210 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
research by showing that the sea, even in the neighbourhood of 
the Pole of cold, is not covered with any strong and continuous 
sheet of ice, even at that season of the year when cold reaches 
its maximum. By the attempts made nearly at the same time 
by Wrangel and Parry to penetrate farther northwards, the one 
from the north coasts of Siberia, and the other from those of 
Spitzbergen, Polar travellers for the first time got a correct idea 
how uneven and impassable ice is on a frozen sea, how little the 
way over such a sea resembles the even polished surface of a 
frozen lake, over which we dwellers in the north are accustomed 
to speed along almost with the velocity of the wind. Wrangel’s 
narrative at the same time forms an important source of know¬ 
ledge both of preceding journeys and of the recent natural 
conditions on the north coast of Asia, as is only too evident from 
the frequent occasions on which I have quoted his work in my 
sketch of the voyage of the Vega. 
It remains for me now to enumerate some voyages from 
Behring’s Straits westward into the Siberian Polar Sea. 
1778 and 1779.—During the third of his famous circum¬ 
navigations of the globe James Cook penetrated through 
Behring’s Straits into the Polar Sea, and then along the north¬ 
east coast of Asia westwards to Irkaipij, called by him Cape 
North. Thus the honour of having carried the first seagoing 
vessel to this sea also belongs to the great navigator. He 
besides confirmed Behring’s determination of the position of 
the East Cape of Asia, and himself determined the position 
of the opposite coast of America.^ The same voyage was 
1 The first European who visited the part of America lying right opposite 
to Asia was Schestakov’s companion, the surveyor Gvosdev. He crossed 
Behring’s Straits to the American side as early as 1730 {Milller^ iii. p. 131), 
and therefore ought properly to be considered as the discoverer of this 
sound. The north-westernmost part of America, Behring’s Straits and the 
islands situated in it, are besides shown in Strahlenberg’s map, which was 
made at least a decade before Gvosdev’s voyage. There north-western 
America is delineated as a large island, inhabited by a tribe, the Pucho- 
