VI.] THE VOYAGE OF THE PEOEVEN, 1875. 237 



the iTtli July, 1880. During the entertainment which took 

 place on this occasion on the coast of Novya Zemlaya, toasts 

 were drunk in champagne, and it is said that this liquor was 

 very much relished by the Samoyeds.^ 



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 

 j)assage 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 Froevcn, 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 Procveyi 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 

 Avith Dr. Stuxberg and Dr. Lundstrom and three men in a 

 Nordland boat, up the river to Saostrovskoj, where we fell in 

 with a steamer, in which Ave 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 

 Avas passed during the return voyage on the 4th to the 11th 

 September. 



By this voyage of 1875 I Avas the first Avdio succeeded in 

 penetrating from the Atlantic Ocean in a vessel to the mouths 

 i»f the great Siberian rivers. One of the objects which the old 



1 The statements made here regarding the wintering of Tobiesen and 

 his companions fire taken partly from a t-opy which I caused to be made of 

 his journa], partly from an account of tli- adventures of the seven hunters, 

 copied from Finmarksposteu into Aftonhku/et for 1873, No. 220. Finally, 

 the account of the distribution of presents to the Samoyeds is copied from 

 Norwegian journals into Aftonhladet for 1880, No. 197. 



