152 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



slight a penalty for neglecting the precaution, so necessary to all travellers in 

 ~Noya Zembla, of providing for a week when you set out for a day's excursion." 



On August 4, after a thorough botanical examination of the straits, the party 

 proceeded along the west coast. The wind, blowing from the north, brought 

 them to the Kostin Schar, a maze of passages between numerous islets, where 

 the walrus-hunters in Nova Zembla chiefly assemble. 



On August 9 an excursion was made up the river Nechwatowa, where they 

 rested in a hut which had been erected by some fisherman employed in catching 

 " golzi," or Arctic salmon. On returning to the ship, a dreadful storm arose from 

 the north-east, which lasted nine days, and, very fortunately for the botanists, 

 caught them in the Kostin Schar, and not on the high sea. Although they were 

 anchored in a sheltered bay, the waves frequently swept over the deck of their 

 vessel, and compelled them to remain all the time in their small, low cabin. 

 Only once they made an attempt to land, but the wind was so strong that they 

 could hardly stand. Their situation was rendered still more terrible and anxious, 

 as part of the crew which had been sent out hunting before the storm began 

 had not yet returned. 



When at last the storm ceased, winter seemed about to begin in good earn- 

 est. Every night ice formed, in the river, and the land was covered with snow, 

 which had surprised the scanty vegetation in its full bloom. At length the 

 hunters retui;ned, after having endured terrible hardships, and now preparations 

 were made for a definitive departure. A general bath was taken, without which 

 no anchorage in Kova Zembla is ever left, and, according to ancient custom, a 

 votive cross was likewise erected on the strand, as a memorial of the expedi- 

 tion. 



On August 28 the anchors were weighed, but they were soon dropped again 

 in the Schar, to examine on a small island the vegetable and animal products of 

 the land and of the shore. The former offered but few objects of interest, but 

 they were astonished at the exuberance of marine life. After having been de- 

 tained by a thick fog in this place for several days, they at length sailed towards 

 the White Sea, where they were obliged by contrary winds to run into Tri Os- 

 trowa. Dreary and desolate as the tundras at this extreme point of Lapland 

 had appeared to them on their journey outward, they were now charmed with 

 their green slopes, a sight of which they had been deprived in l^ova Zembla. 



On September 1 1 they at length reached the port of Archangel, with the 

 agreeable prospect of passing the winter in a comfortable study at St. Peters- 

 burg instead of spending it, like Barentz and his associates, as might easily have 

 happened, in a wretched hut beyond the 70th degree of northern latitude. 



Having thus briefly sketched Yon Baer's adventures, I will now notice some 

 of the most interesting scientific results of his journey. 



The rocky west coast of Nova Zembla has about the same appearance as the 

 analogous part of Spitzbergen, for here also the mountains, particularly in the 

 northern island, rise abruptly to a height of three or four thousand feet from 

 the sea, while the eastern coast is generally flat. In both countries, angular 

 blocks of stone, precipitated from the summits, cover the sides of the* hills, and 

 frequently make it impossible to ascend them. In fact, no rock, however hard 



