MR SEEBOHM'S DISCO VER Y 209 



White Sea and those of Norway. He concluded, 

 therefore, that if he went some ten degress further 

 to the east, he might find, not only the breeding 

 grounds of new species, but the unknown summer 

 home of those which vanish for a season. The 

 desired position coincided geographically with the 

 valley of the Petchora river, which flows from the 

 Ural Mountains northwards, and falls into the Artie 

 Ocean opposite Novaya Zembla. There was a 

 delightful uncertainty as to the results of the con- 

 templated expedition. The only existing records of 

 previous visits to the river were exactly the same 

 as those used by Milton to compile his pamphlet 

 on ' Moscovia,' the latest being an account of old 

 voyages in 1614 and 1615 to Ust Zylma, on the 

 lower Petchora, to trade in beaver-skins, for which 

 the river was then famous. But the promise held 

 out by the map was sufficient. The thousand miles 

 of the Petchora's stream, though lying inside the 

 boundary of Europe, cut the two characteristic tracts 

 of the North Siberian region which runs without a 

 break from above Archangel to Behring Sea. On 

 the upper river was the great Siberian forest, while 

 on the lower, on either bank, beyond the limit of 

 trees, was the 'tundra/ which fringes the whole 

 length of the northern coast. On the maps the 

 tundra has a bad name. It is called the 'region of 



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