GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



415 



the wind nearest to the earth's surface almost 

 constantly between N. W. and N. N. W. Judg- 

 ing from the direction of the clouds, a similar 

 uninterrupted current, but from S. E., prevailed 

 iu the upper strata of the atmosphere, which, 

 when it descended now and then to the sur- 

 face of the earth, brought with it a warm and 

 comparatively dry air. While the tempera- 

 ture \vas fulling to 40 C., both the mer- 

 cury and the spirit thermometers were read off, 

 but below 40 C. only the latter was used. 

 None of the mercury thermometers used by 

 the expedition suffered any injury from the 

 alternate freezing and thawing of the mercury. 

 The latter when freezing always contracted 

 into the bulb, although 40 C. on the scale 

 was marked a good way up the tube. It is 

 therefore probable that mercury, like water, 

 requires a greater degree of cold in order to 

 freeze when it is inclosed in a fine tube. 



With regard to the possibility of establishing 

 regular navigation in the Polar Sea of Siberia, 

 Professor Nordenskjold has come to the fol- 

 lowing conclusions: 1. The voyage from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, along the north 

 coast of Siberia, can be accomplished in a few 

 weeks by a suitable steamer manned by ex- 

 perienced sailors ; but, so far as the conditions 

 of the Siberian Sea are known at present, this 

 route is not likely to be of any practical impor- 

 tance to commerce. 2. It may now be asserted 

 that there is no difficulty in establishing commu- 

 nication by sea between the Obi- Yenisei and 

 Europe for purposes of trade. 3. In all prob- 

 ability the voyage by sea between the Yenisei 

 and the Lena, and between the Lena and Eu- 

 rope, may be utilized for trading purposes; 

 but the journey there and back, between the 

 Lena and Europe, can not be made in the same 

 summer. 4. Further explorations are neces- 

 sary to decide whether a practicable communi- 

 cation by sea between the mouth of the Lena 

 and the Pacific Ocean can be established. The 

 experience gained up to the present time shows 

 that at all events machinery, heavy tools, and 

 other goods which can not be easily conveyed 

 by sledge or on wheels across Siberia, may bo 

 sent round by this new sea-route, from the 

 Pacific Ocean to the estuary of the Lena. 



On the morning of July 18, 1879, after hav- 

 ing been imprisoned in the ice for 294 days, 

 the Vega weighed anchor, or, more correctly, 

 cast off from the large piece of ground-ice to 

 which she had been moored during the winter, 

 and which had sheltered her from the most 

 violent storms and ice-pressure. Having first 

 steamed a few miles to the northwest in order 

 to clear the ice-fields, she steered her course 

 along the coast toward the most eastern prom- 

 ontory of Asia, the East Cape. Her progress 

 was impeded not so much by the ice as by the 

 misty weather. Now and then the fog lifted, 

 and revealed the same castellated cliff forma- 

 tion which had been already observed in sev- 

 eral places on the north coast of Eastern Si- 

 beria. As regards beauty of scenery, the north 



coast of Siberia is much inferior to Spitzbergen, 

 with its deep fiords surrounded by steep, black, 

 and boldly shaped mountains, and it* dazzling 

 white or azure-blue glaciers. Nor has thy 

 north coast of Asia been at any time cut up 

 by glaciers into fiords and cliffs like Green- 

 land, Spitzbergen, and Norway. Along the 

 whole of the enormous distance between the 

 White Sea and Behring Strait there is not to 

 be found at present a single glacier reaching 

 down to the sea, and in autumn the north coast 

 of Siberia is almost free from ice and snow. 

 Only in the high mountains on the east side of 

 the Taimyr Peninsula, and between Behring 

 Strait and Cape Jaknn, are there some valleys 

 filled with snow during the late autumn ; but 

 it is doubtful whether any of them form the 

 bed of a real glacier, which in any case would 

 be of small extent and terminate at a consider- 

 able height above the level of the sea. Nor 

 does one see any snowy summits or mountains 

 covered with snow all the year round, although 

 some of the mountains for example, those on 

 the western side of Koljutchin Bay attain 

 a height of 2,000 feet and more. If we may 

 apply the conception of a snow-line derived 

 from the study of mountains in more southerly 

 regions to countries situated in the far north, 

 an assumption which can not be quite taken 

 for granted, the snow-line of the north coast 

 of Asia must lie at a height of over 1,500 feet. 

 On July 20th, at 11 A. M., the entrance f 

 the Vega into Behring Strait was celebrated 

 by the hoisting of flags and a Swedish salute. 

 From the East Cape her course was shaped to- 

 ward St. Lawrence Bay, a large fiord which 

 at a distance of about forty miles to the south- 

 ward of the cape penetrates the Tchuktch Pen- 

 insula. Some days after the ship anchored 

 in Konyam Bay, in latitude 64 49' N., lon- 

 gitude 172 58' W. Here reindeer -owning 

 Tchuktches were met with. It was Profes- 

 sor Nordenskjold's intention to penetrate as 

 far as possible into St. Lawrence Bay, in order 

 to give the naturalists an opportunity of com- 

 pleting the study of the physical conditions 

 of the Tchuktch Peninsula, which they had 

 carried on during the autumn of 1878 and the 

 spring of 1879 ; but the entrance to the bay 

 was found so full of ice that the Vega was 

 obliged to anchor off the settlement of Xu- 

 namo, situated immediately north of the mouth 

 of the fiord. Extensive, though quite thin 

 and rotten, ice-fields drifted past the ship in 

 such quantities that it was not deemed advisa- 

 ble to remain in this place longer than neces- 

 sary, and the Vega only stopped here until the 

 afternoon of July 21st. The encampment of 

 Nunamo is not situated, like other Tchuktch 

 settlements, low down on the beach, but rath- 

 er high up on a promontory between the sea 

 and a river which empties here, and seems to 

 be full in the season when the snows melt. 

 Immediately above the strand- terrace rises a 

 high mountain, the slopes of which are occupied 

 by immense bowlders, the abode of numerous 



