620 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xv. 



Benedikt Dybovski and Dr. Julian Wiemut. The former is 

 a Pole exiled to Siberia but now pardoned, whose masterly 

 zooloojical works are among the best contributions which have 

 been made during recent decades to our knowledge of the 

 natural conditions of Siberia. His researches- have hitherto 

 mainly concerned the Baikal region. Now he wishes to extend 

 them to Kamchatka, and has therefore voluntarily taken a 

 physician's post at Petropaulovsk. . Science has reason to expect 

 very rich results from his work and that of his companions in 

 one of the most interesting, most mis-known, aiid least known 

 lands of the north. 



The Vega left Behring Island on the afternoon of the 19th 

 August, and anchored at Yokohama on the evening of the 2nd 

 September. The first part of the passage, while we were still 

 in the cold northerly Polar Sea current, was favoured by fair 

 winds and moderate heat. The surface temperature of the sea 

 was from +9" to +10°. On the 25th August in 45° 15' N.L. 

 and 156° E.L. from Greenwich the temperature of the sea-water 

 began to rise so rapidly that the thermometer in 40° Lat. 

 and 147° 41' Long, already showed -|-23°'4 at the surface. 

 This indicated that we had come from the cold current favour- 

 able to us into Kuro-sivo, the Gulf Stream of the Pacific. The 

 wind was now at times unfavourable and the heat oppressive, 

 notwithstanding the frequent rain showers accomi^anied by 

 liglitning and heavy squalls. In such unfavourable weather on 

 the 31st August the mainmast of the Vega was struck by 

 lightning, the flash and the report being of excessive violence. 

 The vane was broken loose and thrown into the sea along with 

 some inches of the pole. The pole itself was split pretty far 

 down, and all on board felt a more or less violent shaking, the 

 man who felt it most standing at the time near the hawse-hole. 

 The incident was not attended by any further noteworthy 

 unpleasant consequences. 



On our arrival at Yokohama we were all in good health and 

 the Vega, in excellent condition, though, after the long voyage, 

 in want of some minor repairs, of docking, and possibly of 

 coppering, Naturally among thirty men some mild attacks of 

 illness could not be avoided in the course of a year, but no 

 disease had been generally j)revalent, and our state of health had 

 constantly been excellent. Of scurvy we had not seen a trace. 



