FLORA 
OF 
WESTERN ESKIMAUX-LAND 
HISTORICAL NOTICE. 
Western Eskimaux-land has only been discovered in modern times, and its interior still 
remains an unknown country. The endless moorlands, the severe climate, and the icy seas 
of the Arctic regions offered no temptation to the earlier adventurers ; and while navigation 
remained in its infancy the exploration was both irksome and dangerous. When, however, 
improvements in sliip-building had been introduced, and knowledge increased, several expe- 
ditions towards the North Pole were undertaken, and attempts made to sliorten the route 
to India by discovering a north-west passage. With a perseverance, a daring miparalleled, 
Davis, Frobisher, Hudson, and BafEiu steered their frail barks between the icy masses, and 
laid open coasts, seas, islands, the existence of which had previously been a matter of conjec- 
tm'e and uncertainty. By degrees Europeans became famihar with the north-eastern coast 
of America ; but they remained in total ignorance of the north-western. The Pacific Ocean 
was in the hands of a people who regarded all others as intruders, if venturing beyond a line 
of demarcation which Papal authority had thought fit to draw from pole to pole ; the distance 
of the Arctic region was far greater than on the eastern side, aujl- the obtaining of suppHes 
more difficiUt. No wonder that, after the discovery of the Soutfi Sea, a himdred and thirty- 
five years should have elapsed before attempts were made to penetrate into the higher noi-them 
latitudes. 
Russia was the first power that entered the field of discovery. In 1648 seven vessels 
were equipped at the mouth of the river Kolima : four of them were lost soon after starting, 
and though three passed Behring's Strait, and succeeded in reaching the Gulf of Anadir, their 
jom-nals were so imperfecf that little increase of geographical knowledge resulted from the 
voyage. No further attempts were made until 1728, when Yitus Bchring, a Dane, was 
placed in command of a Russian vessel. He navigated through the strait now bearing his 
name, sailing as far north as 67° 18' 0". He did not sight the coast of America, but was 
B 2 
