412 



GEOGRAPHICAL PKOGEESS AND DISCOVERY. 



on the south by hills which rise gradually in 

 the distance, and attains farther inland a con- 

 siderable elevation. At the time of the Vega's 

 arrival the ground was frozen and covered 

 with hoar frost, but still free from snow, so 

 that the botanists of the expedition were able 

 to obtain specimens of the flora of this hith- 

 erto unknown region. Nearest to the shore 

 they found dense beds of Mymus, interspersed 

 with patches of Helianthus peploides. A barren 

 gravelly plain farther inland was covered in 

 spots with a black lichen, Oyrophora probos- 

 cida, and a few flowering plants, among 

 which Armeria sibirica was the most common. 

 South of this was a tract covered with lagoons 

 and small lakes, whose shores produced a luxu- 

 riant growth of varieties of grass and sage. 

 On the neighboring high ground, where the 

 soil, derived from weather-worn strata of 

 gneiss and dolerite, is richer, the vegetation is 

 more varied. Here were thickets of willows, 

 extensive patches of Empetoura nigrum and 

 Andromeda tetragona, and large tufts of a spe- 

 cies of Artemisia. Here were found also the 

 frozen remains of the red whortleberry, the 

 cloudberry, Taraxacum officinale, and other 

 plants peculiar to the far north. In the inte- 

 rior it was observed that on the driest por- 

 tions of the land the most common plants were 

 Aira alpina and Poa alpina ; on the lower 

 places, Glyceria pedicularis and Ledum palus- 

 tre. Petasites frigida and a species of Salix 

 occurred everywhere, the latter growing in 

 large, compact masses, covering spots several 

 hundred square feet in extent, the bushes in 

 some places being three and four feet high. 



At the time the ship was frozen in, the water 

 nearest to the shore was covered with thin ice, 

 which would not bear a man's weight ; while 

 to seaward the drift-ice was so firmly bound 

 together by newly formed ice that the ship 

 could make no impression upon it. On the 2d 

 of October it was possible, with some precau- 

 tion, to walk on the ice close to the ship, and 

 on the 3d some of the native Tchuktches came 

 on board on foot. On the 13th Dr. Almqvist 

 started on foot over the ice in a northeasterly 

 direction, following the track of some natives 

 who had gone out walrus-hunting; but after a 

 very laborious journey he was compelled to re- 

 turn without having reached open water. He 

 ascertained that the Vega was hemmed in by 

 a belt of drift-ice about eighteen miles wide, 

 and all hope was abandoned of being released 

 before the following summer. Upon the nar- 

 row belts of sand which separated the lagoons 

 from the sea were two Tchuktohes' settlements. 

 The one situated nearest to the Vega's winter- 

 quarters was called Pitlekaj, and numbered 

 originally seven tents; but, in consequence of 

 the scarcity of food, the inhabitants in the 

 course of the winter moved to a district near 

 Behring Strait, which offered a more abundant 

 supply of fish. The other settlement, Jinretlen, 

 lay nearer to the promontory. It also con- 

 tained seven tents, but the inhabitants appeared 



to be better off than those of Pitlekaj. Four 

 other encampments, named Pidlin, Ko\jutchin, 

 Ryraitinop, and Irgunnuk, were situated at a 

 greater distance toward the east, yet near 

 enough to enable the inhabitants to make fre- 

 quent visits to the ship. It was difficult to 

 ascertain the number of persons belonging to 

 each tent, as the Tchuktches were continually 

 going from tent to tent, but the average num- 

 ber was about five or six. In all there were 

 about two hundred natives in the vicinity of 

 the Vega's winter-quarters. Their complete 

 ignorance of the value of money, and the small 

 store at the disposal of the expedition of arti- 

 cles suited to their wants, necessarily increased 

 the price of the latter. To the great disap- 

 pointment of the natives, the usual articles of 

 commerce in the polar regions, skins and blub- 

 ber, were not to be had on board the Vega. 

 Partly by giving food in return for small ser- 

 vices rendered on board, partly by distributing 

 it as a gift, the Vega was the means of allevi- 

 ating the famine which usually prevails during 

 the winter. A complete collection of native 

 weapons, garments, and household utensils was 

 secured by the expedition. None of the na- 

 tives in the vicinity of the vessel were Chris- 

 tians, nor did any of them speak any European 

 language except an occasional English or Rus' 

 sian word. Lieutenant Nordqvist studied their 

 language with so much zeal and success that 

 after a few weeks he could make himself un- 

 derstood. He brings back to Europe a com- 

 plete vocabulary of the language, and also an 

 outline of its grammatical structure. 



The temperature during the winter was re- 

 corded as follows, in degrees centigrade : 



The most remarkable observations which the 

 wintering of the Vega has yielded appear to 

 relate to the aurora. During the winter of 

 1878-'79 it never appeared with the splendid 

 bands or draperies of rays so common in Scan- 

 dinavia, but always in the form of faint lu- 

 minous arches, which remained unaltered in 

 position hour after hour and day after day. 

 They were constantly visible when the sky 

 was not clouded nor their feeble light dimmed 

 by the rays of the sun or the full moon. The 

 tidal observations, when compared with other 

 series made in the Arctic seas, give important 

 indications regarding the distribution of land 

 and sea in the polar basin. The greatest 

 range at the Vega's winter-quarters was only 

 eighteen centimetres, which shows that the 

 sea north of Behring Strait forms a marine 

 basin of limited extent, connected with the 



