562 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



traversee de la Mere Glaciale arctique et sur les communications 

 ou jonctions qu'on a supposees entre di verses rivieres " (Histoire 

 de r Acad6mie, Annde 1751^., Paris, 1759, Memoires, p. 12). The 

 paper is accompanied by a Polar map constructed by Buache 

 himself, which, though the voyage which led to its construc- 

 tion was clearly fictitious, and though it also contains many 

 other errors — for instance, the statement that the Dutch 

 penetrated in 1670 to the north part of Taimur Land — is yet 

 very valuable and interesting as a specimen of what a learned 

 and critical geographer knew in 1754 about the Polar regions. 

 That Melguer's voyage is fictitious is shown partly by the ease 

 with which he is said to have gone from the one sea to the 

 other, partly by the fact that the only detail which is to be 

 found in his narrative, viz. the statement that the coast of 

 Tartary extends to 84° N.L., is incorrect. 



All these and various other similar accounts of north-east, 

 north-west, or Polar passages achieved by vessels in former times 

 have this in common, that navigation from the one ocean to the 

 other across the Polar Sea is said to have gone on as easily as 

 drawing a line on the map, that meeting with ice and northern 

 animals of the chase is never spoken of, and finally that every 

 particular which is noted is in conflict with the known geo- 

 graphical, climatal, and natural conditions of the Arctic seas. All 

 these narratives therefore can be proved to be fictitious, and to 

 have been invented by persons who never made any voyages in 

 the true Polar Seas. 



The Vega is thus the first vessel that has penetrated by the 

 north from one of the great world-oceans to the other. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Passage through Behring's Straits — -Arrival at Nunamo— Scarce species of 

 seal — Rich vegetation — Passage to America — State of the ice — Port 

 Clarence — The Eskimo— Return to Asia — Konyam Bay — Natural con- 

 ditions there— The ice breaks up in the interior of Konyam Bay — St, 

 Lawrence Inland — Preceding visits to the Island — Departure to Behring 

 Island. 



After we had passed the easternmost promontory of Asia, 

 the course was shaped first to St. Lawrence Bay, a not incon- 

 siderable fjord, which indents the Chukch peninsula a little 

 south of the smallest part of Behring's Straits. It was my 

 intention to anchor in this fjord as long as possible, in order 

 to give the naturalists of the Vega expedition an opportunity 

 of making acquaintance with the natural conditions of a part 



