THE COMMON AURORA ARC AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTER QUARTERS.THE COMMON AURORA ARC AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTER QUARTERS.
AURORA AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTERER QUARTERS.AURORA AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTERER QUARTERS, 3RD MARCH 1879, AT 9 P.M.DOUBLE AURORA ARCS SEEN 20TH MARCH 1879, AT 9.30 P.M.ELLIPTIC AURORA SEEN 21ST MARCH, 1879, AT 2.15 A.M.ELLIPTIC AURORA SEEN 21ST MARCH, 1879, AT 3 A.M.
DOUBLE AURORA ARCS SEEN 20TH MARCH 1879, AT 9.30 P.M.
ELLIPTIC AURORA SEEN 21ST MARCH, 1879, AT 2.15 A.M.
ELLIPTIC AURORA SEEN 21ST MARCH, 1879, AT 3 A.M.
height, extent, and position from which I believe I may draw the following inferences that our globe even during a minimum aurora year is adorned with an almost constant, single, double, or multiple luminous crown, whose inner edge is situated at a height of about 200 kilometres or 0.03 radius of the earth above its surface, whose centre, "the aurora-pole," lies somewhat under the earth's surface, a little north of the magnetic-pole, and which, with a diameter of 2,000 kilometres or 0.3 radius of the earth, extends in a plane perpendicular to the radius of the earth, which touches the centre of the circle.
I have named this luminous crownthe aurora gloryon account of its form and its resemblance to the crown of rays round the head of a saint. It stands in the same relation to the ray and drapery auroras of Scandinavia as the trade and monsoon winds in the south to the irregular winds and storms of the north. The light of the crown itself is never distributed into rays, but resembles the light which passes through obscured glass. When the aurora is stronger, the extent of the light-crown is altered double or multiple arcs are seen, generally lying in about the same plane and with a common centre, and rays are cast between the different arcs. Arcs are seldom seen which lie irregularly to or cross each other.
The area in which the common arc is visible is bounded by two circles drawn upon the earth's surface, with the aurora-pole for a centre and radii of 8° and 28° measured on the circumference of the globe. It touches only to a limited extent countries inhabited by races of European origin (the northernmost part of Scandinavia, Iceland, Danish Greenland), and even in the middle of this area there is a belt passing over middle Greenland, South Spitzbergen, and Franz Josef Land, wherethe common arcforms only a faint, very widely extended, luminous veil in the zenith, which perhaps is only perceptible by the winter darkness being there considerably diminished. This belt divides the regions where these luminous arcs are seen principally to the south fromthose in which they mainly appear on the northern horizon. In the area next the aurora-pole only the smaller, in middle Scandinavia only the larger, more irregularly formed luminous crowns are seen. But in the latter region, as in southern British America, aurora storms and ray and drapery auroras are instead common, and these appear to be nearer the surface of the earth than the arc aurora. Most of the Polar expeditions have wintered so near the aurora-pole thatthe common aurora arcthere lay under or quite near the horizon, and as the ray aurora appears to occur seldom within this circle, the reason is easily explained why the winter night was so seldom illuminated by the aurora at the winter quarters of these expeditions, and why the description of this phenomenon plays so small a part in their sketches of travel.
SONG BIRDS IN THE RIGGING OF THE "VEGA."SONG BIRDS IN THE RIGGING OF THE "VEGA."May 1879.
Long before the ground became bare and mild weather commenced, migratory birds began to arrive, first the snow-bunting on the 23rd April, then large flocks of geese, eiders, long-tailed ducks, gulls, and several kinds of waders and song-birds. First among the latter was the little elegantSylvia Ewersmanni, which in the middle of June settled in great flocks on the only dark spot which was yet to be seen in the quarter—the black deck of theVega. All were evidently much exhausted, and the first the poor things did was to look out convenient sleeping places, of which there is abundance in the rigging of a vessel when small birds are concerned. I needscarcely add that our new guests, the forerunners of spring, were disturbed on board as little as possible.
We now began industriously to collect material for a knowledge of the avi- and mammal-fauna of the region. The collections, when this is being written, are not yet worked out, and I can therefore only make the following statement on this point:
From the acquaintance I had made during my own preceding journeys and the study of others', with the bird-world of the high north, I had got the erroneous idea that about the same species of birds are to be met with everywhere in the Polar lands of Europe, Asia, and America. Experience gained during the expedition of theVegashows that this is by no means the case, but that the north-eastern promontory of Asia, the Chukch peninsula, forms in this respect a complete exception. Birds occur here in much fewer numbers, but with a very much greater variety of types than on Novaya Zemlya, Spitzbergen, and Greenland, in consequence of which the bird-world on the Chukch peninsula has in its entirety a character differing wholly from that of the Atlantic Polar lands. We indeed meet here with types closely allied to the glaucous gull (Larus glaucus, Brünn), the ivory gull (L. eburneus, Gmel.), the kittiwake (L. tridactylus, L.), the long-tailed duck (Harelda glacialis, L.), the king duck (Somateria spectabilis, L.),[263]the phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius, Bonap.), the purple sandpiper (Tringa maritima, Brünn.), &c., of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, but along with these are found here many peculiar species, for instance the American eider (Somateria V-nigrum, Gray), a swanlike goose, wholly white with black wing points (Anser hyperboreus, Pall.), a greyish-brown goose with bushy yellowish-white feather-covering on the head (Anser pictus, Pall), a species of Fuligula, elegantly coloured on the head in velvet-black, white, and green, (Fuligula Stelleri, Pall), thebeautifully marked, scarceLarus Rossii, Richards, of which Dr. Almquist on the 1st July, 1879, shot a specimen from the vessel, a little brown sandpiper with a spoonlike widened bill-point (Eurynorhynchus pygmæus, L.) and various song-birds not found in Sweden, &c. Besides, a number of the Scandinavian types living here also, according to Lieutenant Nordquist, are distinguished by less considerable differences in colour-marking and size. The singular spoon-billed sandpiper was at one time in spring so common that it was twice served at the gunroom table, for which after
Spoon Billed Sandpiper From Church Land.Spoon Billed Sandpiper From Church Land.Eurynorhynchus pygmæus, L At the side the bird's bill seen from above, of the natural size
our return home we had to endure severe reproaches from animal collectors. This bird is found only in some few museums. It was first described by LINNÆUS inMuseum Adolphi Friderici, Tomi secundi predromus, Holmiæ 1764, and then by C. P. THUNBERG in theTransactionsof the Swedish Academy of Sciences for 1816 (p. 194), where it is stated that the homeland of this bird is tropical America. It has since been caught a few times in south-eastern Asia. Probably, likeSylvia Ewersmanni, it passes the winter in the Philippine group of islands, but insummer visits the high north. Like several other birds which appeared in spring with the first bare spots it disappeared in July. Perhaps it retired to the interior to breed in the bush, or, which is more probable, went farther north to the islands or continents not yet discovered by Europeans, which in all probability connect Wrangel Land with the Franklin Archipelago.
The higher animal forms which, along with the Polar traveller, dare to brave the cold and darkness of the Arctic night, exert on him a peculiar attraction. Regarding these, Lieutenant Nordquist has given me the following notes:—
"The mammal most common in winter on the north coast of the Chukch peninsula is thehare. It differs from the fell hare (Lepus borealis, Lillj.) by its larger size, and by the bones of its nose not tapering so rapidly. It is generally met with in flocks of five or six on the hills in the neighbourhood of the tents, which are covered only with a thin layer of snow, notwithstanding the large number of hungry dogs which wander about there.
"TheArctic foxes(Vulpes lagopus, L.) are very numerous. The commonfox(Vulpes vulgaris, Gray) appears also to be common. A red fox, which Lieutenant Brusewitz shot from the vessel in October, differed considerably from the common fox, and approached the Arctic fox. The food of the fox appears in winter to consist of hares, ptarmigan, and lemmings. I have twice seen holes in the snow about a metre deep and at the mouth not more than thirty centimetres wide, which the Chukches said were excavated by foxes searching for lemmings.
"Of thelemmingI have seen three varieties, viz.Myodes obensis, M. torquatus, andArvicola obscurus. There is found here, also, according to the statements of the Chukches, a little mouse, in all probability a Sorex.Myodes torquatuswere got the first time on the 12th January,Myodes obensison the 13th February. Both species were afterwards frequently brought on board by Chukches, and during the winter lemmings were seen not unfrequently running on the snow.Myodes obensisappeared to be more numerous than the other species. It is singular that all the nine specimen ofMyodes torquatusI obtained during the winter were males. Differing from both these species,Arvicola obscurusdoes not appear to show itself above the snow during winter. Of the latter I got eight specimens from the villageTjapka, lying between Yinretlen and Behring's Straits. I afterwards got another from the village Irgunnuk, situated five English miles east of Yinretlen.
MARMOTS FROM CHUKCH LAND.MARMOTS FROM CHUKCH LAND.
"The more uncommon land mammals wintering in these regions are thewolfand thewild reindeer. Footprints of the latter were seen on the 23nd March, in the mountain region, fifteen to twenty miles south of Yinretlen. According to the Chukches' account some few reindeer remain on the hills along the coast, while the greater number migrate southwards towards winter. Besides these, two other mammals live here during winter, though they are only seen during summer and autumn, because they hibernate the rest of the time. These are theland bearand themarmot(Arctomys sp.). We saw no land bear, but on the 8th October Lieutenant Hovgaard and I found traces of this animal two or three English miles from the coast. The Chukches say that the land bear is not uncommon in summer. The marmot occurs in large numbers. It was brought on board for the first time by a Chukch, and the following dayI myself saw it sitting on the top of a little hill, where it had its dwelling.
"Besides the animals enumerated above the natives talked of another, which is called by themnennet, and is said to live by the banks of rivers. According to their description it appears to be the commonotter. As at most places where the lemming is common theweasel(Mustela vulgaris, Briss.) is also found here. I got from the Chukches two skins of this animal. Whether the beaver occurs in the part of Chukch Land which we visited I cannot say with certainty. It is probable, because the Chukches informed me that there was found here a weasel which has the point of the tail black.
"Only two sea mammals have been seen in this region in the course of the winter, viz. theroughorbristled sealand thePolar bear. On two occasions traces of the latter have been observed in the neighbourhood of land. They appear, however, for the most part to keep by openings in the ice farther out to sea, where during our stay two of them were killed by Chukches from the neighbouring villages. The rough seal is probably the only species that occurs near the coast during winter. It is caught in great numbers, and forms, along with fish and various vegetable substances, the main food of the Chukches.
"Of land birds there winter in the region only three species, viz. anowl(Strix nyctea, L.), araven(Corvus sp.), and aptarmigan(Lagopus subalpina, Nilss.); the last-named is the most common. On the 14th December, during a sledge journey into the country I saw, about ten or twelve English miles from the coast, two large coveys of ptarmigan, one of which probably numbered over fifty. Nearer the coast, on the other hand, there were found, especially during spring, for the most part only single birds. The raven is common at the Chukch villages, and builds its nest in the neighbouring cliffs. The first egg was got on the 31st May. The mountain owl was seen for the first time on the 11th March, but, according to the statements of the Chukches, it is to be met with during the whole winter. In April and May we also saw some mountain owls, on the 21st May I saw two.
"At open places in the sea there are found here in winter, the Chukches say, two swimming birds, theloom(Uria Brünnichii, Sabine) and theBlack guillemot(Uria grylle, L.) Of the former we obtained two specimens for the first time on the 1st May, of the latter on the 19th of the same month. Possibly there winter in open places of the sea besides these birds a species of Mergulus, one of which came to the winter quarters of theVegaon the 3rd November, and a Fuligula, aspecimen of which was sold to us on the 9th March by a Chukch, who said he had killed it at a clearing off the coast"
After the arrival of the migratory birds hunting excursions began to form a welcome interruption in our monotonous winter life, and the produce of the hunting a no less agreeable change from the preserved provisions. The Chukches besides offered us daily a large number of different kinds of birds, especially when they observed that we paid a higher price for many rare kinds of birds, though small and of little use for food, than for a big, fat goose. The Chukches killed small birds either by throwing stones, or by shooting them with bow and arrows, in connection with which it may be observed that most of them were very poor archers. They also caught them with whalebone snares set on bare spots on the beach, generally between two vertebræ of the whale. For pebbles are very scarce, but the bones of the whale are found, as has been already stated, at most places in large numbers on the strand-banks where the tents are pitched. In June we began to get eggs of the gull, eider, long-tailed duck, goose, and loom, in sufficient number for table use. The supply, however, was by no means so abundant as during the hatching season on Greenland, Spitzbergen, or Novaya Zemlya.
A little way from the vessel there were formed, in the end of May, two "leads," a few fathoms in breadth. On the 31st May I sent some men to dredge at these places. They returned with an abundant yield, but unfortunately the openings closed again the next day, and when I and Lieutenant Bove visited the place there was a large, newly-formedtorossthrown up along the edge of the former channel. Another "lead" was formed some days after, but closed again through a new disturbance of the position of the ice, a high ice-rampart, formed of loose blocks, heaped one over another, indicating the position of the
EVERTEBRATES FROM THE SEA AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTER QUARTERS.STEGOCEPHALUS KESSLERI (STUXB).Natural size.]SABINEA SEPTEMCARINATA (SABINE).Natural size.EVERTEBRATES FROM THE SEA AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTER QUARTERS.
SABINEA SEPTEMCARINATA (SABINE).Natural size.
EVERTEBRATES FROM THE SEA AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTER QUARTERS.
EVERTEBRATES FROM THE SEA AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTER QUARTERS.ACANTHOSTEPHIA MALMGRENI, (GOËS)Magnified twiceOPHIOGLYPHA NODOSA, (LÜTKEN)Magnified twiceEVERTEBRATES FROM THE SEA AT THE "VEGA'S" WINTER QUARTERS
former opening. Even the strongest vessel would have been crushed in such a channel by the forcing together of the ice. Of a different sort from both these occasional leads was an extensive opening, which showed itself a kilometre or two north of the vessel. It is probable that with few interruptions, which, however, might have been difficult to pass, it extended as far as Behring's Straits, where, according to the statements of the Chukches, several whalers had already made their appearance. Round the vessel itself, however, the ice still lay fast and unbroken. Nor did the Chukches appear to expect that it would break up very soon, to judge by the number of vehicles drawn by dogs or reindeer which still passed us, both to the east and west. One of these travellers must here be specially mentioned, as his journey has been talked about as an expedition sent to our relief.
It was the 19th June. A large number of Chukches travelling past us as usual came on board, partly to receive the tribute of hospitality to which they considered themselves entitled, partly to satisfy an easily understood curiosity and gossip a little about the most important occurrences of the preceding day. One of them, a middle-aged man, whom we had not seen before, with a friendly and self-satisfied bearing, whose face was a mere collection of wrinkles, and over whosepeskwas drawn an old velvet shirt, presented himself with a certain pretentiousness as the chief NOAH ELISEJ. Since the mistake with the stately Chepurin, and since even Menka's supposed slave declared himself to be at least as good as Menka, we had begun to be rather indifferent to the rank of chief among the Chukches. Noah Elisej however, notwithstanding he thus brought forward his pretensions, was received like a common man, at which he appeared to be a little offended. But our behaviour soon changed, when Notti, or some other of our daily guests, who had become quite familiar with our fancies, tastes weaknesses, informed us that Noah Elisej had with him alarge, a very large letter. Old Noah thus carried a mail, perhaps a European mail. At once he became in our eyes a man of importance. After being stormed for a time with questions, he took from a bag which hung from his neck the ordinary pieces of board fastened together, which here serve as a postbag. They were found however to contain only a letter of a couple of lines from a Russian official at Nischm Kolymsk, without any news from Europe, but informing us that chief Noah Elisej was sent to us to assist us, if necessary. Noah first patted his stomach to indicate that he was hungry and wanted food, and hawked and pointed with his finger at his throat to let us know that aramwould taste well. He then told us something which we did not then exactly understand, but which we now have reason to interpret as a statement that Noah was the leader of an expedition
NOAH ELISEJ.NOAH ELISEJ.(After a photograph by L. Palander.)
sent by the Siberian authorities to our relief, and that he was therefore willing in return for suitable compensation to give us some reindeer I availed myself of the offer, and purchased three animals for sugar, tea, and a little tobacco. Noah besides was a friendly and easy-going man, who, Christian though he was, travelled about with two wives and a large number of children, who all of course would see the vessel and get their treat of tobacco, clay pipes, sugar,ram, &c.
So much flood water had now begun to collect on the ice, especially near the land, that it was exceedingly difficult to walk from the vessel to the shore and back. Many a proposed land excursion was broken off by somebody, immediately after leaving the vessel, sinking into some deep hole in the ice and thus getting a cold bath. Excursions on land however began to be exceedingly interesting to the botanists and zoologists, and therefore to avoid the inconveniences mentioned I caused a tent to be pitched by the side of the large lagoon between Pitlekaj and Yinretlen, and a light boat to be carried thither. The bottom of the lagoon was still filled with ice, above which however the water stood so high that the boat floated in it. The naturalists settled by turns in the tent, and from it made excursions in different directions, as I hope with the result that the neighbourhood of Pitlekaj is now the best known tract on the north of Asia, which after all is not saying much. The first plant in flower (Cochlearia fenestrata, R. Br.) was seen on the 23rd June.[264]A week after the ground began to grow green and flowers of different kinds to show themselves in greater and greater numbers.[265]Some flies wereseen on a sunshiny day in May (the 27th) in motion on the surface of the snow, but it was not until the end of June thatinsects began to show themselves in any large numbers, among them many Harpalids, two large species of Carabus, and a large Curculionid. The insects occurring here however are not very numerous either in respect of species or individuals, which is not strange when we consider that the earth at a limited depth from the surface is constantly frozen. As even the shallow layer, which thaws in summer, is hard frozen in winter, all the insects which occur here must in one or other phase of their development endure being frozen solid for some time. But it may be remarked with reason with reference to this, that if life in an organism may so to speak be suspended for months by freezing stiff without being destroyed, what is there to prevent this suspension being extended over years, decades, or centuries?
The common idea, that all animal life ceases, when the interior animal heat sinks under the freezing-point of water, is besides not quite correct. This is proved by the abundant evertebrate life which is found at the bottom of the Polar Sea, even where the water all the year round has a temperature of -2° to -2°.7 C, and by the remarkable observation made during the winteringat Mussel Bay in 1872-73, that small Crustacea can live by millions in water-drenched snow at a temperature of from -2° to -10°.2C. On this point I say in my account of the expedition of 1872-73:—[266]
BEETLES FROM PITLEKAJ.BEETLES FROM PITLEKAJ.aCarabus truncaticollisESCHSCHOLTZ. (One and a half the natural size.)bAlophus sp.(One find two-thirds the natural size.)
"If during winter one walks along the beach on the snow which at ebb is dry, but at flood tide is more or less drenched through by sea-water, there rises at every step one takes, an exceedingly intense, beautiful, bluish-white flash of light, which in the spectroscope gives a one-coloured labrador-blue spectrum. This beautiful flash of light arises from the snow, before completely dark, when it is touched. The flash lasts only a few moments after the snow is left untouched, and is so intense, that it appears as if a sea of fire would open at every step a man takes. It produces indeed a peculiar impression on a dark and stormy winter day (the temperature of the air was sometimes in the neighbourhood of the freezing-point of mercury) to walk along in this mixture of snow and flame, which at every step one takes splashes about in all directions, shining with a light so intense that one is ready to fear that his shoes or clothes will take fire."
PHOSPHORESCENT CRUSTACEAN FROM MUSSEL BAY.PHOSPHORESCENT CRUSTACEAN FROM MUSSEL BAY.Metridia armata, A. Boeck.1. A male magnified twelve times. 2. A foot of the second pair.
On a closer examination it appeared that this light-phenomenon proceeded from a minute crustacean, which according to the determination of Prof W. LILLJEBORG belongs to the speciesMetridia armata, A. Boeck, and whose proper element appears to be snow-sludge drenched with salt water cooled considerably under 0° C. First when the temperature sinks below -10° does the power of this small animal to emit light appear to cease. But as the element in which they live, the surface of the snow nearest the beach, is in the course of the winter innumerable times cooled twenty degrees more, it appears improbable that these minute animals suffer any harm by being exposed to a cold of from -20° to -30°, a very remarkable circumstance, as they certainly do not possess in their organism any means of raising the internal animal heat in any noteworthy degree above the temperature of the surrounding medium.
We did not see these animals at Pitlekaj, but a similar phenomenon, though on a smaller scale, was observed by Lieut. BELLOT[267]during a sledge-journey in Polar America. He believed that the light arose from decaying organic matter.
REITINACKA.REITINACKA.(After a photograph by L. Palander.)
After the Chukches had told us that an exceedingly delicious black fish was to be found in the fresh-water lagoon at Yinretlen, which is wholly shut off from the sea and in winter freezes to the bottom, we made an excursion thither on the 8th July. Our friends at the encampment were immediately ready to help us, especially the women, Artanga, and the twelve-year-old, somewhatspoiledVega-favourite Reitinacka. They ran hither and thither like light-hearted and playful children, to put the net in order and procure all that was needed for the fishing. We had carried with us from the vessel a net nine metres long and one deep. Along its upper border floats were fixed, to the lower was bound a long pole, to which were fastened five sticks, by which the pole was sunk to the bottom of the lagoon, a little way from the shore. Some natives wading in the cold water then pushed the net towards the land with sticks and the pole, which glided easily forward over the bottom of the lake, overgrown as it was with grass. In order to keep the fish from swimming away, the women waded at the sides of the net with theirpesksmuch tucked up, screaming and making noise, and now and then standing in order to indicate by a violent shaking that the water was very cold. The catch was abundant. We caught by hundreds a sort of fish altogether new to us, of a type which we should rather have expected to find in the marshes of the Equatorial regions than up here in the north. The fish were transported in a dog sledge to the vessel, where part of them was placed in spirits for the zoologists and the rest fried, not without a protest from our old cook, who thought that the black slimy fish looked remarkably nasty and ugly. But the Chukches were right it was a veritable delicacy, in taste somewhat resembling eel, but finer and more fleshy. These fish were besides as tough to kill as eels, for after lying an hour and a half in the air they swam, if replaced in the water, about as fast as before. How this species of fish passes the winter is still more enigmatical than the winter life of the insects. For the lagoon has no outlet and appears to freeze completely to the bottom. The mass of water which was found in autumn in the lagoon therefore still lay there as an unmelted layer of ice not yet broken up, which was covered with a stratum of flood water several feet deep, by which the neighbouring grassy plains were inundated. It was in this flood water that the fishing took place.
After our return home the Yinretlen fish was examined by Professor F.A. SMITT in Stockholm, who stated, in an address which he gave on it before the Swedish Academy of Sciences, that it belongs to a new species to which Professor Smitt gave the nameDallia delicatissima. A closely allied form occurs in Alaska, and has been namedDallia pectoralis, Bean. These fishes are besides nearly allied to the dog-fish (Umbra Krameri, Fitzing), which is found in the Neusidler and Platten Lakes, and in grottos and other water-filled subterranean cavities in southern Europe. It is remarkable that the European species are considered uneatable, and even regarded with such loathing that the fishermen throw them away as soon as caught because they consider them poisonous, and fear that their other fish would be destroyed by contact with it. They also consider it an affront if one asks them for dog-fish.[268]If we had known thus we should not now have been able to certify thatDallia delicatissima, SMITT, truly deserves its name.
DOG FISH FROM THE CHUKCH PENINSULA.DOG FISH FROM THE CHUKCH PENINSULA.Dallia delicatissima, Smitt.Half the natural size.
In the beginning of July the ground became free of snow, and we could now form an idea of how the region looked in summer in which we had passed the winter. It was not just attractive. Far away in the south the land rose with terrace-formed escarpments to a hill, called by us Table Mount, whichindeed was pretty high, but did not by any steep or bold cliffs yield any contribution to such a picturesque landscape border as is seldom wanting on the portions of Spitzbergen, Greenland, and the north part of Novaya Zemlya which I have visited, south Novaya Zemlya has at least at most places bold picturesque shore-cliffs. If I except the rocky promontory at Yinretlen, where a cliff inhabited by ravens rises boldly out of the sea, and some cliffs situated farther in along the beach of Kolyutschin Bay, the shore in the immediate neighbourhood of our wintering station consisted everywhere only of a low beach formed of coarse sand. Upon this sand, which was always frozen, there ran parallel with the shore a broad bank or dune, 50 to 100 metres broad, of fine sand, not water-drenched in summer, and accordingly not bound together by ice in winter. It is upon this dune that the Chukches erect their tents. Marks of them are therefore met with nearly everywhere, and the dune accordingly is everywhere bestrewed with broken implements or refuse from the chase. Indeed it may be said without exaggeration that the whole north-eastern coast of the Siberian Polar Sea is bordered with a belt of sweepings and refuse of various kinds.
The coarse sand which underlies the dune is, as has been stated, continually frozen, excepting the shallow layer which is thawed in summer. It is here that the "frost formation" of Siberia begins, that is to say, the continually frozen layer of earth, which, with certain interruptions, extends from the Polar Sea far to the south, not only under the treelesstundra, but also under splendid forests and cultivated corn-fields.[269]Tospeak correctly, however, the frozen earth begins a little from the shoreunder the sea.[270]For on the coast the bottom often consists of hard frozen sand—"rock-hard sand," as the dredgers were accustomed to report. The frost formation in Siberia thus embraces not only terrestrial but also marine deposits, together with pure clear layers of ice, these last being formed in the mouths of rivers or small lakes by the ice of the river or lake frozen to the bottom being in spring covered with a layer of mud sufficiently thick to protect the ice from melting during summer. The frozen sea-bottom again appears to have been formed by the sand washed down by the rivers having carried with it when it sank some adhering water from the warm and almost fresh surface strata. At the sea-bottom the sand surrounded byfreshwater freezing at 0° C thus met a stratum ofsaltwater whose temperature was two or three degrees under 0°, in consequence of which the grains of sand froze fast together. That it may go on thus we had a direct proof when in spring we sank from theVegathe bodies of animals to be skeletonised by the crustacea that swarmed at the sea-bottom. If the sack, pierced at several places, in which the skeleton was sunk was first allowed to fill with the slightly salt water from the surface and then sink rapidly to the bottom, it was found to be so filled with ice, when it was taken up a day or two afterwards, that the crustacea were prevented from getting at the flesh. We had already determined to abandon the convenient cleansing process, when I succeeded in finding means to avoid the inconvenience, this was attained by drawing the sack, while some distance under the surface, violently hither and thitherso that the surface water carried down with it was got rid of. Frozen clay and ooze do not appear to occur at the bottom of the Polar Sea. Animal life on the frozen sand was rather scanty, but algæ were met with there though in limited numbers.
From the shore a plain commences, which is studded with extensive lagoons and a large number of small lakes. In spring this plain is so water-drenched and so crossed by deep rapid snow-rivulets, that it is difficult, often impossible, to traverse it. Immediately after the disappearance of the snow a large number of birds at all events had settled there. The Lapp sparrow had chosen a tuft projecting from the marshy ground on which to place its beautiful roofed dwelling, the waders in the neighbourhood had laid their eggs in most cases directly on the water-drenched moss without trace of a nest, and on tufts completely surrounded by the spring floods we met with the eggs of the loom, the long-tailed duck, the eider and the goose. Already during our stay, the water ran away so rapidly, that places, which one day were covered with a watery mirror, over which a boat of light draught could be rowed forward, were changed the next day to wet marshy ground, covered with yellow grass-straws from the preceding year. At many places the grassy sward had been torn up by the ice and carried away, leaving openings sharply defined by right lines in the meadows, resembling a newly worked off place in a peat moss.
In summer there must be found here green meadows covered with pretty tall grass, but at the time of our departure vegetation had not attained any great development, and the flowers that could be discovered were few. I presume however that a beautiful Arctic flower-world grows up here, although, in consequence of the exposure of the coast-country to the north winds, poor in comparison with the vegetation in sheltered valleys in the interior of the country. There are found there too pretty high bushes, but on the other hand trees are represented at Pitlekaj only by a low species of willow which creeps along the ground.
CRAB FROM THE SEA NORTH OF BEHRING'S STRAITS.CRAB FROM THE SEA NORTH OF BEHRING'S STRAITS.Chionoecetes opilioKröyer.Half the natural size.
TREE FROM PITLEKAJ.TREE FROM PITLEKAJ.Salix arctica, PALLAS. (Natural size.)
We did not, however, see even this "wood" in full leaf. For in order that full summer heat may begin it is necessary, even here, that the ice break up, and this longed-for moment appeared to be yet far distant. The ice indeedbecame clear of snow in the beginning of July, and thus the slush and the flood water were lessened, which during the preceding weeks had collected on its surface and made it very difficult to walk from the vessel to land. Now, again pretty dry-shod and on a hard blue ice-surface, we could make excursions in the neighbourhood of the vessel. We had however to be cautious. The former cracks had in many places been widened to greater or smaller openings by the flood water running down, and where a thin black object—a little gravel, a piece of tin from the preserved provision-cases, &c.—had lain on the ice there were formed round holes, resembling the seal-holes which I saw in spring laid bare after the melting of the snow on the ice in the fjords of Spitzbergen. The strength of the ice besides was nearly unaltered, and on the 16th July a heavily loaded double sledge could still be driven from the vessel to the shore.
On the 17th the "year's ice" next the land at last broke up, so that an extensive land clearing arose. But the ground-ices were still undisturbed, and between these the "year's ice" even lay so fast, that all were agreed that at least fourteen days must still pass before there was any prospect of getting free.
When on the 16th the reindeer-Chukch Yettugin came on board, and, talking of the collection of whale-bones in which we had been engaged some days before, informed us that there was a mammoth bone at his tent, and that a mammoth tusk stuck out at a place where the spring floods had cut into the bank of a river which flows from Table Mount to Riraitinop, I therefore did not hesitate to undertake an excursion to the place. Our absence from the vessel was reckoned at five or six days. It was my intention to go up the river in a skin boat belonging to Notti to the place where the mammoth tusk was, and thence to proceed on foot to Yettugin's tent. Yettugin assured us that the river was sufficiently deep for theflat-bottomed boat. But when we had travelled a little way into the country it appeared that the river had fallen considerably during the day that Yettugin passed on the vessel. So certain was I however that the ice-barrier would not yet for a long time be broken up, that I immediately after my return from the excursion, which had thus been rendered unsuccessful, made arrangements for a new journey in order with other means of transport to reach the goal.
While we were thus employed the forenoon of the 18th passed. We sat down to dinner at the usual time, without any suspicion that the time of our release was now at hand. During dinner it was suddenly observed that the vessel was moving slightly Palander rushed on deck, saw that the ice was in motion, ordered the boiler fires to be lighted, the engine having long ago been put in order in expectation of this moment, and in two hours, by 3:30 P.M. on the 18th July, theVega, decked with flags, was under steam and sail again on the way to her destination.
We now found that a quite ice-free "lead" had arisen between the vessel and the open water next the shore, the ice-fields west of our ground-ices having at the same time drifted farther out to sea, so that the clearing along the shore had widened enough to give theVegaa sufficient depth of water. The course was shaped at first for the N.W. in order to make adétourround the drift-ice fields lying nearest us, then along the coast for Behring's Straits. On the height at Yinretlen there stood as we passed, the men, women, and children of the village all assembled, looking out to sea at the fire-horse—the Chukches would perhaps say fire-dog or fire-reindeer—which carried their friends of the long winter months for ever away from their cold, bleak shores. Whether they shed tears, as they often said they would we could not see from the distance which now parted us from them. But it may readily have happened that the easily moved disposition of the savage led them to do this. Certain it is that in many of us the sadness of separationmingled with the feelings of tempestuous joy which now rushed through the breast of everyVegaman.
TheVegamet no more ice-obstacles on her course to the Pacific. Serdze Kamen was passed at 1:30 A.M. of the 19th, but the fog was so dense that we could not clearly distinguish the contours of the land. Above the bank of mist at the horizon we could only see that this cape, so famous in the history of the navigation of the Siberian Polar Sea, is occupied by high mountains, split up, like those east of the Bear Islands, into ruin-like gigantic walls or columns. The sea was mirror-bright and nearly clear of ice, a walrus or two stuck up his head strangely magnified by the fog in our neighbourhood, seals swam round us in large numbers, and flocks of birds, which probably breed on the steep cliffs of Serdze Kamen, swarmed round the vessel. The trawl net repeatedly brought up from the sea bottom a very abundant yield of worms, molluscs, crustacea, &c. A zoologist would here have had a rich working field.
The fog continued, so that on the other side of Serdze Kamen we lost all sight of land, until on the morning of the 20th dark heights again began to peep out. These were the mountain summits of the easternmost promontory of Asia, East Cape, an unsuitable name, for which I have substituted on the map that of Cape Deschnev after the gallant Cossack who for the first time 230 years ago circumnavigated it.
By 11 A.M. we were in the middle of the sound which unites the North Polar Sea with the Pacific, and from this point theVegagreeted the old and new worlds by a display of flags and the firing of a Swedish salute.
Thus finally was reached the goal towards which so many nations had struggled, all along from the time when Sir Hugh Willoughby, with the firing of salutes from cannon and with hurrahs from the festive-clad seamen, in the presence of an innumerable crowd of jubilant men certain of success, ushered in the long series of North-East voyages. But, as I have before
A.L. PALANDER.A.L. PALANDER.
related, then hopes were grimly disappointed. Sir Hugh and all his men perished as pioneers of England's navigation and of voyages to the ice-encumbered sea which bounds Europe and Asia on the north. Innumerable other marine expeditions have since then trodden the same path, always without success, and generally with the sacrifice of the vessel and of the life and health of many brave seamen. Now for the first time, after the lapse of 336 years, and when most men experienced in sea matters had declared the undertaking impossible, was the North-East Passage at last achieved. This has taken place, thanks to the discipline, zeal, and ability of our man-of-war's-men and their officers, without the sacrifice of a single human life, without sickness among those who took part in the undertaking, without the slightest damage to the vessel, and under circumstances which show that the same thing may be done again in most, perhaps in all years, in the course of a few weeks. It may be permitted us to say, that under such circumstances it was with pride we saw the blue-yellow flag rise to the mast-head and heard the Swedish salute in the sound where the old and the new worlds reach hands to each other. The course along which we sailed is indeed no longer required as a commercial route between Europe and China. But it has been granted to this and the preceding Swedish expeditions to open a sea to navigation, and to confer on half a continent the possibility of communicating by sea with the oceans of the world.
FOOTNOTES:
[258]And. Hellant,Anmärkningar om en helt ovanlig köld i Torne (Remarks on a Quite Unusual Cold in Torne), Vet.-akad. Handl. 1759, p. 314, and 1760, p. 312. In the latter paper Hellant himself shows that the column of mercury in a strongly cooled thermometer for a few momentssinks fartherwhen the ball is rapidly heated. This is caused by the expansion of the glass when it is warmed before the heat has had time to communicate itself to the quicksilver in the ball, and therefore of course can happen only at a temperature above the freezing-point of mercury.
[259]That mercury solidifies in cold was discovered by some academicians in St. Petersburg on the 25th December, 1759, and caused at the time a great sensation, because by this discovery various erroneous ideas were rooted out which the chemists had inherited from the alchemists, and which were based on the supposed property of mercury of being at the same time a metal and a fluid.
[260]During the market the Russian priest endeavours to make proselytes, he succeeds, too, by distributing tobacco to induce one or two to subject themselves to the ceremony of baptism. No true conversion, however, can scarcely come in question on account of the difference of language. As an example of how this goes on, the following story of Wrangel's may be quoted. At the market a young Chukch had been prevailed upon, by a gift of some pounds of tobacco, to allow himself to be baptised. The ceremony began in presence of a number of spectators. The new convert stood quiet and pretty decent in his place till he should step down into the baptismal font, a large wooden tub filled with ice-cold water. In this, according to the baptismal ritual, he ought to dip three times. But to this he would consent on no condition. He shook his head constantly, and brought forward a large number of reasons against it, which none understood. After long exhortations by the interpreter, in which promises of tobacco probably again played the principal part, he finally gave way and sprang courageously down into the ice-cold water, but immediately jumped up again trembling with cold; crying, "My tobacco! my tobacco!" All attempts to induce him to renew the bath were fruitless, the ceremony was incomplete, and the Chukch only half baptised.
[261]In Lapland, too, the melting of the snow in spring is brought about in no inconsiderable degree by similar causes,i.e.by dry warm winds which come from the fells. On this point the governor of Norbotten län, H. A. Widmark, has sent me the following interesting letter — "However warm easterly and southerly winds may be in the parts of Swedish Lapland lying next the Joleen mountains, they are not able in any noteworthy degree to melt the masses of snow which fall in those regions during the winter months. On the other hand there comes every year, if we may rely on the statements of the Lapps, in the end of April or beginning of May, from the west (i.e.from the fells), a wind so strong and at the same time so warm, that in quite a short time—six to ten hours—it breaks up the snow-masses, makes them shrink together, forces the mountain sides from their snow covering, and changes the snow which lies on the ice of the great fell lakes to water. I have myself been out on the fells making measurements on two occasions when this wind came. On one occasion I was on the Great Lule water in the neighbourhood of the so-called Great Lake Fall. The night had been cold but the day became warm. Up to 1 o'clock P.M. it was calm, but immediately after the warm westerly wind began to blow, and by 6 o'clock P.M. all the snow on the ice was changed to water, in which we went wading to the knees. The Lapps in general await these warm westerly winds before they go to the fells in spring. Until these winds begin there is no pasture there for their reindeer herds."
[262]I do not includeLa Recherché'swintering in 1838-39 at Bosekop, in the northernmost part of Norway, as it took place in a region which is all the year round inhabited by hundreds of Europeans. During this expedition very splendid auroras were seen, and the studies of them by LOITIN, BRAVAIS, LILLIEHÖÖK, and SILJESTRÖM, are among the most important contributions to a knowledge of the aurora we possess, while we have to thank the draughtsmen of the expedition for exceedingly faithful and masterly representations of the phenomenon.
[263]The common eider (S. mollissima, L.) is absent here, or at least exceedingly rare.
[264]During the expedition of 1861, when we were shut up by ice in Treurenberg Bay on Spitzbergen (79° 57' N. L.) the first flower (Saxifraga oppositifolia, L.), was pulled on the 22nd June. After the wintering in 1872-73, Palander and I during our journey round North-east Land, saw the first flower on the same species of saxifrage as early as the 15th June, in the bottom of Wahlenberg Bay (79° 46' N. L.)
[265]For the sake of completeness, I shall here also enumerate the plants which Dr. Kjellman found at Pitlekaj. Those marked with an * either themselves occur in Scandinavia or are represented by nearly allied formsLeucanthemum arcticum (L.) DC.Artemisia arctica LESS.* ,, vulgaris L. f. Tilesii LEDEB.Cineraria frigida RICHARDS.* ,, palustris L. f. congesta HOOK.* Antennaria alpina (L.) R. BR. f. Friesiana TRAUTV.* Petasites frigida.* Saussurea alpina (L.) DC. f. angustifolia (DC.)* Taraxacum officinale WEB.Valeriana capitata PALL.Gentiana glauca PALL.Pedicularis sudetica WILLD.,, Langsdorffii FISCH.,, lanata WILLD. f. leiantha TRAUTV.,, capitata ADAMS.* Polemonium coeruleum L.* Diapensia lapponica L.* Armeria sibirica TURCZ.Primula nivalis PALL. f. pygmæa LEDEB.,, borealis DUBY.* Loiseleuria procumbens (L.) DESV.* Ledum palustre L. f. decumbens AIT.* Vaccinium vitis idæa L.* Arctostaphylos alpina (L.) SPRENG.* Cassiope tetragona (L.) DON.Hedysarum obscurum L.Oxytropis nigrescens (PALL.) FISCH. f. pygmæa CHAM.,, species?* Rubus Chamæmorus L.* Comarum palustre L.Potentilla fragiformis L. f. parviflora TRAUTV. f. villosa (PALL.)* Sibbaldia procumbens L.* Dryas octopetala L.Spiræa betulæfolia PALL. f. typica MAXIM.* Hippuris vulgaris L.* Saxifraga stellaris L f. comosa POIR.,, punctata L.* ,, cernua L.* ,, rivularis L.* Rhodiola rosea L.* Empetrum nigrum L.* Cardamine bellidifolia L.Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR. f. typica MALMGR. f. prostrata MALMGR.Ranunculus Pallasii SEHLECHT.* ,, nivalis L.* ,, pygmæus WG.* ,, hyperboreus ROTTB.* Aconitum Napellus L. f. delphinifolia REICHENB.Claytonia acutifolia WILLD.* Wahlbergella apetala (L.) FR.* Stellaria longipes GOLDIE. f. humilis FENZL.* ,, humifusa ROTTB.Cerastium maximum L.* ,, alpinum L. f. hirsuta KOCH.Alsine artica (STEV.) FENZL.* Sagina nivalis (LINDBL.) FR.* Polygonum Bistorta L.* ,, viviparum L.* polymorphum L. f. frigida CHAM.Rumex arcticus TRAUTV.* Oxyria digyna (L.) HILL.Salix boganidensis TRAUTV. f. latifolia.*Salix Camissonis ANDERS.,, arctica PALL.,, euneata TURCZ.* ,, reticulata L.,, species?Betula glandulosa MICHX. f. rotundifolia REGEL.Elymus mollis TRIN.* Festuca rubra L. f. arenaria OSB.* Poa flexuosa WG.Arctophila effusa J. LGE.Glyceria vilfoidea (ANDS.) TH. FR.,, vaginata J. LGE. f. contracta J. LGE.* Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.* Colpodium latifolium R. BR.Dupontia Fischeri R. BR.* Trisetum subspicatum (L.) P.B.* Aira cæspitosa L. f. borealis TRAUTV.Alopecurus alpinus SM.* Hierochloa alpina (LILJEBL.) ROEM. and SCH.* Carex rariflora (WG.) SM.* ,, aqvatilis f. epijegos LAEST.* ,, glareosa WG.* ,, lagopina WG.* Eriophorum angustifolium ROTH.* ,, vaginatum L.* ,, russeolum FR.* Luzula parviflora (EHRH.) DESV.* ,, Wahlenbergii RUPR.* ,, arcuata (WG.) SW. f. confusa LINDEB.* Juncus biglumis L.Lloydia serotina (L.) REICHENB.
[266]Redogörelse för den svenska polarexpeditionen år1872-73. Bihang till Vet.-Akad. Handl. Bd. 2, No. 18, p. 52.
[267]Journal d'un Voyage aux Mers Polaires. Paris, 1854. Pp. 177 and 223.
[268]Heckel and Kner,Die Süsswasserfische Oesterreichs, p. 295.
[269]Even pretty far south, in Scandinavia, there occur places with frozen earth which seldom thaws. Thus in Egyptinkorpi mosses in Nurmi and Pjeli parishes in Finland pinewoods are found growing over layers or "tufts" of frozen sand, but also, in other places in Eastern Finland, we find layers containing stumps, roots, &c., of different generations of trees, alternating with layers of frozen mould, according to a communication from the agronomic Axel Asplund. A contribution to the knowledge of the way, or one of the ways, in which such formations arise, we obtain from the known fact that mines with an opening to the air, so far south as the middle of Sweden, are filled in a few years with a coherent mass of ice if the opening is allowed to remain open. If it is shut the ice melts again, but for this decades are required.
[270]Middendorff already states that the bottom of the sea of Okotsk is frozen (Sibirische Reise, Bd. 4, 1, p. 502).