Chapter XI (2)

"We started from the vessel on the morning of the 13th June
with a view to penetrate as far as possible into the
interior of the Chukch peninsula. For the journey we had
hired, for a liberal payment, two sledges drawn by dogs
from Rotschitlen, a Chukch at Irgunnuk. The dogs and
sledges surpassed our expectation. In fourteen hours we
traversed a distance of nearly forty minutes, including
bends, which corresponds to a speed of three, perhaps four,
English miles an hour, if we deduct the rests which were
caused by the objects of the journey--scientific
researches. This speed strikes me as not inconsiderable,
if we consider the weight which the dogs must draw, and
the badness and unevenness of the way. For the ground was
undulating, like a sea agitated by a storm. But pleased as
we were with our sledges and dogs, we were as dissatisfied
with Rotschitlen, a faint-hearted youth, without activity
or experience. With another driver we might have been able
in a few days to penetrate as far as the bottom of
Kolyutschin Bay, which differs greatly in its form, from
that which Russian, English, and German maps give to it.
It is not improbable that it is almost connected by lakes,
lagoons, and rivers with St. Lawrence Bay or Metschigme
Bay, whose inner parts are not yet investigated.

"After we left the lagoons at Pitlekaj and Yinretlen, the
coast began gradually to rise by escarpments, each about
five metres in height. The plains between the escarpments
are full of lagoons or marshes. Such a terrain continued
until, about five hours' way from the vessel, we came to a
height of twenty-seven metres. From this point the
terrace-formations cease, and the terrain then consists of
a large number of ranges of heights, intersected by
rivulets, which during the snow-melting season must be very
much flooded. Seven or eight hours' way from the vessel we
met with such a rivulet, which farther to the S.S.E. unites
with another which runs between two rocky escarpments
twenty metres high. On one of these we pitched our tent, in
order to draw and examine some hills which were already
divested of the winter dress they had worn for nine long
months. On the top of one of the hills we found marks of
two recently-struck tents, which probably belonged to a
reindeer Chukch, who had now settled halfway between
Pitlekaj and Table Mount upon a chain of heights which
appears to separate the Irgunnuk lagoon from the rocky
eastern shore of Kolyutschin Bay. At our resting place we
found a large number of reindeer horns and a heap of broken
bones.

"After resuming our journey we came in a short time to the
foot of Table Mount, whose height I reckoned at 180 meters.
It slopes gently to the west and south (about 10 deg.),
but more steeply to the east and north (about 15 deg.).
The animal world there showed great activity. In less than
an hour we saw more than a dozen foxes that ran up and down
the hills and circled round us, as if they ran with a line.
Fortunately for them they kept at a respectful distance from
our doctor's sure gun.

"On the other side of Table Mount the ground sinks
regularly towards Kolyutschin Bay. Here for a while we
sought in vain for Yettugin's tent, in which we intended to
pass the night, and which had been fixed upon as the
starting-point of future excursions, till at last reindeer
traces and afterwards the sight of some of these friendly
animals brought us to the right way, so that about 9
o'clock P.M. we got sight of the longed-for dwelling in the
middle of a snow-desert. At the word _yaranga_ (tent) the
dogs pointed their ears, uttered a bark of joy, and ran at
full speed towards the goal. We arrived at 10.30 P.M. In
the tent we were hospitably received by its mistress, who
immediately made the necessary preparations for our
obtaining food and rest. Yettugin himself was not at home,
but he soon returned with a sledge drawn by reindeer. These
animals had scarcely been unharnessed when they ran back to
the herd, which according to Yettugin's statement was six
kilometres east of the tent.

"I have never seen a family so afflicted with ailments as
Yettugin's. The sexagenarian father united in himself
almost all the bodily ailments which could fall to the lot
of a mortal. He was blind, leprous (?), and had no use of
the left hand, the right side of the face, and probably of
the legs. His body was nearly everywhere covered with the
scars of old sores from four to five centimetres in
diameter. As Dr. Almquist and I were compelled to pass the
night in the same confined sleeping-chamber with him, it
was therefore not to be wondered at that we drew ourselves
as much as possible into our corner. The sleeping-chamber
or inner tent of a reindeer-Chukch is besides much more
habitable than that of a coast-Chukch, the air, if not
exactly pure, may at least be breathed, and the thick layer
of reindeer skins which covers the tent floor may well
compare in softness with our beds on board. Yettugin, his
wife Tengaech, and his brother Keuto, slept out of doors in
order to give us more room and not to disturb us when
rising. Keuto had inherited no small portion of his
father's calamity. He was deaf, half idiotic, and on his
body there were already traces of such spots as on the old
man's. Keuto was however an obliging youth, who during our
stay in the tent did all that he could to be of use to us,
and constantly wandered about to get buds and plants for
us. He was a skilful archer; I saw him at a distance of
twenty or twenty-five paces kill a small bird with a blunt
arrow, and when I placed myself as a target he hit me right
in the middle of the breast at a distance of perhaps thirty
metres.

"The 14th was employed by me in astronomical and geodetical
observations, and by Dr. Almquist in excursions in the
neighbourhood of Yettugin's tent in order to investigate
the fauna and flora of the neighbourhood. About 10 o'clock
P.M. he returned, quite exhausted after eight hours'
walking in deep water-drenched snow under a perceptible
solar heat. The results of the excursion were in all
respects exceedingly good, not only in consequence of a
number of _finds_ in natural history, but also through the
discovery that the shore of Kolyutschin Bay runs
three-quarters of a mile south-west of Yettugin's tent,
which was situated in 66 deg. 42' 4" North Lat, and 186 deg.
24' 0" Long, east from Greenwich. Dr. Almquist had
walked four or five miles along the eastern shore of the
bay, which at most places is perpendicular with a height of
fifteen metres. In consequence of this discovery we
determined to continue our hydrographical observations as
far as the bottom of the bay, which, according to
Yettugin's account, was two days' march from the tent.
But we could not carry out our plan in consequence of our
guide's laziness, for he declared that on no conditions
would he accompany us farther. Neither entreaties nor
threats availed to disturb this his resolution. I
endeavoured myself to drive the sledges, but the dogs would
not move out of the spot, though, following Rotschitlen's
system, I thrashed them very soundly.

"The place where Yettugin's tent was pitched offered us a
view of an extensive snow-plain, which was enclosed on all
sides by high hills. In the north and north-east Table
Mount and the Tenen hill keep off the north winds, and to
the south the encampment is protected by a long and high
mountain chain from the winds coming from that quarter. I
calculated the height of some of the mountains at from 1200
to 1500 metres, and their azure-blue colour furrowed by
dark lines appeals to me to indicate the presence of ice on
the slopes. One of the summits of this mountain chain was
easily recognisable. It was a truncated cone, perhaps 1500
metres high. Kolyutschin Bay lies between these mountains
and Yettugin's tent. Its western shore also appears to rise
perpendicularly from the sea, and it is higher than the
eastern. The bay, which appears to be much larger than it
is represented on the maps, was covered with level ice,
only here and there a piece of ice covered with snow was
seen sticking up.

"As we were forced to desist from visiting the interior of
Kolyutschin Bay, we determined to go to the ground where
Yettugin's reindeer pastured. We therefore left the tent on
the evening of the 15th and travelled E.N.E. The warmth,
which had now commenced, began to make travelling over snow
fields difficult, the dogs sank to the stomach, and not
unfrequently we had to alight in order to help the poor
animals to climb the hills we were obliged to ascend.
Scarcely however had they come to the reindeer tracks
before even the most exhausted of them rushed along at the
top of their speed, which might be pleasant enough uphill,
but when they were coming down it was very dangerous,
because the slope nearly always ends with a steep
escarpment. We came once, without observing it, to the edge
of such a precipice, and if we had not succeeded in time in
slackening our speed a nice confused mass of men, dogs,
and sledges would have tumbled over it. In order to excite
their draught animals the Chukches avail themselves of
their dogs' inclination to run after the reindeer, and
during their journeys they endeavour to spur them on yet
more by now and then imitating the reindeer's cry. After
two or three hours travelling we fell in with the first
reindeer, and then by degrees with more and more, until
finally about 11 o'clock P.M. we came to a numerous herd,
tended by Yettugin. I applied to him, asking him to barter
a reindeer in good condition for a gun which I had brought
along with me. After various evasions Yettugin at length
promised to give us next day the reindeer for the gun. He
would not however himself, or with his own knife, kill the
reindeer, on which account I requested Dr. Almquist to give
it the _coup de grace_.

"In consequence of the soft state of the snow we were
obliged to defer the commencement of our return journey to
the evening of the 16th. We now travelled over the chain of
hills which unites Table Mount with Tenen, and descended
their northern steep slope towards an extensive plain,
studded for the most part with bogs and marshes. The 17th
came in with mist and considerable warmth. The mist limited
the circle of vision to a distance of some few metres, and
the high temperature in a short time destroyed the crust
which had been formed in the course of the preceding night
on the surface of the snow, and melted the layers of snow
which still covered the northern slopes of these two hills.
The southern slopes on the other hand were almost quite
bare, and the valleys began to be filled with water. Four
or five days as warm as these and I believe there scarcely
would be any snow remaining round Kolyutschin Bay. The
illusions caused by the white fog illuminated by the
sunlight were very astonishing. Every small spot of ground
appeared as an extensive snow-free field, every tuft of
grass as a bush, and a fox in our immediate neighbourhood
was for a moment taken for a gigantic bear. Besides, during
such a fog the action of the sunlight on the eyes was
exceedingly painful even in the case of those who carried
preservers. During the return Rotschitlen lost his way in
consequence of the numerous different tracks. Fortunately I
had observed how we travelled, and could with the help of
the compass pilot our two small craft to a good haven. On
the 17th of June at 1.30 P.M. we were again in good
condition on board the _Vega_."

In the society on board the prospects of an alteration in the constant north winds, the perpetual snow-storms and the unceasing cold, and the hope of a speedy release from the fetters of the ice, were naturally constantly recurring topics of conversation. During this time many lively word-battles were fought between the weather prophets in the gunroom, and many bets made in jest between the optimists and pessimists. The former won a great victory, when at noon on the 8th February the temperature lose to + 0.1 deg. C., but with the exception of this success fortune always went against them. The north wind, the drifting snow and the cold, would never cease. A blue water-sky indeed was often visible at the horizon to the north and north-east, but the "clearing" first reached our vessel a couple of hours before we left our winter haven for ever, and up to the 15th June the thickness of the ice was almost undiminished (1-1/2 metre) The sun rose higher and higher, but without forming any crust upon the snow, although upon the black hull of the _Vega_, perhaps with the help of the heat in the interior, it had by the 14th March melted so much snow that small icicles were formed at the gunwale. It was one of the many deceptive prognostications of spring which were hailed with delight. However, immediately after severe cold recommenced and continued during the whole of the month of April, during which the temperature of the an never rose above -4.6 deg., the mean temperature being -18.9 deg..

May began with a temperature of -20.1 deg.. On the 3rd the thermometer showed -26.8 deg., and in the "flower-month" we had only for a few hours mild weather with an air temperature +1.8 deg.. Even the beginning of June was very cold, on the 3rd we had -14.3 deg., with a mean temperature for the twenty-four hours of -9.4 deg.. Still on the 13th the thermometer at midnight showed -8.0 deg., but the same day at noon with a gentle southerly wind a sudden change took place, and after that date it was only exceptionally that the thermometer in the open air sank below the freezing-point. The melting and evaporation of snow now began, and went on so rapidly that the land in the end of the month was almost free of snow.

Under what circumstances this took place is shown by the following abstract of the observations of temperature at Pitlekaj from the 13th June to the 18th July, 1879:--

Max Min Mean Max Min Mean
deg. deg. deg. deg. deg. deg.
June 13 +3.6 -8.0 -1.95 July 1 +0.8 -0.6 +0.07
14 +2.6 +0.2 +1.47 2 +1.1 -1.0 +0.40
15 +3.1 +1.7 +2.28 3 +5.0 +1.0 +2.28
16 +1.6 -0.6 +0.90 4 +3.8 +1.4 +2.68
17 +3.0 +0.2 +1.22 5 +5.2 +2.0 +3.60
18 +2.4 -0.6 +1.23 6 +8.6 +1.0 +2.28
19 +3.6 +1.4 +2.43 7 +5.0 +1.4 +2.68
20 +3.5 +1.7 +2.50 8 +8.6 +0.6 +4.82
21 +2.6 +1.5 +2.07 9 +1.8 +0.4 +0.97
22 +3.0 +1.5 +2.28 10 +1.4 +0.5 +0.90
23 +4.1 +1.8 +3.00 11 +1.4 +0.6 +1.00
24 +6.8 +0.9 +3.18 12 +9.0 +0.5 +4.73
25 +4.4 +0.4 +2.30 13 +6.5 +3.7 +5.03
26 +3.8 +0.6 +1.77 14 +5.4 +1.8 +3.68
27 +1.4 +0.7 +1.02 15 +1.6 +0.6 +1.13
28 +2.1 +0.2 +0.92 16 +3.0 +0.6 +1.52
29 +0.9 -1.0 +0.12 17 +11.5 +8.8 +7.80
30 +1.0 -1.8 -0.27 18 +9.2 +6.2 +7.52

The figures in the maximum column, it will be seen, are by no means very high. That the enormous covering of snow, which the north winds had heaped on the beach, could disappear so rapidly notwithstanding this low temperature probably depends on this, that a large portion of the heat which the solar rays bring with them acts directly in melting the snow without sun-warmed air being used as an intermediate agent or heat-carrier, partly also on the circumstance that the winds prevailing in spring come from the sea to the southward, and before they reach the north coast pass over considerable mountain heights in the interior of the country. They have therefore the nature of _foehn_ winds, that is to say, the whole mass of air, which the wind carries with it, is heated, and its relative humidity is slight, because a large portion of the water which it originally contained has been condensed in passing over the mountain heights. Accordingly when the dry _foehn_ winds prevail, a considerable evaporation of the snow takes place. The slight content of watery vapour in the atmosphere diminishes its power of absorbing the solar heat, and instead increases that portion of it which is found remaining when the sun's rays penetrate to the snowdrifts, and there conduce, not to raise the temperature, but to convert the snow into water. [261]

The aurora is, as is well-known, a phenomenon at the same time cosmic and terrestrial, which on the one hand is confined within the atmosphere of our globe and stands in close connection with terrestrial magnetism, and on the other side is dependent on certain changes in the envelope of the sun, the nature of which is as yet little known, and which are indicated by the formation of spots on the sun; the distinguished Dutch physicist, VON BAUMHAUER, has even placed the occurrence of the aurora in connection with cosmic substances which fall in the form of dust from the interstellar spaces to the surface of the earth. Thus splendid natural phenomenon besides plays, though unjustifiably, a great _role_ in imaginative sketches of winter life in the high north, and it is in the popular idea so connected with the ice and snow of the Polar lands, that most of the readers of sketches of Arctic travel would certainly consider it an indefensible omission if the author did not give an account of the aurora as seen from his winter station. The scientific man indeed knows that this neglect has, in most cases, been occasioned by the great infrequency of the strongly luminous aurora just in the Franklin archipelago on the north coast of America, where most of the Arctic winterings of this century have taken place, but scarcely any journey of exploration has at all events been undertaken to the uninhabited regions of the high north, which has not in its working plan included the collection of new contributions towards dealing up the true nature of the aurora and its position in the heavens. But the scientific results have seldom corresponded to the expectations which had been entertained. Of purely Arctic expeditions, so far as I know, only two, the Austrian-Hungarian to Franz Josef Land (1872-74) and the Swedish to Mussel Bay (1872-73), have returned with full and instructive lists of auroras[262] Ross, PARRY, KANE, McCLINTOCK, HAYES, NARES, and others, have on the other hand only had opportunities of registering single auroras; the phenomenon in the case of their winterings has not formed any distinctive trait of the Polar winter night. It was the less to be expected that the _Vega_ expedition would form an exception in this respect, as its voyage happened during one of the years of which we knew beforehand that it would be a minimum aurora year. It was just this circumstance, however, which permitted me to study, in a region admirably suited for the purpose, a portion of this natural phenomenon under uncommonly favourable circumstances. For the luminous arcs, which even in Scandinavia generally form starting-points for the radiant auroras, have here exhibited themselves undreamed by the more splendid forms of the aurora I have thus, undisturbed by subsidiary phenomena, been able to devote myself to the collection of contributions towards the ascertaining of the position of these luminous arcs, and I believe that I have in this way come to some very remarkable conclusions, which have been developed in detail in a separate paper printed in _The Scientific Work of the Vega Expedition_ (Part I. p. 400). Here space permits me only to make the following statement.

The appearance of the aurora at Behring's Straits in 1878-79 is shown in the accompanying woodcuts. We never saw here the magnificent bands or draperies of rays which we are so accustomed to in Scandinavia, but only halo-like luminous arcs, which hour after hour, day after day, were unaltered in position. When the sky was not clouded over and the faint light of the aurora was not dimmed by the rays of the sun or the full moon, these arcs commonly began to show themselves between eight and nine o'clock P.M., and were then seen without interruption during midwinter till six, and farther on in the year to three o'clock in the morning. It follows from this that the aurora even during a minimum year is a permanent natural phenomenon. The nearly unalterable position of the arcs has further rendered possible a number of measurements of its 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 crown _the aurora glory_ on 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 deg. and 28 deg. 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, where _the common arc_ forms 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 from those 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 that _the common aurora arc_ there 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.

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 elegant _Sylvia 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 the _Vega_. 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 need scarcely 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 the _Vega_ shows 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_, Bruenn), 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_, Bruenn.), &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), the beautifully marked, scarce _Larus 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 pygmaeus_, 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 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 LINNAEUS in _Museum Adolphi Friderici, Tomi secundi predromus_, Holmiae 1764, and then by C.P. THUNBERG in the _Transactions_ of 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, like _Sylvia Ewersmanni_, it passes the winter in the Philippine group of islands, but in summer 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 the _hare_. 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.

"The _Arctic foxes_ (_Vulpes lagopus_, L.) are very
numerous. The common _fox_ (_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 the _lemming_ I have seen three varieties, viz. _Myodes
obensis, M. torquatus_, and _Arvicola obscurus_. There is
found here, also, according to the statements of the
Chukches, a little mouse, in all probability a Sorex.
_Myodes torquatus_ were got the first time on the 12th
January, _Myodes obensis_ on 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 obensis_ appeared
to be more numerous than the other species. It is singular
that all the nine specimen of _Myodes torquatus_ I obtained
during the winter were males. Differing from both these
species, _Arvicola obscurus_ does not appear to show itself
above the snow during winter. Of the latter I got eight
specimens from the village Tjapka, lying between Yinretlen
and Behring's Straits. I afterwards got another from the
village Irgunnuk, situated five English miles east of
Yinretlen.

"The more uncommon land mammals wintering in these regions
are the _wolf_ and the _wild 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 the _land bear_ and the _marmot_ (_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 day I 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 them _nennet_, and is said to
live by the banks of rivers. According to their description
it appears to be the common _otter_. As at most places
where the lemming is common the _weasel_ (_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. the _rough_ or _bristled seal_
and the _Polar 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. an _owl_ (_Strix nyctea_, L.), a _raven_
(_Corvus sp._), and a _ptarmigan_ (_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, the _loom_ (_Uria
Bruennichii_, Sabine) and the _Black 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 the _Vega_ on the 3rd
November, and a Fuligula, a specimen 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 vertebrae 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-formed _toross_ thrown 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 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 whose _pesk_ was 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 a large, 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 a _ram_ would 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 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 were seen 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 that insects 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 deg. to -2.7 deg. C, and by the remarkable observation made during the wintering at Mussel Bay in 1872-73, that small Crustacea can live by millions in water-drenched snow at a temperature of from -2 deg. to -10.2 deg. C. On this point I say in my account of the expedition of 1872-73:--[266]

"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."

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 species _Metridia armata_, A. Boeck, and whose proper element appears to be snow-sludge drenched with salt water cooled considerably under 0 deg. C. First when the temperature sinks below -10 deg. 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 deg. to -30 deg., 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.

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, somewhat spoiled _Vega_-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 their _pesks_ much 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 name _Dallia delicatissima_. A closely allied form occurs in Alaska, and has been named _Dallia 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 that _Dallia delicatissima_, SMITT, truly deserves its name.

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, which indeed 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 treeless _tundra_, but also under splendid forests and cultivated corn-fields.[269] To speak correctly, however, the frozen earth begins a little from the shore _under 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 by _fresh_ water freezing at 0 deg. C thus met a stratum of _salt_ water whose temperature was two or three degrees under 0 deg., 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 the _Vega_ the 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 thither so 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 algae were met with there though in limited numbers.