ciiAF. IV.] YUGOR SCHAE OR THE KARA SEA. 131 



CHAPTER IV. 



Tlie Origin of the names Yugor Schar and Kara Sea — Rules for Sailing 

 through Yugor Schar — The "Highest Mountain" on Earth— An- 

 chorages — Entering the Kara Sea — Its Surroundings — The Inland-ice 

 of Novaya Zenilya — True Icebergs rare in certain parts of tlie 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 

 \Vliite Ishind — Yalmal — Previous Visits — Nummelin'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 Eussian 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 Fretiim 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 Oompanie 

 by its principal factor, Antonie Marsh (Purchas, iii. p. 805). 

 At first this name w^as 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 



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