220 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



MIDDENDOEFF'S ADVENTURES IN TAIMURLAND. 



For what Purpose was Middendorff's Voyage to Taimurland undertaken ? — Difficulties and Obstacles. — 

 Expedition down the Taimur River to the Polar Sea. — Storm on Taimur Lake. — Loss of the Boat. — 

 Middendorff ill and alone in 75° N. Lat. — Saved by a grateful Samo'iede. — Climate and Vegetation of 

 Taimurland. 



following the contours of the Siberian coast, we find to the east of Nova 



Zembla a vast tract of territory projecting towards the Pole, and extend- 

 ing its promontories far into the icy sea. This country — which, from its prin- 

 cipal river, may be called Taimurland — is the most northern, and, I need hardly 

 add, the most inhospitable part of the Old World. The last huts of the Rus- 

 sian fishermen are situated about the mouth of the Jenissei, but the whole terri- 

 tory of the Taimur River, and the regions traversed by the lower course of the 

 Chatanga and the Pasina, are completely uninhabited. 



Even along the upper course of these two last-named rivers, the population 

 is exceedingly scanty and scattered ; and the few Samoiedes who migrate dur- 

 ing the summer to the banks of the Taimur, gladly leave them at the approach 

 of winter, the cold of which no thermometer has ever measured. As may easi- 

 ly be imagined, Taimurland has but few attractions for the trader or the fur- 

 hunter, but for the naturalist it is by no means without interest. 



We have seen in a former chapter how Von Baer, prompted by the disinter- 

 ested love of science, travelled to Nova Zembla to examine the productions of 

 a cold insular summer beyond the VOth degree of latitude. The instructive re- 

 sults of his journey rendered it doubly desirable to obtain information about 

 the effects of summer in a continental climate, situated if possible still farther 

 to the north ; and as no region could be better suited to this purpose than the 

 interior of the broad mass of Taimurland, the Academy of Sciences of St. Peters- 

 burg resolved to send thither a scientific expedition. Fortunately for the suc- 

 cess of the undertaking. Von Middendorff, the eminent naturalist, whose offer 

 of service was gladly accepted, was in every respect the right man in the right 

 place ; for to the most untiring scientific zeal, and an unwavering determination, 

 he joined a physical strength and a manual dexterity rarely found united with 

 learning. In the Lapland moors he had learned to bivouac for nights together, 

 while chasing the waterfowl, and on foot he was able to tire the best-trained 

 walrus-hunter. He understood how to construct a boat, and to steer it with his 

 own hand, and every beast or bird w^as doomed that came within reach of his 

 unerring ball. In one word, no traveller ever plunged into the Arctic wilds 

 more independent of baggage, followers, or the means of transport. 



On April 4 we find Middendorff, accompanied by Mr. Brandt, a Danish for- 

 ester, and a single servant, on the ice of the Jenissei between Turuchansk and 



