26 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
science. After having, in 1778, sailed a good way eastwards 
along the north coast of America, he turned towards the west, 
and reached the 180th degree of longitude on the 29th August: 
the fear of meeting with ice deterred him from sailing further 
westward, and his vessel appears to have scarcely been equipped 
or fitted for sailing among ice. 
After Cook’s time we know of only three expeditions which 
have sailed westwards from Behring’s Straits. The first was an 
American expedition, under Captain Rodgers, in 1855. He 
reached, through what appears to have been open water, the 
longitude of Cape Yakan (176° E. from Greenwich). The second 
was that of the English steam-whaler Long, who, in 1867, in search 
of a new profitable whale-fishing ground, sailed further west than 
any before him. By the 10th August he had reached the 
longitude of Tschaun Bay (170° E. from Greenwich). He was 
engaged in whale-fishing, not in an exploring expedition, and 
turned here ; but, in the short account he has given of his 
voyage, he expresses the decided conviction that a voyage from 
Behring’s Straits to the Atlantic belongs to the region of possi¬ 
bilities, and adds that, even if this sea-route does not come to 
he of any commercial importance, that between the Lena and 
Behring’s Straits ought to be useful for turning to account the 
products of Northern Siberia.^ Finally, last year a Russian 
expedition was sent out to endeavour to reach Wrangel’s Land 
from Behring’s Straits. According to communications in the 
newspapers, it was prevented by ice from sailing thence, as 
well as from sailing far to the west. 
Information has been obtained through Mr. Sibiriakoff, from 
North Siberia, regarding the state of the ice in the neighbour¬ 
ing sea. The hunting in these regions appears to have now 
fallen off so seriously, that only few persons were found who 
could give any answers to the questions put. 
Thus in Yakoutsk there was only one man (a pries-t) who 
had been at the coast of the Polar Sea. He states that when 
the wind blows off the land the sea becomes free of ice, but 
that the ice comes back when the wind blows on to the land, 
and thereby exposes the vessels which cannot reach a safe 
harbour to great danger. 
Another correspondent states, on the ground of observa¬ 
tions made during Tschikanovski’s expedition, that in 1875 the 
sea off the Olonek was completely free of ice, but adds at the 
same time that the year in this respect was an exceptional one. 
1 Peterinann s Mittheilimgen, 1868, p. 1, and 1869, p. 32. 
