162 THE SEA. 



they were on the deck, some in the boat, and many more as soon as they were brought 

 on shore." The following- day the commander, Behring himself terribly prostrated with 

 scurvy was brought ashore on a hand-barrow, and a month later died on the island 

 which is now known by his name. " He may be said to have been buried half alive, for 

 the sand rolling down continually from the side of the ditch in which he lay, and cover- 

 ing his feet, he at last would not suffer it to be removed, and said that he felt some 

 warmth from it, which otherwise he should want in the remaining parts of his body; and 

 thus the sand increased to his belly, so that after his decease they were obliged to scrape 

 ihim out of the ground in order to inter him in a proper manner." Poor Behring ! It 

 was a melancholy end for an explorer so great. 



Their vessel, lying unprotected, became an utter wreck, and the larger part of their stores 

 .and provisions was lost. They subsisted for a considerable time on dead whales which had 

 been driven ashore. At last, in the spring they resolved to construct a small vessel from the 

 wreck, which was at length completed, and they left the dreary scene of their sufferings. 

 .Never were shipwrecked mariners more rejoiced than when once more they sighted and reached 

 the coast of Kamchatka. Behring's companion, Tschirikoff, had preceded them the previous 

 iiutumn, having lost twenty -one men by scurvy; and the Professor de la Croyere, who had 

 lingered till the last moment, died in sight of Petropaulovski. 



In 1770 a Russian merchant, named Liakhof, crossed on the ice from the mainland to 

 the islands in the Polar Ocean which now bear his name, although sometimes called New 

 Siberia. Immense quantities of mammoth bones were discovered, and he obtained from the 

 Empress Catherine the exclusive right of digging for them. As late as the year 1821 as 

 much as nine to ten tons per annum of this fossil ivory were being obtained from this source. 

 Hedenstrom, in 1809, and Anjou, in 1821, examined these islands in detail. The latter 

 travelled out on the ice to a considerable distance north of the islands, and found open 

 water. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE EXPEDITIONS OF Ross AND PARRY. 



Kemarkable Change in the Greenland Ice-fields Immense Icebergs found out of their Latitude -Ross the First's Expedition 

 Festivities among the Danes Interviews with Esquimaux Crimson Snow A Mythical Discovery The Croker 

 Mountains Buchan's Expedition Bursting of Icebergs Effects of Concussion The Creation of an Iceberg 

 Spitsbergen in Summer Animated Nature Millions of Birds Refuge in an Ice-pack Parry and his Exploits His 

 Noble Character First Arctic Voyage Sails over the Croker Mountains. 



THE long series of interesting voyages which have been made to the Arctic regions during 

 the present century were commenced in 1818, after a considerable period of inaction and 

 apathy had existed in regard to northern exploration. The renewal of these attempts was not 

 brought about by accident or caprice, but was due to a great change, which had been noted by 

 many whalers and navigators. Sir John Barrow, one of the most consistent and persistent 

 advocates of Arctic exploration, as well as one of the most intelligent writers of his day, says : 

 " The event alluded to was the disappearance of the whole, or greater part, of the vast barrier 

 of ice which for a long period of time perhaps for centuries was supposed to have maintained 





