1879. | Geography and Travels. 133 
the mouths of the Obi, Yenisei, and Pyasina rivers. In 1869 the 
Norwegian Captains Carlsen and Palliser sailed through the sea 
of Kara, and since that year the Norwegian fishermen have annu- 
ally visited it in their pursuit of the seal and the walrus. In 1874 
Captain Wiggins sailed from Dundee, and passing through the 
Waigatz straits, cruised along the Yalmal peninsula, and was able 
to advance as far as the gulf of Obi. On another voyage, in 
1876, reaching the mouth of the Yenisei, he sailed up that stream 
as far as Kureika, where he left his vessel for the winter and 
returned overland. His observations demonstrated that the Gulf 
Stream flows into this sea. While, in July and August, in the 
same latitudes in Davis’ straits and east Greenland, the surface- 
water is never above 33° to 34°, in the straits of Waigatz the 
temperature was as high as 50°, and from 48° to 49° in the sea 
of Kara} 
The knowledge thus obtained of the navigability, at certain 
seasons, of these waters, induced some wealthy Norwegians an 
Russian merchants to endeavor to open up a route to the mouths 
of the great rivers Obi and Yenisei, which penetrate some 2,500 
miles into the heart of Siberia, and thus provide a new outlet for 
the mineral wealth of the Ural mountains, the fur and fish of 
the northern and the produce of the immense forests and agricul- 
tural districts of central and southern Siberia. 
Mr. Oscar Dickson, of Gothenburg, a munificent and intelligent 
promoter of Arctic discovery, accordingiy fitted out an expedition 
which sailed from Tromsö in June, 1875, under the command of 
Prof. Nordenskiöld. This gentleman was already a veteran ex- 
plorer, having been engaged in six Arctic expeditions (five to 
Spitzbergen and one to Greenland), made two important spring 
sledging journeys, and experienced the rigors of a winter north 
of the 80th parallel, while his scientific attainments were of the 
highest order. Passing through the Yugor strait and crossing 
the sea of Kara, he reached a point on ihe eastern side of the 
mouth of the Yenisei, wa was named Dickson Harbor, from 
whence he returned homewards. 
In 1876 Mr. Dickson, aided by M. Alexander Sibeirakoff, a 
wealthy Russian, again dispatched Nordenskiöld, who, leaving 
Tromso on the 25th of July, after some delays by the ice, again 
reached the mouth of the Yenisei, and ascended it to Mesenkin, 
from whence he returned, arriving at'Tromsé on the 22d of Sep- = 
tember.” . 
The success of these two voyages induced Prof. Nordenskiold 
to plan his present expedition round Cape Chelyuskin, along the 
Siberian coast to the straits of Behring. He believed that during 
September he would find open water all along the coast to Cape 
Chelyuskin. The rivers Obi, Irtish, and Yenisei send a vast ae oe 
1 See Geographical Magazine, March, 1877. : ee 
2 Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1877, Part IL; ps 54 
