NORDENSKJOLD'S TRIUMPH. 275 



voyage. Low mountains, free from snow, were seen to the southward; geese, ducks, and 

 other birds were seen on the coast, while the ocean was alive with walrus, seals, and whales, 

 On the 21st, though delayed by fogs and rotten ice, the Vega coasted south-east; and on 

 the 23rd, aided by a fine breeze and a smooth sea, was able to dispense with steam. At the 

 Chatanga river they shot bears and wild fowl to their heart's desire. On the 26th they passed 

 the entrance to the mouth of the Lena, and on the 27th turned northward for the Siberian 

 Islands, which they were prevented from exploring, owing to the ice. Nordenskjold ordered 

 the vessel's head to be turned southward, and they passed the mouth of the great Kolyma 

 river. Soon they were among the ice, and, as they had anticipated, were to be imprisoned 

 in it. But the health of the party was excellent, and no scurvy whatever appeared ; their 

 own provisions were of the best ; and after passing Cook's Cape, Vankarema, the Vega 

 crossed to Kolintchin, where the furnaces were put out, the sails stowed, and winter life fairly 

 commenced. At a mile distance ashore there was a Tchuktchi village of 4,000 souls, 

 all living easily, for fish and seals, bear, wolf, and fox, were abundant, while in spring the 

 geese, swans, and ducks, returned from the south. For nearly nine months they were ice- 

 bound ; but at last the ice floes broke up and scattered, and the little Vega soon passed East 

 Cape, the extremity of Asia, and steamed gaily into Behring Straits, where a salute was 

 fired., announcing a success unprecedented in the annals of Arctic history. The Professor 

 believes that voyages may be regularly performed in the future which will open up a 

 considerable trade with northern Siberia. 



Surrounded by almost every conceivable difficulty and danger, Arctic research has 

 witnessed and developed more genuinely heroic skill and enterprise than has been needed 

 or found in the exploration of any other portion of our globe. With all its dangers the 

 North Polar world possesses a rare fascination for the adventurous, and has something to 

 offer in palliation of its monotonous desolation. The yet unknown must always have charms 

 for the greatest minds, even though it should prove practically unknowable; the undis- 

 covered may not always be so, for the unfathomed of the past may be fathomed to-day. 

 The Polar regions offer much to the scientist, and, in some phases, much to the artist. The 

 beautiful Aurora flashes over the scene and banishes the darkness of the Arctic night. 

 The vastness of Nature's operations are shown in the huge icebergs clad in dazzling white- 

 ness or glittering in the moon's silvery rays in the interminable fields of fixed or floating 

 ice, in glacial rivers of grandest size. As the bergs melting in the warmer waves assume 

 endless fantastic forms as of pointed spires, jagged steeples, or castellated remains, and 

 as, losing the centre of gravity, they roll over to assume new forms, or meeting together 

 crash like thunder or the roar of artillery, throwing up great volumes of foam, disturbing 

 the surface of the sea for miles, the puniness of man is felt, and the mind inevitably lifted 

 from Nature up "to Nature's God." 



Much has been done; still, there is yet work which remains to be accomplished in the 

 Arctic seas. But brave men will never be wanting when new attempts are made. As the 

 old sea-captain, looking at the chart in Millais' picture, says, concerning the North- West 

 Passage, " It might be done and England ought to do it ! " 



