THE UNKNOWN NORTH.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1594, 29 March 1879, Page 4

THE UNKNOWN NORTH.

Prop. Nordenhkiold's Report of his Extraordinaky Journey ok Discovery. The following is the Swedish Prof. Nor■denskiod's report of a portion of bii recent journey to the northward of Liberia—a journey which is pronounced only second to Stanley's in the importance of its discoveries. On Board the Vega, East of Cape Tscheljuskio, Augußt 20th, 1878.-We have just sailed around Cape Tscheljuskin. As far as we can now see the ice will not interrupt our journey, at least not before our arrival at the mouth of the River Lena. There the Vega will have to separate from her faithful companion, the Beeamer - ena, which will sail up the river as far as Iskutsk. I will, therefore, in all probability in a few days be able to send you over from Iskutsk and Jrkuisk the report «f our journey from Dick son harbor, which I am now going to write. I am delighted to say at once, "All as well as possible." WATER TEMPERATURE. After the departure injthe morning of the Frazer and the Express for the Simovies, somewhat further up in the river, I allowed the Vega to remain for twenty-four hours longer in TMckson harbor in order to give Lieutenant Bove an opportunity of finishing the maps of that excellent harbor so well Erotected on all sides, which, doubtless, will ecome of great importance in the future. So the Vega and the Lena did not go under way until the morning of the 10th of August to continue their route. They steered for the most western of the Kammenui islands, outside the mouth of the Piasino. The sky overcast, the temperature of the air up to 10.4 degrees Celcius (50 degrees Fahrenheit), that of the water at first 10 degrees and later 8 degrees (46 degrees Fahrenheit), its saltness slight. No ice was seen duriag the day, Favored by a fine breeze from southeast, the Vega could start on her journey with full sails. But later in the day the sea began to be covered with fog. This obliged us to advance with great care, especially as in the course of the day we sailed by small islands not indicated on the chart. DENSE 1003. Fine weather and ice-free sea favored also the next day's journey; but then the fog became so dense that already in the morning we were oliged to lie to one of the many small islands we passed on our way. The island was composed of a low bank of gneiss, only thinly covered with gravel, which was either perfectly sterile or covered with a very scanty vegetation of thin mosses or Ehanerogama. On the other side the umidity prevailing during the summer months in these regions had produced an abundant vegetation of lichens, which was a rich harvest for Dr. Almquisi. The water of the sea was but little salt, at least on the surface, and sea alga were consequently hardly to be found, whereas the zoologists were well supplied by the dredger with pure forms of sea life. SAILING THROUGH ROTTEN ICE. On the afternoon of the 11th August the weather had cleared a little, so we could proceed. Now and then a floating piece of ice was to be seen, and during the night the ice increased to an alarming degree, but still not so *s to arrest navigation. It rather proved useful by allaying every traoe of motion in the sea thus rendering it easy to take the temperature of the sea at different depths and secure dredgings twice a day. The ice now consisted almost entirely of bay ice, so eaten away that it was rather of the consistency of ice cream than solid ice. It was evident that it would disappear altogether in a few days. Although at intervals so thick a fog spread over the sea that the vessels could only keep informed of each other's position by means of the steam whistle we kept on toward the north-east on an unkown route filled with islets and probably also shoals. Sometimes when the fog became too thick we stopped at some block of ice, or a large floe, or at some of the small or large islets which are forming a wall or rocks between Dickson harbor and Cape Tscheljuskin. That we did not a single time touch the bottom during that sail is a complete proof of the excellent manner in which Lieutenant Paisnder and the officers who assisted in keeping the watch under his experienced supervision (the Lieutenants Brusewux and Govgaard) managed the navigation of the vessel. ARCTIC BIOLOGY.

Gradually the saltness of the water began to increase and the temperature to diminish. At the same time the organic life at the bottom of the sea became richer, so that Dr. Siuxburg, in the night between the 13th and the 14th August, while the ship was lying fastened to a piece of floating ice, t«ok up a quantity of magnificent pure forms of sea fife—large specimens of the remarkable orinolde alecio eschrichtu, numerous starfish (asterias siniku and panople), pycnogonides, &c. The dredging near the coast now began to yield Dr. Kjillmann some large sea alga. But on shore the higher fauna and flora were still so poor that the coast is here a complete desert oompared with the rocky shores of Spitsbergen and Nova Zambia. Auks, redbreasted geese, puffins, black guillemots, and terns, which congregate at Spuzbergen in thousands and thousands are here entirely lacking. Seagulls and "Lestres," which there fill the air with their ceaseless chattering screams, and quarrelling for food, appear here but rarely, each in two species, and it seemed as if they quarrelled less here. Only snow sparrows, six or seven Bpecies of waning birds, and some species of geese, are found en shore in larger numbers. If we add to these an occasional ptarmigan, a mountain owl (stryx nyctea), and a species of falcon, the whole bird life of the region is enumerated, at least as far as we became acquainted with it. Of warm-blooded animals in the sea outside, only two walruses, some large seals (phoca barbata) and a crowd of other seals (phoca hispida). Fish probably exist here abundantly. MISEAROLOGICAL DISCOVERT. I must here mention a very remarkable discovery. While the ship was lying moored to one of the few pieces of floating ice which we encountered and found to be of sufficient strength to bear a dozen men. Lieutenant Nordquiat and I descended on the ice to see whether I here could find any trace of the remarkable substance of cosmic origin which I found in 1872 on the ice at the northern coast of Spitzbergen. I could find nothing of the sort here. But Lieutenant Nordquist directed my attention to some yellow spots on the ice, which I asked him to collect and hand to the botanists of the expedition for examination, thinking that they proceeded from some diatomous mud. At the examination afterwards made it was discovered that the substance in question was of no organic product, but coarse sand, consisting exclusively of very beautifully formed crystals, of a diameter reaching even up to a couple of millimeters. I have not yet had time or opportunity to examine them more closely.but.as an experienced mineralogist, I can see that this mineral is a no common terrestrial one, but that it, perhaps, is a substance crystallised from the sea water by the severe winter frost. AOWHIA HARBOR. Waiting for clear weather, we were lying at anchor from the 14th to the 18th August, in an excellent harbor in the sound between the Island of Taimyr and the continent, which I have named Actinia harbor on account of the numerous actinias here dredged. JLORA AND JAXJKA. The land was free from snow and covered with a gray-green carpet of plants, oomposed of a thiok growth of different kinds of graae, moßses and lichens. The number of species of the phanerogamous plants was very soanty, but mosses and lichens were abundant. The whole forms evidently a pasture for reindeer much finer than that which exists in the valleys rich in reindeer at the BelßOund, the Toefjord and the Storf jord of Spitzbergen. Russian hunters have surely not for a century visited these regions, and yet we only saw here a few reindeer, which, unfortunately, were too shy to reward the skill of our sportsmen. Captain Johnansen attributed this fact, perhaps correctly, to the presence of the wolves in the vicinity. He told us that he had seen wolves' track* and a reindeer just killed by a wolf. SITK lOR A STATIOX* Ob the steam lauaoh we oarritd witfe as Lieut, PftMtr, ftewpuied bj Ito*.

Hovgaard, made some excursions to examine the sound, which separates the Taimyr island from the continent. That sound was found t o shallow and obstructed, and the current running westward in the sound too strong for the Vega to pen trate Bafely on that route to the Taimyr bay. But in case a station of observation should not be established at the very Cape Tscheljuskin I can reoommend the Actinia harbor as a station for the meteorological observations which, ac3ording to the proposal of Mr Weyprecht, are to be made simultaneously at many different places in the far north. The harbor, forms a bay, sheltered on all sides and offering a good anchorage. Although the continuous fog had riot yet lifted the Vega and Lena again Bet sail on the 18th, continuing their route for Cape Tscheljuskin. The exper ehce we have later gained of the weather in these regions proved that we acted wisely. We would probably have bee 1 obliged to wait for clear weather till the sea was again covered with ice. UNCHARTED ISLANDS. We steamed on along the western coast of the Taimyr island. It is surrounded by a number of islands which are not to be found on the map, and is possibly itself divided by sounds into several parts. TAIMYR ISLAND. The northern extremity of the Taimyr island does not seem to extend as far forward north as indicated on the chart. Ice we only saw in small quantity, and only bay ice, which was so fragile that one could hardly see a pieee strong enough to bear a couple of men. All that ice must soon have melted. Even the Taimyr bay was almost free from ice. We were even during our journey again exposed to some motion of the sea. On the 19th of Augußt we again steamed on and sailed along the coast of the peninsula of Tscheljuskin in an extremeiy thick fog, which only occasionally lifted so much that the contours of the country were visible. During the day we passed an extensive field of unbroken ice, which occupied a bar on the western side of the peninsula of Tscheljuskin. Owing to the mirage, caused by the refraction near the horizon, the ice appeared to be thick and high, but on our arrival at the border of the ice itself it seemed that also this was solid ice, almost as porous as that which formed the bands of ice which we met sometimes in the sea. TIIE NORTH CAPE OT? ASIA. The fog prevented us from seeing far, and I already feared that the most northern point of Asia might be ao enveloped that we should not be able to land there; but soon peeped out again the ice free cape in the northeast. A little creek, open toward the north, and there free from ice, run inland. The vessel cast anchor in that creek on the 19th of August, at 6 p.m., flags flying and tiring a salute with one of the small guns the Vega carried. We had reached the first goal of our journey, the most northern point of the old world. A SHY RECEPTION COMMITTEE.

The sky had cleared and the promontory lay before us in the sunshine, and free from snow. Just as on our arrival at Yenisei in 1876, here, too, we were received by a large polar bear, who, even before we had cast anchor, was walking to and fro on the beach, now and then looking and snuffing in the direction of the creek, as if to ascertain what uninvited guests were now approaching a region where until now the bear had held undisputed sway. Frightened by the salute he took to his legs in haste, and thereby escaped the balls of our sportsmen. LANDING AND OBSERVATIONS. In order to take an astronomical observation on this important spot, and to give our zoologists and botanists an opportunity to make some excursions, I remained here until the following noon. Cape Tscheljuskin is formed by a low promontory divided into two parts by the creek, where the vessels had cast anchor. A hill, with gradually sloping sides, extends from the eastern beach parallel with the coast southward. According to approximate calculation from the

astronomical observations and the triangular measurements which were made the western point is situatod in latitude 77 degrees 36 minutes 37 seconds north, and longitude 103 degrees 25 minutes 5 seconds east of Greenwich. The eastern point is a little farther toward the north—viz., at latitnde 77 degrees 41 minutes north and longitude 154 degrees 1 minute east. Inland the mountains seem gradually to mount to about 1000 feet. This hill, as well as the flat land, was almost free from ice. Only here and there large white fields of snow were visible in the hollows in the mountain sides or in some deep and narrow ravine in the plain. Near the shore itself the ice remained at the most {daces. The soil of the low lands consists of ayers of clay, which in places are almost bare and divided by cracks into more or less perfect hexagons, and in other places covered by a carpet of plants, composed of grass, moss, and places where we landed the previous day. The stone formation here was not granite, but perpendicular strata of slate, containing no petrifactions, but rich in crystals of pyrite. At the farthest point the strata of slate were traversed by large veins of quartz. Dr Kjillmann was only able to discover here twenty-four species of phanerogamous plants, the most of them distinguished by a tendency to form thick hemispherical mounds. Also|the lichens were, according to the report of Dr Almquist, uniform but luxuriant in form. It almost appeared aa if the plants of the peninsula of Tscheljuskin had tried to advance further northward, but en meeting the sea had stopped on the very utmost point. Here one found a very small area almost all the plants—phanerogames as well as cryptogames —which the country can show, many of which are sought in vain further up on the plain. The fauna on shore was as poor as

the higher flora. Of birds only a number of swimming snipes was seen, some species of sandpipers, a few elder ducks, a loon, a very numerous flock of " Anser bernicia," and the remains of a mountain owl. In the sea outside, which, with the exception of a few floating bits, was free from ice, a single walrus, two shoals of delphinopterus lucas, and some few small seals (phoca hispida) were seen. Also there was a very marked lack of warm-blooded animals. On the other side the dredger brought up from the bottom several large alyd (laminaria azarohi a. 0.), and a number of lower animals, among which very large specimens of the idothea entomon, a species of the isapodes, which is also found in the Baltic and our larger lakes, and which is conaidered to be a proof of their having cohered with the Arctic sea in the ice period. The alyd collected were so far of interest as they gave a further proof of the incorrectness of the theory which has long prevailed that the Siberian Arctic eea was entirely destitute of the higher forms of alyd.