EMPLOYMENT OF REINDEER. ' 77 



surface, I beg leave to express my doubts, and submit my ideas on 

 this subject. 



Expeditions were undertaken in the years 1821, 1822, and 182:1, 

 in the Siberian Frozen Sea, from two points of departure, distant 

 one from the other, in the direction of the parallel, more than 

 1000 miles, viz., from the mouths of the rivers Lena and Kolyma. 

 These expeditions occupied an interval from about the end of 

 February to the beginning of May (O.S.), and the state of the 

 ice does not at all seem to have been such as Captain Parry sup- 

 poses it to be, to the north of Spitzbergen, in the course of April 

 and May (N.S.). 



Lieutenant (now Rear- Admiral) Anjou was stopped by thin and 

 broken ice moving in different directions, in 



1821. April 5 (O.S.) at the distance of 20 Italian miles') 



from the nearest shore I N. of the Island 



1822. March 22. 22 Italian miles ] Koteln °y- 



„ April 14. 60 „ E. of New Siberia. 



{N. of the islauds at 

 the months of 

 the Lena. 

 The expedition commanded by the author, which took its de- 

 parture from the mouth of the Kolyma, encountered the same 

 impediments : — 



In 1821. April 3, at 120 Italian miles ) 



„ 1822. „ 12, at 1G0 „ l N - of the nearest 



„ 1823. March 23, at 90 „ J shore - 



But on the 27th of March the masses of ice, which were separated 

 from each other by large channels of open water, were driven about 

 by the wind and threatened the voyagers with destruction. 



My hypothesis is founded on the above facts, collected during a 

 three years' navigation in a sea whose depth is not more than 

 22 fathoms, and which is, so to say, landlocked to the south by the 

 Siberian coast, and there defended from the winds and waves over 

 a space of 180° of the compass; whereas the sea on the meridian 

 of Spitzbergen has a considerable depth, and is exposed to the 

 swell of the whole Atlantic. Therefore I cannot concur in Captain 

 Parry's hopes that the ice can be in a state favourable to the 

 execution of a journey towards the north in April and May. 



Captain Parry's calculations as to the possibility of advancing 

 30 miles a-day seem to imply the employment of reindeer, and 

 would render it necessary to provide the expedition with those 

 animals : we must, therefore, conclude that that officer expects to 

 obtain the necessary rapidity by the assistance of reindeer. If 1 



