482 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
The greatest cold which was observed during the different 
months was in 
October the 24th ~ 20°‘8 
November the 30th — 27°*2 
December the 23rd — 37°T 
January the 25th — 45°-7 
February the 2nd — 43°*8 
March the 29th — 39°'8 
April the 15th — 38°’0 
May the 3rd - 26°-8 
June the 3rd — 14°'3 
July the 2nd — 1°’0 
Twice we had the barometer uncommonly high, viz.: 
On the 22nd December 6 A.M. 782'0 (0°) mm. 
On the 17th February 6 A.M. 788'! (0°) mm. 
The lowest atmospheric pressure, 728'8 (0°) mm., occurred on 
the 31st December at two o’clock P.M. 
The weather during the winter was very stormy, and the 
direction of the wind nearest the surface of the earth almost 
constantly between north-west and north-north-west. But 
already in atmospheric strata of inconsiderable height there 
prevailed, to judge by the direction of the clouds, a similar un¬ 
interrupted atmospheric current from the south-east, which when 
it occasionally sank to the surface of the earth brought with it air 
that was warmer and less saturated with moisture. The reason 
of this is easy to see, if we consider that Behring’s Straits form 
a gate surrounded by pretty high mountains between the warm 
atmospheric area of the Pacific and the cold one of the Arctic 
Ocean. The winds must be arranged here approximately after the 
same laws as the draught in the door-opening between a warm and 
a cold room, that is to say, the cold current of air must go below 
from the cold room to the warm, the warm above from the warm 
room to the cold. The mountain heights which, according to 
the statement of the natives, are to be found in the interior of 
the Chukch peninsula besides conduce to the heat and dryness 
of the southerly and south-easterly winds. For they confer on 
the sea winds that pass over their summits the properties of 
the fohn winds. Our coldest winds have come from S.W. to 
W., that is to say, from the Old World’s pole of cold, situated in 
