The Origin of the names Yugor Schar and Kara Sea—Rules for Sailing through Yugor Schar—The "Highest Mountain" on Earth —Anchorages—Entering the Kara Sea—Its Surroundings—The Inland-ice of Novaya Zemlya—True Icebergs rare in certain parts of the Polar Sea—The Natural Conditions of the Kara Sea—Animals, Plants, Bog Ore—Passage across the Kara Sea—The Influence of the Ice on the Sea-bottom—Fresh-water Diatoms on Sea-ice—Arrival at Port Dickson—Animal Life there—Settlers and Settlements at the Mouth of the Yenisej—The Flora at Port Dickson—Evertebrates—Excursion to White Island—Yalmal—Previous Visits—Nmmnelin's Wintering on the Briochov Islands.
In crossing to Vaygats Island I met theLena, which then first steamed to the rendezvous that had been fixed upon. I gave the captain orders to anchor without delay, to coal from theExpress, and to be prepared immediately after my return from the excursion to weigh anchor and start along with the other vessels. I came on board theVegaon the evening of the 31st July, much pleased and gratified with what I had seen and collected in the course of my excursion on Vaygats Island. TheLena, however, was not quite ready, and so the start was put off till the morning of the 1st August. All the vessels then weighed anchor, and sailed or steamed through Vaygats Sound or Yugor Schar into the Kara Sea.
We do not meet with the name Yugor Schar in the oldest narratives of travel or on the oldest maps. But it is found in an account dating from 1611, of a Russian commercial routebetween "Pechorskoie Zauorot and Mongozei," which is annexed to the letter of Richard Finch to Sir Thomas Smith, already quoted (Purchas, iii. p. 539). The name is clearly derived from the old name, Jugaria, for the land lying south of the sound, and it is said, for instance, in the map to Herberstein's work, to have its name from the Hungarians, who are supposed to derive their origin from these regions. The first Dutch north-east explorers called it Vaygats Sound or Fretum Nassovicum. More recent geographers call it also Pet's Strait, which is incorrect, as Pet did not sail through it.
There was at first no special name for the gulf between the Taimur peninsula and Novaya Zemlya. The name "Carska Bay" however is to be found already in the information about sailing to the north-east, communicated to the Muscovie Companie by its principal factor, Antonie Marsh (Purchas, iii. p. 805). At first this name was applied only to the estuary of the Kara river, but it was gradually transferred to the whole of the neighbouring sea, whose oldest Samoyed name, also derived from a river, was in a somewhat Russianised form, "Neremskoe" (compare Purchas, iii. p. 805, Witsen, p. 917). I shall in the following part of this work comprehend under the name "Kara Sea" the whole of that gulf which from 77° N.L. between Cape Chelyuskin and the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya extends towards the south to the north coast of Europe and Asia.
Captain Palander gives the following directions for sailing through the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland:—
"As Yugor Straits are difficult to discover far out at sea, good solar observations ought to be taken on approaching them, where such can be had, and after these the course is to be shaped in the middle of the strait, preferably about N.E. by the compass. On coming nearer land (three to four English miles) one distinguishes the straits with ease. Afterwards there is nothing else to observe than on entering to keep right in the middle of the fairway."If one wishes to anchor at the Samoyed village one ought to keep about an English mile from the land on the starboard, and steer N.E. by the compass, until the Samoyed huts are seen, when one bends off from starboard, keeping the church a little to starboard. For larger vessels it is not advisable to go in shallower water than eight to nine fathoms, because the depth then diminishes rather suddenly to from three to four fathoms.
"From the Samoyed village the course is shaped right to the south-east headland of Vaygats Island (Suchoi Nos), which ought to be passed at the distance of half an English mile. Immediately south-west of this headland lies a very long shoal, which one ought to take care of.
"From this headland the vessel is to be steered N.-1/2E. out into the Kara Sea. With this course there are two shoals on starboard and two on port at the distance of half an English mile.
"The depth is in general ten fathoms; at no place in the fairway is it less than nine fathoms.
"Vessels of the greatest draught may thus sail through Yugor Schar. In passing the straits it is recommended to keep a good outlook from the top, whence in clear weather the shoals may easily be seen."
In the oldest narratives very high mountains, covered with ice and snow, are spoken of as occurring in the neighbourhood of the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland. It is even said that here were to be found the highest mountains on earth, whose tops were said to raise themselves to a height of a hundred German miles.[87]The honour of having the highest mountains on earth has since been ascribed by the dwellers on the plains of Northern Russia to the neighbourhood of Matotschkin Schar, "where the mountains are even much higher than Bolschoj Kamen," a rocky eminence some hundreds of feet high at the mouth of the Petchora—an orographic idea which forms a new proof of the correctness of the old saying:—"In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed is king." Matotschkin Schar indeed is surrounded by a wild Alpine tract with peaks thatrise to a height of 1,000 to 1,200 metres. On the other hand there are to be seen around Yugor Straits only low level plains, terminating towards the sea with a steep escarpment. These plains are early free of snow, and are covered with a rich turf, which yields good pasture to the Samoyed reindeer herds.
Most of the vessels that wish to sail into the Kara Sea through Yugor Schar require to anchor here some days to wait for favourable winds and state of the ice. There are no good harbours in the neighbourhood of the sound, but available anchorages occur, some in the bay at Chabarova, at the western entrance of the sound; some, according to the old Dutch maps, on the eastern side of the sound, between Mestni Island (Staten Eiland) and the mainland. I have, however, no experience of my own of the latter anchorages, nor have I heard that the Norwegian walrus-hunters have anchored there. Perhaps by this time they are become too shallow.
When we sailed through Yugor Schar in 1878, the sound was completely free of ice. The weather was glorious, but the wind was so light that the sails did little service. In consequence of this we did not go very rapidly forward, especially as I wished to keep the three vessels together, and the sailing shipExpress, not to be left behind, had to be towed by theFraser. Time was lost besides in dredging and taking specimens of water. The dredgings gave at some places, for instance off Chabarova, a rich yield, especially of isopods and sponges. The samples of water showed that already at a limited depth from the surface it had a considerable salinity, and that therefore no notable portion of the mass of fresh water, which the rivers Kara, Obi, Tas, and Yenisej and others pour into the Kara Sea, flows through this sound into the Atlantic Ocean.
In the afternoon of the 1st August we passed through the sound and steamed into the sea lying to the east of it, which had been the object of so many speculations, expectations, and conclusions of so many cautious governments, merchants eagerfor gain, and learned cosmographers, from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and which even to the geographer and man of science of the present has been amare incognitumdown to the most recent date. It is just this sea that formed the turning-point of all the foregoing north-east voyages, from Burrough's to Wood's and Vlamingh's, and it may therefore not be out of place here, before I proceed further with the sketch of our journey, to give some account of its surroundings and hydrography.
If attention be not fixed on the little new-discovered island, "Ensamheten," the Kara Sea is open to the north-east. It is bounded on the west by Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats Island; on the east by the Taimur peninsula, the land between the Pjaesina and the Yenisej and Yalmal; and on the south by the northernmost portion of European Russia, Beli Ostrov, and the large estuaries of the Obi and the Yenisej. The coast between Cape Chelyuskin and the Yenisej consists of low rocky heights, formed of crystalline schists, gneiss, and eruptive rocks, from the Yenisej to beyond the most southerly part of the Kara Sea, of the Gyda and Yalmaltundrasbeds of sand of equal fineness, and at Vaygats Island and the southern part of Novaya Zemlya (to 73° N.L.) of limestone and beds of schist[88]which slope towards the sea with a steep escarpment three to fifteen metres high, but form, besides, the substratum of a level plain, full of small collections of water which is quite free of snow in summer. North of 73° again the west coast of the Kara Sea is occupied by mountains, which near Matotschkin are very high, and distributed in a confused mass of isolated peaks, but farther north become lower and take the form of a plateau.Where the mountains begin, some few or only very inconsiderable collections of ice are to be seen, and the very mountain tops are in summer free of snow. Farther north glaciers commence, which increase towards the north in number and size, till they finally form a continuous inland-ice which, like those of Greenland and Spitzbergen, with its enormous ice-sheet, levels mountains and valleys, and converts the interior of the land into a wilderness of ice, and forms one of the fields for the formation of icebergs or glacier-iceblocks, which play so great arôlein sketches of voyages in the Polar seas. I have not myself visited the inland-ice on the northern part of Novaya Zemlya, but doubtless the experience I have previously gained during an excursion with Dr. Berggren on the inland-ice of Greenland in the month of July 1870,after all the snow on it had melted, and with Captain Palander on the inland-ice of North-East Land in the beginning of June 1873,before any melting of snow had commenced, is also applicable to the ice-wilderness of north Novaya Zemlya.
SECTION OF INLAND-ICE.SECTION OF INLAND-ICE.Open glacier-canal. B. Snow-filled canal. C. Canal concealed by a snow-vault. D. Glacier-clefts.
As on Spitzbergen the ice-field here is doubtless interrupted by deep bottomless clefts, over which the snowstorms of winter throw fragile snow-bridges, which conceal the openings of the abysses so completely that one may stand close to their edge without having any suspicion that a step further is certain death to the man, who, without observing the usual precautionof being bound by a rope to his companions, seeks his way over the blinding-white, almost velvet-like, surface of this snow-field, hard packed indeed, but bound together by no firm crust. If a man, after taking necessary precautions against the danger of tumbling down into these crevasses, betakes himself farther into the country in the hope that the apparently even surface of the snow will allow of long day's marches, he is soon disappointed in his expectations; for he comes to regions where the ice is everywhere crossed by narrow depressions,canals, bounded by dangerous clefts, with perpendicular walls up to fifteen metres in height. One can cross these depressions
VIEW FROM THE INLAND-ICE OF GREENLAND.VIEW FROM THE INLAND-ICE OF GREENLAND.After a drawing by S Berggren, 23rd July, 1870.
only alter endless zigzag wanderings, at places where they have become filled with snow and thereby passable. In summer again, when the snow has melted, the surface of the ice-wilderness has quite a different appearance. The snow has disappeared and the ground is now formed of a blue ice, which however is not clean, but everywhere rendered dirty by a grey argillaceous dust, carried to the surface of the glacier by wind and rain, probably from distant mountain heights. Among this clay, and even directly on the ice itself, there is a scanty covering of low vegetable organisms. The ice-deserts of the Polar lands are thus the habitat of a peculiar flora, which, insignificant as it appears to be, forms however
GREENLAND ICE FJORD.GREENLAND ICE FJORD.After a design drawn and lithographed by a Greenland Eskimo.
SLOWLY-ADVANCING GLACIER.SLOWLY-ADVANCING GLACIER.At Foul Bay, on the west coast of Spitzbergen, after a photograph taken by A. Envall, 30th August, 1872.
GLACIER WITH STATIONARY FRONT.GLACIER WITH STATIONARY FRONT.Udde Bay, on Novaya Zemlya, after a drawing by Hj. Théel (1875).
an important condition for the issue of the conflict which goes on here, year after year, century after century, between the sun and the ice. For the dark clay and the dark parts of plants absorb the warm rays of the sun better than the ice, and therefore powerfully promote its melting. They eat themselves down in perpendicular cylindrical holes thirty to sixty centimetres in depth, and from a few millimetres to a whole metre in diameter. The surface of the ice is thus destroyed and broken up.
After the melting of the snow there appears besides a number of inequalities, and the clefts previously covered with a fragile snow-bridge now gape before the wanderer where he goes forward, with their bluish-black abysses, bottomless as far as we can depend on ocular evidence. At some places there are also to be found in the ice extensive shallow depressions, down whose sides innumerable rapid streams flow in beds of azure-blue ice, often of such a volume of water as to form actual rivers. They generally debouch in a lake situated in the middle of the depression. The lake has generally an underground outlet through a grotto-vault of ice several thousands of feet high. At other places a river is to be seen, which has bored itself a hole through the ice-sheet, down which it suddenly disappears with a roar and din which are heard far and wide, and at a little distance from it there is projected from the ice a column of water, which, like a geyser with a large intermittent jet in which the water is mixed with air, rises to a great height.
Now and then a report is heard, resembling that of a cannon shot fired in the interior of the icy mass. It is a new crevasse that has been formed, or if one is near the border of the ice-desert, an ice-block that has fallen down into the sea. For, like, ordinary collections of water, an ice-lake also has its outlet into the sea. These outlets are of three kinds, viz.,ice-rapids, in which the thick ice-sheet, split up and broken in pieces, is pressed forward at a comparatively high speed down a narrowsteeply-sloping valley, where ice-blocks tumble on each other with a crashing noise and din, and from which true icebergs of giant-like dimensions are projected in hundreds and thousands;broad; slowly-advancing glaciers, which terminate towards the sea with an even perpendicular face, from which now and then considerable ice-blocks, but no true icebergs, fall down; andsmaller stationary glaciers, which advance so slowly that the ice in the brim melts away about as fast as the whole mass of ice glides forward, and which thus terminate at the beach not with a perpendicular face but with a long ice-slope covered with clay, sand, and gravel.
The inland-ice on Novaya Zemlya is of too inconsiderable extent to allow of any large icebergs being formed. There are none such accordingly in the Kara Sea[89], and it is seldom that even a large glacier ice-block is to be met with drifting about.
The name ice-house, conferred on the Kara Sea by a famous Russian man of science, did not originate from the large number of icebergs[90], but from the fact that the covering ofice, which during winter, on account of the severity of the cold and the slight salinity of the surface-water, is immensely thick, cannot, though early broken up, be carried away by the marine currents and be scattered over a sea that is open even during winter[91]. Most of the ice formed during winter in the Kara Sea, and perhaps some of that which is drifted down from the Polar basin, is on the contrary heaped by the marine currents against the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, where during early summer it blocks the three sounds which unite the Kara Sea with the Atlantic. It was these ice-conditions which caused the failure of all the older north-east voyages and gave to the Kara Sea its bad report and name of ice-house. Now we know that it is not so dangerous in this respect as it was formerly believed to be—that the ice of the Kara Sea melts away for the most part, and that during autumn this sea is quite available for navigation.
In general our knowledge of the Kara Sea some decades back was not only incomplete, but also erroneous. It was believed that its animal life was exceedingly scanty, and that algæ were absolutely wanting; no soundings had been taken elsewhere than close to the coast; and much doubt was thrown, not without reason, on the correctness of the maps. Now all this is changed to a great extent. The coast line, bordering on the sea, is settled on the maps; the ice-conditions, currents and depth of water in different parts of the sea are ascertained, andwe know that the old ideas of its poverty in animals and plants are quite erroneous.
UMBELLULA FROM THE KARA SEA.UMBELLULA FROM THE KARA SEA.Polype stem entire, one-half the natural size. B. Polype stem, upper part, one-and-a-half times the natural size.
In respect to depth the Kara Sea is distinguished by a special regularity, and by the absence of sudden changes. Along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats Island there runs a channel, up to 500 metres in depth, filled with cold salt-water, which forms the haunt of a fauna rich not only in individuals, but also in a large number of remarkable and rare types, as Umbellula, Elpidia, Alecto, asterids of many kinds, &c. Towards the east the sea-bottomrises gradually and then forms a plain lying 30 to 90 metres below the surface of the sea, nearly as level as the surface of the superincumbent water. The bottom of the sea in the south and west parts of it consists of clay, in the regions of Beli Ostrov of sand, farther north of gravel. Shells of crustacea and pebbles are here often surrounded by bog-ore formations, resembling the figures on page 186. These also occur over an extensive area north-east of Port Dickson in such quantity that they might be used for the manufacture of iron, if the region were less inaccessible.
Even in the shallower parts of the Kara Sea the water at the bottom is nearly as salt as in the Atlantic Ocean, and all the year round cooled to a temperature of -2° to -2°.7. The surface-water, on the contrary, is very variable in its composition, sometimes at certain places almost drinkable, and in summer often strongly heated. The remarkable circumstance takes place here that the surface water in consequence of its limited salinity freezes to ice if it be exposed to the temperature which prevails in the salt stratum of water next the bottom, and that it forms a deadly poison for many of the decapoda, worms, mussels, crustacea and asterids which crawl in myriads among the beds of clay or sand at the bottom.
At many places the loose nature of the bottom does not permit the existence of any algæ, but in the neighbourhood of Beli Ostrov, Johannesen discovered extensive banks covered with "sea-grass" (algæ), and from the east coast of Novaya Zemlya Dr. Kjellman in 1875 collected no small number of algæ[92], being thereby enabled to take exception to the old erroneous statements as to the nature of the marine flora. He has drawn up for this work a full account of the
ELPIDIA GLACIALIS (THÉEL) FROM THE KARA SEA.ELPIDIA GLACIALIS (THÉEL) FROM THE KARA SEA.Magnified three times.A. Belly. B. Back.MANGANIFEROUS IRON-ORE FORMATIONS FROM THE KARA SEA.Half the natural size.
MANGANIFEROUS IRON-ORE FORMATIONS FROM THE KARA SEA.Half the natural size.
marine vegetation in the Kara Sea, which will be found further on.
I shall now return to the account of our passage across this sea. On this subject my journal contains the following notes:
August 2nd. Still glorious weather—no ice. TheLenaappears to wish to get away from the other vessels, and does not observe the flag which was hoisted as the signal agreed upon beforehand that her Captain should come on board, or at least bring his little vessel within hail. TheFraserwas therefore sent in pursuit, and succeeded in overtaking her towards night.
August 3rd. In the morning Captain Johannesen came on board theVega. I gave him orders to take on board Dr. Almquist and Lieutenants Hovgaard and Nordquist, and go with them to Beli Ostrov, where they should have freedom for thirty-six hours to study the people, animals, and plants, as they pleased; theLenawas then, if possible, to pass through the Sound between the island and Yalmal to Port Dickson, where the three other vessels should be found. Almquist, Nordquist, and Hovgaard were already quite in order for the excursion; they went immediately on board theLena, and were soon, thanks to the great power of the engine in proportion to the size of the vessel, far on their way.
In the course of the day we met with very open and rotten ice, which would only have been of use to us by its moderating effect on the sea, if it had not been accompanied by the usual attendant of the border of the ice, a thick fog, which however sometimes lightened. Towards evening we came in sight of Beli Ostrov. This island, as seen from the sea, forms a quite level plain, which rises little above the surface of the water. The sea off the island is of an even depth, but so shallow, that at a distance of twenty to thirty kilometres from the shore there is only from seven to nine metres of water. According to a communication from Captain Schwanenberg, there is, however, a depth of three to four metres close to the north shore. Sucha state of things, that is, a uniform depth, amounting near the shore to from four to ten metres, but afterwards increasing only gradually and remaining unchanged over very extensive areas, is very common in the Arctic regions, and is caused by the ice-mud-work which goes on there nearly all the year round. Another remarkable effect of the action of the ice is that all the blocks of stone to be found in the sea next the beach are forced up on land. The beach itself is formed accordingly at many places, for instance at several points in Matotschkin Sound, of a nearly continuous stone rampart going to the sea level, while in front of it there is a quite even sea bottom without a fragment of stone.
SECTION FROM THE SOUTH COAST OF MATOTSCHKIN SOUND.SECTION FROM THE SOUTH COAST OF MATOTSCHKIN SOUND.Showing the origin of Stone-ramparts at the beach.
August 4th. In the morning a gentle heaving indicated that the sea was again free of ice, at least over a considerable space to windward. Yesterday the salinity in the water was already diminished and the amount of clay increased; now the water after being filtered is almost drinkable. It has assumed a yellowish-grey colour and is nearly opaque, so that the vesselappears to sail in clay mud. We are evidently in the area of the Ob-Yenisej current. The ice we sailed through yesterday probably came from the Gulf of Obi, Yenisej or Pjäsina. Its surface was dirty, not clean and white like the surface of glacier-ice or the sea-ice that has never come in contact with land or with muddy river-water. Off the large rivers the ice, when the snow has melted, is generally covered with a yellow layer of clay. This clay evidently consists of mud, which has been washed down by the river-water and been afterwards thrown up by the swell on the snow-covered ice. The layer of snow acts as a filter and separates the mud from the water. The former, therefore, after the melting of the snow may form upon true sea-ice a layer of dirt, containing a large number of minute organisms which live only in fresh water.
August 5th. Still under sail in the Kara Sea, in which a few pieces of ice are floating about. The ice completely disappeared when we came north-west of Beli Ostrov. We were several times in the course of the day in only nine metres of water, which, however, in consequence of the evenness of the bottom, is not dangerous. Fog, a heavy sea, and an intermittent but pretty fresh breeze delayed our progress.
August 6th. At three o'clock in the morning we had land in sight. In the fog we had gone a little way up the Gulf of Yenisej, and so had to turn in order to reach our destination, Port Dickson. The mast-tops of theExpresswere seen projecting over islands to the north, and both vessels soon anchored south of an island which was supposed to be Dickson's Island, but when theFrasersoon after joined us we learned that this was a mistake. The shore, which, seen from our first anchorage, appeared to be that of the mainland, belonged in fact to the pretty extensive island, off which the haven itself is situated.
After an excursion on land, in the course of which a covey of partridges was seen, and Dr. Kjellman on the diorite rocks of the island made a pretty abundant collection of plants, belongingpartly 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. Théel 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 considerably as to its salinity with the season of the year and with ebb and flood tides, but is never, even at the surface, completely 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, yieldan abundant supply of good water, in case snow water cannot be obtained from any of the beds of snow which up to autumn are to be found at several places along the strand escarpments in the neighbourhood of the harbour.
At our arrival six wild reindeer were seen pasturing on Dickson's Island; one of them was killed by Palander, the others were stalked unsuccessfully. Some bears, as has already been stated, were also seen, and everywhere among the heaps of stones there were numerous remains of the lemming and the fox. With these exceptions there were few of the higher animals. Of birds we thus saw only snow-buntings, which bred among the stone heaps both on the mainland and on the islands, a covey of ptarmigan, a large number of birds, principally species of Tringa and Phalaropus, but not further determined, eiders, black guillemots and burgomasters in limited numbers, and long-tailed ducks and loons in somewhat greater abundance. There are no "down islands," and as there are no precipitous shore cliffs neither are there any looneries. A shoal of fish was seen in Lena Sound, and fish are probably exceedingly abundant. Seals and white whales also perhaps occur here at certain seasons of the year in no small numbers. It was doubtless with a view to hunt these animals that a hut was occupied, the remains of which are visible on one of the small rocky islands at the north entrance into the harbour. The ruin, if we may apply the term to a wooden hut which has fallen in pieces, showed that the building had consisted of a room with a fireplace and a storehouse situated in front, and that it was only intended as a summer dwelling for the hunters and fishers who came hither during the hunting season from the now desertedsimovies[93]lying farther south.
I am convinced that the day will come when great warehouses and many dwellings inhabited all the year round will be found at Port Dickson. Now the region is entirely uninhabited as far
MAP OF THE MOUTH OF THE YENISEJ.MAP OF THE MOUTH OF THE YENISEJ.FROM ATLAS RUSSICUS CURA ET OPERE ACADEMIAE IMPERIALIS SCIENTIARUM PETROPOLITANAE PETROPOLI 1745.
as Goltschicha, although, as the map reproduced here shows, numerous dwelling-houses were to be found built along the river bank and sea-shore beyond the mouth of the Yenisej and as far as to the Pjäsina. They have long since been abandoned, in the first place in consequence of the hunting falling off, but probably also because even here, far away on the north coast of Siberia, the old simple and unpretentious habits have given way to new wants which were difficult to satisfy at the time when no steamers carried on traffic on the river Yenisej. Thus, for instance, the difficulty of procuring meal some decades back, accordingly before the commencement of steam communication on the Yenisej, led to the abandonment of asimoviesituated on the eastern bank of the river in latitude 72° 25' north.
Thesimoviesat the mouth of the Yenisej formed in their time the most northerly fixed dwelling-places of the European races.[94]Situated as they were at the foot of the coldtundra, exposed to continual snowstorms in winter and to close fogs during the greater part of summer, which here is extremely short, it seems as if they could not offer their inhabitants many opportunities for enjoyment, and the reason why this tract was chosen for a residence, especially in a country so rich in fertile soil as Siberia, appears to be difficult to find. The remains of an oldsimovie(Krestovskoj), which I saw in 1875 while travelling up the river along with Dr. Lundström and Dr. Stuxberg, however, produced the impression that a true home life had once been led there. Three houses with turf-coveredroofs then still remained in such a state that one could form an idea of their former arrangement and of the life which had been earned on in them. Each cabin contained a whole labyrinth of very small rooms; dwelling-rooms with sleeping places fixed to the walls, bake-rooms with immense fireplaces, bathing houses with furnaces for vapour-baths, storehouses for train-oil with large train-drenched blubber troughs hollowed out of enormous tree-stems, blubber tanks with remains of the white whale, &c., all witnessing that the place had had a flourishing period, when prosperity was found there, when the home was regarded with loyalty, and formed in all its loneliness the central point of a life richer perhaps in peace and well-being than one is inclined beforehand to suppose.
RUINS OF A SIMOVIE AT KRESTOVSKOJ.RUINS OF A SIMOVIE AT KRESTOVSKOJ.After a drawing by A. Stuxberg.
In 1875 a "prikaschik" (foreman) and three Russian labourers lived all the year round at Goltschicha. Sverevo wasinhabited by one man and Priluschnoj by an old man and his son. All were poor; they dwelt in small turf-covered cabins, consisting of a lobby and a dirty room, smoked and sooty, with a large fireplace, wooden benches along the walls, and a sleeping place fixed to the wall, high above the floor. Of household furniture only the implements of fishing and the chase were numerously represented. There were in addition pots and pans, and occasionally a tea-urn. The houses were all situated near the river-bank, so high up that they could not be reached by the spring inundations. A disorderly midden was always to be found in the near neighbourhood, with a number of draught dogs wandering about on it seeking something to eat. Only one of the Russian settlers here was married, and we were informed that there was no great supply of the material for Russian housewives for the inhabitants of these legions. At least the Cossack Feodor, who in 1875 and 1876 made several unsuccessful attempts to serve me as pilot, and who himself was a bachelor already grown old and wrinkled, complained that the fair or weaker sex was poorly represented among the Russians. He often talked of the advantages of mixed marriages, being of opinion, under the inspiration of memory or hope, I know not which, that a Dolgan woman was the most eligiblepurtifor a man disposed to marry in that part of the world.
A little farther south, but still far north of the limit of trees, there are, however, very well-to-do peasants, who inhabit largesimovies, consisting of a great number of houses and rooms, in which a certain luxury prevails, where one walks on floor-coverings of skins, where the windows are whole, the sacred pictures covered with plates of gold and silver, and the walls provided with mirrors and covered with finely coloured copper-plate portraits of Russian Czars and generals. This prosperity is won by traffic with the natives, who wander about as nomads on thetundrawith their reindeer herds.
The cliffs around Port Dickson consist of diorite, hard anddifficult to break in pieces, but weathering readily. The rocky hills are therefore so generally split up that they form enormous stone mounds. They were covered with a great abundance of lichens, and the plains between them yielded to Dr. Kjellman the following phanerogamous plants:Cineraria frigida RICHARDS.Erigeron uniflorus L.Saussurea alpina DC.Taraxacum phymatocarpum J. VAHL.Gymnandra Stelleri CH. &c. SCHL.Pedicularis sudetica WILLD.Pedicularis hirsuta L.Pedicularis Oederi VAHL.Eritrichium villosum BUNGE.Myosotis silvatica HOFFM.Astragalus alpinus L.Oxytropis campestris (L.) DC.Dryas octopetala L.Sieversia glacialis B. BR.Potentilla emarginata PURSH.Saxifraga oppositifolia L.Saxifraga bronchialis L.Saxifraga Hirculus L.Saxifraga stellaris L.Saxifraga nivalis L.Saxifraga hieraciifolia WALDST. &c. KIT.Saxifraga punctata L.Saxifraga cernua L.Saxifraga rivularis L.Saxifraga cæspitosa L.Chrysosplenium alternifolium L.Rhodiola rosea L.Parrya macrocarpa R. BR.Cardamine pratensis L.Cardamine bellidifolia L.Eutrema Edwardsii R. BR.Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR.Draba alpina L.Draba oblongata (R. BR.) DC.Draba corymbosa R. BR.Draba Wahlenbergii HN.Draba altaica (LEDEB.) BUNGE.Papaver nudicaule L.Banunculus pygmæus WG.Ranunculus hyperboreus ROTTB.Ranunculus lapponicus L.Ranunculus nivalis L.Ranunculus sulphureus SOL.Ranunculus affinis R. BR.Caltha palustris L.Wahlbergella apetala (L.) FR.Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR.Cerastium alpinum L.Alsine arctica FENZL.Alsine macrocarpa FENZL.Alsine rubella WG.Sagina nivalis FR.Oxyria digyna (L.) HILL.Rumex arcticus TRAUTV.Polygonum viviparum L.Polygonum Bistorta L.Salix polaris WG.Festuca rubra L.Poa cenisea ALL.Poa arctica R BR.Glyceria angustata B. BR.Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.Catabrosa concinna TH. FR.Colpodium latifolium E. BR.Dupontia Fisheri E. BR.Koeleria hirsuta GAUD.Aira cæspitosa L.Alopecurus alpinus SM.Eriophorum angustifolium ROTH.Eriophorum vaginatum L.Eriophorum Scheuchzeri HOPPE.Carex rigida GOOD.Carex aquatilis WG.Juncus biglumis L.Luzula hyperborea R BR.Luzula arctica BL.Lloydia serotina (L.) REICHENB.Banunculus pygmæus WG.Our botanists thus made on land a not inconsiderable collection, considering the northerly position of the region. On the other hand no large algæ were met with in the sea, nor was it to be expected that there would, for the samples of water
SIEVERSIA GLACIALIS R. BR.SIEVERSIA GLACIALIS R. BR.From Port Dickson.
taken up with Ekman's instrument showed that the salinity at the bottom was as slight as at the surface, viz. only 0.3 per cent. The temperature of the water was also at the time ofour visit about the same at the bottom as at the surface, viz. +9° to +10°. In spring, when the snow melts, the water here is probably quite fresh, in winter again cold, and as salt as at the bottom of the Kara Sea. Under so variable hydrographical conditions we might have expected an exceedingly scanty marine fauna, but this was by no means the case. For the dredgings in the harbour gave Dr. Stuxberg a not inconsiderable yield, consisting of the same types as those which are found in the salt water at the bottom of the Kara Sea. This circumstance appears to show that certain evertebrate types can endure a much greater variation in the temperature and salinity of the water than the algæ, and that there is a number of species which, though as a rule they live in the strongly cooled layer of salt water at the bottom of the Kara Sea, can bear without injury a considerable diminution in the salinity of the water and an increase of temperature of about 12°.
For the science of our time, which so often places the origin of a northern form in the south, andvice versâ, as the foundation of very wide theoretical conclusions, a knowledge of the types which can live by turns in nearly fresh water of a temperature of +10°, and in water cooled to -2°.7 and of nearly the same salinity as that of the Mediterranean, must have a certain interest. The most remarkable were, according to Dr. Stuxberg, the following: a species of Mysis,Diastylis RathkeiKR.,Idothea entomonLIN.,Idothea SabineiKR., two species of Lysianassida,Pontoporeia setosaSTBRG.,Halimedon brevicalcarGOËS, an Annelid, a Molgula,Yoldia intermediaM. SARS,Yoldia(?)arcticaGRAY, and a Solecurtus.
Driftwood in the form both of small branches and pieces of roots, and of whole trees with adhering portions of branches and roots, occurs in such quantities at the bottom of two well-protected coves at Port Dickson, that the seafarer may without difficulty provide himself with the necessary stock of fuel. Thegreat mass of the driftwood which the river bears along, however, does not remain on its own banks, but floats out to sea to drift about with the marine currents until the wood has absorbed so much water that it sinks, or until it is thrown up on the shores of Novaya Zemlya, the north coast of Asia, Spitzbergen or perhaps Greenland.
EVERTIBRATIS FROM PORT DICKSON.EVERTIBRATIS FROM PORT DICKSON.A. Yoldia arctica GRAY. One and two-thirds of natural size. B. Diastylis Rathkei KR.Magnified three times.
Another portion of the wood sinks, before it reaches the sea, often in such a way that the stems stand upright in the river bottom, with one end, so to say, rooted in the sand. They may thus be inconvenient for the navigation, at least at the shallower places of the river. A bay immediately off Port Dicksonwas almost barred by a natural palisade-work of driftwood stems.
August 7th. TheVegacoaled from theExpress. In the evening theLenaarrived, 36 hours after theVegahad anchored, that is to say, precisely at the appointed time. Concerning this excursion. Dr. Almquist reports:
"On the 2nd August we—Horgaard, Nordquist and I—went on board theLenato make an excursion to Beli Ostrov. We were to land on the south-western headland and there undertake botanical and zoological researches. Thereafter we were to direct some attention to the opposite shore of Yalmal and visit the Samoyeds living there.
"We left theVegaat eleven o'clock forenoon. In the course of the day we saw here and there in the south scattered ice, and at half-past ten at night we ran into a large belt, about 300 metres broad, of scattered ice, which lay stretched out from N.E. to S.W. It was passed without difficulty. In the course of the night we now and then fell in with a little scattered ice, and in the morning with a belt of masses of ice of considerable dimensions; sounding constantly in 10 to 3-1/2 metres water we succeeded, notwithstanding the fog and rain, in finding the straits between Beli Ostrov and the mainland, and on the 3rd August at eleven o'clock forenoon we anchored a little to the east of the southern extremity of the island. TheLenalay in 3-1/2 metres water, about an English mile out to sea. The water was shallow for so great a distance from the beach that we had to leave our boat about 300 metres out to sea and wade to land.
"Beli Ostrov consists entirely of fine sand, and only on that part of the beach which is washed by the sea-water did we see any stones as large as walnuts; higher up we did not find a piece of stone even of the size of the nail. The highest point of the island appears to be scarcely three metres above the surface of the sea. That part of the island over which the sea water washes, that is, the beach and the deep bays which indent the land here and there, shows the fine sand bare, without trace of vegetation. Where the ground rises a little, it becomes covered with a black and white variegated covering of mosses and lichens; scattered among which at long intervals are small tufts of grass. First somewhat higher up, and properly only round the marshy margins of the numerous small fresh-water lakes and in hollows and bogs, is the ground slightly green. The higherplants are represented by only 17 species, all small and stunted,[95]most of them rising only some few lines above the sand. Very few plants reached a height of 15 centimetres. No kind of willow was found, nor any flower seen of any other colour than green or white.
"The lichen-flora too was scanty. No species showed any great luxuriance, and seldom did the black and white lichen-crust produce any 'apothecium,' The lichen-vegetation was most abundant on the driftwood of the beach and on the tufts in the marshes. The larger lichens, as the reindeer and Iceland lichens, occurred very sparingly. About 80 species were found. The land evertebrates were so sparingly represented, that only three diptera, one species of hymenoptera, and some insect larvæ and spiders could be collected. Only poduræ were found in great abundance; they completely covered the whole ground at the beach.
"Several herds of reindeer were seen, but we did not succeed in getting within range of them. A little fish of the Cottus family was caught by Nordquist in a ditch which was in connection with the sea. Driftwood still fresh was found in great abundance, and farther up on land here and there lay a more rotten stem.
"Rain and fog rendered impossible any determination of position. During night we went across the sound and anchored about an English mile and a half from the shore of Yalmal, right opposite some Samoyed tents which we discovered a little inland. In the same unfavourable weather as that of the day before we attempted to land there, but found the water too shallow. First pretty far to the east we succeeded in reaching the beach at a place where the land rose out of the sea with a steep bank about nine metres high. Above the bank, which consisted of loose clay, we found a plain with the appearance ofa rich wateredtundra, full of marshes and streams, and therefore presenting a very green appearance. In order to meet with the Samoyeds we now went westwards, passing several rivulets which cut deeply into the land and had high banks, until after half an hour's walking we came to a broad but not very deep river, which it was impossible to ford. We therefore returned to our boat with the view of seeking a landing-place on the other side of the river; but as theLena'sdistance from land was considerable and the breeze was freshening, the captain considered that the time at our disposal did not permit us to undertake so long an excursion.
"So far as we may judge from our hasty visit, the vegetation on this part of Yalmal struck us as being remarkably abundant. The high banks especially were richly covered by phanerogamous plants and lichens, and would have deserved a closer examination. Our cursory observations of the plants here may however be interesting for comparison with the flora of Beli Ostrov; we collected and noted the higher plants[96]and about 40 species of lichens. Nordquist found that the fauna resembled that of the neighbouring island, and collected besides two species of Coleoptera.
"After lying 26 hours in the sound we weighed anchor again and went westwards, following a channel with ten to sixteen metres water. We could not find its course farther to the east, and were compelled, although we were near the eastern extremity of Beli Ostrov, to turn in order to pass out through the western entrance of the sound. We saw a quantity of stranded ice on the north coast of the island, which, seen from the sea, did not present any dissimilarity to the part which we had visited. On the 7th August we arrived at Port Dickson."
From Lieutenant Hovgaard's report on this excursion, a mapis given here of Beli Ostrov and the neighbouring coast of Yalmal, in which I have named the sound between the island and the mainland after MALYGIN, one of the gallant Russian seamen who first sailed through it nearly a century and a half ago.
Yalmal has been visited by Europeans so seldom, and their observations are scattered in printed papers so inaccessible, that it may perhaps not be out of place here to collect the most important facts which are known regarding this peninsula, along with the necessary bibliographical references.
First as to its name, it is sometimes also written "Yelmert Land,"[97]but this is quite incorrect.
"Yalmal" is of Samoyed origin, and has, according to a private communication from the well-known philologist Dr. E.D. EUROPÆUS, the distinctive meaning "land's-end." YELMERT again was a boatswain with the Dutch whale-fisher VLAMINGH, who in 1664 sailed round the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya to Barents' winter haven, and thence farther to the south-east. Vlamingh himself at his turning-point saw no land, though all signs showed that land ought to be found in the neighbourhood; but several of the crew thought they saw land, and the report of this to a Dutch mapmaker, DICK REMBRANTSZ. VAN NIEROP, led to the introduction of the supposed land into a great many maps, commonly as a large island in the Kara Sea. This island was named Yelmert Land. The similarity between the names Yelmert Land and Yalmal, and the doubt as to the existence of the Yelmert Island first shown on the maps, have led to the transfer of the name Yelmert Land to the peninsula which separates the Gulf of Obi from the Kara Sea. It is to be remarked, however, that the nameYalmal is not found in the older accounts of voyages from the European waters to the Obi. The first time I met with it was in the narrative of Skuratov's journey in 1737, as the designation of the most north-easterly promontory of the peninsula which now bears that name.
Yalmal's grassy plains offer the Samoyeds during summer reindeer pastures which are highly valued, and the land is said to have a very numerous population in comparison with other regions along the shores of the Polar Sea, the greater portion, however, drawing southward towards winter with their large herds of reindeer. But the land is, notwithstanding this, among the most imperfectly known parts of the great Russian empire. Some information regarding it we may obtain from sketches of the following journeys:
SELIFONTOV, 1737. In the months of July and August the surveyor Selifontov travelled in a reindeer sledge along the coast of the Gulf of Obi as far as to Beli Ostrov. About this journey unfortunately nothing else has been published than is to be found in LITKE,Viermalige Reise, &c., Berlin, 1835, p. 66, and WRANGEL,Sibirische Reise, Berlin, 1839, p. 37.
SUJEFF, in 1771, travelled under the direction of Pallas over the southern part of Yalmal from Obdorsk to the Kara Sea, and gives an instructive account of observations made during his journey in PALLAS,Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des russischen Reiches, St. Petersburg, 1771—76, III. pp. 14—35.
KRUSENSTERN, 1862. During his second voyage in the Kara Sea, which ended with the abandonment of the shipYermakon the coast of Yalmal in about 69° 54' N. L., Krusenstern junior escaped with his crew to the shore, reaching it in a completely destitute condition. He had lost all, and would certainly have perished if he had not near the landing-place fallen in with a rich Samoyed, the owner of two thousand reindeer, who received the shipwrecked men in a very friendly way and conveyed them with his reindeer to Obdorsk, distantin a straight line 500, but, according to the Samoyed's reckoning, 1,000 versts. In the sketch of Krusenstern's travels, to which I have had access, there is unfortunately no information regarding the tribe with which he came in contact during this remarkable journey.[98]
WALDBURG-ZEIL and FINSCH, 1876. A very full and exceedingly interesting description of the natural conditions in the southernmost part of the peninsula is to be found in the accounts of Count Waldburg-Zeil and Dr. Finsch's journey in the year 1876.[99]
SCHWANENBERG, 1877. Captain Schwanenberg landed on the north part of Beli Ostrov during the remarkable voyage which he made in that year from the Yenisej to St. Petersburg. No traces of men, but some of reindeer and bears, were visible. The sea was sufficiently deep close to the shore for vessels of light draught, according to a private communication which I have received from Captain Schwanenberg.
THE SWEDISH EXPEDITION, 1875. During this voyage we landed about the middle of the west coast of Yalmal. In order to give an idea of the nature of the country, I make the following extract from my narrative of the voyage,[100]which has had but a limited circulation:
"In the afternoon of the 8th August I landed, along with Lundström and Stuxberg, on a headland projecting a little from Yalmal, on the north side of the mouth of a pretty large river.The landing place was situated in lat. 72° 18', long. 68° 42'. The land was bounded here by a low beach, from which at a distance of one hundred paces a steep bank rose to a height of from six to thirty metres. Beyond this bank there is an extensive, slightly undulating plain, covered with a vegetation which indeed was exceedingly monotonous, but much more luxuriant than