PLACE OF SACRIFICE ON YALMAL.PLACE OF SACRIFICE ON YALMAL.After a drawing by A. N. Lundström.
that of Vaygats Island or Novaya Zemlya. The uniformity of the vegetation is perhaps caused, in a considerable degree, by the uniform nature of the terrain. There is no solid rock here. The ground everywhere consists of sand and sandy clay, in which I could not find a stone so large as a bullet or even as a pea, though I searched for a distance of several kilometres along thestrand-bank. Nor did the dredge bring up any stones from the sea-bottom off the coast, a circumstance which, among other things, is remarkable, because it appears to show that the strand-ice from the Obi and Yenisej does not drift down to and melt in this part of the Kara Sea. Nor do the sand beds contain any sub-fossil shells, as is the case with the sand beds of the Yenisejtundra. 'Noah's wood' also appears to be absent here. To judge from our observations at this place, the peninsula between the Gulf of Obi and the Kara Sea thus differs very essentially from thetundralying east of the Yenisej.
"We saw no inhabitants, but everywhere along the beach numerous traces of men—some of them barefoot—of reindeer, dogs and Samoyed sleighs, were visible. On the top of the strand-bank was found a place of sacrifice, consisting of forty-five bears' skulls of various ages placed in a heap, a large number of reindeer skulls, the lower jaw of a walrus, &c. From most of the bears' skulls the canine teeth were broken out, and the lower jaw was frequently entirely wanting. Some of the bones were overgrown with moss and lay sunk in the earth; others had, as the adhering flesh showed, been placed there during the present year. In the middle of the heap of bones stood four erect pieces of wood. Two consisted of sticks a metre in length with notches cut in them, serving to bear up the reindeer and bears' skulls, which were partly placed on the points of the sticks or hung up by means of the notches, or spitted on the sticks by four-cornered holes cut in the skulls. The two others, which clearly were the proper idols of this place of sacrifice, consisted of driftwood roots, on which some carvings had been made to distinguish the eyes, mouth, and nose. The parts of the pieces of wood, intended to represent the eyes and mouth, had recently been besmeared with blood, and there still lay at the heap of bones the entrails of a newly-killed reindeer. Close beside were found the remains of a fireplace, and of a midden, consisting of reindeer bones of various kinds and the lower jaws of bears."As the sandy slopes of the beach offered no suitable breeding-place for looms, black guillemots, or other sea-fowl, and there were no islands along the coast which could serve as breeding-places for eiders and other species of geese which breed in colonies, the abundant bird-life of the Polar Sea was wanting here. At the mouth of the river, however, large flocks of eiders and long-tailed ducks flew about, and on the sandy banks along the shore, flocks ofCalidris arenariaand a Tringa or two ran about restlessly seeking their food. The solitude of thetundrawas broken only by a couple of larks and a pair of falcons (Falco peregrinus) with young. Traces of reindeer were also seen, and two fox-traps set on the strand-bank showed that foxes occur in these regions in sufficient numbers to be the object of capture.
"Later in the afternoon, when some solar altitudes had been taken, in order to determine the geographical position of the place, we rowed back to our vessel and sailed on, keeping at some distance from the coast, and at one place passing between the shore and a long series of blocks of ground-ice, which had stranded along the coast in a depth of nine to sixteen metres. During night we passed a place where five Samoyed tents were pitched, in whose neighbourhood a large number of reindeer pastured. The land was now quite low, and the sea had become considerably shallower. The course was therefore shaped for the N.W., in which direction deeper water was soon met with. Notwithstanding the slight salinity and high temperature (+ 7°.7) of the surface water aClio borealisand a large number of Copepoda were taken at the surface."
The excursion now described and Almquist's and Hovgaard's landing in 1878 were, as far as I am aware, the only occasions on which naturalists have visited the northern part of that peninsula which separates the Kara Sea from the Obi. The Norwegian hunters also visit the place seldom, the main reasons being the inaccessibility of the shallow east coast, and the wantof harbours. They now, however, land occasionally to take in water, and perhaps to barter the tobacco they have saved from their rations, knives they have no use for, and old-fashioned guns, gunpowder, lead, &c., for the products of the Samoyeds' reindeer husbandry, hunting and fishing. At first the natives fled when they saw the Norwegians coming, and, when they could not make their escape, they saluted them with great humility, falling on their knees and bending their heads to the earth, and were unwilling to enter into any traffic with them or to show them their goods. But since the Samoyeds observed that the Norwegians never did them any harm, the mistrust and excessive humility have completely disappeared. Now a visit of Europeans is very agreeable to them, partly for the opportunity which it offers of obtaining by barter certain articles of necessity, luxury, or show, partly perhaps also for the interruption thereby caused in the monotony of thetundralife. When the walrus-hunters row or sail along that open coast, it often happens that natives run backwards and forwards on the shore, and by signs eagerly invite the foreigners to land; if they do so, and there are any wealthy Samoyeds in the neighbourhood, there immediately begins a grand entertainment, according to the customs of the people, with more than one trait reminding us of the sketches from the traditionary periods of the civilised nations.
What I have stated here is about all that we know of Yalmal, and we see from this that a very promising, yet untouched field for researches in ethnography and natural history here lies before future travellers to the Yenisej.
What sort of winter is there at the mouth of the Yenisej? We have for the present no information on this point, as no scientific man has wintered there. But on the other hand we have a very exciting narrative of the wintering of the Fin, NUMMELIN, at the Briochov Islands in the Yenisej in lat. 70° 48' north.
"JORDGAMMOR" ON THE BRIOCHOV ISLANDS."JORDGAMMOR" ON THE BRIOCHOV ISLANDS.After a sketch by the Author.
I visited the place on the 27th August 1875. It consisted of a fishing post, occupied only in summer, and at that season of the year very attractive, surrounded as it is by luxuriant vegetation of grass and bushes. The houses were situated on a sound running between the Briochov Islands, which form the northernmost group of the labyrinth of islands which occupy the channel of the Yenisej between 69-1/2° and 71° N.L. At the time of our visit the fishing was over for the season and the place deserted. But two small houses and a number of earth-huts (jordgammor), all in good repair, stood on the river bank and gave evidence, along with a number of large boats drawn up on land, and wooden vessels intended for salting fish, of the industry which had been carried on there earlier in the summer.It was at this place that Nummelin passed one of the severest winters that Arctic literature has to record.[101]
In 1876 M. Sidoroff, well known for the lively interest which he takes in navigation in the Siberian waters, had a shipSevernoe Sianie(theAurora) built and fitted out at Yeniseisk, in order to carry goods from the Yenisej to Europe. The vessel was placed under the command of a Russian sea-captain, Schwanenberg. Under him Nummelin served as mate, and the vessel had a crew of eighteen men, most of whom had been exiled to Siberia for crime. In consequence of various mishaps the vessel could not get farther the first year than to the neighbourhood of the mouth of the Yenisej, where it was left in winter quarters at the place which has been named above. Nummelin and four exiles remained on board, while Schwanenberg and the rest of the crew returned to Yeniseisk on the 28th September. Frost had already commenced. During the two following weeks the temperature kept in the neighbourhood of the freezing point; clear weather alternating with snow and rain.
On the 5th of October the crew withdrew to their winter quarters, having previously collected driftwood and placed it in heaps in order that they might easily find it under the snow.
On the 16th October the thermometer at eight o'clock in the morning showed -4.5° and afterwards sank lower every day, until after the 21st October the mercury for some days was constantly under -10°. On the 26th October the temperature was -18°, but in the beginning of November it rose again to -2°. On the 6th November it sank again to -17°, but rose on the 11th to-3.5.° On the 14th November the thermometer showed -23.5°,on the 21st -29'5°. Next day in the morning it stood at -32°, and in the evening at -37°, but these figures were arrived atby guess, the instrument not indicating so low temperatures. This temperature of -30° to -32°, varying with frozen mercury, continued till the end of November, when it rose again to -11.5°. At Christmas there was again a temperature of -31° and the six following days the mercury was frozen, with which the new year came in. The temperature then rose again to -20°, but soon sank so that from the 16th January the mercury was frozen for five days. On the 22nd January the reading was -9°. On the 26th the mercury froze again, and on the 29th the temperature was -6°. During the month of February the temperature never rose above -24°; the mercury was frozen on the 20th, 25th, 26th, and 28th. This was the case on the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 14th, 16th, and 18th March; on the 22nd March the reading was -7°, on the 30th -29°. April began with -31°, but the temperature afterwards rose, so that on the 16th it reached -11° and varied between -21° and -6° (the 25th). On the 2nd May the reading in the morning and evening was -12°, at mid-day -2° to -5°. On the 8th May it was +0, on the 17th -10.5°, on the 31st +0.5°. June began with +1.5°. On the 8th the reading at mid-day was +11°, on the morning and evening of the same day +2° to +3°. During the remainder of June and the month of July the temperature varied between +2° and +21°.
It was in such circumstances that Nummelin and his four companions lived in the ill-provided house of planks on the Little Briochov Island. They removed to it, as has been already said, on the 5th October; on the 20th the ice was so hard frozen that they could walk upon it. On the 26th snowstorms commenced, so that it was impossible to go out of the house.
The sun was visible for the last time on the 21st November, and it reappeared on the 19th January. On the 15th May the sun no longer set. The temperature was then under the freezing point of mercury. That the upper edge of the sunshould be visible on the 19th January we must assume a horizontal refraction of nearly 1°. The islands on the Yenisej are so low that there was probably a pretty open horizon towards the south.
Soon after Christmas scurvy began to show itself. Nummelin's companions were condemned and punished criminals, in whom there was to be expected neither physical nor moral power of resistance to this disease. They all died, three of scurvy, and one in the attempt to cross from the Briochov Islands to asimovieat Tolstoinos. In their stead Nummelin succeeded in procuring two men from Tolstoinos, and later on one from Goltschicha. On the 11th May a relief party arrived from the south. It consisted of three men under the mate Meyenwaldt, whom Sidoroff had sent to help to save the vessel. They had first to shovel away the snow which weighed it down. The snow lay nearly six metres deep on the river ice, which was three metres thick. When they at last had got the vessel nearly dug out, it was buried again by a new snowstorm.
In the middle of June the ice began to move, and the river water rose so high that Nummelin, Meyenwaldt, and four men, along with two dogs, were compelled to betake themselves to the roof of the hut, where they had laid in a small stock of provisions and fuel. Here they passed six days in constant peril of their lives.
The river had now risen five metres; the roof of the hut rose but a quarter of a metre above the surface of the swollen river, and was every instant in danger of being carried away by a floating piece of ice. In such a case a small boat tied to the roof was their only means of escape.
The whole landscape was overflowed. The other houses and huts were carried away by the water and the drifting ice, which also constantly threatened the only remaining building. The men on its roof were compelled to work night and day to keep the pieces of ice at a distance with poles.The great inundation had even taken the migrating birds at unawares. For long stretches there was not a dry spot for them to rest upon, and thus it happened that exhausted ptarmigan alighted among the men on the roof; once a ptarmigan settled on Meyenwaldt's head, and a pair on the dogs.
On the 23rd June the water began to fall, and by the 25th it had sunk so low that Nummelin and his companions could leave the roof and remove to the deserted interior of the house.
The narrative of Nummelin's return to Europe by sea, in company with Schwanenberg, belongs to a following chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[87]Les moeurs et usages des Ostiackes, par Jean Bernard Muller, Capitaine de dragon au service de la Suède, pendant sa captivité en Sibérie (Recueil de Voiages au Nord. T. VIII., Amsterdam, 1727, p. 389).
[88]I come to this conclusion from the appearance of the strata as seen from the sea, and from their nature on Vaygats Island and the west coast of Novaya Zemlya. So far as I know, no geologist has landed on this part of the east coast.
[89]
Sometimes, however, icebergs are to be met with in the most northerly part of the Kara Sea and on the north coast of Novaya Zemlya, whither they may drive down from Franz Josef Land or from other yet unknown Polar lands lying farther north.
[90]In most of the literary narratives of Polar journeys colossal icebergs play a very prominent part in the author's delineations both with the pencil and the pen. The actual fact, however, is that icebergs occur in far greater numbers in the seas which are yearly accessible than in those in which the advance of the Polar travellers' vessel is hindered by impenetrable masses of ice. If we may borrow a term from the geography of plants to indicate the distribution of icebergs, they may be said to be moreborealthanpolarforms of ice. All the fishers on the coast of Newfoundland, and most of the captains on the steamers between New York and Liverpool, have some time or other seen true icebergs, but to most north-east voyagers this formation is unknown, though the name iceberg is often in their narratives given to glacier ice-blocks of somewhat considerable dimensions. This, however, takes place on the same ground and with the same justification as that on which the dwellers on the Petchora consider Bolschoj-Kamen a very high mountain. But although no true icebergs are ever formed at the glaciers so common on Spitzbergen and also on North Novaya Zemlya, it however often happens that large blocks of ice fall down from them and give rise to a swell, which may be very dangerous to vessels in their neighbourhood. Thus a wave caused by the falling of a piece of ice from a glacier on the 23rd (13th) of June, 1619, broke the masts of a vessel anchored at Bell Sound on Spitzbergen, threw a cannon overboard, killed three men, and wounded many more (Purchas, iii., p. 734). Several similar adventures, if on a smaller scale, I could relate from my own experience and that of the walrus-hunters. Care is taken on this account to avoid anchoring too near the perpendicular faces of glaciers.
[91]It may, however, be doubted whether thewholeof the Kara Sea is completely frozen over in winter.
[92]Already in 1771 one of Pallas' companions, the student Sujeff, found large algæ in the Kara Sea (Pallas,Reise. St. Petersburg, 1771—1776, ii. p. 34).
[93]Dwellings intended both for winter and summer habitation.
[94]The most northerly fixed dwelling-place, which is at present inhabited by Europeans, is the Danish commercial post Tasiusak, in north-western Greenland, situated in 73° 24' N.L. How little is known, even in Russia, of the former dwellings at the mouth of the Yenisej may be seen fromNeueste Nachrichten über die nördlichste Gegend von Sibirien zwischen den Flüssen Pjassida und Chatanga in Fragen und Autworten abgefasst. Mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen vom Herausgeber(K.E. v. Baer und Gr. v. Helmersen,Beiträge sur Kenntniss des russischen Reiches, vol. iv. p. 269. St. Petersburg, 1841).
[95]The collections made here were after our return determined by Dr. Kjellman, who has communicated the following list:
Saxifraga stellaris L.
Saxifraga cernua L.
Saxifraga rivularis L.
Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR.
Stellaria humifusa ROTTB.
Sagina nivalis FR.
Arctophila pendulina (LAEST.) ANDS.
Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.
Dupontia Fisheri R. BR.
Aira cæspitosa L.
Hierochloa pauciflora R. BR.
Eriophorum russeolum FR.
Eriophorum Scheuchzeri HOPPE.
Carex salina WG.
Carex ursina DESV.
Luzula hyperborea R. BR.
Luzula arctica BL.
[96]These according to Dr. Kjellman's determination are:
Saxifraga cernua L.
Saxifraga cæspitosa L.
Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR.
Draba alpina L.
Ranunculus sulphureus SOL.
Ranunculus nivalis L.
Ranunculus pygmæus WG.
Ranunculus lapponicus L.
Ranunculus borealis TRAUTV.
Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR.
Salix glauca L.
Arctophila pendulina (LAEST.) AND.
Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.
Catabrosa concinna TH. FR.
Dupontia Fisheri R. BR.
Calamagrostis lapponica L.
Carex salina WG.
Carex rigida GOOD.
Eriophorum russeolum FR.
Luzula arcuata SM. f. hyperborea R. BR.
Lloydia serotina (L.) REICHENB.
[97]On the maps in Linschoten's work already quoted, printed in 1601, and in BlaviiAtlas Major(1665, t. i. pp. 24, 25), this land is called "Nieu West Vrieslant" and "West Frisia Nova," names which indeed have priorityin print, but yet cannot obtain a preference over the inhabitants' own beautiful name.
[98]Paul von Krusenstern,Skizzen aus seinem Seemannsleben. Hirschberg in Silesia. Farther on I intend to give a more detailed account of von Krusenstern's two voyages in the Kara Sea.
[99]Deutsche Geogr. Blättervon Lindemann Namens d. Geogr. Gesellsch., Bremen. I. 1877. II. 1878. O. Finsch,Reise nach West-Sibirien im Jahre 1876. Berlin, 1879. A bibliographical list has been drawn up by Count von Waldburg-Zeil under the title,Litteratur-Nachweis fur das Gebiet des unteren, Ob.
[100]Nordenskiöld,Redogörelse for en expedition till mynningen af Jenisej och Sibirien år 1875, Bih. till Kongl. Vet.-Ak. Handl, vol. iv., No. 1, p. 38-42.
[101]I give the particulars of this wintering partly after communications made to me in conversation by Nummelin, partly afterGöteborgs Handelsoch Sjöfartstidningfor the 20th and 21st November, 1877. Thisfirstand, as far as I know, only detailed narrative of the voyage in question, was dictated to the editor of that journal,reference being made to the logby Schwanenberg and Nummelin. Schwanenberg had come to Gothenburg some days before with his Yeniseisk-built vessel.
The history of the North-east Passage from 1556 to 1878—Burrough, 1556 —Pet and Jackman, 1580—-The first voyage of the Dutch, 1594—Oliver Brunel—The second voyage, 1595—The third voyage, 1596—Hudson, 1608—Gourdon, 1611—Bosman, 1625—De la Martinière, 1653—Vlamingh, 1664—Snobberger, 1675—Roule reaches a land north of Novaya Zemlya—Wood and Flawes, 1676—Discussion in England concerning the state of the ice in the Polar Sea—Views of the condition of the Polar Sea still divided—Payer and Weyprecht, 1872-74.
The sea which washes the north coast of European Russia is named by King Alfred (Orosius, Book I. Chaps, i. ii.) the Quaen Sea (in Anglo-SaxonCwen Sae),[102]a distinctive name, which unquestionably has the priority, and well deserves to be retained. To the inhabitants of Western Europe the islands, Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats, first became known through Stephen Burrough's voyage of discovery in 1556. Burrough therefore is often called the discoverer of Novaya Zemlya, but incorrectly. For when he came thither he found Russian vessels, manned by hunters well acquainted with the navigable waters and the land. It is clear from this that Novaya Zemlya had then already been known to the inhabitants of Northern Russia for such a length of time that a very actively prosecuted hunting could arise there. It is even probable that in the same way as the northernmost part of Norway was alreadyknown for a thousand years back, not only to wandering Lapps, but also to Norwegians and Quaens, the lands round Yugor Schar and Vaygats were known several centuries before Burrough's time, not only to the nomad Samoyeds on the mainland, but also to various Beorma or Finnish tribes. Probably the Samoyeds then, as now, drove their reindeer herds up thither to pasture on the grassy plains along the coast of the Polar Sea, where they were less troubled by the mosquito and the reindeer fly than further to the south, and probably the wild nomads were accompanied then, as now, by merchants from the more civilised races settled in Northern Russia. The name Novaya Zemlya (New Land), indicates that it was discovered at a later period, probably by Russians, but we know neither when nor how.[103]The narrative of Stephen Burrough's voyage, which, like so many others, has been preserved from oblivion by Hakluyt's famous collection, thus not only forms a sketch of the first expedition of West-Europeans to Novaya Zemlya, but is also the principal source of our knowledge of the earliest Russian voyages to these regions. I shall on this account go into greater detail in the case of this voyage than in those of the other voyages that will be referred to here.
It is self-evident that the new important commercial treaties, to which Chancelor's discovery of the route from England to the White Sea led, would be hailed with great delight both in England and in Russia, and would give occasion to a number of new undertakings. At first, as early as 1555, there was formed in England a company of "merchant adventurers ofEngland for the discoverie of landes, territories, isles, dominions, and seigniories unknowen," commonly called "the Muscovy Company," Sebastian Cabot, then almost an octogenarian, was appointed governor for the term of his natural life, and a number of privileges were conferred upon it by the rulers both of England and Russia. At the same time negotiators, merchants, and inquirers were sent by different ways from England to Russia in order to confirm the amity with that country, and more thoroughly examine the, at least to England, new world, which had now been discovered in the East. But a detailed account of these journeys does not enter into the plan of this work.
With this, however, men were not content. They considered Chancelor's voyage as but the first step to something far more important, namely, the opening of the North-East Passage to China and India. While Chancelor himself the year after his return was sent along with several merchants to the White Sea, a further attempt was planned to reach the east coast of Asia by the same route. A small vessel, theSearchthrift, was fitted out for this purpose and placed under the command of Stephen Burrough.[104]The most important occurrences during the voyage were the following:—
On the 3rd May/23rd April, 1556, the start was made from Ratcliffe to Blackwall and Grays. Here Sebastian Cabot came on board, together with some distinguished gentlemen and ladies. They were first entertained on board the vessel and gave liberal presents to the sailors, alms being given at the same time to a number of poor people, in order that they might pray for good luck and a good voyage; "then at the signe of the Christopher,Master Cabot and his friends banketted, and made them that were in the company great cheere; and for very joy that he had to see the towardness of our intended discovery, he entered into the dance himselfe, amongst the rest of the young and lusty company." At Orwell Burrough left his own vessel, in order, at the wish of the merchants, to make the passage to Vardoehus in theEdward Bonaventure. In the end of May he was off the North Cape, which name Burrough says he gave to this northernmost headland of Europe during his first voyage.[105]When Burrough left theEdward Bonaventureand went on board his own vessel is not stated, but on the 17th/7th June he replied on theSearchthriftto the parting salute of theEdward Bonaventure. On the 20th/10th June Kola was reached, and its latitude fixed at 63° 48'.[106]
"On Thursday the 21st/11th June at 6 of the clocke in the morning, there came aboord of vs one of the Russe Lodiaes, rowing with twentie oares, and there were foure and twentie men in her. The master of the boate presented me with a great loafe of bread, and six rings of bread, which they call Colaches, and foure dryed pikes, and a peck of fine otemeale, and I gave vnto the Master of the boate a combe, and a small glasse. He declared vnto me that he was bound to Pechora, and after that I made to drinke, the tide being somewhat broken, they gently departed. The Master's name was Pheother (Feodor).... Thursday (the 28th/18th June) we weyed our ankers in the Riuer Cola, and went into the Sea seuen or eight leagues, where we met with the winde farre Northerly, that of force it constrained vs to goe againe backe into the sayd riuer, where came aboord of vs sundry of their Boates, which declared unto me that theywere also bound to the northwards, a fishing for Morse and Salmon, and gave me liberally of their white and wheaten bread.
"As we roade in this riuer, wee saw dayly comming downe the riuer many of their Lodias, and they that had least, had foure and twentie men in them, and at the last they grew to thirtie saile of them; and amongst the rest, there was one of them whose name was Gabriel, who shewed me very much friendshippe, and he declared vnto mee that all they were bound to Pechora, a fishing for salmons, and morses: insomuch that hee shewed mee by demonstrations, that with a faire winde we had seuen or eight dayes sailing to the riuer Pechora, so that I was glad of their company. This Gabriel promised to giue mee warning of shoales, as he did indeede.... Sunday being the one and twentieth day [of June, 1st July new style], Gabriel gaue mee a barrell of Meade, and one of his speciall friends gaue me a barrell of beere, which was caryed upon mens backs at least 2 miles.
"Munday we departed from the riuer Cola, with all the rest of the said Lodias, but sailing before the wind they were all too good for vs:[107]but according to promise, this Gabriel and his friend did often strike their sayles, and taryed for us forsaking their owne company. Tuesday at an Eastnortheast sunne we were thwart of Cape St. John.[108]It is to be vnderstood, that from the Cape S. John vnto the riuer or bay that goeth to Mezen, it is all sunke land, and full of shoales and dangers, you shall haue scant two fadome water and see no land. And this present day wee came to an anker thwart of a creeke, which is 4 or 5 leagues to the northwards of the sayd Cape,into which creeke Gabriel and his fellow rowed, but we could not get in: and before night there were aboue 20 saile that went into the sayd creeke, the wind being at the Northeast. We had indifferent good landfang. This afternoone Gabriel came aboord with his skiffe, and then I rewarded him for the good company that he kept with vs ouer the Shoales, with two small iuory combes, and a steele glasse with two or three trifles more, for which he was not ungratefull. But notwithstanding, his first company had gotten further to the Northwards. Wednesday being Midsummer day we sent our skiffe aland to sound the creeke, where they found it almost drie at a low water. And all the Lodias within were on ground. (In consequence of the threatening appearance of the weather Burrough determined to go into the bay at high water. In doing so he ran aground, but got help from his Russian friends.) Gabriel came out with his skiffe, and so did sundry
RUSSIAN "LODJA."RUSSIAN "LODJA."After G. de Veer.
others also, shewing their good will to help us, but all to no purpose, for they were likely to have bene drowned for their labour, in so much that I desired Gabriel to lend me his anker, because our owne ankers were too big for our skiffe to lay out, who sent me his owne, and borrowed another also and sent it vs."
After much trouble Burrough succeeded in getting his vessel off the shoal, and then sought for a better anchorage on the other side of Cape St. John.
"Friday (6th July/26th June) at afternoone we weyed, and departed from thence, the wether being mostly faire, and the winde at East-southeast, and plied for the place where we left our cable and anker, and our hawser, and as soone as we were at an anker the foresaid Gabriel came aboord of vs, with 3 or foure more of their small boats, and brought with them of their Aquauitæ and Meade, professing unto me very much friendship, and reioiced to see vs againe, declaring that they earnestly thought that we had bene lost. This Gabriel declared vnto me that they had saued both the ankers and our hauser, and after we had thus communed, I caused 4 or 5 of them to goe into my cabbin, where I gaue them figs and made them such cheere as I could. While I was banketing of them, there came another of their Skiffes aboord with one who was a Kerill (Karelian), whose name afterwards I learned, and that he dwelt in Colmogro, and Gabriel dwelled in the towne of Cola, which is not far from the river's mouth. This foresaid Keril said vnto me that one of the ankers which I borrowed was his. I gave him thanks for the lone of it, thinking it had bene sufficient. And as I continued in our accustomed maner, that if the present which they brought were worth enterteinment, they had it accordingly, he brought nothing with him, and therfore I regarded him but litle. And thus we ended, and they took their leaue and went ashore. At their comming ashore, Gabriel and Keril were at vnconvenient words, and by the eares, as I vnderstand; the cause was because the one had better enterteinment than the other; but you shal vnderstand that Gabriel was not able to make his party good, because there were 17 lodias of the Kerils company who tooke his part, and but 2 of Gabriel's company. The next high water Gabriel and his company departed from thence, and rowed to their former company and neighbours, which werein number 28 at the least, and all of them belonging to the river Cola. And as I vnderstood Keril made reckoning that the hauser which was fast in his anker should have bene his owne, and at first would not deliver it to our boat, insomuch that I sent him worde that I would complain vpon him, whereupon he deliuered the hauser to my company. The next day being Saturday, I sent our boat on shore to fetch fresh water and wood, and at their comming on shore this Keril welcomed our men most gently, and also banketed them, and in the meanetime caused some of his men to fill our baricoes with water, and to help our men to beare wood into their boat; and then he put on his best silke coate, and his collar of pearles and came aboorde againe, and brought his present with him: and thus having more respect vnto his present than to his person, because I perceiued him to be vain-glorious, I bade him welcome and gaue him a dish of figs; and then he declared vnto me that his father was a gentleman, and that he was able to shew me pleasure, and not Gabriel, who was but a priest's sonne."
After Burrough has given account of a storm, during which he lost a jolly boat, which he had purchased at Vardoehus, and by which they were detained some time in the neighbourhood of Cape St. John (whose latitude was fixed at 66° 50') he continues:—
"Saturday (the 14/24th July) at a Northnorthwest sunne the wind came at Eastnortheast, and then we weied, and plied to the Northwards, and as we were two leagues shot past the Cape, we saw a house standing in a valley, which is dainty to be seene in those parts and by and by I saw three men on the top of the hil. Then I iudged them, as it afterwards proued, that they were men which came from some other place to set traps to take vermin[109]for their furres, which trappes we did perceiue very thicke alongst the shore as we went."
The 14th to the 19th July, new style, were passed on the coast of Kanin Nos.[110]On the 19th at noon Burrough was inlat. 68° 40' north. On Friday, the 10/20th July another storm appeared to threaten.
"And as I was musing what was best to be done, I saw a sail come out of a creeke under the foresayd Caninoz, which was my friend Gabriel, who forsook his harborough and company, and came as neere us as he might, and pointed vs to the Eastwards, and then we weyed and followed him. Saturday we went eastsoutheast and followed Gabriel, and he brought vs into an harborough called Morgiouets, which is 30 leagues from Caninoz. This morning Gabriel saw a smoke on ye way, who rowed vnto it with his skiffe, which smoke was two leagues from the place where we road; and at a Northwest sunne he came aboord again, and brought with him a Samoed,[111]which was but a young man; his apparell was then strange vnto vs, and he presented me with three young wild geese, and one young barnacle."
On the 24th/14th July Burrough sailed past Dolgoi Island, and the following day entered the mouth of the Petchora, the latitude of which was fixed at 69° 10'.[112]On the 30th/20th they sailed out again over sandbanks in only five feet of water, and thanked God that their vessel was of so light draught. The day after ice was met with for the first time. On the 4th Aug./6th July in lat. 70° 20' north, they had the meeting already described with an enormous whale.[113]Somewhat later on the same day theSearchthriftanchored in a good haven between two islands, situated in 70° 42' N. L.[114]They were named by Burrough St. James's Islands.
"Tuesday, the 7th Aug./29th July we plyed to the Westwards alongst the shoare, the wind being at Northwest, and as I was about to come to anker, we saw a sail comming about the point whereunder we thought to have ankered. Then I sent a skiffe aboorde of him, and at their comming aboord, they tooke acquaintance of them, and the chiefe man said hee had benein our company in the riuer Cola, and also declared vnto them that we were past the way which should bring vs to the Ob. This land, sayd he, is called Nova Zembla, that is to say, the New Land; and then he came aboord himselfe with his skiffe he told me the like ... he made me also certaine demonstrations of the way to the Ob. I gave him a steele glasse, two pewter spoons, and a paire of veluet sheathed knives; and then he seemed somewhat the more willing to tary and shewed me as much as he knew for our purpose; he also gave me 17 wild geese.... This man's name was Loshak. Wednesday, as we plied to Eastwards, we espied another saile, which was one of this Loshak's company, and we bare roome and spake with him, who in like sort tolde us of the Ob, as the other had done.... Friday (the 10th Aug./31st July) the gale of winde began to increase, and came Westerly withall, so that by a Northwest sunne we were at an anker among the Islands of Waigats, where we saw two small lodias; the one of them came aboord of us and presented me with a great loafe of bread; and they told me they were all of Colmogro, except one man that dwelt at Pechora, who seemed to be the chiefest among them in killing of the Morse.[115]There were some of their company on shoare which did chase a white beare ouer the high clifs into the water, which beare the lodia that was aboord of us killed in our sight. This day there was a great gale of wind at North, and we saw so much ice driving a seaboord that it was then no going to sea."
During the first days of August the vessel lay for the most part in company with or in the neighbourhood of Loshak, who gave them information about the Samoyeds, after which Burrough visited their sacrificial places.[116]
"Tuesday (the 14/4th) August we turned for the harborough where Loshak's barke lay,[117]where, as before, we road vnder an Island. And there he came aboord of vs and said unto me: ifGod send wind and weather to serve, I will go to the Ob with you, because the Morses were scant at these Islands of Vaigats; but if he could not get to the riuer of Ob, then he sayd hee would goe to the riuer of Narainzay,[118]where the people were not altogether so savage as the Samoyds of the Ob are: hee shewed me that they will shoot at all men to the vttermost of their power, that cannot speake their speech."
On the 15/5th of August much ice was seen to drift towards the haven where the vessel lay, wherefore Burrough removed back to the place where he had lain a few days before, and whose latitude he now found to be 70° 25'. Loshak left him unexpectedly the following day, while Burrough was taking solar altitudes, and on the 19/9th Burrough too weighed anchor to sail south along the coast of Vaygats. After sailing about in these waters for a time, and being exposed to a severe storm with an exceedingly heavy sea, Burrough, on the 3rd Sept./23rd Aug., determined to turn. On the 21st/11th September he arrived at Colmogro, where he wintered with a view to continue his voyage next year to the Obi. This voyage, however, was abandoned, because he instead went westwards in order to search for two of the ships which accompanied Chancelor, and which had been lost during the return voyage from Archangel.[119]
From this narrative we see that a highly developed Russianor Russian-Finnish navigation was carried on as early as the middle of the fifteenth century between the White Sea, the Petchora, Vaygats, and Novaya Zemlya, and that at that time the Russians or Finns even sailed to the Obi. The sketch, which Burrough gives of the Russian or Russian-Finnish hunters, shows, besides, that they were brave and skilful seamen, with vessels which for the time were very good, and even superior to the English in sailing before the wind. With very few alterations this sketch might also be applied to the present state of things in these regions, which shows that they continue to stand at a point which was then high, but is now low. Taking a general view of matters, it appears as if these lands had rather fallen behind than advanced in well-being during the last three hundred years.
To judge by a letter from the Russian Merchant Company, which was formed in London, it was at his own instance that Stephen Burrough in 1557 sailed from Colmogro, not to Obi, but to the coast of Russian Lapland to search for the lostvessels.[120]The following year the English were so occupied with their new commercial treaties with Russia and with the fitting out of Frobisher's three expeditions to the north-west, that it was long before a new attempt was made in the direction of the north-east, namely till ARTHUR PETS' voyage in 1580.[121]He was the first who penetrated from Western Europe into the Kara Sea, and thus brought the solution of the problem of the North-East Passage to the Pacific a good way forward. The principal incidents of this voyage too must therefore be briefly stated here.
PET and JACKMAN, the former in theGeorge, the latter in theWilliam, sailed from Harwich on the 9th June/30th May, 1580. On the 2nd July/22nd June they doubled the North Cape, and on the 12th/2nd July, Pet was separated from Jackman after appointing to meet with him at "Verove Ostrove or Waygats." On the 15/5th land was in sight, the latitude having the preceding day been ascertained to be 71° 38'. Pet was thus at Gooseland, on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya. He now sailed E.S.E., and fell in with ice on the 16/6th July. On the 20/10th July, land was seen, and the vessel anchored at an island, probably one of the many small islands in the Kara Port, where wood and water were taken on board.
On the 24/14th July, Pet was in the neighbourhood of land in 70° 26'. At first he thought that the land was an island, andendeavoured to sail round it, but as he did not succeed in doing so, he supposed it to be Novaya Zemlya. Hence he sailed in different directions between S.W. and S.E., and was on the 26/16th in 69° 40' N.L. Next day there was lightning with showers of rain. Pet believed himself now to be in Petchora Bay, and after sighting, on the 28/18th July, the headland which bounds the mouth of the river on the north-east, he sailed, it would seem, between this headland and the Selenetz Islands into the great bay east of Medinski Savorot. Here he made soundings on the supposition that the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland would open out at this place, but the water was found to be too shallow, even for a boat. Pet now sailed past Yugor Schar along the coast of Vaygats towards Novaya Zemlya, to a bay on the west coast of Vaygats Island, where he anchored between two small islands, which were supposed to be Woronski Ostrov.The entrance to an excellent haven was indicated on both sides by two crosses.[122]On the islands there was abundance of driftwood, and on one of them was found a cross, at the foot of which a man was buried. Pet inscribed his name on the cross, and likewise on a stone at the foot of the cross, "in order that Jackman, if he came thither, might know that Pet had been there." In the afternoon Pet again weighed anchor, doubled the western extremity of Vaygats Island, and continued his voyage, following all along the coast of Vaygats, first to the north and north-east, then to the south, between an ice-field and the land, until the ice came so close to the shore that the vessel could make no headway, when he anchored in a good haven by an island which lay on the east side of Vaygats in the neighbourhood of the mainland. It was perhaps the island which in recent maps is called Mestni Island. Pet was thus now in the Kara Sea.[123]The latitude given—69° 14'—shows even, if it is correct, that he went far into the bay at the mouth of the Kara river. Here Pet fell in with his comrade Jackman, from whom he had parted on the coast of Kola, and of whose voyage during the interval we know nothing. When the vessels met they were both damaged by ice. As, in addition, the sea to the north and east was barred by compact masses of ice, the captains, after deliberating with the inferior officers, determined to return. They had, also, during the return voyage, to contend with formidable ice obstacles, until, on the 25/15th August, in Lat. 69° 49' north, near the southeastern extremity of Vaygats they met with open water. They sailed along the east coast of Vaygats through the Kara Port, which was passed on the 27/17th August. Hence the course was shaped for Kolgujev Island, on whose sandbanks both vessels ran aground, but were soon got off again without loss. The latitude of the sandbanks was correctly fixed at 68° 48'.
On the 1st Sept./22nd Aug.Williamwas again lost sight of.[124]On the8th Sept./29th Aug. theGeorgeanchored in Tana Fiord, on which there was a town named Hungon.[125]Two days afterwards theGeorgedoubled the North Cape, and on the 5th Nov./26th Oct. again anchored at Ratcliffe.
Pet and Jackman were the first north-east explorers who ventured themselves in earnest amongst the drift-ice. In navigating among ice they showed good judgment and readiness of resource, and in the history of navigation the honour falls to them of having commanded the first vessels from Western Europe that forced their way into the Kara Sea. It is therefore without justification that BARROW says of them that they were but indifferent navigators.[126]
With Pet and Jackman's voyage the English North-east Passage expeditions were broken off for a long time. But the problem was, instead, taken up with great zeal in Holland. Through the fortunate issue of the war of freedom with Spain, and the incitement to enterprise which civil freedom always brings along with it, Holland, already a great industrial and commercial state, had begun, towards the close of the sixteenth century, to develop into a maritime power of the first rank. But navigation to India and China was then rendered impossible for the Dutch, as for the English, by the supremacy of Spain and Portugal at sea, and through the endeavours of these countries to retain the sole right to the commercial routes they had discovered. In order to become sharers in the great profits which commerce with the land of silks and perfumes brought with it, it therefore appeared to be indispensable to discover a new sea route north of Asia or America to the Eastern seas.If such a route had been actually found, it was clear that the position of Holland would have been specially favourable for undertaking this lucrative trade. In this state of things we have to seek for the reason of the delight with which the Dutch hailed the first proposal to force a passage by sea north of Asia to China or Japan. Three successive expeditions were at great expense fitted out for this purpose. These expeditions did not, indeed, attain the intended goal—the discovery of a north-eastern sea route to Eastern Asia, but they not only gained for themselves a prominent place in the history of geographical discovery, but also repaid a hundred fold the money that had been spent on them, in part directly through the whale-fishing to which they gave rise, and which was so profitable to Holland, and in part indirectly through the elevation they gave to the self-respect and national feeling of the people. They compared the achievements of their countrymen among the ice and snow of the Polar lands to the voyage of the Argonauts, to Hannibal's passage of the Alps, and to the campaign of the Macedonians in Asia and the deserts of Libya (see, for instance, BLAVIUS.Atlas major, Latin edition, t. i., pp. 24 and 31.) As these voyages together present the grandest attempts to solve the problem that lay before theVegaexpedition, I shall here give a somewhat detailed account of them.