INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1875. cxxiii 



This was the result of a very strong northwesterly current 

 from the Obi and Yenisei out over the Kara Sea. 



At Cape Middendorf ice was met with, extending as far 

 as the eye could reach, and the expedition was becalmed for 

 six days, during which time very rich results were obtained 

 by means of the dredge and trawl. Animal life was found 

 to be very abundant and varied ; enormous numbers of ra- 

 diates, crustaceans, and mollusks were taken in a short time. 

 On the 29th anchor was cast in Udde Bay, where marine 

 vegetation was found to be very abundant, contrasting 

 strongly with the scanty land flora. 



On the 3d of September the Proven sailed into the mouth 

 of Matotschkin Strait, where the party remained until the 

 11th of the month, and thence proceeded homeward, experi- 

 encing exceedingly tempestuous weather, and arriving at 

 Tromso October 3d. The vessel sailed over six thousand 

 miles, and visited regions which expeditions for more than 

 three hundred years had vainly attempted to reach, making 

 rich collections in all departments of natural history. 



In the mean time Professor Nordenskjold left the steamer 

 at Port Dixon, and proceeded up the Yenisei in a boat, ac- 

 companied by five men, making a very interesting explora- 

 tion of the river. At the last advices the Professor had 

 reached St. Petersburg (November 27), on his homeward jour- 

 ney, where he was received with the utmost hospitality by 

 the scientific men of the capital. His return to Stockholm 

 has not yet been announced. 



In further reference to this subject of arctic discovery, it 

 is stated that Captain Gundersen, recently returned from a 

 voyage to Nova Zembla, found there the journal ofBarent, 

 giving an account of his doings from the 1st of June to the 

 29th of August, 1580. 



North America. For several years past, as shown by the 

 successive volumes of the Annual Record, a large part of the 

 activity in exploration in North America has been due to the 

 labors of three government parties ; two of them, those of 

 Professor F. V. Hayden and Major J. W. Powell, acting un- 

 der the Interior Department, and the third, that of Lieuten- 

 ant George M. Wheeler under the Engineer Bureau of the 

 War Department. The operations of these parties have 

 generally been conducted on a very large scale, provided 



