IVORY ISLANDS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 39 
of the Lena, and half-way between the mouths of the Yana and 
the Indigirka. It derived its name the “ Holy Cape” from the 
fear with which the Russians regarded it, for the ice was piled 
against 1t in such masses, that it was most difficult to sail round 
it. It had been thought impossible to pass it, and one gallant 
voyager, Demetrius Laptieff, had declared that it could not be 
doubled. But in 1734 he himself sailed past the dreaded cape 
and voyaged in safety to the Kolyma. It was in the month of 
April when Liakoff reached Svaiatoi Noss, and at that time the 
sea was fast frozen. Standing on the promontory and looking 
out over the icy expanse of the frozen ocean, nothing could be 
seen save the dreary prospect of the icy waste, ridged into long 
furrows, and still and motionless as death. As Liakoff looked 
out over the vast frozen expanse, he saw a long line of black 
objects approaching over the ice and drawing near to the shore. 
and speedily perceived that the moving mass consisted of an 
enormous herd of reindeer on the march. He concluded that 
they had left some land far to the north, and were returning to 
the southern regions. Such a supposition was not necessarily 
correct, for it has constantly been observed by the fur-hunters, 
that the reindeer will frequently go over the ice to a long 
distance from the shore, in order that they may get at the salt, 
which is left by the evaporation of the sea water, and ef which 
they areextremely fond. Liakoff, however, felt certain that the 
reindeer were coming from some northern land, and in the 
beginning of April he started in his sledge drawn by dogs over 
the ice, from Svaiatoi Noss, in search of the northern land. He 
started early in the morning, and after sledging over the ice 
nearly all day, in a northerly direction, came to an island, about 
50 miles from the shore; where he spent the night. Next 
morning he followed the traces of the reindeer still further to 
the north, and having gone about 15 miles over the ice reached 
a second island, much smaller than the first. The reindeer 
track, which he still followed, continued to lead to the north, 
and Liakoff drove his dogs forward in this direction. He had not 
gone far from the second island, however, before he found that 
the ice was so rugged, and was ridged up into such high mounds 
and hummocks, that he was quite unable to proceed further as 
his dogs could not advance over the high ridges of ice which 
covered the frozen surface of the sea. No land could be seen 
in any direction, and the dreary prospect of snow and ice 
extended on all sides as far as the eye could reach. Liakoff 
therefore was placed in a position of great peril, and had to 
spend the night on the ice. He then returned, and after 
D 
