogoerelse foer de
svenska expeditionerna till mynningen of Jenisej ar 1876_,[212]
shows the distribution of the most important varieties of trees.
From it we see that on the Yenesej the birch (_Betula odorata_,
BECHST.), the fir (_Pinus obovata_, TURCZ.), the larch (_Pinus
larix_, L.), and the juniper (_Juniperus communis_, L.), go to 69 deg.
35' N.L. (that is to say to the latitude of Tromsoe); the
sallow (_Salix caprea_, L.) to 68 deg. 55'; the bird's cherry
(_Prunus padus_, L.), and the Siberian pine (_Pinus sibirica_,
LEDEB.), to 66 deg. 30'; the aspen (_Populus tremula_, L.) to 65 deg. 55'
(the latitude of Haparanda); the pine (_Pinus sylvatica_,
L.) to 65 deg. 50', &c.
In the middle of the forest belt the wood appears to cover the whole
land without interruption, there being, unless exceptionally, no
open places. But towards the north the forest passes into the
treeless _tundra_ through bare spots occurring here and there, which
gradually increase, until trees grow only in valleys and sheltered
places, and finally disappear completely. Similar is the passage of
the forest to treeless regions (steppes), which at first are here
and there bestrewed with more or less detached groups of
broad-leaved trees, until they wholly disappear, and the land forms
an endless plain, out of whose fertile soil the warm summer sun
calls forth a great variety of luxuriant vegetable forms, whose
many-hued flowers, often large and splendid, clothe the fields with
the richest splendour of colour. Here is the true homeland of many
of the show-plants in the flower-gardens of Europe, as, for
instance, the peony, the Siberian robinia, the blue iris, &c.
If the Siberian wooded belt forms the most extensive forest in the
world, this flower-steppe forms the world's greatest cultivable
field, in all probability unequalled in extent and fertility.
Without manure and with an exceedingly small amount of labour
expended on cultivation, man will year by year draw forth from its
black soil the most abundant harvests. For the present, however,
this land, with its splendid capabilities for cultivation, has an
exceedingly scanty population; and this holds good in a yet higher
degree of the forest belt, which is less susceptible of cultivation.
At a considerable distance from the rivers it is for the most part
an unknown land, where the European seldom or never sets his foot,
and where only the native nomad or hunter wanders about. These
forests, however, are by no means so rich in game as might be
expected, perhaps because the mosquitoes in summer are unendurable
by warm-blooded animals.
The main population in the forest belt consists of native nomad or
hunting tribes, of which Samoyeds, Ostyaks, Tunguses, and Yakuts are
the most numerous. Only along the rivers do we find Russian villages
and peasant settlements, placed there for trading with the natives,
for fishing, and at some places for washing gold. Not till we come
to the middle of the country is the Russian population more
numerous, here it spreads out in a broad belt over the whole of the
immense expanse between the Ural and the Angara.
[Illustration: SIBERIAN RIVER BOAT. Used by the Norwegian traveller
Chr. Hansteen on the river Angara. ]
In the farthest north the Russian dwelling-places consist of single
cabins built of logs or planks from broken-up lighters,[213] and
having flat, turf-covered roofs. Such carvings and ornaments as are
commonly found on the houses of the well-to-do Russian peasant, and
whose artistic outlines indicate that the inhabitants have had time
to think of something else than the satisfaction of the wants of the
moment, are here completely wanting; but further south the villages
are larger, and the houses finer, with raised roofs and high gables
richly ornamented with wood-carvings. A church, painted in bright
colours, generally shows that one of the inhabitants of the village
has become rich enough to be at the expense of this ornament to his
native place. The whole indicates a degree of prosperity, and the
interiors of the houses, if we except the cockroaches, which swarm
everywhere, are very clean. The walls are ornamented with numerous,
if not very artistic, photographs and lithographs. Sacred pictures,
richly ornamented, are placed in a corner, and before them hang
several small oil-lamps, or small wax-lights, which are lighted on
festive occasions. The sleeping place is formed of a bedstead near
the roof, so large that it occupies a half or a third of the room,
and at such a height from the floor that one can stand upright under
it. There a tropical heat commonly prevails, the occupant of the bed
accordingly enjoying an almost constant sweat-bath, which does not
prevent him from going out immediately into the open air at a
temperature at which mercury freezes. Food is cooked in large baking
ovens, which are fired daily for that purpose, and at the same time
heat the cabin. Fresh bread is baked every day, and even for the
poor a large tea-urn (_samovar_) is an almost indispensable
household article. The foreigner is certain to receive a hearty and
friendly welcome when he crosses the threshold, and if he stays a
short time in the cabin he will generally, whatever time of the day
it be, find himself drinking a glass of tea with his host. The dress
everywhere closely resembles the Russian: for the rich, wide velvet
trousers stuck into the boots, a shirt showily embroidered with
silver thread, and a large caftan often lined with fur; for the
poor, if not too ragged, the same cut, but the cloth inferior,
dirty, and torn. During winter, however, for going out of doors, the
Samoyed _pesk_ is said to be common to high and low, Russian and
native, settled and nomad.
In my journey up the Yenesej in 1875 I met with only a few persons
in these regions who had been exiled thither for political reasons,
but on the other hand very many exiled criminals of the deepest
dye--murderers, thieves, forgers, incendiaries, &c. Among them were
also some few Fins and even a Swede, or at least one who, according
to his own statement in broken Swedish, had formerly served in the
King's Guard at Stockholm. Security of person and property was in
any case complete, and it was remarkable that there did not appear
to be any proper distinction of caste between the Russian-Siberian
natives and those who had been exiled for crime. There appeared even
to be little interest in ascertaining the crime--or, as the
customary phrase appears to be here, the "misfortune"--which caused
the exile. On making inquiry on this point I commonly got the
answer, susceptible of many interpretations, "for bad behaviour." We
found a peculiar sort of criminal colony at Selivaninskoj, a very
large village situated on the eastern bank of the Yenesej in about
the latitude of Aavasaksa. My journal of the expedition of 1875
contains the following notes of my visit to this colony.
The orthodox Russian church, as is well known, is tolerant towards
the professors of foreign religions--Lutherans, Catholics, Jews,
Mohammedans, Buddhists, Shamans, &c.; but, on the other hand, in
complete correspondence with what took place in former times within
the Protestant world, persecutes sectaries within its own pale, with
temporal punishments here upon earth and with threatenings of
eternal in another world. Especially in former times a great many
sectaries have been sent to Siberia, and therefore there are
sometimes to be found there peculiar colonies enjoying great
prosperity, exclusively inhabited by the members of a certain sect.
Such is the Skopt colony at Selivaninskoj, in connection with which,
however, it may be remarked that the nature of the religious
delusion in this case accounts for the severity of the law or the
authorities. For, on the ground of a text in the Gospel of Matthew
interpreted in a very peculiar way, all Skoptzi subject themselves
to a mutilation, in consequence of which the sect can only exist by
new proselytes; and remarkably enough, these madmen, notwithstanding
all persecution, or perhaps just on that account, actually still
gain followers. A large number of the Skoptzi were Fins from
Ingermanland, with whom I could converse without difficulty. They
had, through industry and perseverance, succeeded in creating for
themselves a certain prosperity, were hospitable and friendly, and
bore their hard fate with resignation. They would not themselves
kill any warm-blooded animal, for it was "a sin to kill what God had
created;" which did not hinder them from catching and eating fish,
and from selling to us, who in any case were lost beings, a fine fat
ox, on condition that our own people should slaughter it. Their
abstinence from some kinds of animal food had besides the good
result of inducing them to devote themselves to the cultivation of
the soil. Round about their cabins accordingly there were patches of
land growing potatoes, turnips, and cabbage, which at least that
year yielded an abundant crop, though lying under the Arctic circle.
Farther south such plots increase in size, and yield rich crops, at
least, of a very large potato. There is no proper cultivation of
grain till we come to Sykobatka, situated in 60 deg. N.L., but in
a future, when forests and mosses are diminished, a profitable
agriculture will be carried on far to the northward.
[Illustration: OSTYAK TENT. (After a Photograph.) ]
[Illustration: TOWING WITH DOGS ON THE YENISEJ. The boat _Luna_
with the Swedish Land Expedition of 1876 on board. (After a
drawing by Hj Theel.) ]
Along with the dwellings of the Russians, the tents of the natives,
or, as the Russians call them, "the Asiatics," are often to be met
with. They have the same shape as the Lapp "kota." The Samoyed tent
is commonly covered with reindeer skins, the Ostyak tent with birch
bark. In the neighbourhood of the tent there are always large
numbers of dogs, which during winter are employed for general
carrying purposes, and in summer for towing boats up the river--a
means of water transport which greatly astonished the Norwegian
sailors with whom I travelled up the river in 1875. To see people
travelling in a boat drawn by dogs appeared to them more remarkable
than the Kremlin of Moscow, or the bells of Kiev. For such a journey
a sufficient number of dogs are harnessed to a long line, one end of
which is fastened to the stem of the boat. The dogs then go along
the level bank, where they make actual footpaths. The boat being of
light draught is kept afloat at a sufficient distance from land
partly by means of the rudder which is managed by a person sitting
in the stern of the boat, and partly by poling from the fore. Small
boats are often hollowed out of a single tree-stem, and may
notwithstanding, thanks to the size which some of the pines attain
in those regions, be very roomy, and of a very beautiful shape. The
dogs strongly resemble the Eskimo dogs in Greenland, which are also
used as draught animals.
[Illustration: FISHING BOATS ON THE OB. (After a Photograph.) ]
Most of the natives who have come into close contact with the
Russians are said to profess the Christian religion. That many
heathen customs, however, still adhere to them is shown, among other
things, by the following incident: At a _simovie_ where we landed
for some hours on the 16th Sept. we found, as is common, a
burying-place in the forest near the dwelling houses. The corpses
were placed in large coffins above ground, at which almost always a
cross was erected. In one of the crosses a sacred picture was
inserted, which must be considered a further proof that a Christian
rested in the coffin. Notwithstanding this, we found some clothes,
which had belonged to the departed, hanging on a bush beside the
grave, together with a bundle containing food, principally dried
fish. At the graves of the richer natives the survivors are even
said to place along with food some rouble notes, in order that the
departed may not be altogether without ready money on his entrance
into the other world.
[Illustration: GRAVES IN THE PRIMEVAL FOREST OF SIBERIA. (After a
drawing by Hj. Theel.) ]
Right opposite the village Nasimovskoj is a gold-digger's deserted
"residence," named Yermakova after the first conqueror of Siberia.
The building owed its origin to the discovery of sand-beds rich in
gold, occupying a pretty extensive area east of the Yenisej, which
for a time had the repute of being the richest gold territory in the
world. Here in a short time enormous fortunes were made; and
accounts of the hundreds of poods which one or another yearly reaped
from the sand-beds, and the fast reckless life led by those to whom
fortune dealt out the great prizes in the gold-digging lottery,
still form a favourite topic of conversation in the region. A rise
in the value of labour and a diminished production of the noble
metal have, however, since led to the abandonment of a large number
of the diggings that formerly were most productive; others now
scarcely pay the expense of the working. Many of the gold-diggers
who were formerly rich, in the attempt to win more have been
impoverished, and have disappeared; others who have succeeded in
retaining their "pood of gold"--that is the mint unit which the
gold-diggers prefer to use in their conversation--have removed to
Omsk, Krasnojarsk, Moscow, Petersburg, Paris, &c. The gold-diggers'
residences stand, therefore, now deserted, and form on the eastern
bank of the river a row of half-decayed wooden ruins surrounded by
young trees, after which in no long time only the tradition of the
former period of prosperity will be found remaining. In one respect
indeed the gold-diggers have exerted a powerful influence on the
future of the country. For it was through them that the first
pioneers were scattered in the wilderness, the first seed sown of
the cultivation of the region.
In 1875 there were only two steamers on the Yenisej. These were
neither passenger nor cargo boats, but rather movable commercial
stores, propelled by steam. The fore-saloon formed a shop provided
with a desk, and shelves on which were to be seen cloths, iron
wares, guns, ammunition, tobacco, tea, matches, sugar, brightly
coloured copper engravings or lithographs, &c. In the after-saloon
was enthroned, among brandy casks, purchased furs, and other
precious or delicate wares, he who had the command on board, a kind
and friendly merchant, who evidently did not concern himself much
with the work of the sailors, but rather with trade and the making
of bargains, and who was seldom called by the crew captain
(_kapitan_), but generally master (_hosain_). After the steamer, or
floating commercial store, there was towed one or two _lodjas_,
which served as magazines, in which meal and salt and other heavy
goods were stored, the purchased fish were salted and looked after,
fresh bread baked for the numerous crew, &c. And as there was not a
single jetty to be found the whole way between Yenisejsk and the
sea, both the steamer and the _lodjas_, in order to be able to load
and deliver goods at any point, had a large number of boats and
lighters in tow. No place was set apart for passengers, but
travellers were received in a friendly and hospitable manner when
they came on board, where they were then allowed to look out for
themselves as best they could. The nautical command was held by two
mates or pilots of a stately and original appearance, who, clad in
long caftans, sat each in his watch on a chair at the wheel,
generally without steering, mostly smoking a cigarette made of
coarse paper and, with the most careless appearance in the world,
exchanging jests with those who were going down the river. The
prohibition of taking away the attention of the steersman from his
work by conversation was thus not in force hereabouts. A man stood
constantly in the fore, uninterruptedly testing the depth with a
long pole. For in order to avoid the strong current of the main
stream the course was always shaped as near the shore as possible,
often so near that one could almost jump ashore, and my own Nordland
boat, which was towed by the side of the steamer, was occasionally
drawn over land. It will be seen from this of how light draught the
steamer was.
Siberia, especially the river territory of the Yenisej and the Lena,
possesses rich coal seams, which probably extend under considerable
portions of the Siberian plain, but are yet unworked and have
attracted little attention. The river steamers accordingly are
fired, not with coal, but with wood, of which, if I remember right,
180 fathoms went to the voyage of the steamer _Alexander_ up the
river. As the vessel could carry only a small portion of this
quantity of wood at one time, frequent halts were necessary, not
only for trading with the natives, but also for taking fuel on
board. In addition to this, the weak engine, _although the safety
valves were overloaded when necessary with lead weights_, was
sometimes unable to make head with all the vessels in tow against a
current which at some places was very rapid, and often, in the
attempt to find still water near the river bank, the steamer ran
aground, notwithstanding the continual "ladno" cry of the poling
pilot standing in the fore. It made so slow progress on this account
that the passage from Saostrovskoj to Yenisejsk occupied a whole
month.
[Illustration: CHUKCH VILLAGE ON A SIBERIAN RIVER. (After a
Photograph.) ]
The two main arms into which the Yenisej is divided south of
Yenisejsk are too rapid for the present Yenisej steamers to ascend
them, while, as has been already stated, there is no difficulty in
descending these rivers from the Selenga and the Baikal Lake on the
one hand, and from the Minusinsk region abounding in grain on the
other. The banks here consist, in many places, of high rocky ridges
covered with fine forests, with wonderfully beautiful valleys
between them, covered with luxuriant vegetation.
What I have said regarding the mode of travelling up the Yenisej
refers to the year 1875, in which I went up the river accompanied by
two Swedish naturalists and three Norwegian seamen. It was then by
no means unknown, for scientific men such as HANSTEEN (1829),
CASTREN (1846), MIDDENDORFF (winter journeys in 1843 and 1844), and
SCHMIDT (1866), had travelled hither and communicated their
observations to the scientific world in valuable works on the nature
and people of the region. But the visits of the West-European still
formed rare exceptions; no West-European commercial traveller had
yet wandered to those regions, and into the calculations of the
friendly masters of the Yenisej river steamers no import of goods
from, or export of goods to, Europe had ever entered. All at once a
new period seemed to begin. If the change has not gone on so fast as
many expected, life here, however, is more than it was at one time,
and every year the change is more and more noticeable. It is on this
account that I consider these notes from the journey of 1875 worthy
of being preserved.
[Footnote 200: With this name, for want of another, I denote all the
innumerable islands which lie in the Yenisej between 69 deg. 45'
and 71 deg. N.L. ]
[Footnote 201: The _Moskwa_ was the first steamer which penetrated
from the Atlantic to the town of Yenisejsk. The principal dates of
this voyage may therefore be quoted here.
Baron Knoop, along with several Russian merchants, had chartered in
1878 a steamer, the _Louise_; but this vessel stranded on the coast
of Norway. The _Zaritza_, another Norwegian steamer, was chartered
instead to carry the _Louise's_ goods to their destination. But this
vessel too stranded at the mouth of the Yenisej, and was abandoned
by the crew, who were rescued by a small steamer, the _Moskwa_,
which accompanied the _Zaritza_. In this steamer Captain Dallmann,
the Bremen merchant Helwig Schmidt, and Ehlertz, an official in the
Russian finance office, now travelled up the river. The _Moskwa_ had
a successful voyage, arriving on the 4th September at Goltschicha,
passing Turuchansk in consequence of a number of delays only on the
24th September, reaching Podkamenaja Tunguska on the 1st October,
and on the 14th of the same month its destination, a winter harbour
on the Tschorna river, some miles north of Yenisejsk. (Fahrt auf dem
Yenisse; von der Muendung bis Yenisejsk im Sommer 1878; Petermann's
_Mittheilungen_, 1879, p 81.) ]
[Footnote 202: The particulars of the voyages of these vessels are
taken from a copy which I have received of Captain Emil Nilsson's
log. ]
[Footnote 203: The goods carried by me and by Wiggins to the
Yenisej; in 1876, and those which Schwanenberg carried thence in
1877, were properly only samples on a somewhat large scale. I have
no knowledge of the goods which the _Zaritza_ had on board when she
ran aground at the mouth of the Yenisej. ]
[Footnote 204: According to Johannesen's determination. On Wrangel's
map the latitude of this cape is given as 73 deg. 30'. Johannesen
found the longitude to be 125 deg. 31' instead of 127 deg.. ]
[Footnote 205: According to Latkin (Petermann's _Mittheilungen_,
1879, p. 92), the Lena delta is crossed by seven main arms, the
westernmost of which is called Anatartisch. It debouches into the
sea at a cape 58 feet high named Ice Cape (Ledjanoi). Next come the
river arm Bjelkoj, then Tumat, at whose mouth a landmark erected by
Laptev in 1739 is still in existence. Then come the other three main
arms, Kychistach, Trofimov, and Kischlach, and finally the very
broad eastmost arm, Bychov. Probably some of the smaller river arms
are to be preferred for sailing up the river to this broad arm,
which is fouled by shoals. ]
[Footnote 206: A common name used in Siberia for all the native
races. ]
[Footnote 207: This has been incorrectly interpreted as if they shot
at the vessel. ]
[Footnote 208: A coal seam is often unfit for use near the surface,
where for centuries it has been uncovered and exposed to the action
of the atmosphere, while farther down it may yield very good coal.
It is probable besides that the layers of shale, which often
surround the coal seams, have in this case been mistaken for the
true coal. For those who are inexperienced in coal-mining to make
such a mistake is the rule and not the exception. ]
[Footnote 209: In order not to write without due examination about
figures which have been written about a thousand times before, I
have, with the help of Petermann's map of North and Middle Asia in
Stieler's Hand-Atlas, calculated the extent of the areas of the
Siberian rivers, and found them to be:--
Square Geographical
kilometres. square miles.
River area of the Ob (with the Tas) 3,445,000 62,560
River area of the Yenisej 2,712,000 49,250
River area of the Lena 2,395,000 43,500
Of these areas 4,966,000 square kilometres, or about 90,000
geographical square miles, lie south of 60 deg. N.L. ]
[Footnote 210: For the northern hemisphere it is the general rule
that where rivers flow through loose, earthy strata in a direction
deviating considerably from that of the parallels of latitude, the
right bank, when one stands facing the mouth of the river, is high,
and the left low. The cause of this is the globular form of the
earth and its rotation, which gives rivers flowing north a tendency
towards the east, and to rivers flowing south a tendency to the west
This tendency is resisted by the bank, but it is gradually eaten
into and washed away by degrees, so that the river bed, in the
course of thousands of years, is shifted in the direction indicated. ]
[Footnote 211: As specimens of the sub-fossil mollusc fauna of the
_tundra_ some of the common species are delineated on the opposite
page. These are:--1. _Mya arenaria_, Lin. 2/3 of natural size. 2.
_Mya truncata_, Lin. var. _Uddevallensis_, Forbes. 2/3 3. _Saxicava
pholadis_, Lin. 2/3. 4. _Tellina lata_, Gmel. 2/3 5. _Cardium
ciliatum_, Fabr. 2/3. 6. _Leda pernula_, Muell. var. _buccata_,
Steenstr. Natural size. 7. _Nucula expansa_, Reeve. Nat. size. 8.
_Fusus Kroyeri_, Moell. 2/3. 9. _Fusus fornicatus_, Reeve. 1/2. 10.
_Fusus tornatus_, Gould. 2/3. 11. _Margarita elegantissima_, Bean.
Natural size. 12. _Pleurotoma plicifera_, Wood. Natural size. 13.
_Pleurotoma pyramidalis_, Stroem. 1-1/2. 14. _Trichotropis borealis_,
Brod. 1-1/2. 15. _Natica helicoides_, Johnst. Nat. size. ]
[Footnote 212: _Bihang till Vet. Akad. Handl._ Bd. iv. No. 11,
p. 42. ]
[Footnote 213: Provisions and wares intended for trade with the
natives are transported on the Yenisej, as on many other Siberian
rivers, down the stream in colossal lighters, built of planks like
logs. It does not pay to take them up the river again, on which
account, after their lading has been taken out of them, they are
either left on the bank to rot or broken up for the timber. ]
CHAPTER IX.
The New Siberian Islands--The Mammoth--Discovery of Mammoth
and Rhinoceros mummies--Fossil Rhinoceros horns--Stolbovoj
Island--Liachoff's Island--First discovery of this island--
Passage through the sound between this island and the
mainland--Animal life there--Formation of ice in water above
the freezing point--The Bear Islands--The quantity and
dimensions of the ice begin to increase--Different kinds of
sea-ice--Renewed attempt to leave the open channel along
the coast--Lighthouse Island--Voyage along the coast to
Cape Schelagskoj--Advance delayed by ice, shoals, and fog--
First meeting with the Chukches--Landing and visits to Chukch
villages--Discovery of abandoned encampments--Trade with
the natives rendered difficult by the want of means of
exchange--Stay at Irkaipij--Onkilon graves--Information
regarding the Onkilon race--Renewed contact with the Chukches
--Kolyutschin Bay--American statements regarding the state
of the ice north of Behring's Straits--The _Vega_ beset.
After the parting the _Lena_ shaped her course towards the land; the
_Vega_ continued her voyage in a north-easterly direction towards
the new Siberian Islands.
These have, from the time of their discovery, been renowned among
the Russian ivory collectors for their extraordinary richness in
tusks and portions of skeletons of the extinct northern species of
elephant known by the name of _mammoth_.
We know by the careful researches of the academicians PALLAS, VON
BAER, BRANDT, VON MIDDENDORFF, FR. SCHMIDT, &c., that the mammoth
was a peculiar northern species of elephant with a covering of hair,
which, at least during certain seasons of the year, lived under
natural conditions closely resembling those which now prevail in
middle and even in northern Siberia. The widely extended grassy
plains and forests of North Asia were the proper homeland of this
animal, and there it must at one time have wandered about in large
herds.
The same, or a closely allied species of elephant, also occurred in
North America, in England, France, Switzerland, Germany, and North
Russia. Indeed, even in Sweden and Finland inconsiderable mammoth
remains have sometimes been found.[214] But while in Europe only some
more or less inconsiderable remains of bones are commonly to be found,
in Siberia we meet not only with whole skeletons, but also whole animals
frozen in the earth, with solidified blood, flesh, hide, and hair. Hence
we may draw the conclusion that the mammoth died out, speaking
geologically, not so very long ago. This is besides confirmed by a
remarkable antiquarian discovery made in France. Along with a number of
roughly worked flint flakes, pieces of ivory were found, on which, among
other things, a mammoth with trunk, tusks, and hair was engraved in
rough but unmistakable lineaments, and in a style resembling that which
distinguishes the Chukch drawings, copies of which will be found further
on in this work. This drawing, whose genuineness appears to be proved,
surpasses in age, perhaps a hundredfold, the oldest monuments that Egypt
has to show, and forms a remarkable proof that the mammoth, the original
of the drawing, lived in Western Europe contemporaneously with man. The
mammoth remains are thus derived from a gigantic animal form, living in
former times in nearly all the lands now civilized, and whose carcase is
not yet everywhere completely decomposed. Hence the great and intense
interest which attaches to all that concerns this wonderful animal.
If the interpretation of an obscure passage in Pliny be correct,
mammoth ivory has, from the most ancient times, formed a valued
article of commerce, which, however, was often mistaken for the
ivory of living elephants and of the walrus. But portions of the
skeleton of the mammoth itself are first described in detail by
WITSEN, who during his stay in Russia in 1686 collected a large
number of statements regarding it, and at least in the second
edition of his work gives good drawings of the under jaw of a
mammoth and the cranium of a fossil species of ox, whose bones are
found along with the remains of the mammoth (WITSEN, 2nd. edit. p.
746). But it appears to have escaped Witsen, who himself considered
mammoth bones to be the remains of ancient elephants, and who well
knew the walrus, that in a number of the accounts which he quotes,
the mammoth and the walrus are clearly mixed up together, which is
not so wonderful, as both are found on the coast of the Polar Sea,
and both yielded ivory to the stocks of the Siberian merchants. In
the same way all the statements which the French Jesuit, AVRIL,
during his stay in Moscow in 1686, collected regarding the
amphibious animal, _Behemoth_, occurring on the coast of the
Tartarian Sea, (Polar Sea) refer not to the mammoth, as some
writers, HOWORTH[215] for example, have supposed, but to the walrus.
The name mammoth, which is probably of Tartar origin, Witsen appears
to wish to derive from Behemoth, spoken of in the fortieth chapter
of the Book of Job. The first mammoth tusk was brought to England in
1611, by JOSIAS LOGAN. It was purchased in the region of the
Petchora, and attracted great attention, as appears from Logan's
remark in a letter to Hakluyt, that one would not have dreamed to
find such wares in the region of the Petchora (_Purchas_, iii p.
546). As Englishmen at that time visited Moscow frequently, and for
long periods, this remark appears to indicate that fossil ivory
first became known in the capital of Russia some time after the
conquest of Siberia.
[Illustration: MAMMOTH SKELETON IN THE IMPERIAL MUSEUM OF THE
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN ST PETERSBURG. After a Photograph communicated
by the Academician Friedrich Schmidt in St. Petersburg. ]
[Illustration: RESTORED FORM OF THE MAMMOTH After JUKES,
_The Student's Manual of Geology_, Edinburgh, 1862. ]
I have not, indeed, been successful during the voyage of the _Vega_
in making any remarkable discovery that would throw light on the
mode of life of the mammoth,[216] but as we now sail forward between
shores probably richer in such remains than any other on the surface
of the globe, and over a sea, from whose bottom our dredge brought
up, along with pieces of driftwood, half-decayed portions of mammoth
tusks, and as the savages with whom we came in contact, several
times offered us very fine mammoth tusks or tools made of mammoth
ivory, it may not perhaps be out of place here to give a brief
account of some of the most important mammoth _finds_ which have
been preserved for science. We can only refer to the discovery of
mammoth _mummies_,[217] for the _finds_ of mammoth tusks
sufficiently well preserved to be used for carving are so frequent
as to defy enumeration. Middendorff reckons the number of the tusks,
which yearly come into the market, as at least a hundred pairs,[218]
whence we may infer, that during the years that have elapsed since
the conquest of Siberia useful tusks from more than 20,000 animals
have been collected.
The discovery of a mammoth-_mummy_ is mentioned for the first time
in detail in the sketch of a journey which the Russian ambassador
EVERT YSSBRANTS IDES, a Dutchman by birth, made in 1692 through
Siberia to China. A person whom Yssbrants Ides had with him during
his journey through Siberia, and who travelled every year to collect
mammoth ivory, assured him that he had once found a head of this
animal in a piece of frozen earth which had tumbled down. The flesh
was putrefied, the neck-bone was still coloured by blood, and some
distance from the head a frozen foot was found.[219] The foot was
taken to Turuchansk, whence we may infer that the _find_ was made on
the Yenisej. Another time the same man found a pair of tusks
weighing together twelve poods or nearly 200 kilogram. Ides'
informant further stated, that while the heathen Yakuts, Tunguses,
and Ostyaks, supposed that the mammoth always lived in the earth and
went about in it, however hard the ground might be frozen, also that
the large animal died when it came so far up that it saw or smelled
the air; the old Russians living in Siberia were of opinion that the
mammoth was an animal of the same kind as the elephant, though with
tusks somewhat more bent and closer together; that before the Flood
Siberia had been warmer than now, and elephants had then lived in
numbers there; that they had been drowned in the Flood, and
afterwards, when the climate became colder, had frozen in the river
mud.[220]
The folk-lore of the natives regarding the mode of life of the
mammoth under ground is given in still greater detail in J.B.
MUeLLER'S _Leben und Gewonheiten der Ostiaken unter dem Polo arctico
wohnende_, &c. Berlin, 1720 (in French in _Recueil de Voiages au
Nord_, Amsterdam, 1731-38, Vol. VIII. p. 373). According to the
accounts given by Muller, who lived in Siberia as a Swedish prisoner
of war,[221] the tusks formed the animal's horns. With these, which
were fastened above the eyes and were movable, the animal dug a way
for itself through the clay and mud, but when it came to sandy soil,
the sand ran together so that the mammoth stuck fast and perished.
Muller further states, that many assured him that they themselves
had seen such animals on the other side of Beresovsk in large
grottos in the Ural mountains (_loc. cit._ p. 382).
KLAPROTH received a similar account of the mammoth's way of life
from the Chinese in the Russo-Chinese frontier and trading town
Kyachta. For mammoth ivory was considered to be tusks of the giant
rat _tien-shu_, which is only found in the cold regions along the
coast of the Polar Sea, avoids the light, and lives in dark holes in
the interior of the earth. Its flesh is said to be cooling and
wholesome. Some Chinese literati considered that the discovery of
these immense earth rats might even explain the origin of
earthquakes.[222]
It was not until the latter half of the last century that a European
scientific man had an opportunity of examining a similar _find_. In
the year 1771 a complete rhinoceros, with flesh and hide, was
uncovered by a landslip on the river Wilui in 64 deg. N.L. Its
head and feet are still preserved at St. Petersburg. All the other
parts were allowed to be destroyed for want of means of transport
and preservation.[223] What was taken away showed that this primeval
rhinoceros (_Rhinoceros antiquitatis_ Blumenbach) had been covered
with hair and differed from all now living species of the same
family, though strongly resembling them in shape and size. Already,
long before the horns of the fossil rhinoceros had attracted the
attention of the natives, pieces of these horns were used for the
same purposes for which the Chukches employ strips of whalebone,
viz. to increase the elasticity of their bows. They were considered
at the same time to exert a like beneficial influence on the arrow,
tending to make it hit the mark, as, according to the hunter's
superstition among ourselves in former days, some cat's claws and
owl's eyes placed in the bullet mould had on the ball. The natives
believed that the crania and horns of the rhinoceros found along
with the remains of the mammoth belonged to gigantic birds,
regarding which there were told in the tents of the Yakut, the
Ostyak and the Tunguse many tales resembling that of the bird Roc in
the _Thousand and One Nights_. Ermann and Middendorff even suppose
that such _finds_ two thousand years ago gave occasion to Herodotus'
account of the Arimaspi and the gold-guarding dragons (_Herodotus_,
Book IV. chap. 27). Certain it is that during the middle ages such
"grip-claws" were preserved, as of great value, in the treasuries
and art collections of that time, and that they gave rise to many a
romantic story in the folk-lore both of the West and East. Even in
this century Hedenstroem, the otherwise sagacious traveller on the
Siberian Polar Sea, believed that the fossil rhinoceros' horns were
actual, "grip-claws." For he mentions in his oft-quoted work, that
he had seen such a claw 20 verschoks (0.9 metre) in length, and when
he visited St. Petersburg in 1830, the scientific men there did not
succeed in convincing him that his ideas on this subject were
incorrect.[224]
[Illustration: SIBERIAN RHINOCEROS HORN. Preserved in the Museum
at St. Petersburg. ]
A new _find_ of a mammoth _mummy_ was made in 1787, when the natives
informed the Russian travellers SARYTSCHEV and MERK, that about 100
versts below the village Alasejsk, situated on the river Alasej
running into the Polar Sea, a gigantic animal had been washed out of
the sand beds of the beach in an upright posture, undamaged, with
hide and hair. The _find_, however, does not appear to have been
thoroughly examined.[225]
In 1799 a Tunguse found on the Tamut Peninsula, which juts out into
the sea immediately south-east of the river-arm by which the _Lena_,
steamed up the river, another frozen-in mammoth. He waited patiently
five years for the ground thawing so much as that the precious tusks
should be uncovered. The softer parts of the animal accordingly were
partly torn in pieces and destroyed by beasts of prey and dogs, when
the place was closely examined in 1806 by ADAMS the Academician.
Only the head and two of the feet were then almost undamaged. The
skeleton, part of the hide, a large quantity of long hair and woolly
hair a foot and a half long were taken away. How fresh the carcase
was may be seen from the fact that parts of the eye could still be
clearly distinguished. Similar remains had been found two years
before, a little further beyond the mouth of the Lena, but they were
neither examined nor removed.[226]
A new _find_ was made in 1839, when a complete mammoth was uncovered
by a landslip on the shore of a large lake to the west of the mouth
of the Yenisej, seventy versts from the Polar Sea. It was originally
almost entire, so that even the trunk appears to have been
preserved, to judge by the statement of the natives that a black
tongue as long as a month-old reindeer calf was hanging out of the
mouth; but it had, when it was removed in 1842, by the care of the
merchant TROFIMOV, been already much destroyed.[227]
Next after Trofimov's mammoth come the mammoth-_finds_ of
Middendorff and Schmidt. The former was made in 1843 on the bank of
the river Tajmur, under 75 deg. N.L.; the latter in 1866 or the
Gyda _tundra_, west of the mouth of the Yenisej in 70 deg. 13'
N.L. The soft parts of these _finds_ were not so well preserved as
those just mentioned. But the _finds_ at all events had a greater
importance for science, from the localities having been thoroughly
examined by competent scientific men. Middendorff arrived at the
result that the animal found by him had floated from more southerly
regions to the place where it was found. Schmidt on the other hand
found that the stratum which contained the mammoth rested on a bed
of marine clay, containing shells of high northern species of
crustacea which still live in the Polar Sea, and that it was covered
with strata of sand alternating with beds, from a quarter to half a
foot thick, of decayed remains of plants, which completely
correspond with the turf beds which are still formed in the lakes of
the _tundra_. Even the very beds of earth and clay in which the
bones, pieces of hide, and hair of the mammoth _mummy_ were
enclosed, contained pieces of larch, branches and leaves of the
dwarf birch (_Betulct nana_), and of two northern species of willow
(_Salie glauca_, and _herbacea_).[228] It appears from this that the
climate of Siberia at the time when these mammoth-carcases were
imbedded, was very nearly the same as the present, and as the stream
in whose neighbourhood the find was made is a comparatively
inconsiderable _tundra_ river, lying wholly to the north of the
limit of trees, there is no probability that the carcase drifted
with the spring ice from the wooded region of Siberia towards the
north. Schmidt, therefore, supposes that the Siberian elephant, if
it did not always live in the northernmost parts of Asia,
occasionally wandered thither, in the same way that the reindeer now
betakes itself to the coast of the Polar Sea. VON BRANDT, VON
SCHMALHAUSEN, and others, had besides already shown that the remains
of food which were found in the hollows of the teeth of the Wilui
rhinoceros consisted of portions of leaves and needles of species of
trees which still grow in Siberia.[229]
Soon after the mammoth found on the Gyda _tundra_ had been examined
by Schmidt, similar _finds_ were examined by GERHARD VON MAYDELL, at
three different places between the rivers Kolyma and Indigirka,
about a hundred kilometres from the Polar Sea. With respect to these
_finds_ I can only refer to a paper by L. VON SCHRENCK in the
_Bulletin_ of the St. Petersburg Academy, T. XVI. 1871, p. 147.
Under the guidance of natives I collected in 1876 at the confluence
of the river Mesenkin with, the Yenisej, in 71 deg. 28' N.L., some
fragments of bones and pieces of the hide of a mammoth. The hide was
20 to 25 millimetres thick and nearly tanned by age, which ought not
to appear wonderful, when we consider that, though the mammoth lived
in one of the latest periods of the history of our globe, hundreds
of thousands, perhaps millions of years have, however, passed since
the animal died to which these pieces of skin once belonged. It was
clear that they had been washed by the neighbouring river Mesenkin
out of the tundra-bank, but I endeavoured, without success, to
discover the original locality, which was probably already concealed
by river mud. In the neighbourhood was found a very fine cranium of
the musk ox.
A new and important _find_ was made in 1877 on a tributary of the
Lena, in the circle Werchojansk, in 69 deg. N.L. For there was
found there an exceedingly well preserved carcase of a rhinoceros
(_Rhinoceros Merckii_, Jaeg.), a different species from the Wilui
rhinoceros examined by Pallas. However, before the carcase was
washed away by the river, there had only been removed the
hair-covered head and one foot.[230] From the _find_ Schrenck draws
the conclusion that this rhinoceros belonged to a high-northern
species, adapted to a cold climate, and living in, or at least
occasionally wandering to, the regions where the carcase was found.
There the mean temperature of the year is now very low,[231] the
winter exceedingly cold (-63.3 deg. has been registered) and the
short summer exceedingly warm. Nowhere on earth does the temperature
show extremes so widely separated as here. Although the trees in
winter often split with tremendous noise, and the ground is rent
with the cold, the wood is luxuriant and extends to the
neighbourhood of the Polar Sea, where besides, the winter is much
milder than farther in the interior. With respect to the possibility
of these large animals finding sufficient pasture in the regions in
question, it ought not to be overlooked that in sheltered places
overflowed by the spring inundations there are found, still far
north of the limit of trees, luxuriant bushy thickets, whose
newly-expanded juicy leaves, burned up by no tropical sun, perhaps
form a special luxury for grass-eating animals, and that _even the
bleakest stretches of land in the high north are fertile in
comparison with many regions where at least the camel can find
nourishment, for instance the east coast of the Red Sea_.
The nearer we come to the coast of the Polar Sea, the more common
are the remains of the mammoth, especially at places where there
have been great landslips at the river banks when the ice breaks up
in spring. Nowhere, however, are they found in such numbers as on
the New Siberian Islands. Here Hedenstroem in the space of a verst
saw ten tusks sticking out of the ground, and from a single sandbank
on the west side of Liachoff's Island the ivory collectors had, when
this traveller visited the spot, for eighty years made their best
tusk harvest. That new _finds_ may be made there year by year
depends on the bones and tusks being washed by the waves out of the
sandbeds on the shore, so that after an east wind which has lasted
some time they may be collected at low water on the banks then laid
dry. The tusks which are found on the coast of the Polar Sea are
said to be smaller than those that are found farther south, a
circumstance which possibly may be explained by supposing that,
while the mammoth wandered about on the plains of Siberia, animals
of different ages pastured in company, and that the younger of them,
as being more agile and perhaps more troubled by flies than the
older, went farther north than these.
Along with bones of the mammoth there are found on the New Siberian
Islands, in not inconsiderable numbers, portions of the skeletons of
other animal forms, little known, but naturally of immense
importance for ascertaining the vertebrate fauna which lived at the
same time with the mammoth on the plains of Siberia, and the New
Siberian group of islands is not less remarkable for the
"wood-hills," highly enigmatical as to their mode of formation,
which Hedenstroem found on the south coast of the northernmost
island. These hills are sixty-four metres high, and consist of thick
horizontal sandstone beds alternating with strata of fissile
bituminous tree stems, heaped on each other to the top of the hill.
In the lower part of the hill the tree stems lie horizontally, but
in the upper strata they stand upright, though perhaps not
rootfast.[232] The flora and fauna of the island group besides are
still completely unknown, and the fossils, among them ammonites with
exquisite pearly lustre, which Hedenstroem brought home from the rock
strata on Kotelnoj Island, hold out inducement to further
researches, which ought to yield the geologist valuable information
as to the former climate and the former distribution of land and sea
on the surface of the globe. The knowledge of the hydrography of
this region is besides an indispensable condition for judging of the
state of the ice in the sea which washes the north coast of Asia.
Here lies the single available starting-point for the exploration of
the yet altogether unknown sea farther to the north, and from hills
on the two northernmost islands Hedenstroem thought that across the
sea to the north-west and north-east he saw obscure outlines of new
land, on which no man had yet set his foot. All these circumstances
confer on this group of islands an uncommon interest in a scientific
and geographical respect, and therefore no long time can elapse
until a scientific expedition be sent to these regions. Just for
this reason I now desired, as a preparation for a future voyage, to
wander about here for a couple of days, partly on foot, partly by
boat.
[Illustration: STOLBOVOJ ISLAND. After a drawing by O. Nordquist. ]
The air was calm, but for the most part clouded, the temperature as
high as +4 deg., the sea clear of ice, the salinity of the water
1.8 per cent, with a temperature of +2 deg. to +3 deg.. At first
we made rapid progress, but after having in the afternoon of the
28th August sighted the westernmost islands, Semenoffskoj and
Stolbovoj, the sea became so shallow that for long stretches we were
compelled to sail in six to seven metres water. Some very rotten
ice, or rather ice sludge, was also met with, which compelled us to
make tedious _detours_, and prevented the _Vega_ from going at full
speed.
The animal life was among the scantiest I had seen during my many
travels in the Polar Seas. A few seals were visible. Of birds we saw
some terns and gulls, and even far out at sea a pretty large number
of phalaropes--the most common kind of bird on the coast of the
Asiatic Polar Sea, at least in autumn. Stolbovoj Island was,
especially on the north side, high with precipitous shore-cliffs
which afforded splendid breeding-places for looms, black guillemots
and gulls. At all such cliffs there breed on Spitzbergen millions of
sea fowl, which are met with out on the surrounding sea in great
flocks searching for their food. Here not a single loom was seen,
and even the number of the gulls was small, which indeed in some
degree was to be accounted for by the late season of the year, but
also by the circumstance that no colony of birds had settled on the
rocky shores of the island.
The sea bottom consisted at certain places of hard packed sand, or
rather, as I shall endeavour to show farther on, of _frozen_ sand,
from which the trawl net brought up no animals. At other places
there was found a clay, exceedingly rich in _Idothea entomon_ and
_Sabinei_ and an extraordinary mass of bryozoa, resembling
collections of the eggs of mollusca.
It was not until the 30th of August that we were off the west side
of Ljachoff's Island, on which I intended to land. The north coast,
and, as it appeared the day after, the east coast was clear, of ice,
but the winds recently prevailing had heaped a mass of rotten ice on
the west coast. The sea besides was so shallow here, that already at
a distance 15' from land we had a depth of only eight metres. The
ice heaped against the west coast of the island did not indeed form
any very serious obstacle to the advance of the _Vega_, but in case
we had attempted to land there it might have been inconvenient
enough, when the considerable distance between the vessel and the
land was to be traversed in a boat or the steam launch, and it might
even, if a sudden frost had occurred, have become a fetter, which
would have confined us to that spot for the winter. Even a storm
arising hastily might in this shallow water have been actually
dangerous to the vessel anchored in an open road. The prospect of
wandering about for some days on the island did not appear to me to
outweigh the danger of the possible failure of the main object of
the expedition. I therefore gave up for the time my intention of
landing. The course was shaped southwards towards the sound, of so
bad repute in the history of the Siberian Polar Sea, which separates
Ljachoff's Island from the mainland.
[Illustration: IDOTHEA ESTOMON, LIN. From the sea north of the
mouth of the Lena. (Natural size.) ]
[Illustration: IDOTHEA SABINEI, KROeYER. From the sea off the
mouth of the Lena. (Natural size.) ]
So far as we could judge at a distance from the appearance of the rocks,
Stolbovoj consisted of stratified rocks, Ljachoff's Island, on the
contrary, like the mainland opposite, of high hills, much shattered,
probably formed of Plutonic stone-masses. Between these there are
extensive plains, which, according to a statement by the land surveyor
CHVOINOFF, who by order of the Czar visited the island in 1775, are
formed of ice and sand, in which lie imbedded enormous masses of the
bones and tusks of the mammoth, mixed with the horns and skulls of some
kind of ox and with rhinoceros' horns. Bones of the whale and walrus are
not mentioned as occurring there, but "long small screw-formed bones,"
by which are probably meant the tusks of the narwhal.[233]
All was now clear of snow, with the exception of a few of the deeper
clefts between the mountains. No traces of glaciers were visible,
not even such small collections of ice as are to be found everywhere
on Spitzbergen where the land rises a few hundred feet above the
surface of the sea. Nor, to judge by the appearance of the hills,
have there been any glaciers in former times, and this is certainly
the case on the mainland. The northernmost part of Asia in that case
has never been covered by such an ice-sheet as is assumed by the
supporters of a general ice age embracing the whole globe.
The large island right opposite to Svjatoinos was discovered in 1770
by LJACHOFF, whose name the island now bears. In 1788 Billings'
private secretary, MARTIN SAUER, met with Ljachoff at Yakutsk, but
he was then old and infirm, on which account, when Sauer requested
information regarding the islands in the Polar Sea, he referred him
to one of his companions, ZAITAI PROTODIAKONOFF. He informed him
that the discovery was occasioned by an enormous herd of reindeer
which Ljachoff, in the month of April 1770, saw going from
Svjatoinos towards the south, and whose track came over the ice from
the north. On the correct supposition that the reindeer came from
some land lying to the north, Ljachoff followed the track in a
dog-sledge, and thus discovered the two most southerly of the New
Siberian Islands, a discovery which was rewarded by the Czarina
Catherine II. with the exclusive right to hunt and collect ivory on
them.[234]
[Illustration: LJACHOFF'S ISLAND. After a drawing by O. Nordquist. ]
Ljachoff states the breadth of the sound between the mainland and
the nearest large island at 70 versts or 40'. On Wrangel's map again
the breadth is not quite 30'. On the mainland side it is bounded by
a rocky headland projecting far into the sea, which often formed the
turning point in attempts to penetrate eastwards from the mouth of
the river Lena, and perhaps just on that account, like many other
headlands dangerous to the navigator on the north coast of Russia,
was called _Svjatoinos_ (the holy cape), a name which for the oldest
Russian Polar Sea navigators appears to have had the same
signification as "the cape that can be passed with difficulty." No
one however now thinks with any apprehension of the two "holy
capes," which in former times limited the voyages of the Russians
and Fins living on the White Sea to the east and west, and this, I
am quite convinced, will some time be the case with this and all
other holy capes in the Siberian Polar Sea.
The sea water in the sound was much mixed with river water and had a
comparatively high temperature, even at a depth of nine to eleven
metres. The animal life at the sea bottom was poor in species but
rich in individuals, consisting principally of _Idothea entomon_, of
which Dr. Stuxberg counted 800 specimens from a single sweep of the
dredge. There were obtained at the same time, besides a few
specimens of _Idothea Sabinei_, sponges and bryozoa in great
abundance, and small mussels, crustacea, vermes, &c. Various fishes
were also caught, and some small algae collected. The trawl-net
besides brought up from the bottom some fragments of mammoth tusks,
and a large number of pieces of wood, for the most part sticks or
branches, which appear to have stood upright in the clay, to judge
from the fact that one of their ends was often covered with living
bryozoa. These sticks often caused great inconvenience to the
dredgers, by tearing the net that was being dragged along the
bottom.
On the night preceding the 31st of August, as we steamed past
Svjatoinos, a peculiar phenomenon was observed. The sky was clear in
the zenith and in the east; in the west, on the other hand, there was a
bluish-grey bank of cloud. The temperature of the water near the surface
varied between +1 deg. and +1.6 deg., that of the air on the vessel between
+1.5 deg. and +1.8 deg.. Although thus both the air and the water had a
temperature somewhat above the freezing-point, ice was seen to form on
the calm, mirror-bright surface of the sea. This ice consisted partly of
needles, partly of a thin sheet. I have previously on several occasions
observed in the Arctic seas a similar phenomenon, that is to say, have
observed the formation of ice when the temperature of the air was above
the freezing-point. On this occasion, when the temperature of the
uppermost stratum of water was also above the freezing-point, the
formation of ice was clearly a sort of hoar-frost phenomenon, caused by
radiation of heat, perhaps both upwards towards the atmosphere and
downwards towards the bottom layer of water, cooled below the
freezing-point.
The whole day we continued our voyage eastwards with glorious
weather over a smooth ice-free sea, and in the same way on the 1st
September, with a gentle southerly wind, the temperature of the air
at noon in the shade being +5.6 deg.. On the night before the 2nd
September the wind became northerly and the temperature of the air
sank to -1 deg.. Little land was seen, though we were still not
very far from the coast. Near to it there was a broad ice-free, or
nearly ice-free, channel, but farther out to sea ice commenced. The
following night snow fell, so that the whole of the deck and the
Bear Islands, which we reached on the 3rd September, were sprinkled
with it.
Hitherto, during the whole time we sailed _along the coast_, we had
scarcely met with any fields of drift-ice but such as were formed of
rotten, even, thin and scattered pieces of ice, in many places
almost converted into ice-sludge, without an "ice-foot" and often
dirty on the surface. No iceberg had been seen, nor any large
glacier ice-blocks, such as on the coasts of Spitzbergen replace the
Greenland icebergs. But east of Svjatoinos the ice began to increase
in size and assume the same appearance as the ice north of
Spitzbergen. It was here, besides, less dirty, and rested on a hard
ice-foot projecting deep under water and treacherous for the
navigator.
The ice of the Polar Sea may be divided into the following
varieties:--
1. _Icebergs._ The true icebergs have a height above the surface of
the water rising to 100 metres. They often ground in a depth of 200
to 300 metres, and have thus sometimes a cross section of up to 400,
perhaps 500 metres. Their area may amount to several square
kilometres. Such enormous blocks of ice are projected into the North
Polar Sea only from the glaciers of Greenland, and according to
Payer's statement, from those of Franz-Josef Land also; but not, as
some authors (GEIKIE, BROWN, and others) appear to assume and have
shown by incorrect ideal drawings, from glaciers which project into
the sea and there terminate with a perpendicular evenly-cut border,
but from very uneven glaciers which always enter the sea in the
bottoms of deep fjords, and are split up into icebergs long before
they reach it. It is desirable that those who write on the origin of
icebergs, should take into consideration the fact that icebergs are
only formed at places where a violent motion takes place in the mass
of the ice, which again within a comparatively short time results in
the excavation of the deep ice-fjord. The largest iceberg, which, so
far as I know, has been _measured_ in that part of the Polar Sea
which lies between Spitzbergen and Wrangel Land, is one which
Barents saw at Cape Nassau on the 17/7th August 1596. It was sixteen
fathoms high, and had grounded in a depth of thirty-six fathoms. In
the South Polar Sea icebergs occur in great numbers and of enormous
size. If we may assume that they have an origin similar to those of
Greenland, it is probable that round the South Pole there is an
extensive continent indented by deep fjords.
2. _Glacier Ice-blocks._ These, which indeed have often been
called icebergs, are distinguished from true icebergs not only
by their size, but also by the way in which they are formed.
They have seldom a cross section of more than thirty or forty
metres, and it is only exceptionally that they are more than ten
metres high above the surface of the water. They originate from the
"calving" of glaciers which project into the sea with a straight and
evenly high precipitous border. Such glaciers occur in large numbers
on the coasts of Spitzbergen, and they are there of the same height
as similar evenly-cut glaciers on Greenland. According to the
statement of the Dane PETERSEN, who took part both in KANE'S
expedition in 1853-55 and in Torell's in 1861, the glaciers, for
instance, at Hinloopen Strait in Spitzbergen, are fully equal, with
respect to their size and the height of their borders above the
sea-level, to the enormous and much bewritten Humboldt glacier in
Greenland. In Spitzbergen too we find at two places miniatures of
the Greenland ice-currents, for instance the glacier which filled
the North Haven in Bell Sound, another glacier which filled an old
Dutch whaling haven between Recherche Bay and Van Keulen Bay, a
glacier on the north side of Wablenberg Bay and perhaps at that part
of the inland ice marked in my map of the expedition of 1872 as a
bay on the east coast of North-east Land. It is even possible that
small icebergs may be projected from the last-mentioned place, and
thence drift out into the sea on the east coast of Spitzbergen.
Glacier-ice shows a great disposition to fall asunder into smaller
pieces without any perceptible cause. It is full of cavities,
containing compressed air, which, when the ice melts, bursts its
attenuated envelope with a crackling sound like that of the electric
spark. It thus behaves in this respect in the same way as some
mineral salts which dissolve in water with slight explosions.
Barents relates that on the 20/10th August 1596 he anchored his
vessel to a block of ice which was aground on the coast of Novaya
Zemlya. Suddenly, and without any perceptible cause, the rock of ice
burst asunder into hundreds of smaller pieces with a tremendous
noise, and to the great terror of all the men on board. Similar
occurrences on a smaller scale I have myself witnessed. The cause to
which they are due appears to me to be the following. The ice-block
while part of the glacier is exposed to very severe pressure, which
ceases when it falls into the sea. The pressure now in most cases
equalises itself without any bursting asunder, but it sometimes
happens that the inner strongly compressed portions of the ice-block
cannot, although the pressure has ceased, expand freely in
consequence of the continuous ice-envelope by which they are still
surrounded. A powerful internal tension must thereby arise in the
whole mass, which finally leads to its bursting into a thousand
pieces. We have here a Prince Rupert's drop, but one whose diameter
may rise to fifty metres, and which consists not of glass but of
ice.
Glacier ice-blocks occur abundantly on the coasts of Spitzbergen and
north Novaya Zemlya, but appear to be wanting or exceedingly rare
along the whole north coast of Asia, between Yugor Schar and Wrangel
Land. East of this they again occur, but not in any great numbers.
This appears to show that the Western Siberian Polar Sea is not
surrounded by any glacial lands. The glacier ice is commonly of a
blue colour. When melted it yields a pure water, free of salt.
Sometimes however it gives traces of salt, which are derived from
the spray which the storms have carried high up on the surface of
the glacier.
3. Pieces of ice from the ice-foot formed along the sea beach or the
banks of rivers. They rise sometimes five or six metres above the
surface of the water. They consist commonly of dirty ice, mixed with
earth.
4. _River Ice_, level, comparatively small ice fields, which, when
they reach the sea, are already so rotten that they soon melt away
and disappear.
5. The walrus-hunters' _Bay Ice_; by which we understand level
ice-fields formed in fjords and bays along the coast, and which have
there been exposed to a comparatively early summer heat. The bay ice
therefore melts away completely during summer, and it is not
commonly much pressed together. When all the snow upon it has
disappeared, there is to be seen above the surface of the water a
little ice of the same colour as the water, while under water very
considerable portions of unmelted hard ice are still remaining. This
has given rise to the walrus-hunters' statement, which has been
warmly maintained, that the ice in autumn finally disappears by
sinking. Nearly all the ice we met with in the course of our voyage
belonged to this variety.
6. _Sea Ice_, or heavy ice, which often exhibits traces of having
been much pressed together, but has not been exposed to any early
summer heat. The walrus-hunters call it sea ice, wishing, I imagine,
to indicate thereby that it is formed in the sea farther up towards
the north. That it has drifted down from the north is indeed
correct, but that it has been formed far from land over a
considerable depth in the open sea is perhaps uncertain, as the ice
that is formed there cannot, we think, be very thick. It has rather
perhaps drifted down from the neighbourhood of some yet unknown
Polar continent. Of this ice are formed most of the ice-fields in
the seas east of Greenland, north of Spitzbergen, between
Spitzbergen and the north island of Novaya Zemlya, and north of
Behring's Straits. In the northern seas it does not melt completely
during the summer, and remains of sea ice therefore often enter as
component parts into the bay ice formed during the following winter.
The latter then becomes rough and uneven, from remnants of old sea
ice being frozen into the newly formed ice. Sea ice is often pressed
together so as to form great _torosses_ or ice-casts, formed of
pieces of ice which at first are angular and piled loose on each
other, but gradually become rounded, and freeze together into
enormous blocks of ice, which, together with the glacier ice-blocks,
form the principal mass of the ground ice found on the coasts of the
Polar lands. The water which is obtained by melting sea-ice is not
completely free from salt, but the older it is the less salt does it
contain.
East of the Bear Islands heavy sea-ice in pretty compact masses had
drifted down towards the coast, but still left an open ice-free
channel along the land. Here the higher animal world was exceedingly
poor, which, as far as the avi-fauna was concerned, must be in some
degree ascribed to the late season of the year. For Wrangel mentions
a cliff at the Bear Islands which was covered with numberless birds'
nests. He saw besides, on the largest of these islands, traces of
the bear, wolf, fox, lemming, and reindeer (Wrangel's _Reise_, i.
pp. 304 and 327). Now the surrounding sea was completely deserted.
No Polar bear saluted us from the ice-floes, no walruses, and only
very few seals were visible. During many watches not a single
natatory bird was seen. Only the phalarope was still met with in
large numbers, even pretty far out at sea. Perhaps it was then
migrating from the north. The lower animal world was more abundant.
From the surface of the sea the drag-net brought up various small
surface crustacea, inconsiderable in themselves, but important as
food for larger animals; and from the sea-bottom were obtained a
large number of the same animal forms as from the sound at
Svjatoinos, and in addition some beautiful asterids and a multitude
of very large beaker sponges.
On the 3rd September, after we had sailed past the Bear Islands, the
course was shaped right for Cape Chelagskoj. This course, as will be
seen by a glance at the map, carried us far from the coast, and thus out
of the channel next the land, in which we had hitherto sailed. The ice
was heavy and close, although at first so distributed that it was
navigable. But with a north wind, which began to blow on the night
before the 1st September, the temperature fell below the freezing-point,
and the water between the pieces of drift-ice was covered with a very
thick crust of ice, and the drift-ice came closer and closer together.
It thus became impossible to continue the course which we had taken. We
therefore turned towards the land, and at 6 o'clock P.M., after various
bends in the ice and a few concussions against the pieces of ice that
barred our way, again reached the ice-free channel, eight to twelve
kilometres broad, next the land. While we lay a little way in among the
drift-ice fields we could see no sign of open water, but it appeared as
if the compact ice extended all the way to land, a circumstance which
shows how careful the navigator ought to be in expressing an opinion as
to the nature of the _pack_ beyond the immediate neighbourhood of the
vessel. The temperature of the air, which in the ice-field had sunk to
-3 deg., now rose at once to + 4.1 deg., while that of the water rose from -1 deg..2
to +3.5 deg., and its salinity fell from 2.4 to 13 per cent. All showed that
we had now come into the current of the Kolyma, which from causes which
have been already stated, runs from the mouth of the river along the
land in an easterly direction.
[Illustration: BEAKER SPONGES. From the sea off the mouth of the Kolyma. ]
[Illustration: LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND. After a drawing by O. Nordquist. ]
The Bear Islands lying off the mouth of the Kolyma are, for the most
part, formed of a plutonic rock, whose upper part has weathered
away, leaving gigantic isolated pillars. Four such pillars have
given to the easternmost of the islands the name Lighthouse Island
(Fyrpelaroen). Similar ruin-like formations are found not only on
Cape Baranov, which lies right opposite, but also at a great number
of other places in that portion of the north coast of Siberia which
lies farther to the east. Generally these cliff-ruins are collected
together over considerable areas in groups or regular rows. They
have thus, when seen from the sea, so bewildering a resemblance to
the ruins of a gigantic city which had once been surrounded by
strong walls and been full of temples and splendid buildings, that
one is almost tempted to see in them memorials of the exploits of a
Tamerlane or a Chingis Khan, up here in the high north.
The north side of the hill-tops was powdered with new-fallen snow,
but the rest of the land was clear of snow. The distance between the
south point of Ljachoff's Island and the Bear Islands is 360'. This
distance we had traversed in three days, having thus made 120' in
the twenty-four hours, or 5' per hour. If we consider the time lost
in dredging, sounding, and determining the temperature and salinity
of the water, and the caution which the navigator must observe
during a voyage in quite unknown waters, this speed shows that
during this part of our voyage we were hindered by ice only to a
slight extent. Cape Baranov was passed on the night before the 5th
September, the mouth of Chaun Bay on the night before the 6th
September, and Cape Chelagskoj was reached on the 6th at 4 o'clock
P.M. The distance in a right line between this headland and the Bear
Islands is 180'. In consequence of the many _detours_ in the ice we
had required 2-1/2 days to traverse this distance, which corresponds
to 72' per day, or 3' per hour, a speed which in a voyage in
unknown, and for the most part ice-bestrewed waters, must yet be
considered very satisfactory. But after this our progress began to
be much slower. At midnight the sun was already 12 deg. to 13
degree below the horizon, and the nights were now so dark that at
that time of day we were compelled to lie still anchored to some
large ground-ice. A farther loss of time was caused by the dense fog
which often prevailed by day, and which in the unknown shallow water
next the land compelled Captain Palander to advance with extreme
caution. The navigation along the north coast of Asia began to get
somewhat monotonous. Even the most zealous Polar traveller may tire
at last of mere ice, shallow water and fog; and mere fog, shallow
water and ice.
Now, however, a pleasant change began, by our coming at last in
contact with natives. In the whole stretch from Yugor Schar to Cape
Chelagskoj we had seen neither men nor human habitations, if I
except the old uninhabited hut between Cape Chelyuskin and the
Chatanga. But on the 6th September, when we were a little way off
Cape Chelagskoj, two boats were sighted. Every man, with the
exception of the cook, who could be induced by no catastrophe to
leave his pots and pans, and who had circumnavigated Asia and Europe
perhaps without having been once on land, rushed on deck. The boats
were of skin, built in the same way as the "umiaks" or women's boats
of the Eskimo. They were fully laden with laughing and chattering
natives, men, women, and children, who indicated by cries and
gesticulations that they wished to come on board. The engine was
stopped, the boats lay to, and a large number of skin-clad,
bare-headed beings climbed up over the gunwale in a way that clearly
indicated that they had seen vessels before. A lively talk began,
but we soon became aware that none of the crew of the boats or the
vessel knew any language common to both. It was an unfortunate
circumstance, but signs were employed as far as possible. This did
not prevent the chatter from going on, and great gladness soon came
to prevail, especially when some presents began to be distributed,
mainly consisting of tobacco and Dutch clay pipes. It was remarkable
that none of them could speak a single word of Russian, while a boy
could count tolerably well up to ten in English, which shows that
the natives here come into closer contact with American whalers than
with Russian traders. They acknowledged the name _chukch_ or
_chautchu_.
[Illustration: CHUKCH BOATS. ]
Many of them were tall, well-grown men. They were clothed in close
fitting skin trousers and "pesks" of reindeer skin. The head was
bare, the hair always clipped short, with the exception of a small
fringe in front, where the hair had a length of four centimetres and
was combed down over the brow. Some had a cap of the sort used by
the Russians at Chabarova, stuck into the belt behind, but they
appeared to consider the weather still too warm for the use of this
head-covering. The hair of most of them was bluish-black and
exceedingly thick. The women were tattooed with black or
bluish-black lines on the brow and nose, a number of similar lines
on the chin, and finally some embellishments on the cheeks. The type
of face did not strike one as so unpleasant as that of the Samoyeds
or Eskimo. Some of the young girls were even not absolutely ugly. In
comparison with the Samoyeds they were even rather cleanly, and had
a beautiful, almost reddish-white complexion. Two of the men were
quite fair. Probably they were descendants of Russians, who for some
reason or other, as prisoners of war or fugitives, had come to live
among the Chukches and had been nationalised by them.
In a little we continued our voyage, after the Chukches had returned
to their boats, evidently well pleased with the gifts they had
received and the leaf tobacco I had dealt out in bundles,--along
with the clay pipes, of which every one got as many as he could
carry between his fingers,--with the finery and old clothes which my
comrades and the crew strewed around them with generous hand. For we
were all convinced that after some days we should come to waters
where winter clothes would be altogether unnecessary, where our want
of any article could easily be supplied at the nearest port, and
where the means of exchange would not consist of goods, but of
stamped pieces of metal and slips of paper.
[Illustration: A CHUKCH IN SEAL-GUT GREAT COAT. After a photograph
by L. Palander. ]
On the 7th September, we steamed the whole day along the coast in
pretty open ice. At night we lay to at a floe. The hempen tangles
and the trawl-net were put out and yielded a very rich harvest. But
in the morning we found ourselves again so surrounded by ice and
fog, that, after several unsuccessful attempts to make an immediate
advance, we were compelled to lie-to at a large piece of drift-ice
near the shore. When the fog had lightened so much that the vessel
could be seen from the land, we were again visited by a large number
of natives, whom as before we entertained as best we could. They
invited us by evident signs to land and visit their tents. As it was
in any case impossible immediately to continue our voyage, I
accepted the invitation, ordered a boat to be put out, and landed
along with most of my comrades.
The beach here is formed of a low bank of sand which runs between
the sea and a small shallow lagoon or fresh-water lake, whose
surface is nearly on a level with that of the sea. Farther into the
interior the land rises gradually to bare hills, clear of snow or
only covered with a thin coating of powdered snow from the fall of
the last few days. Lagoon formations, with either fresh or salt
water, of the same kind as those which we saw here for the first
time, are distinctive of the north-eastern coast of Siberia. It is
these formations which gave rise to the statement that on the north
coast of Siberia it is difficult to settle the boundaries between
sea and land. In winter this may be difficult enough, for the low
bank which separates the lagoon from the sea is not easily
distinguished when it has become covered with snow, and it may
therefore readily happen in winter journeys along the coast that one
is far into the land while he still believes himself to be out on
the sea-ice. But when the snow has melted, the boundary is sharp
enough, and the sea by no means shallow for such a distance as old
accounts would indicate. A continual ice-mud-work also goes on here
during the whole summer. Quite close to the beach accordingly the
depth of water is two metres, and a kilometre farther out ten to
eleven metres. Off the high rocky promontories the water is commonly
navigable even for vessels of considerable draught close to the foot
of the cliffs.
The villages of the Chukches commonly stand on the bank of sand
which separates the lagoon from the sea. The dwellings consist of
roomy skin tents, which enclose a sleeping chamber of the form of a
parallelepiped surrounded by warm well-prepared reindeer skins, and
lighted and warmed by one or more train-oil lamps. It is here that
the family sleep during summer, and here most of them live day and
night during winter. In summer, less frequently in winter, a fire is
lighted besides in the outer tent with wood, for which purpose a
hole is opened in the top of the raised tent-roof. But to be
compelled to use wood for heating the inner tent the Chukches
consider the extremity of scarcity of fuel.
[Illustration: CHUKCH TENT. (After a photograph by L. Palander.) ]
We were received everywhere in a very friendly way, and were offered
whatever the house afforded. At the time the supply of food was
abundant. In one tent reindeer beef was being boiled in a large
cast-iron pot. At another two recently shot or slaughtered reindeer
were being cut in pieces. At a third an old woman was employed in
taking out of the paunch of the reindeer the green spinage-like
contents and cramming them into a sealskin bag, evidently to be
preserved for green food during winter. The hand was used in this
case as a scoop, and the naked arms were coloured high up with the
certainly unappetising spinage, which however, according to the
statements of Danish colonists in Greenland, has no unpleasant
taste. Other skin sacks filled with train-oil stood in rows along
the walls of the tent.
The Chukches offered train-oil for sale, and appeared to be
surprised that we would not purchase any. In all the tents were
found seals cut in pieces, a proof that the catch of seals had
recently been abundant. At one tent lay two fresh walrus heads with
large beautiful tusks. I tried without success to purchase these
heads, but next day the tusks were offered to us. The Chukches
appear to have a prejudice against disposing of the heads of slain
animals. According to older travellers they even pay the walrus-head
a sort of worship.
Children were met with in great numbers, healthy and thriving. In
the inner tent the older children went nearly naked, and I saw them
go out from it without shoes or other covering and run between the
tents on the hoarfrost-covered ground. The younger were carried on
the shoulders both of men and women, and were then so wrapped up
that they resembled balls of skin. The children were treated with
marked friendliness, and the older ones were never heard to utter an
angry word. I purchased here a large number of household articles
and dresses, which I shall describe further on.
On the morning of the 9th September we endeavoured to steam on, but
were soon compelled by the dense fog to lie-to again at a
ground-ice, which, when the fog lightened, was found to have
stranded quite close to land. The depth here was eleven metres. At
this place we lay till the morning of the 10th. The beach, was
formed of a sandbank,[235] which immediately above high-water mark
was covered with a close grassy turf, a proof that the climate here,
notwithstanding the neighbourhood of the pole of cold, is much more
favourable to the development of vegetation than even the most
favoured parts of the west coast of Spitzbergen. Farther inland was
seen a very high, but snow-free, range of hills, and far beyond them
some high snow-covered mountain summits. No glaciers were found
here, though I consider it probable that small ones may be found in
the valleys between the high fells in the interior. Nor were any
erratic blocks found either in the interior of the coast country or
along the strand bank. Thus it is probable that no such ice-covered
land as Greenland for the present bounds the Siberian Polar Sea
towards the north. At two places at the level of the sea in the
neighbourhood of our anchorage the solid rock was bare. There it
formed perpendicular shore cliffs, nine to twelve metres high,
consisting of magnesian slate, limestone more or less mixed with
quartz, and silicious slate. The strata were nearly perpendicular,
ran from north to south, and did not contain any fossils. From a
geological point of view therefore these rocks were of little
interest. But they were abundantly covered with lichens, and yielded
to Dr. Almquist important contributions to a knowledge of the
previously quite unknown lichen flora of this region.
The harvest of the higher land plants on the other hand was, in
consequence of the far advanced season of the year, inconsiderable,
if also of great scientific interest, as coming from a region never
before visited by any botanist. In the sea Dr. Kjellman dredged
without success for algae. Of the higher animals we saw only a
walrus and some few seals, but no land mammalia. Lemmings must
however occasionally occur in incredible numbers, to judge by the
holes and passages, excavated by these animals, by which the ground
is crossed in all directions. Of birds the phalarope was still the
most common species, especially at sea, where in flocks of six or
seven it swam incessantly backwards and forwards between the pieces
of ice.
[Illustration: SECTION OF A CHURCH GRAVE.[236]
(After a drawing by A. Stuxberg.)
_a._ Layer of burned bones, much weathered.
_b._ Layer of turf and twigs.
_c._ Stones. ]
No tents were met with in the neighbourhood of the vessel's
anchorage, but at many places along the beach there were seen marks
of old encampments, sooty rolled stones which had been used in the
erection of the tents, broken household articles, and above all
remains of the bones of the seal, reindeer, and walrus. At one
place, a large number of walrus skulls lay in a ring, possibly
remains from an entertainment following a large catch. Near the
place where the tents had stood, at the mouth of a small stream not
yet dried up or frozen, Dr. Stuxberg discovered some small mounds
containing burnt bones. The cremation had been so complete that only
one of the pieces of bone that were found could be determined by Dr.
Almquist. It was a human tooth. After cremation the remains of the
bones and the ash had been collected in an excavation, and covered
first with turf and then with small flat stones. The encampments
struck me as having been abandoned only a few years ago, and even
the collections of bones did not appear to me to be old. But we
ought to be very cautious when we endeavour in the Arctic regions to
estimate the age of an old encampment, because in judging of the
changes which the surface of the earth undergoes with time we are
apt to be guided by our experience from more southerly regions. To
how limited an extent this experience may be utilised in the high
north is shown by RINK'S assertion that on Greenland at some of the
huts of the Norwegian colonists, which have been deserted for
centuries, footpaths can still be distinguished,[237] an observation
to which I would scarcely give credence, until I had myself seen
something similar at the site of a house in the bottom of
Jacobshaven ice-fjord in northwestern Greenland, which had been
abandoned for one or two centuries. Here footpaths as sharply
defined as if they had been trampled yesterday ran from the ruin in
different directions. It may therefore very readily happen that the
encampments in the neighbourhood of our present anchorage were older
than we would be inclined at first sight to suppose. No refuse heaps
of any importance were seen here.
This was the first time that any vessel had lain-to on this coast.
Our arrival was therefore evidently considered by the natives a very
remarkable occurrence, and the report of it appears to have spread
very rapidly. For though there were no tents in the neighbourhood,
we had many visitors. I still availed myself of the opportunity of
procuring by barter a large number of articles distinctive of the
Chukches' mode of life. Eight years before I had collected and
purchased a large number of ethnographical articles, and I was now
surprised at the close correspondence there was between the
household articles purchased from the Chukches, and those found in
Greenland in old Eskimo graves.
My traffic with the natives was on this occasion attended with great
difficulty. For I suffered from a sensible want of the first
condition for the successful prosecution of a commercial
undertaking, goods in demand. Because, during the expeditions of
1875 and 1876, I found myself unable to make use of the small wares
I carried with me for barter with the natives, and found that
Russian paper-money was readily taken. I had, at the departure of
the _Vega_ from Sweden, taken with me only money, not wares intended
for barter. But money was of little use here. A twenty-five rouble
note was less valued by the Chukches than a showy soap-box, and a
gold or silver coin less than tin or brass buttons. I could, indeed,
get rid of a few fifty-oere pieces, but only after I had first
adapted them by boring to take the place of earrings.
The only proper wares for barter I now had were tobacco and Dutch
clay pipes. Of tobacco I had only some dozen bundles, taken from a
parcel which Mr. Sibiriakoff intended to import into Siberia by the
Yenisej. Certain as I was of reaching the Pacific this autumn, I
scattered my stock of tobacco around me with so liberal a hand that
it was soon exhausted, and my Chukch friends' wants satisfied for
several weeks. I therefore, as far as this currency was concerned,
already when-the _Vega_ was beset, suffered the prodigal's fate of
being soon left with an empty purse. Dutch clay pipes, again, I had
in great abundance, from the accident that two boxes of these pipes,
which were to have been imported into Siberia with the expedition of
1876, did not reach Trondhjem until the _Ymer_ had sailed from that
town. They were instead taken on the _Vega_, and now, though quite too
fragile for the hard fingers of Chukches, answered well for smaller
bargains, as gifts of welcome to a large number of natives collected
at the vessel, and as gifts to children in order to gain the favour
of their parents. I besides distributed a large quantity of silver
coin with King Oscar's effigy, in order, if any misfortune overtook
us, to afford a means of ascertaining the places we had visited.
For the benefit of future travellers I may state that the wares most
in demand are large sewing and darning needles, pots, knives
(preferably large), axes, saws, boring tools and other iron tools,
linen and woollen shirts (preferably of bright colours, but also
white), neckerchiefs, tobacco and sugar. To these may be added the
spirits which are in so great request among all savages; a currency
of which, indeed, there was great abundance on the _Vega_, but which
I considered myself prevented from making use of. In exchange for
this it is possible to obtain, in short, anything whatever from many
of the natives, but by no means from all, for even here there are
men who will not taste spirits, but with a gesture of disdain refuse
the glass that is offered them. The Chukches are otherwise shrewd
and calculating men of business, accustomed to study their own
advantage. They have been brought up to this from childhood through
the barter which they carry on between America and Siberia. Many a
beaver-skin that comes to the market at Irbit belongs to an animal
that has been caught in America, whose skin has passed from hand to
hand among the wild men of America and Siberia, until it finally
reaches the Russian merchant. For this barter a sort of market is
held on an island in Behring's Straits. At the most remote markets
in Polar America, a beaver-skin is said some years ago to have been
occasionally exchanged for a leaf of tobacco.[238] An exceedingly
beautiful black fox-skin was offered to me by a Chukch for a pot.
Unfortunately I had none that I could dispense with. Here, too,
prices have risen. When the Russians first came to Kamchatka, they
got eight sable-skins for a knife, and eighteen for an axe, and yet
the Kamchadales laughed at the credulous foreigners who were so
easily deceived. At Yakutsk, when the Russians first settled there,
a pot was even sold for as many sable-skins as it could hold.[239]
During the night before the 10th September, the surface of the sea
was covered with a very thick sheet of newly-frozen ice, which was
broken up again in the neighbourhood of the vessel by blocks of old
ice drifting about. The _pack_ itself appeared to have scattered a
little. We therefore weighed anchor to continue our voyage. At first
a _detour_ towards the west was necessary to get round a field of
drift-ice. Here too, however, our way was barred by a belt of old
ice, which was bound together so firmly by the ice that had been
formed in the course of the night, that a couple of hours' work with
axes and ice-hatchets was required to open a channel through it. On
the other side of this belt of ice we came again into pretty open
water, but the fog, instead, became so dense that we had again to
lie-to at a ground-ice, lying farther out to the sea but more to the
west than our former resting-place. On the night before the 11th
there was a violent motion among the ice. Fortunately the air
cleared in the morning, so that we could hold on our course among
pretty open ice, until on the approach of night we were obliged as
usual to lie-to at a ground-ice.
The following day, the 12th September, when we had passed Irkaipij,
or Cape North, a good way, we fell in with so close ice that there
was no possibility of penetrating farther. We were therefore
compelled to return, and were able to make our way with great
difficulty among the closely packed masses of drift ice. Here the
vessel was anchored in the lee of a ground-ice, which had stranded
near the northernmost spur of Irkaipij, until a strong tidal current
began to carry large pieces of drift-ice past the vessel's
anchorage. She was now removed and anchored anew in a little bay
open to the north, which was formed by two rocky points jutting out
from the mainland. Unfortunately we were detained here, waiting for
a better state of the ice, until the 18th September. It was this
involuntary delay which must be considered the main cause of our
wintering.
[Illustration: IRKAIPIJ. (After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) ]
Irkaipij is the northernmost promontory in that part of Asia, which
was seen by Cook in 1778. It was, therefore, called by him Cape
North, a name which has since been adopted in most maps, although it
is apt to lead to confusion from capes similarly named being found
in most countries. It is also incorrect, because the cape does not
form the northernmost promontory either of the whole of Siberia, or
of any considerable portion of it. For the northernmost point of the
mainland of Siberia is Cape Chelyuskin, the northernmost in the land
east of the Lena Svjatoinos, the northernmost in the stretch of
coast east of Chaun Bay, Cape Chelagskoj, and so on. Cape North
ought, therefore, to be replaced by the original name Irkaipij,
which is well known to all the natives between Chaun Bay and
Behring's Straits.
[Illustration: REMAINS OF AN ONKILON HOUSE.
_a._ Seen from the side.
_b._ From above. (After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) ]
On the neck of land which connects Irkaipij with the mainland, there
was at the time of our visit a village consisting of sixteen tents.
We saw here also _ruins_, viz. the remains of a large number of old
house-sites, which belonged to a race called _Onkilon_[240] who
formerly inhabited these regions, and some centuries ago were driven
by the Chukches, according to tradition, to some remote islands in
the Polar Sea. At these old house-sites Dr. Almquist and Lieutenant
Nordquist set on foot excavations in order to collect contributions
to the ethnography of this traditional race. The houses appear to
have been built, at least partly, of the bones of the whale, and
half sunk in the earth. The refuse heaps in the neighbourhood
contained bones of several species of the whale, among them the
white whale, and of the seal, walrus, reindeer, bear, dog, fox, and
various kinds of birds. Besides these remains of the produce of the
chase, there were found implements of stone and bone, among which
were stone axes, which, after lying 250 years in the earth, were
still fixed to their handles of wood or bone. Even the thongs with
which the axe had been bound fast to, or _wedged into_, the handle,
were still remaining. The tusks of the walrus[241] had to the former
inhabitants of the place, as to the Chukches of the present, yielded
a material which in many cases may be used with greater advantage
than flint for spear-heads, bird-arrows, fishhooks, ice-axes, &c.
Walrus tusks, more or less worked, accordingly were found in the
excavations in great abundance. The bones of the whale had also been
employed on a great scale, but we did not find any large pieces of
mammoth tusks, an indication that the race was not in any intimate
contact with the inhabitants of the regions to the westward, so rich
in the remains of the mammoth.[242] At many places the old Onkilon
houses were used by the Chukches as stores for blubber; and at
others, excavations had been made in the refuse heaps in search of
walrus tusks. Our researches were regarded by the Chukches with
mistrust. An old man who came, as it were by chance, from the
interior of the country past the place where we worked, remained
there a while, regarding our labours with apparent indifference,
until he convinced himself that from simplicity, or some other
reason unintelligible to him, we avoided touching the blubber-stores,
but instead rooted up in search of old fragments of bone or
stone-flakes.
[Illustration: IMPLEMENTS FOUND IN THE RUINS OF AN ONKILON HOUSE.
1. Stone chisel-with bone handle, one-half the natural size.
2., 4. Knives of slate, one-third.
3., 7. Spear heads of slate, one-third.
5. Spear-head of bone, one-third.
6. Bone spoon, one-third. ]
Remains of old dwellings were found even at the highest points among
the stone mounds of Irkaipij, and here perhaps was the last asylum
of the Onkilon race. At many places on the mountain slopes were seen
large collections of bones, consisting partly of a large number (at
one place up to fifty) of bears' skulls overgrown with lichens, laid
in circles, with the nose inwards, partly of the skulls of the
reindeer, Polar bear,[243] and walrus, mixed together in a less
regular circle, in the midst of which reindeer horns were found set
up. Along with the reindeer horns there was found the coronal bone
of an elk with portions of the horns still attached. Beside the
other bones lay innumerable temple-bones of the seal, for the most
part fresh and not lichen-covered. Other seal bones were almost
completely absent, which shows that temple-bones were not remains of
weathered seal skulls, but had been gathered to the place for one
reason or another in recent times. No portions of human skeletons
were found in the neighbourhood. These places are sacrificial
places, which the one race has inherited from the other.
Wrangel gives the following account of the tribe which lived here in
former times:--
"As is well known the sea-coast at Anadyr Bay is inhabited
by a race of men, who, by their bodily formation, dress,
language, differ manifestly from the Chukches, and call
themselves Onkilon--seafolk. In the account of Captain
Billing's journey through the country of the Chukches, he
shows the near relationship the language of this coast
tribe has to that of the Aleutians at Kadyak, who are of
the same primitive stem as the Greenlanders. Tradition
relates that upwards of two hundred years ago these
Onkilon occupied the whole of the Chukch coast, from Cape
Chelagskoj to Behring's Straits, and indeed we still find
along the whole of this stretch remains of their earth
huts, which must have been very unlike the present
dwellings of the Chukches; they have the form of small
mounds, are half sunk in the ground and closed above with
whale ribs, which are covered with a thick layer of earth.
A violent quarrel between Kraechoj, the chief of these
North-Asiatic Eskimo, and an _errim_ or chief of the
reindeer Chukches, broke out into open feud. Kraechoj drew
the shorter straw, and found himself compelled to fly, and
leave the country with his people; since then the whole
coast has been desolate and uninhabited. Of the emigration
of these Onkilon, the inhabitants of the village Irkaipij,
where Kraechoj appears to have lived, narrated the
following story. He had killed a Ohukch _errim_, and was
therefore eagerly pursued by the son of the murdered man,
whose pursuit he for a considerable time escaped. Finally
Kraechoj believed that he had found a secure asylum on the
rock at Irkaipij, where he fortified himself behind a sort
of natural wall, which can still be seen. But the young
Chukch _errim_, driven by desire to avenge his father's
death, finds means to make his way within the
fortification and kills Kraechoj's son. Although the
blood-revenge was now probably complete according to the
prevailing ideas, Kraechoj must have feared a further
pursuit by his unrelenting enemy, for during night he
lowers himself with thongs from his lofty asylum, nearly
overhanging the sea, enters a boat, which waits for him at
the foot of the cliff, and, in order to lead his pursuers
astray, steers first towards the east, but at nightfall
turns to the west, reaches Schalaurov Island, and there
fortifies himself in an earth hut, whose remains we
(Wrangel's expedition) have still seen. Here he then
collected all the members of his tribe, and fled with them
in 15 "baydars" to the land whose mountains the Chukches
assure themselves they can in clear sunshine see from Cape
Yakan. During the following winter a Chukch related to
Kraechoj disappeared in addition with his family and
reindeer, and it is supposed that he too betook himself to
the land beyond the sea. With this another tradition
agrees, which was communicated to us by the inhabitants of
Kolyutschin Island. For an old man informed me (Wrangel)
that during his grandfather's lifetime a "baydar" with
seven Chukches, among them a woman, had ventured too far
out to sea. After they had long been driven hither and
thither by the wind, they stranded on a country unknown to
them, whose inhabitants struck the Chukches themselves as
coarse and brutish. The shipwrecked men were all murdered.
Only the woman was saved, was very well treated, and taken
round the whole country, and shown to the natives as
something rare and remarkable. So she came at last to the
Kargauts, a race living on the American coast at Behring's
Straits, whence she found means to escape to her own
tribe. This woman told her countrymen much about her
travels and adventures; among other things she said that
she had been in a great land which lay north of
Kolyutschin Island, stretched far to the _west_, and was
probably connected with America. This land was inhabited
by several races of men; those living in the west
resembled the Chukches in every respect, but those living
in the east were so wild and brutish, that they scarcely
deserved to be called men. The whole account, both of the
woman herself and of the narrators of the tradition, is
mixed up with so many improbable adventures, that it would
scarcely be deserving of any attention were it not
remarkable for its correspondence with the history of
Kraechoj."[244]
When Wrangel wrote that, he did not believe in the existence of the
land which is to be found set out on his map in 177 deg. E.L. and
71 deg. N.L., and which, afterwards discovered by the Englishman
Kellet, according to the saying, _lucus a non lucendo_, obtained the
name of Wrangel Land. Now we know that the land spoken of by
tradition actually exists, and therefore there is much that even
tells in favour of its extending as far as to the archipelago on the
north coast of America.
With this fresh light thrown upon it, the old Chukch woman's story ought
to furnish a valuable hint for future exploratory voyages in the sea
north of Behring's Straits, and an important contribution towards
forming a judgment of the fate which has befallen the American
_Jeannette_ expedition, of which, while this is being written, accounts
are still wanting.[245] Between us and the inhabitants of the present
Chukch village at Irkaipij there soon arose very friendly relations. A
somewhat stout, well-grown, tall and handsome man named Chepurin, we
took at first to be chief. He was therefore repeatedly entertained in
the gunroom, on which occasions small gifts were given him to secure his
friendship. Chepurin had clearly a weakness for gentility and grandeur,
and could now, by means of the barter he carried on with us and the
presents he received, gratify his love of show to a degree of which he
probably had never before dreamed. When during the last days of our stay
he paid a visit to the _Vega_ he was clad in a red woollen shirt drawn
over his "pesk," and from either ear hung a gilt watch-chain, to the
lower end of which a perforated ten-oere piece was fastened. Already on
our arrival he was better clothed than the others, his tent was larger
and provided with two sleeping apartments, one for each of his wives.
But notwithstanding all this we soon found that we had made a mistake,
when, thinking that a society could not exist without government, we
assigned to him so exalted a position. Here, as in all Chukch villages
which we afterwards visited, absolute anarchy prevailed.
At the same time the greatest unanimity reigned in the little
headless community. Children, healthy and thriving, tenderly cared
for by the inhabitants, were found in large numbers. A good word to
them was sufficient to pave the way for a friendly reception in the
tent. The women were treated as the equals of the men, and the wife
was always consulted by the husband when a more important bargain
than usual was to be made; many times it was carried through only
after the giver of advice had been bribed with a neckerchief or a
variegated handkerchief. The articles which the man purchased were
immediately committed to the wife's keeping. One of the children had
round his neck a band of pearls with a Chinese coin having a square
hole in the middle, suspended from it; another bore a perforated
American cent piece. None knew a word of Russian, but here too a
youngster could count ten in English. They also knew the word
"ship." In all the tents, reindeer stomachs were seen with their
contents, or sacks stuffed full of other green herbs. Several times
we were offered in return for the bits of sugar and pieces of
tobacco which we distributed, wrinkled root-bulbs somewhat larger
than a hazel nut, which had an exceedingly pleasant taste,
resembling that of fresh nuts. A seal caught in a net among the ice
during our visit was cut up in the tent by the women. On this
occasion they were surrounded by a large number of children, who
were now and then treated to bloody strips of flesh. The youngsters
carried on the work of cutting up _con amore_, coquetting a little
with their bloody arms and faces.
The rock which prevails in this region consists mainly of gabbro,
which in the interior forms several isolated, black, plateau-formed
hills, 100 to 150 metres high, between which an even, grassy, but
treeless plain extends. It probably rests on sedimentary strata. For
on the western side of Irkaipij the plutonic rock is seen to rest on
a black slate with traces of fossils, for the most part obscure
vegetable impressions, probably belonging to the Permian
Carboniferous formation.
Uneasy at the protracted delay here I made an excursion to a hill in
the neighbourhood of our anchorage, which, according to a
barometrical measurement, was 129 metres high, in order, from a
considerable height, to get a better view of the ice than was
possible by a boat reconnaisance. The hill was called by the
Chukches Hammong-Ommang. From it we had an extensive view of the
sea. It was everywhere covered with closely packed drift-ice. Only
next the land was seen an open channel, which, however, was
interrupted in an ominous way by belts of ice.
The plutonic rock, of which the hill was formed, was almost
everywhere broken up by the action of the frost into angular blocks
of stone, so that its surface was converted into an enormous stone
mound. The stones were on the wind side covered with a translucent
glassy ice-crust, which readily fell away, and added considerably to
the difficulty of the ascent. I had previously observed the
formation of such an ice-crust on the northernmost mountain summits
of Spitzbergen.[246] It arises undoubtedly from the fall of
super-cooled mist, that is to say of mist whose vesicles have been
cooled considerably below the freezing-point without being changed
to ice, which first takes place when, after falling, they come in
contact with ice or snow, or some angular hard object. It is such a
mist that causes the icing down of the rigging of vessels, a very
unpleasant phenomenon for the navigator, which we experienced during
the following days, when the tackling of the _Vega_ was covered with
pieces of ice so large, and layers so thick, that accidents might
have happened by the falling of the ice on the deck.[247]
The dredgings here yielded to Dr. Kjellman some algae, and to Dr.
Stuxberg masses of a species of cumacea, _Diastylis Rathkei_ Kr., of
_Acanthostephia Malmgreni_ Goes, and _Liparis gelatinosus_ Pallas,
but little else. On the steep slopes of the north side of Irkaipij a
species of cormorant had settled in so large numbers that the cliff
there might be called a true fowl-fell. A large number of seals were
visible among the ice, and along with the cormorant a few other
birds, principally phalaropes. Fish were now seen only in
exceedingly small numbers.
[Illustration: ALGA FROM IRKAIPIJ. _Laminaria solidungula_ (J G. Ag.). ]
Even in the summer, fishing here does not appear to be specially
abundant, to judge from the fact that the Chukches had not collected
any stock for the winter. We were offered, however, a salmon or two
of small size.
[Illustration: CORMORANT FROM IRKAIPIJ. _Graculus bicristatus_
(Pallas). ]
On the 18th September[248] the state of the ice was quite unchanged.
If a wintering was to be avoided, it was, however, not advisable to
remain longer here. It had besides appeared from the hill-top which
I visited the day before that an open water channel, only
interrupted at two places by ice, was still to be found along the
coast. The anchor accordingly was weighed, and the _Vega_ steamed
on, but in a depth of only 6 to 8 metres. As the _Vegas_ draught is
from 4.8 to 5 metres, we had only a little water under the keel, and
that among ice in quite unknown waters. About twenty kilometres from
the anchorage, we met with a belt of ice through which we could make
our way though only with great difficulty, thanks to the _Vega's_
strong bow enabling her to withstand the violent concussions. Our
voyage was then continued, often in yet shallower water than before,
until the vessel, at 8 o'clock in the morning, struck on a ground
ice foot. The tide was falling, and on that account it was not until
next morning that we could get off, after a considerable portion of
the ground-ice, on whose foot the _Vega_ had run up, had been hewn
away with axes and ice-hatchets. Some attempts were made to blast
the ice with gunpowder, but they were unsuccessful. For this purpose
dynamite is much more efficacious, and this explosive ought
therefore always to form part of the equipment in voyages in which
belts of ice have to be broken through.
On the 19th we continued our voyage in the same way as before, in
still and for the most part shallow water near the coast, between
high masses of ground-ice, which frequently had the most picturesque
forms. Later in the day we again fell in with very low ice formed in
rivers and shut-in inlets of the sea, and came into slightly salt
water having a temperature above the freezing-point.
After having been moored during the night to a large ground-ice, the
_Vega_ continued her course on the 20th September almost exclusively
among low, dirty ice, which had not been much pressed together
during the preceding winter. This ice was not so deep in the water
as the blue ground-ice, and could therefore drift nearer the coast,
a great inconvenience for our vessel, which drew so much water. We
soon came to a place where the ice was packed so close to land that
an open channel only 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 metres deep remained close to
the shore. We were therefore compelled after some hours' sailing to
lie-to at a ground-ice to await more favourable circumstances. The
wind had now gone from west to north and north-west. Notwithstanding
this the temperature became milder and the weather rainy, a sign
that great open stretches of water lay to the north and north-west
of us. During the night before the 21st it rained heavily, the wind
being N.N.W. and the temperature +2 deg.. An attempt was made on
that day to find some place where the belt of drift-ice that was
pressed against the land could be broken through, but it was
unsuccessful, probably in consequence of the exceedingly dense fog
which prevailed.
[Illustration: PIECES OF ICE FROM THE COAST OF THE CHUKCH PENINSULA.
(After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) ]
Dredging gave but a scanty yield here, probably because the animal
life in water so shallow as that in which we were anchored, is
destroyed by the ground-ices, which drift about here for the greater
part of the year. Excursions to the neighbouring coast on the other
hand, notwithstanding the late season of the year, afforded to the
botanists of the _Vega_ valuable information regarding the flora of
the region.
On the 22nd I made, along with Captain Palander, an excursion in the
steam launch to take soundings farther to the east. We soon
succeeded in discovering a channel of sufficient depth and not too
much blocked with ice, and on the 23rd the _Vega_ was able to resume
her voyage among very closely packed drift-ice, often so near the
land that she had only a fourth of a metre of water under her keel.
We went forward however, if slowly.
The land here formed a grassy plain, still clear of snow, rising
inland to gently sloping hills or earthy heights. The beach was
strewn with a not inconsiderable quantity of driftwood, and here and
there were seen the remains of old dwelling-places. On the evening
of the 23rd September we lay-to at a ground-ice in a pretty large
opening of the ice-field. This opening closed in the course of the
night, so that on the 24th and 25th we could make only very little
progress, but on the 26th we continued our course, at first with
difficulty, but afterwards in pretty open water to the headland
which on the maps is called Cape Onman. The natives too, who came on
board here, gave the place that name. The ice we met with on that
day was heavier than before, and bluish-white, not dirty. It was
accordingly formed farther out at sea.
On the 27th we continued our course in somewhat open water to
Kolyutschin Bay. No large river debouches in the bottom of this
great fjord, the only one on the north coast of Asia which, by its
long narrow form, the configuration of the neighbouring shores, and
its division into two at the bottom, reminds us of the Spitzbergen
fjords which have been excavated by glaciers. The mouth of the bay
was filled with very closely packed drift-ice that had gathered
round the island situated there, which was inhabited by a large
number of Chukch families. In order to avoid this ice the _Vega_
made a considerable _detour_ up the fjord. The weather was calm and
fine, but new ice was formed everywhere among the old drift-ice
where it was closely packed. Small seals swarmed by hundreds among
the ice, following the wake of the vessel with curiosity. Birds on
the contrary were seen in limited numbers. Host of them had
evidently already migrated to more southerly seas. At 4.45 P.M. the
vessel was anchored to an ice-floe near the eastern shore of the
fjord. It could be seen from this point that the ice at the
headland, which bounded the mouth of the fjord to the east, lay so
near land that there was a risk that the open water next the shore
would not be deep enough for the _Vega_.
Lieutenant Hovgaard was therefore sent with the steam launch to take
soundings. He returned with the report that the water off the
headland was sufficiently deep. At the same time, accompanied by
several of the naturalists, I made an excursion on land. In the
course of this excursion the hunter Johnsen was sent to the top of
the range of heights which occupied the interior of the promontory,
in order to get a view of the state of the ice farther to the east.
Johnsen too returned with the very comforting news that a very broad
open channel extended beyond the headland along the coast to the
south-east. I was wandering about along with my comrades on the
slopes near the beach in order, so far as the falling darkness
permitted, to examine its natural conditions, when Johnsen came
down; he informed us that from the top of the height one could hear
bustle and noise and see fires at an encampment on the other side of
the headland. He supposed that the natives were celebrating some
festival. I had a strong inclination to go thither in order, as I
thought, "to take farewell of the Chukches," for I was quite certain
that on some of the following days we should sail into the Pacific.
But it was already late in the evening and dark, and we were not yet
sufficiently acquainted with the disposition of the Chukches to go
by night, without any serious occasion, in small numbers and
provided only with the weapons of the chase, to an encampment with
which we were not acquainted. It was not until afterwards that we
learned that such a visit was not attended with any danger. Instead
of going to the encampment, as the vessel in any case could not
weigh anchor this evening, we remained some hours longer on the
beach and lighted there an immense log fire of drift-wood, round
which we were soon all collected, chatting merrily about the
remaining part of the voyage in seas where not cold but heat would
trouble us, and where our progress at least would not be obstructed
by ice, continual fog, and unknown shallows. None of us then had any
idea that, instead of the heat of the tropics, we would for the next
ten months be experiencing a winter at the pole of cold, frozen in
on an unprotected road, under almost continual snow-storms, and with
a temperature which often sank below the freezing-point of mercury.
The evening was glorious, the sky clear, and the air so calm that the
flames and smoke of the log fire rose high against the sky. The dark
surface of the water, covered as it was with a thin film of ice,
reflected its light as a fire-way straight as a line, bounded far away
at the horizon by a belt of ice, whose inequalities appeared in the
darkness as the summits of a distant high mountain chain. The
temperature in the quite draught-free air was felt to be mild, and the
thermometer showed only 2 deg. under the freezing-point. This slight degree
of cold was however sufficient to cover the sea in the course of the
night with a sheet of newly-frozen ice, which, as the following days'
experience showed, at the opener places could indeed only delay, not
obstruct the advance of the _Vega_, but which however bound together the
fields of drift-ice collected off the coast so firmly that a vessel,
even with the help of steam, could with difficulty force her way
through.
When on the following day, the 28th September, we had sailed past
the headland which bounds Kolyutschin Bay on the east, the channel
next the coast, clear of drift-ice, but covered with newly formed
ice, became suddenly shallow. The depth was too small for the
_Vega_, for which we had now to seek a course among the blocks of
ground-ice and fields of drift-ice in the offing. The night's frost
had bound these so firmly together that the attempt failed. We were
thus compelled to lie-to at a ground-ice so much the more certain of
getting off with the first shift of the wind, and of being able to
traverse the few miles that separated us from the open water at
Behring's Straits, as whalers on several occasions had not left this
region until the middle of October.
As American whalers had during the last decades extended their
whale-fishing to the North Behring Sea, I applied before my
departure from home both directly and through the Foreign Office to
several American scientific men and authorities with a request for
information as to the state of the ice in that sea. In all quarters
my request was received with special good-will and best wishes for
the projected journey. I thus obtained both a large quantity of
printed matter otherwise difficult of access, and maps of the sea
between North America and North Asia, and oral and written
communications from several persons: among whom may be mentioned the
distinguished naturalist, Prof. W.H. DALL of Washington, who lived
for a long time in the Territory of Alaska and the north part of the
Pacific; Admiral JOHN RODGERS, who was commander of the American
man-of-war, _Vincennes_, when cruising north of Behring's Straits in
1855; and WASHBURN MAYNOD, lieutenant in the American Navy. I had
besides obtained important information from the German sea-captain
E. DALLMANN, who for several years commanded a vessel in these
waters for coast traffic with the natives. Space does not permit me
to insert all these writings here. But to show that there were good
grounds for not considering the season of navigation in the sea
between Kolyutschin Bay and Behring's Straits closed at the end of
September, I shall make some extracts from a letter sent to me,
through the American Consul-General in Stockholm, N.A. ELVING, from
Mr. MILLER, the president of the Alaska Commercial Company.
"The following is an epitome of the information we have
received regarding the subject of your inquiry.
"The bark _Massachusetts_, Captain O. WILLIAMS, was in 74 deg.
30' N.L. and 173 deg. W.L. on the 21st Sept.
1807. No ice in sight in the north, but to the east saw
ice. Saw high peaks bearing W.N.W. about 60'. Captain
Williams is of opinion that Plover Island, so-called by
Kellet, is a headland of Wrangel Land. Captain Williams
says that he is of opinion from his observations, that
usually after the middle of August there is no ice south
of 70 deg.--west of 175 deg., until the 1st of
October. There is hardly a year but that you could go as
far as Cape North (Irkaipij), which is 180 deg., during
the month of September. If the winds through July and
August have prevailed from the S.W., as is usual, the
north shore will be found clear of ice. The season of 1877
was regarded as an 'icy season,' a good deal of ice to
southward. 1876 was an open season; as was 1875. Our
captain, GUSTAV NIEBAUM, states that the east side of
Behring's Straits is open till November; he passed through
the Straits as late as October 22nd two different seasons.
The north shore was clear of all danger within reasonable
distance. In 1869 the bark _Navy_ anchored under
Kolyutschin Island from the 8th to the 10th October. On
the 10th October of that year there was no ice south and
east of Wrangel Land."
These accounts show that I indeed might have reason to be uneasy at
my ill luck in again losing some days at a place at whose bare
coast, exposed to the winds of the Polar Sea, there was little of
scientific interest to employ ourselves with, little at least in
comparison with what one could do in a few days, for instance, at
the islands in Behring's Straits or in St. Lawrence Bay, lying as it
does south of the easternmost promontory of Asia and therefore
sheltered from the winds of the Arctic Ocean, but that there were no
grounds for fearing that it would be necessary to winter there. I
also thought that I could come to the same conclusion from the
experience gained in my wintering on Spitzbergen in 1872-73, when
permanent ice was first formed in our haven, in the 80th degree of
latitude, during the month of February. Now, however, the case was
quite different. The fragile ice-sheet, which on the 28th September
bound together the ground-ices and hindered our progress, increased
daily in strength under the influence of severer and severer cold
until it was melted by the summer heat of the following year. Long
after we were beset, however, there was still open water on the
coast four or five kilometres from our winter haven, and after our
return home I was informed that, on the day on which we were frozen
in, an American whaler was anchored at that place.
Whether our sailing along the north coast of Asia to Kolyutschin Bay
was a fortunate accident or not, the future will show. I for my part
believe that it was a fortunate accident, which will often happen.
Certain it is, in any case, that when we had come so far as to this
point, our being frozen in was a quite accidental misfortune brought
about by an unusual state of the ice in the autumn of 1878 in the
North Behring Sea.
[Footnote 214: Further information on this point is given by A.J.
Malmgren in a paper on the occurrence and extent of mammoth-finds,
and on the conditions of this animal's existence in former times
(_Finska Vet.-Soc. Foerhandl_ 1874-5). ]
[Footnote 215: Compare Ph. Avril, _Voyage en divers etats d'Europe
et d'Asie entrepris pour decouvrir un nouveau chemin a la Chine_,
etc., Paris, 1692, p. 209. Henry H. Howorth, "The Mammoth in
Siberia" (_Geolog. Mag._ 1880, p. 408). ]
[Footnote 216: As will be stated in detail further on, there were
found during the _Vega_ expedition very remarkable sub-fossil animal
remains, not of the mammoth, however, but of various different
species of the whale. ]
[Footnote 217: The word _mummies_ is used by Von Middendorff to
designate carcases of ancient animals found in the frozen soil of
Siberia. ]
[Footnote 218: The calculation is probably rather too low than too
high. The steamer alone, in which I travelled up the Yenisej in
1875, carried over a hundred tusks, of which however the most were
blackened, and many were so decayed that I cannot comprehend how the
great expense of transport from the _tundra_ of the Yenisej could be
covered by the value of this article. According to the statement of
the ivory dealers the whole parcel, good and bad together, was paid
for at a common average price. ]
[Footnote 219: Notices of yet other _finds_ of mammoth carcases
occur, according to Middendorff (_Sib. Reise_, IV. i. p. 274) in the
scarce and to me inaccessible first edition of Witsen's _Noord en
Oost Tartarye_ (1692, Vol. II. p. 473). ]
[Footnote 220: E. Yssbrants Ides, _Dreyjarige Reise nach China_,
etc., Frankfort, 1707, p. 55. The first edition was published in
Amsterdam, in Dutch, in 1704. ]
[Footnote 221: Strahlenberg in _Das Nord- und Ostliche Theil von
Europa und Asia_, Stockholm, 1730, p. 393, also gives a large number
of statements regarding the fossil Siberian ivory, and mentions that
the distinguished Siberian traveller Messerschmidt found a complete
skeleton on the river Tom. ]
[Footnote 222: Tilesius, _De skeleto mammonteo Sibirico (Mem. de
l'Acad. de St. Petersbourg, T.V. pour l'annee 1812_, p. 409).
Middendorff, _Sib. Reise_, IV. i. p. 274. Von Olfers, _Die Ueberreste
vorweltlicher Riesenthiere in Beziehung zu Ostasia-tischen Sagen und
Chinesischen Schriften (Abhandl. der Akad. d. Wissensch. zu Berlin
aus dem Jahre 1839_, p 51). ]
[Footnote 223: P.S. Pallas, _De reliquiis animalium exoticorum per
Asiam borealem repertis complementum (Novi commentarii Acad. Sc.
Petropolitanae_, XVII. pro anno 1772, p. 576), and _Reise durch
verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs_, Th. III. St.
Petersburg, 1776, p. 97. ]
[Footnote 224: Hedenstroem, _Otrywki o Sibiri_, St. Petersburg, 1830,
p. 125. Ermann's _Archiv_, Part 24, p. 140. ]
[Footnote 225: Compare K.E. v. Baer's paper in _Melanges
Biologiques_, T.V. St. Petersbourg, 1866, p. 691; Middendorff, IV.
i. p. 277; Gavrila Sarytschev's _Achtjaehrige Reise in nordoestlichen
Sibirien_, etc., translated by J.H. Busse, Th. 1, Leipzig, 1806,
p. 106. ]
[Footnote 226: Adams' account is inserted at p. 431 in the work of
Tilesius already quoted. Von Baer gives a detailed account of this
and other important _finds_ of the same nature in the above-quoted
paper in Tome V. of _Melanges Biologiques_; St. Petersbourg,
pp. 645-740. ]
[Footnote 227: Middendorff, IV. 1, p. 272. ]
[Footnote 228: Friedrich Schmidt, _Wissenschastliche Resultate der
sur Aussuchung eines Mammuthcadavers ausgesandten Expedition (Mem.
de l'Acad. de St. Petersbourg_, Ser. VII. T. XVIII. No. 1, 1872). ]
[Footnote 229: Brandt, _Berichte der preussischen Akad. der
Wissenchasten_, 1846, p. 224. Von Schmalhausen, _Bull de l'Acad. de
St. Petersbourg_, T. XXII. p. 291. ]
[Footnote 230: The _find_ is described by Heir Czersky in the
Transactions published by the East Siberian division of the St.
Petersburg Geographical Society; and subsequently by Dr. Leopold von
Schrenck in _Mem. de l'Acad. de St. Petersbourg_, Ser. VII. T.
XXVII. No. 7, 1880. ]
[Footnote 231: The mean temperature of the different months is shown
in the following table:--
JAN. -48 deg. 9
FEB. -47 deg. 2
MARCH -33 deg. 9
APRIL -14 deg. 9
MAY -0 deg. 40
JUNE +13 deg. 4
JULY +15 deg. 4
AUG. +11 deg. 9
SEPT. +2 deg. 3
OCT. -13 deg. 9
NOV. -39 deg. 1
DEC. -45 deg. 7
Of the Year. -16 deg. 7 ]
[Footnote 232: Hedenstroem, _loc. cit._ p. 128. To find stranded
driftwood in an upright position is nothing uncommon. ]
[Footnote 233: Martin Sauer, _An account of a Geographical and
Astronomical Expedition the Northern parts of Russia by Commodore
Joseph Billings_, London, 1802, p. 105. The walrus does not occur in
the sea between the mouth of the Chatanga and Wrangel Land, and
large whales are never seen at the New Siberian Islands, but during
Hedenstroem's stay in these regions three narwhals were enclosed in
the ice near the shore at the mouth of the Yana (_Otrywki o
Sibiri_, p. 131). ]
[Footnote 234: Martin Sauer, _An account of a Geographical and
Astronomical Expedition to the Northern parts of Russia by Commodore
Joseph Billings_, London, 1802, p. 103. A. Ermann, _Reise um die
Erde_, Berlin, 1833-48, D. 1, B. 2, p. 258. Ermann's statement, that
the knowledge of the existence of these islands was concealed from
the government up to the year 1806, is clearly incorrect. ]
[Footnote 235: Of course the earth here at an inconsiderable depth
under the surface is constantly frozen, but I have nowhere seen such
alternating layers of earth and ice, crossed by veins of ice, as
Hedenstroem in his oft-quoted work (_Otrywki o Sibiri_, p. 119) says
he found at the sea-coast. Probably such a peculiar formation arises
only at places where the spring floods bring down thick layers of
mud, which cover the beds of ice formed during the winter and
protect them for thousands of years from melting. I shall have an
opportunity of returning to the interesting questions relating to
this point. ]
[Footnote 236: Since we discovered the Chukches also bury their dead
by laying them out on the _tundra_, we have begun to entertain
doubts whether the collection of bones delineated here was actually
a grave. Possibly these mounds were only the remains of fireplaces,
where the Chukches had used as fuel train-drenched bones, and which
they bad afterwards for some reason or other endeavoured to protect
from the action of the atmosphere. ]
[Footnote 237: H. Rink, _Groenland geographisk og statistisk
beskrevet_, Bd. 2, Copenhagen, 1857, p. 344. ]
[Footnote 238: C. von Dittmar, _Bulletin hist.-philolog, de l'acad.
de St. Petersbourg_, XIII. 1856, p. 130. ]
[Footnote 239: Krascheninnikov, _Histoire et Description du
Kamtschatka_, Amsterdam 1770, II. p. 95. A. Ennan, _Reise urn die
Erde_, D.1, B.2, p. 255. ]
[Footnote 240: _Ankali_ signifies in Chukch dwellers on the coast,
and is now used to denote the Chukches living on the coast. A
similar word, Onkilon, was formerly used as the name of the Eskimo
tribe that lived on the coast of the Polar Sea when the Chukch
migration reached that point. ]
[Footnote 241: The walrus now appears to be very rare in the sea
north of Behring's Straits, but formerly it must have been found
there in large numbers, and made that region a veritable paradise
for every hunting tribe. While we during our long stay there saw
only a few walruses, Cook, in 1778, saw an enormous number, and an
interesting drawing of walruses is to be found in the account of his
third voyage. _A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, etc._ Vol. III. (by
James King), London, 1784, p. 259, pl. 52. ]
[Footnote 242: The greatest number of mammoth tusks is obtained from
the stretches of land and the islands between the Chatanga and Chaum
Bay. Here the walrus is wanting. The inhabitants of North Siberia
therefore praise the wisdom of the Creator, who lets the walrus live
in the regions where the mammoth is wanting, and has scattered
mammoth ivory in the earthy layers of the coasts where the walrus
does not occur (A. Erman, _Reise um die Erde_, Berlin, 1833--48,
D.1, B.2, p. 264). ]
[Footnote 243: Among the bears' skulls brought home from this place
Lieut. Nordquist found after his return home the skull of a sea-lion
(_Otaria Stelleri_). It is, however, uncertain whether the animal
was captured in the region, or whether the cranium was brought
hither from Kamchatka. ]
[Footnote 244: Wrangel's _Reise_, Th. 2, Berlin, 1839, p. 220. ]
[Footnote 245: According to a paper in _Deutsche Geografische
Blaetter_, B. IV. p. 54, Captain E. Dallmann, in 1866, as commander of
the Havai schooner _W.C. Talbot_, not only saw but landed on Wrangel
Land. As Captain Dallmann of recent years has been in pretty close
contact with a large number of geographers, and communications from
him have been previously inserted in geographical journals, it
appears strange that he has now for the first time made public this
important voyage. At all events, Dallmann's statement that the
musk-ox occurs on the coast of the Polar Sea and on Wrangel Land is
erroneous. He has here confused the musk-ox with the reindeer. ]
[Footnote 246: Cf. _Redogoerelse foer den svenska polarexpeditionen ar
1872-73_ (Bihang till Vet Ak. handl. Bd. 2, No. 18, p. 91). ]
[Footnote 247: A more dangerous kind of icing down threatens the
navigator in severe weather not only in the Polar Seas but also in
the Baltic and the North Sea. For it happens at that season that the
sea-water at the surface is over-cooled, that is, cooled below the
freezing-point without being frozen. Every wave which strikes the
vessel is then converted by the concussion into ice-sludge, which
increases and freezes together to hard ice so speedily that all
attempts to remove it from the deck are in vain. In a few hours the
vessel may be changed into an unmanageable floating block of ice
which the sailors, exhausted by hard labour, must in despair abandon
to its fate. Such an icing down, though with a fortunate issue,
befell the steamer _Sofia_ in the month of October off Bear Island,
during the Swedish Polar Expedition of 1868. ]
[Footnote 248: Irkaipij lies in 180 deg. long. from Greenwich. To
bring our day-reckoning into agreement with that of the New World,
we ought thus to have here lessened our date by one day, and have
written the 17th for the 18th September. But as, with the exception
of the short excursion to Port Clarence and St. Edward Island, we
always followed the coasts of the Old World, and during our stay in
the new hemisphere did not visit any place inhabited by Europeans,
we retained during the whole of our voyage our European
day-reckoning unaltered. If we had met with an American whaler, we
would have been before him one day, our 27th September would thus
have corresponded to his 26th. The same would have been the case on
our coming to an American port. ]