HYDROGRAPHY. 189 



Sea, 1800 measurements having been made during six sum- 

 mer voyages between 5S and 81 N. latitude. 



Much attention lias been given to the subject of water 

 communication between Western Europe and the rich coun- 

 try near the mouths of the rivers Obi and Yenisei, in Siberia. 



The Swedish expedition under Professor Nordenskjolci ; 

 the expedition from Bremen under Dr. Finsch and his asso- 

 ciates, as well as Captain Wiggins, F.R.G.S., who made two 

 exploring voyages thither in 1874 and 1876, are unanimously 

 of the opinion that, during a portion of each year, suitable 

 steamers may approach and leave this region with only the 

 ordinary risks of navigation. 



Earnest attempts are being made to turn this route to ac- 

 count. Daring the past summer, the steamer Fraz&r, loaded 

 with tobacco, sugar, and machinery, has been despatched 

 from Bremen for the Yenisei, under command of Captain 

 Dallman, an antarctic explorer of experience ; and the steam- 

 er Louise proceeded from London to the mouth of the Obi, 

 and thence up that river and the Irtish to Tobolsk over a 

 thousand miles by river. 



At Tromso the Russian Government has caused to be fitted 

 out several sailing vessels, which, with a tug, are to convey 

 a number of Samoyede families, with building material, cloth- 

 ing, and provisions, to Nova Zembla, to establish a colony 

 there, which in time may serve as a useful half-way station 

 on the route to the Obi and Yenisei. 



The expedition of Captain Wiggins, F. R. G. S., to the 

 mouth of these two great rivers surveyed, in the late sum- 

 mer of 1876, Poderata inlet, in which a good harbor was 

 found, and discovered a large harbor at the mouth of the 

 Obi. The Obi River was not entered. 



The temperature of both air and water was singularly 

 warm, though the Sea of Kara was full of ice. Captain Wig- 

 gins reached Kureika, on the Yenisei, in October, and there 

 left his vessel and returned to England, having found, so far, 

 excellent navigation. He started again in March, 1877, for 

 Kureika, purposing to cross the Sea of Kara during the sum- 

 mer; but, on rejoining his vessel, the crew refused to pro- 

 ceed in her. 



The results of all these expeditions are so encouraging 

 that the Russian Government proposes to make immediate- 



