August 24, 1882] 



NATURE 



\%7 



THE "E1RA" EXPEDITION 

 A FTER the horrors of the Jeannetle expedition, every 

 *"*■ one will be relieved to learn that on Sunday Mr. 

 Leigh Smith and all his men were safely landed at 

 Aberdeen in the Hope, under the care of Sir Allen Young. 

 Sir Allen has not been long in attaining the object for 

 which he set out, although the safety of the Eira expedi- 

 tion would have been secured, even had no help been 

 sent from England, for when they reached Matotschkin 

 Schar, they found both the Willem Barents and a 

 Russian vessel. The scientific results of the expedition, 

 we regret to say, are almost nil. 



On June 14, 1881, the Eira left Peterhead. The ice 

 reached very far south, and no opening could be found 

 to enable her to get north until the middle of July. Franz 

 Josef's Land was reached on July 23, and the Eira steamed 

 along the coast to within fifteen miles of Cape Ludlow. 

 The ice was closely packed to the north, so it was de- 

 cided to return to Gray Bay and wait till a more favour- 

 able opportunity should present itself to proceed. On 

 August 7 the Eira was made fast to the land-floe near 

 Bell Island, and a storehouse was erected of materials 

 taken out in the ship. On August 15 she left Bell 

 Island, and, being unable to pass to the eastward of 

 Barents Hook, she was made fast to the land-floe off 

 Cape Flora. The next few days were spent in collecting 

 plants and fossils, which unfortunately were lost with the 

 vessel. On August 21 the Eira was heavily nipped by 

 the ice, and about 10 a.m. a leak was discovered, and 

 barely two hours elapsed till the vessel had to be 

 abandoned. All the boats were saved, and most of the 

 men saved some clothes and bedding. 



The tent was ultimately erected on Cape Flora, and here 

 the expedition spent the winter, making the best of their 

 circumstances. But little food had been saved, and the 

 party had therefore to keep a sharp look out for wal- 

 ruses, bears, and other native game, on which they lived, 

 and on which, along with a daily drop of rum, they main- 

 tained their health, according to the report of the surgeon. 

 There were one or two cases of illness, but no trace of 

 scurvy, though 70° of frost were at times experienced. In 

 June the ice was cleared away, and on the 21st four boats 

 were started from Cape Flora, with twenty-five men and 

 provisions for six months. The Eira men were more 

 fortunate than the discoverers of Franz Josef Land in 

 their escape ; for although they had sometimes to drag 

 their boats over the ice, they reached Novaya Zemlya, at 

 Matotschkin Schar, on August 2. Next day they were 

 sighted by the William Barents, and as Sir Allen Young, 

 in the Hope, was only a mile away, Mr. Leigh Smith and 

 his men were soon welcomed on board the steamer sent 

 to rescue them. 



When Mr. Smith publishes his detailed narrative, we 

 may find that he has been able to make some addition to 

 a knowledge of the geography and natural history of the 

 region where he has wintered, though we fear it cannot 

 be much. All his collections went down with the Eira, 

 so that science cannot be a great gainer by his expedition. 

 Until details are to hand, it is impossible to say whether 

 the catastrophe to the vessel could have been avoided, or 

 whether it was one of those accidents for which all Arctic 

 explorers must be prepared. The ice seems to have been 

 in motion very early this year for that region, and we know 

 that it has come down unusually far south ; any informa- 

 tion concerning the movements of the ice in high lati- 

 tudes during the past spring and summer would be 

 welcome. 



The following is an interesting extract from the journal 

 report upon Cape Flora (obtained by the Times Aberdeen 

 Correspondent), giving an account of the birds, bears, 

 and walrus seen during the winter spent there : — 



" On July 25, 18S1, we reached Gray Bay, at Cape 

 Grant and Cape Crowther. There are large loomeries a 

 short distance up the bay on the water side. Many 



rotgees had their young among the basaltic colum s of 

 the lofty cliffs. Other birds were also seen, including the 

 snow bird, the molly, the boatswain, the Arctic lern, dove- 

 kies, the eider duck, the burgomaster, and the kittiwake. 

 At the east side, near the head of Gray Bay, there were a 

 good number of snow birds and dovekies building, but 

 too high up for one to obtain the eggs. At Cape Stephen 

 there was a large loomery, and at Cape Forbes there 

 were a few looms, a good number of rotgees and dove- 

 kies, and some snow birds. At Bell Island the same 

 species of birds were seen, and on the south side there 

 was a large loomery and nests of kittiwakes, dovekies, 

 rotgees, snow birds, and burgomasters. Rein-geese and 

 brent-geese were seen and shot on the cliffs 700 feet high, 

 but no nests were seen. At Cape Flora there was 

 a very large loomery, and also many rotgees, dovekies, 

 kittiwakes, and snow birds. On the lowland several snow 

 buntings and sandlings were seen, but no nests were 

 found. The looms lay their eggs on the bare rock, and 

 the dovekies and rotgees lay them in the crevices of the 

 rocks. The kittiwake makes a nest of mud and moss. 

 The snow bird makes a rudimentary nest of moss and 

 feathers, but of no definite shape. Each species seems 

 to occupy a separate part of the cliff. The rotgees and 

 dovekies left about the first week in September. Looms 

 were very scarce after September 10. On September 22 

 a few burgomasters, snow-birds, mollies, kittiwakes, eider 

 ducks, and brent-geese were seen, but getting very scarce- 

 One or two snow buntings still remained on the land on 

 October 13. Three or four snow birds, and occasionally 

 a burgomaster or molly were seen hovering around out- 

 side the hut which had been erected, and on October 28, 

 while we were killing some walrus, two snow birds, two 

 or three mollies, and burgomasters were seen, and re- 

 mained for two or three days eating the refuse of the 

 carcases. On February S a snow owl was seen. This 

 was the first bird to arrive. On February 18 two or three 

 flocks of dovekies were seen following to the north-west, 

 and on the 20th there were a great number seen in the 

 water. On March 2 a lane of water was made close to 

 the land-rloe, and it was filled with rotgees and dovekies. 

 On March 9 the first loom was seen, but it was not until 

 the end of March that they began to settle on the rocks, 

 and then they would only stop on the cliffs for a few 

 hours and go away for four or five days. We were not 

 able to get up the hill to shoot any until April 16. On 

 April 20 the first snow bird was seen. A falcon hawk 

 appeared on April 22, on which day two burgomasters 

 were also seen. On April 24 the molly was seen. On 

 May 6 the kittiwakes came. It was not until about June 

 10 that the looms remained on the rocks for more than 

 two or three days at a time, but after that date the females 

 began to take their places ready for laying the eggs, and 

 on June 20 three eggs were obtained. Foxes were con- 

 stantly troubling us during the winter, coming r'ght up to 

 the door after blubber, and would only run a few yards 

 away when anybody went out to drive them off. We 

 were obliged to shoot some at last as they became almost 

 tame. Bears were more numerous while we had the 

 water close outside the land ice. They would come 

 walking along the edge of the land ice, and when they 

 got scent of the house would walk right up to it. During 

 the dark we killed four or five every month, except 

 November, but we saw on an average two a week. One 

 moonlight night in November there were five or six bears 

 within 400 yards of the house, but we could not get a shot 

 at any of them unless we kept very still until the bear 

 came up to the house. We never shot a female bear from 

 October to March 13. This is an important fact. They were 

 always very large male bears. Several times on examining 

 the contents of the stomach we found them full of nothing 

 but grass ; but in the spring they generally had been 

 feeding on seals, and more than once we obtained a good 

 bucketful of oil for cooking purposes out of the bear's 



