The Voyage Of The Vega Round Asia And Europe Part 14

Eriophorum angustifolium ROTH.

Eriophorum v.a.g.i.n.atum L.

Eriophorum Scheuchzeri HOPPE.

Carex rigida GOOD.

Carex aquatilis WG.

Juncus biglumis L.

Luzula hyperborea R BR.

Luzula arctica BL.

Lloydia serotina (L.) REICHENB.

Banunculus pygmaeus WG.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIEVERSIA GLACIALIS R. BR. From Port d.i.c.kson. ]

Our botanists thus made on land a not inconsiderable collection, considering the northerly position of the region. On the other hand no large algae were met with in the sea, nor was it to be expected that there would, for the samples of water taken up with Ekman's instrument showed that the salinity at the bottom was as slight as at the surface, viz. only 0.3 per cent. The temperature of the water was also at the time of our visit about the same at the bottom as at the surface, viz. +9 to +10. In spring, when the snow melts, the water here is probably quite fresh, in winter again cold, and as salt as at the bottom of the Kara Sea. Under so variable hydrographical conditions we might have expected an exceedingly scanty marine fauna, but this was by no means the case. For the dredgings in the harbour gave Dr. Stuxberg a not inconsiderable yield, consisting of the same types as those which are found in the salt water at the bottom of the Kara Sea. This circ.u.mstance appears to show that certain evertebrate types can endure a much greater variation in the temperature and salinity of the water than the algae, and that there is a number of species which, though as a rule they live in the strongly cooled layer of salt water at the bottom of the Kara Sea, can bear without injury a considerable diminution in the salinity of the water and an increase of temperature of about 12.

For the science of our time, which so often places the origin of a northern form in the south, and _vice versa_, as the foundation of very wide theoretical conclusions, a knowledge of the types which can live by turns in nearly fresh water of a temperature of +10, and in water cooled to -2.7 and of nearly the same salinity as that of the Mediterranean, must have a certain interest. The most remarkable were, according to Dr. Stuxberg, the following: a species of Mysis, _Diastylis Rathkei_ KR., _Idothea entomon_ LIN., _Idothea Sabinei_ KR., two species of Lysiana.s.sida, _Pontoporeia setosa_ STBRG., _Halimedon brevicalcar_ GOeS, an Annelid, a Molgula, _Yoldia intermedia_ M. SARS, _Yoldia_ (?) _arctica_ GRAY, and a Solecurtus.

Driftwood in the form both of small branches and pieces of roots, and of whole trees with adhering portions of branches and roots, occurs in such quant.i.ties at the bottom of two well-protected coves at Port d.i.c.kson, that the seafarer may without difficulty provide himself with the necessary stock of fuel. The great ma.s.s of the driftwood which the river bears along, however, does not remain on its own banks, but floats out to sea to drift about with the marine currents until the wood has absorbed so much water that it sinks, or until it is thrown up on the sh.o.r.es of Novaya Zemlya, the north coast of Asia, Spitzbergen or perhaps Greenland.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EVERTIBRATIS FROM PORT d.i.c.kSON.

A. Yoldia arctica GRAY One and two-thirds of natural size.

B. Diastylis Rathkei KR Magnified three times. ]

Another portion of the wood sinks, before it reaches the sea, often in such a way that the stems stand upright in the river bottom, with one end, so to say, rooted in the sand. They may thus be inconvenient for the navigation, at least at the shallower places of the river. A bay immediately off Port d.i.c.kson was almost barred by a natural palisade-work of driftwood stems.

_August 7th._ The _Vega_ coaled from the _Express_. In the evening the _Lena_ arrived, 36 hours after the _Vega_ had anch.o.r.ed, that is to say, precisely at the appointed time. Concerning this excursion.

Dr. Almquist reports:

"On the 2nd August we--Horgaard, Nordquist and I--went on board the _Lena_ to make an excursion to Beli Ostrov. We were to land on the south-western headland and there undertake botanical and zoological researches. Thereafter we were to direct some attention to the opposite sh.o.r.e of Yalmal and visit the Samoyeds living there.

"We left the _Vega_ at eleven o'clock forenoon. In the course of the day we saw here and there in the south scattered ice, and at half-past ten at night we ran into a large belt, about 300 metres broad, of scattered ice, which lay stretched out from N.E. to S.W. It was pa.s.sed without difficulty. In the course of the night we now and then fell in with a little scattered ice, and in the morning with a belt of ma.s.ses of ice of considerable dimensions; sounding constantly in 10 to 3-1/2 metres water we succeeded, notwithstanding the fog and rain, in finding the straits between Beli Ostrov and the mainland, and on the 3rd August at eleven o'clock forenoon we anch.o.r.ed a little to the east of the southern extremity of the island. The _Lena_ lay in 3-1/2 metres water, about an English mile out to sea. The water was shallow for so great a distance from the beach that we had to leave our boat about 300 metres out to sea and wade to land.

"Beli Ostrov consists entirely of fine sand, and only on that part of the beach which is washed by the sea-water did we see any stones as large as walnuts; higher up we did not find a piece of stone even of the size of the nail. The highest point of the island appears to be scarcely three metres above the surface of the sea. That part of the island over which the sea water washes, that is, the beach and the deep bays which indent the land here and there, shows the fine sand bare, without trace of vegetation. Where the ground rises a little, it becomes covered with a black and white variegated covering of mosses and lichens; scattered among which at long intervals are small tufts of gra.s.s. First somewhat higher up, and properly only round the marshy margins of the numerous small fresh-water lakes and in hollows and bogs, is the ground slightly green. The higher plants are represented by only 17 species, all small and stunted,[95]

most of them rising only some few lines above the sand.

Very few plants reached a height of 15 centimetres. No kind of willow was found, nor any flower seen of any other colour than green or white.

"The lichen-flora too was scanty. No species showed any great luxuriance, and seldom did the black and white lichen-crust produce any 'apothecium,' The lichen-vegetation was most abundant on the driftwood of the beach and on the tufts in the marshes. The larger lichens, as the reindeer and Iceland lichens, occurred very sparingly. About 80 species were found. The land evertebrates were so sparingly represented, that only three diptera, one species of hymenoptera, and some insect larvae and spiders could be collected. Only podurae were found in great abundance; they completely covered the whole ground at the beach.

"Several herds of reindeer were seen, but we did not succeed in getting within range of them. A little fish of the Cottus family was caught by Nordquist in a ditch which was in connection with the sea. Driftwood still fresh was found in great abundance, and farther up on land here and there lay a more rotten stem.

"Rain and fog rendered impossible any determination of position. During night we went across the sound and anch.o.r.ed about an English mile and a half from the sh.o.r.e of Yalmal, right opposite some Samoyed tents which we discovered a little inland. In the same unfavourable weather as that of the day before we attempted to land there, but found the water too shallow. First pretty far to the east we succeeded in reaching the beach at a place where the land rose out of the sea with a steep bank about nine metres high. Above the bank, which consisted of loose clay, we found a plain with the appearance of a rich watered _tundra_, full of marshes and streams, and therefore presenting a very green appearance. In order to meet with the Samoyeds we now went westwards, pa.s.sing several rivulets which cut deeply into the land and had high banks, until after half an hour's walking we came to a broad but not very deep river, which it was impossible to ford. We therefore returned to our boat with the view of seeking a landing-place on the other side of the river; but as the _Lena's_ distance from land was considerable and the breeze was freshening, the captain considered that the time at our disposal did not permit us to undertake so long an excursion.

"So far as we may judge from our hasty visit, the vegetation on this part of Yalmal struck us as being remarkably abundant. The high banks especially were richly covered by phanerogamous plants and lichens, and would have deserved a closer examination. Our cursory observations of the plants here may however be interesting for comparison with the flora of Beli Ostrov; we collected and noted the higher plants[96] and about 40 species of lichens. Nordquist found that the fauna resembled that of the neighbouring island, and collected besides two species of Coleoptera.

"After lying 26 hours in the sound we weighed anchor again and went westwards, following a channel with ten to sixteen metres water. We could not find its course farther to the east, and were compelled, although we were near the eastern extremity of Beli Ostrov, to turn in order to pa.s.s out through the western entrance of the sound. We saw a quant.i.ty of stranded ice on the north coast of the island, which, seen from the sea, did not present any dissimilarity to the part which we had visited. On the 7th August we arrived at Port d.i.c.kson."

From Lieutenant Hovgaard's report on this excursion, a map is given here of Beli Ostrov and the neighbouring coast of Yalmal, in which I have named the sound between the island and the mainland after MALYGIN, one of the gallant Russian seamen who first sailed through it nearly a century and a half ago.

Yalmal has been visited by Europeans so seldom, and their observations are scattered in printed papers so inaccessible, that it may perhaps not be out of place here to collect the most important facts which are known regarding this peninsula, along with the necessary bibliographical references.

First as to its name, it is sometimes also written "Yelmert Land,"[97] but this is quite incorrect.

"Yalmal" is of Samoyed origin, and has, according to a private communication from the well-known philologist Dr. E.D. EUROPaeUS, the distinctive meaning "land's-end." YELMERT again was a boatswain with the Dutch whale-fisher VLAMINGH, who in 1664 sailed round the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya to Barents' winter haven, and thence farther to the south-east. Vlamingh himself at his turning-point saw no land, though all signs showed that land ought to be found in the neighbourhood; but several of the crew thought they saw land, and the report of this to a Dutch mapmaker, d.i.c.k REMBRANTSZ. VAN NIEROP, led to the introduction of the supposed land into a great many maps, commonly as a large island in the Kara Sea.

This island was named Yelmert Land. The similarity between the names Yelmert Land and Yalmal, and the doubt as to the existence of the Yelmert Island first shown on the maps, have led to the transfer of the name Yelmert Land to the peninsula which separates the Gulf of Obi from the Kara Sea. It is to be remarked, however, that the name Yalmal is not found in the older accounts of voyages from the European waters to the Obi. The first time I met with it was in the narrative of Skuratov's journey in 1737, as the designation of the most north-easterly promontory of the peninsula which now bears that name.

Yalmal's gra.s.sy plains offer the Samoyeds during summer reindeer pastures which are highly valued, and the land is said to have a very numerous population in comparison with other regions along the sh.o.r.es of the Polar Sea, the greater portion, however, drawing southward towards winter with their large herds of reindeer. But the land is, notwithstanding this, among the most imperfectly known parts of the great Russian empire. Some information regarding it we may obtain from sketches of the following journeys:

SELIFONTOV, 1737. In the months of July and August the surveyor Selifontov travelled in a reindeer sledge along the coast of the Gulf of Obi as far as to Beli Ostrov. About this journey unfortunately nothing else has been published than is to be found in LITKE, _Viermalige Reise_, &c., Berlin, 1835, p. 66, and WRANGEL, _Sibirische Reise_, Berlin, 1839, p. 37.

SUJEFF, in 1771, travelled under the direction of Pallas over the southern part of Yalmal from Obdorsk to the Kara Sea, and gives an instructive account of observations made during his journey in PALLAS, _Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des russischen Reiches_, St. Petersburg, 1771--76, III. pp. 14--35.

KRUSENSTERN, 1862. During his second voyage in the Kara Sea, which ended with the abandonment of the ship _Yermak_ on the coast of Yalmal in about 69 54' N.L., Krusenstern junior escaped with his crew to the sh.o.r.e, reaching it in a completely dest.i.tute condition. He had lost all, and would certainly have perished if he had not near the landing-place fallen in with a rich Samoyed, the owner of two thousand reindeer, who received the shipwrecked men in a very friendly way and conveyed them with his reindeer to Obdorsk, distant in a straight line 500, but, according to the Samoyed's reckoning, 1,000 versts. In the sketch of Krusenstern's travels, to which I have had access, there is unfortunately no information regarding the tribe with which he came in contact during this remarkable journey.[98]

WALDBURG-ZEIL and FINSCH, 1876. A very full and exceedingly interesting description of the natural conditions in the southernmost part of the peninsula is to be found in the accounts of Count Waldburg-Zeil and Dr. Finsch's journey in the year 1876.[99]

SCHWANENBERG, 1877. Captain Schwanenberg landed on the north part of Beli Ostrov during the remarkable voyage which he made in that year from the Yenisej to St. Petersburg. No traces of men, but some of reindeer and bears, were visible. The sea was sufficiently deep close to the sh.o.r.e for vessels of light draught, according to a private communication which I have received from Captain Schwanenberg.

THE SWEDISH EXPEDITION, 1875. During this voyage we landed about the middle of the west coast of Yalmal. In order to give an idea of the nature of the country, I make the following extract from my narrative of the voyage,[100] which has had but a limited circulation:

"In the afternoon of the 8th August I landed, along with Lundstrom and Stuxberg, on a headland projecting a little from Yalmal, on the north side of the mouth of a pretty large river. The landing place was situated in lat. 72 18', long. 68 42'. The land was bounded here by a low beach, from which at a distance of one hundred paces a steep bank rose to a height of from six to thirty metres. Beyond this bank there is an extensive, slightly undulating plain, covered with a vegetation which indeed was exceedingly monotonous, but much more luxuriant than that of Vaygats Island or Novaya Zemlya. The uniformity of the vegetation is perhaps caused, in a considerable degree, by the uniform nature of the terrain. There is no solid rock here. The ground everywhere consists of sand and sandy clay, in which I could not find a stone so large as a bullet or even as a pea, though I searched for a distance of several kilometres along the strand-bank. Nor did the dredge bring up any stones from the sea-bottom off the coast, a circ.u.mstance which, among other things, is remarkable, because it appears to show that the strand-ice from the Obi and Yenisej does not drift down to and melt in this part of the Kara Sea. Nor do the sand beds contain any sub-fossil sh.e.l.ls, as is the case with the sand beds of the Yenisej _tundra_. 'Noah's wood' also appears to be absent here. To judge from our observations at this place, the peninsula between the Gulf of Obi and the Kara Sea thus differs very essentially from the _tundra_ lying east of the Yenisej.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLACE OF SACRIFICE ON YALMAL. After a drawing by A.N.

Lundstrom. ]

"We saw no inhabitants, but everywhere along the beach numerous traces of men--some of them barefoot--of reindeer, dogs and Samoyed sleighs, were visible. On the top of the strand-bank was found a place of sacrifice, consisting of forty-five bears' skulls of various ages placed in a heap, a large number of reindeer skulls, the lower jaw of a walrus, &c. From most of the bears' skulls the canine teeth were broken out, and the lower jaw was frequently entirely wanting. Some of the bones were overgrown with moss and lay sunk in the earth; others had, as the adhering flesh showed, been placed there during the present year. In the middle of the heap of bones stood four erect pieces of wood. Two consisted of sticks a metre in length with notches cut in them, serving to bear up the reindeer and bears' skulls, which were partly placed on the points of the sticks or hung up by means of the notches, or spitted on the sticks by four-cornered holes cut in the skulls. The two others, which clearly were the proper idols of this place of sacrifice, consisted of driftwood roots, on which some carvings had been made to distinguish the eyes, mouth, and nose. The parts of the pieces of wood, intended to represent the eyes and mouth, had recently been besmeared with blood, and there still lay at the heap of bones the entrails of a newly-killed reindeer. Close beside were found the remains of a fireplace, and of a midden, consisting of reindeer bones of various kinds and the lower jaws of bears.

"As the sandy slopes of the beach offered no suitable breeding-place for looms, black guillemots, or other sea-fowl, and there were no islands along the coast which could serve as breeding-places for eiders and other species of geese which breed in colonies, the abundant bird-life of the Polar Sea was wanting here. At the mouth of the river, however, large flocks of eiders and long-tailed ducks flew about, and on the sandy banks along the sh.o.r.e, flocks of _Calidris arenaria_ and a Tringa or two ran about restlessly seeking their food. The solitude of the _tundra_ was broken only by a couple of larks and a pair of falcons (_Falco peregrinus_) with young.

Traces of reindeer were also seen, and two fox-traps set on the strand-bank showed that foxes occur in these regions in sufficient numbers to be the object of capture.

"Later in the afternoon, when some solar alt.i.tudes had been taken, in order to determine the geographical position of the place, we rowed back to our vessel and sailed on, keeping at some distance from the coast, and at one place pa.s.sing between the sh.o.r.e and a long series of blocks of ground-ice, which had stranded along the coast in a depth of nine to sixteen metres. During night we pa.s.sed a place where five Samoyed tents were pitched, in whose neighbourhood a large number of reindeer pastured. The land was now quite low, and the sea had become considerably shallower. The course was therefore shaped for the N.W., in which direction deeper water was soon met with. Notwithstanding the slight salinity and high temperature (+ 7.7) of the surface water a _Clio borealis_ and a large number of Copepoda were taken at the surface."

The excursion now described and Almquist's and Hovgaard's landing in 1878 were, as far as I am aware, the only occasions on which naturalists have visited the northern part of that peninsula which separates the Kara Sea from the Obi. The Norwegian hunters also visit the place seldom, the main reasons being the inaccessibility of the shallow east coast, and the want of harbours. They now, however, land occasionally to take in water, and perhaps to barter the tobacco they have saved from their rations, knives they have no use for, and old-fashioned guns, gunpowder, lead, &c., for the products of the Samoyeds' reindeer husbandry, hunting and fishing.

At first the natives fled when they saw the Norwegians coming, and, when they could not make their escape, they saluted them with great humility, falling on their knees and bending their heads to the earth, and were unwilling to enter into any traffic with them or to show them their goods. But since the Samoyeds observed that the Norwegians never did them any harm, the mistrust and excessive humility have completely disappeared. Now a visit of Europeans is very agreeable to them, partly for the opportunity which it offers of obtaining by barter certain articles of necessity, luxury, or show, partly perhaps also for the interruption thereby caused in the monotony of the _tundra_ life. When the walrus-hunters row or sail along that open coast, it often happens that natives run backwards and forwards on the sh.o.r.e, and by signs eagerly invite the foreigners to land; if they do so, and there are any wealthy Samoyeds in the neighbourhood, there immediately begins a grand entertainment, according to the customs of the people, with more than one trait reminding us of the sketches from the traditionary periods of the civilised nations.

What I have stated here is about all that we know of Yalmal, and we see from this that a very promising, yet untouched field for researches in ethnography and natural history here lies before future travellers to the Yenisej.

What sort of winter is there at the mouth of the Yenisej? We have for the present no information on this point, as no scientific man has wintered there. But on the other hand we have a very exciting narrative of the wintering of the Fin, NUMMELIN, at the Briochov Islands in the Yenisej in lat. 70 48' north.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "JORDGAMMOR" ON THE BRIOCHOV ISLANDS. After a sketch by the Author. ]

I visited the place on the 27th August 1875. It consisted of a fishing post, occupied only in summer, and at that season of the year very attractive, surrounded as it is by luxuriant vegetation of gra.s.s and bushes. The houses were situated on a sound running between the Briochov Islands, which form the northernmost group of the labyrinth of islands which occupy the channel of the Yenisej between 69-1/2 and 71 N.L. At the time of our visit the fishing was over for the season and the place deserted. But two small houses and a number of earth-huts (_jordgammor_), all in good repair, stood on the river bank and gave evidence, along with a number of large boats drawn up on land, and wooden vessels intended for salting fish, of the industry which had been carried on there earlier in the summer. It was at this place that Nummelin pa.s.sed one of the severest winters that Arctic literature has to record.[101]

In 1876 M. Sidoroff, well known for the lively interest which he takes in navigation in the Siberian waters, had a ship _Severnoe Sianie_ (the _Aurora_) built and fitted out at Yeniseisk, in order to carry goods from the Yenisej to Europe. The vessel was placed under the command of a Russian sea-captain, Schwanenberg. Under him Nummelin served as mate, and the vessel had a crew of eighteen men, most of whom had been exiled to Siberia for crime. In consequence of various mishaps the vessel could not get farther the first year than to the neighbourhood of the mouth of the Yenisej, where it was left in winter quarters at the place which has been named above. Nummelin and four exiles remained on board, while Schwanenberg and the rest of the crew returned to Yeniseisk on the 28th September. Frost had already commenced. During the two following weeks the temperature kept in the neighbourhood of the freezing point; clear weather alternating with snow and rain.

On the 5th of October the crew withdrew to their winter quarters, having previously collected driftwood and placed it in heaps in order that they might easily find it under the snow.

On the 16th October the thermometer at eight o'clock in the morning showed -4.5 and afterwards sank lower every day, until after the 21st October the mercury for some days was constantly under -10. On the 26th October the temperature was -18, but in the beginning of November it rose again to -2. On the 6th November it sank again to -17, but rose on the 11th to -3.5. On the 14th November the thermometer showed -23.5, on the 21st -29.5. Next day in the morning it stood at -32, and in the evening at -37, but these figures were arrived at _by guess_, the instrument not indicating so low temperatures. This temperature of -30 to -32, varying with frozen mercury, continued till the end of November, when it rose again to -11.5. At Christmas there was again a temperature of -31 and the six following days the mercury was frozen, with which the new year came in. The temperature then rose again to -20, but soon sank so that from the 16th January the mercury was frozen for five days. On the 22nd January the reading was -9. On the 26th the mercury froze again, and on the 29th the temperature was -6. During the month of February the temperature never rose above -24; the mercury was frozen on the 20th, 25th, 26th, and 28th. This was the case on the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 14th, 16th, and 18th March; on the 22nd March the reading was -7, on the 30th -29. April began with -31, but the temperature afterwards rose, so that on the 16th it reached -11 and varied between -21 and -6 (the 25th). On the 2nd May the reading in the morning and evening was -12, at mid-day -2 to -5. On the 8th May it was +0, on the 17th -10.5, on the 31st +0.5. June began with +1.5.

On the 8th the reading at mid-day was +11, on the morning and evening of the same day +2 to +3. During the remainder of June and the month of July the temperature varied between +2 and +21.