180 _ NATURE | | Dee, 22, 1881 
which had_bafiled all the attempts of those daring Rus- | who, in “ floating coffins” and with many disasters, had 
———— explored the entire coast of Siberia. Baron Nordenskjéld 
: saw that the ice in these regions has its times and sea- 
sons. To set out earlier than the middle of July he found 
would be to court delay.and disaster. About that time 
the ice about Novaya Zemlya and in the Kara Sea begins 
to break up, and later on it generally retires from the 
north coast of Asia, being liable, however, to be blown 
south again by a north wind. In ordinary seasons, how- 
ever, he inferred from the records of previous voyagers, a 
broad free lane of water might be looked for on to Behring 
Straits. In this respect the north coast of Asia differs 
materially from that of America. The eastern half of 
the latter is so hemmed in by islands that the ice has 
no scope for retiring completely, and so the North-West 
Passage under existing conditions is almost impossible 
foraship. The fact that the ice is so easily blown black 
by a north wind to the coast of Asia gives ground to infer 
that a ring of islands stretches from Franz Josef Land to 
Wrangel Land, an inference confirmed by other charac- 
teristics. With his scheme so clearly and fully worked 
out, Baron Nordenskjéld went to the King of Sweden, 
who gave it hearty support. The result was that the 
king, in conjunction with the munificent Mr. Oscar Dick- 
son of Gothenburg, who has spent a fortune in the cause 
of science, and Mr. Sibiriakoff, a Siberian merchant, 
agreed to advance the funds for an expedition round the 
continents of Europe and Asia. The Vega, a barque- 
rigged steamer of the best oak, 357 tons register, with 
engines of 60 horse-power, steaming 6 to 7 knots an hour, 
was bought, and specially fitted for her peculiar work. A 
staff of officers and men of science was carefully selected, 
and a picked crew of twenty-one men, with Baron 
Nordenskjéld himself as the leader of the expedition. 
The chief officer was Capt. Palander, of the Royal 
Italian Navy; Dr. F. R. Kjellman acted as botanist, Dr. 
Db Dd D pd b dD D 
Fic. 2.—Sectiin of Inland-ice. A, open glacier canal; 8, snow-filled canal ; c, canal concealed by a snuw-vault ; p, ¢'acier-clefts. 
Stuxberg, zoologist, Herr Almquist, medical officer and 
of the Italian Navy, hydrographer, Lieut. Hovgaard, of 
lichenologist, Lieut. Brusewitz, second officer, Lieut. Bove, 
the Danish Navy, for magnetism and mctecrology, and 
Fic. 3.—Glacier with stationary front, Udde Bay, cn,Novaya ‘Zemlya, after a drawing by Hj. Théel (1875). 
Lieut. Nordquist, of the Russien Guards, interpreter and | host in himself. It will thus be seen that the expedition 
zoologist. Baron Norcenskjéld, besiles being eminent | was perfectly equipped for scientific work. 
as a geologist and mineralogist, we need not say, was a We have said that Baron Nordenskjéld’s work is far 
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