190 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
partly to species which he had not before met with in the 
Arctic regions, we again weighed anchor in order to remove to 
the proper harbour. 
Captain Palander went before in the steam launch in order to 
examine the yet unsurveyed fairway. On the way he fell in 
with and killed a bear, an exceedingly fat and large male. Like 
the bear Dr. Th^el shot here in 1875, he had only mosses and 
lichens in his stomach, and as it is scarcely probable that the 
bear in this region can catch a great many seals in summer, it 
is to be supposed that his food consists principally of vegetable 
substances, with the addition perhaps of a reindeer or two 
when he can succeed in getting hold of them. In the year 1875 
we saw here an old male bear that appeared to pasture quite 
peaceably in company with some reindeer, probably with a view 
to get near enough to spring upon them. Bears must besides 
be very common in that part of the north coast of Siberia, for 
during the few days we now remained there, two more were 
shot, both of them very fat. 
The haven, which has now been surveyed by Lieutenant Bove, 
was discovered by me in 1875 and named Port Dickson. It is 
the best known haven on the whole north coast of Asia, and will 
certainly in the future be of great importance for the foreign 
commerce of Siberia. It is surrounded on all sides by rocky 
islands, and is thus completely sheltered. The anchorage is a 
good clay bottom. The haven may be entered both from the 
north and from the south-west; but in sailing in, caution should 
be used, because some rocky shoals may be met with which are 
not shown on Lieutenant Bove’s sketch chart, which was made 
in the greatest haste. The water probably varies con¬ 
siderably as to its salinity with the season of the year and 
with ebb and flood tides, but is never, even at the surface, com¬ 
pletely fresh. It can therefore be used in cooking only in case 
of the greatest necessity. But two streams on the mainland, 
one debouching north and the other south of the harbour, yield 
