THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 53 



astern ; and immediately after, I saw the ice to the 

 landward of us separating from the outer ground-ice 

 belt. The engine-fires were lit, and at half-past 

 4 P.M. the vessel was set in motion. Half an hour 

 later, Ave were out in a channel which continually 

 increased in breadth the farther we proceeded, and 

 before evening we were in a comparatively navigable 

 sea. After a detention of nine months and twenty 

 days, we had at last got away as quietly and with as 

 little risk or trouble as if we had gone out to sea 

 from a common harbour. 



On Sunday the 20th of July, at 11 A.M., we passed 

 East Cape, and had then quite completed the North- 

 east Passage. In celebration of this event, the na- 

 tional flag was hoisted and a salute given. The same 

 evening we anchored at the mouth of St Lawrence 

 Bay. 



The North-east Passage has unquestionably been 

 accomplished for the first time by the Swedish steam- 

 ship Yega. I attribute the circumstance that this 

 has occupied a year, when it ought to have taken 

 only two months, had there been no special diffi- 

 culties, to the unusually unfavourable condition of 

 the ice during September 1878. 



To answer the question, If the North-east Passage 

 can annually be made in one season ? I am not able, 

 because the ice conditions are so different in different 

 years. The part of the sea nearest the coast is cer- 

 tainly free from ice, during the summer and autumn 



