NOVA ZEMBLA. 



147 



CHAPTER XI. 



NOVA ZEMBLA. 



The Sea of Kara. — Loschkin. — Rosiflysslow. — L'jtke. — Krotow. — Pachtussow. — Sails along the east- 

 ern Coast of the Southern Island to Matoschkin Schar. — His second Voyage and Death. — Meteoro- 

 logical Observations of Ziwolka. — The cold Summer of Nova Zembla. — VonBaer's scientific Voyage 

 to Nova Zembla. — His Adventures in Matoschkin Schar. — Storm in Kostin Schar. — Sea Bath and 

 votive Cross. — Botanical Observations. — A natural Garden. — Solitude and Silence. — A Bird Ba- 

 zar. — Hunting Expeditions of the Russians to Nova Zembla. 



^^HE sea of Kara, bounded on the west by Nova Zembla, and on the east by 



the vast peninsula of Tajmurland, is one of the most inhospitable parts of 

 the inhospitable Polar Ocean. For all the ice which the east-westerly marine 

 currents drift during the summer along the Siberian coasts accumulates in that 

 immense land-locked bay, and almost constantly blocks the gate of Kara, as 

 the straits have been named that separate Nova Zembla from the island of 

 Waigatz. 



The rivers Jenissei and Obi, which remain frozen over until late in June, 

 likewise discharge their vast masses of ice into the gulf of Kara, so that we 

 can not wonder that the eastern coast of Nova Zembla, fronting a sea which 

 opposes almost insuperable obstacles to the Arctic navigator, has remained al- 

 most totally unknown until 1833, while the western coast, exposed to the Gulf 

 Stream, and bathed, in summer at least, by a vast open ocean, has long been 

 traced in all its chief outlines on the map. 



The walrus-hunter Loschkin is indeed said to have sailed along the whole 

 eastern coast of Nova Zembla in the last century, but we have no authentic 

 records of his voyage, and at a later period Rosmysslow, who, penetrating 

 through Mathew's Straits, or Matoschkin Schar, found Nova Zembla to consist 

 of two large islands, investigated but a small part of those unknown shores. 

 From 1819 to 1824 the Russian Government sent out no less than five expedi- 

 tions to the sea of Kara ; the famous circumnavigator Admiral Ltitke en- 

 deavored no less than four times to advance along the eastern coast of Nova 

 Zembla, but all these efforts proved fruitless against the superior power of a 

 stormy and ice-blocked sea. Yet in spite of these repeated failures, two enter- 

 prising men — Klokow, a chief inspector of forests, and Brandt, a rich merchant 

 of Archangel — fitted out three ships in 1832 for the purpose of solving the 

 mysteries of the sea of Kara. 



One of these vessels, commanded by Lieutenant Krotow, was to penetrate 

 through Mathew's Straits, and, having reached their eastern outlet, to sail thence 

 across the sea to the mouth of the Obi and the Jenissei ; but nothing more 

 was heard of the ill-fated ship after her first separation from her companions at 

 Kanin Nos. 



The second ship, which was to sail along the western coast of Nova Zem- 

 bla, and, if possible, to round its northern extremity, was more fortunate, for 



