the sea of kara.—loschkin.—rosmysslow.—lütke.—krotow.—pachtussow.—sails along the eastern coast of the southern island to matoschkin schar.—his second voyage and death.—meteorological observations of ziwolka.—the cold summer of nova zembla.—von baer’s scientific voyage to nova zembla.—his adventures in matoschkin schar.—storm in kostin schar.—sea bath and votive cross.—botanical observations.—a natural garden.—solitude and silence.—a bird bazar.—hunting expeditions of the russians to nova zembla.
the sea of kara, bounded on the west by nova zembla, and on the east by the vast peninsula of tajmurland, is one of the most inhospitable parts of the inhospitable polar ocean. for all the ice which the east-westerly marine currents drift during the summer along the siberian coasts accumulates in that immense land-locked bay, and almost constantly blocks the gate of kara, as the straits have been named that separate nova zembla from the island of waigatz.
the rivers jenissei and obi, which remain frozen over until late in june, likewise discharge their vast masses of ice into the gulf of kara, so that we can not wonder that the eastern coast of nova zembla, fronting a sea which opposes almost insuperable obstacles to the arctic navigator, has remained almost totally unknown until 1833, while the western coast, exposed to the gulf stream, and bathed, in summer at least, by a vast open ocean, has long been traced in all its chief outlines on the map.
the walrus-hunter loschkin is indeed said to have sailed along the whole eastern coast of nova zembla in the last century, but we have no authentic records of his voyage, and at a later period rosmysslow, who, penetrating through mathew’s straits, or matoschkin schar, found nova zembla to consist of two large islands, investigated but a small part of those unknown shores. from 1819 to 1824 the russian government sent out no less than five expeditions to the sea of kara; the famous circumnavigator admiral lütke endeavored no less than four times to advance along the eastern coast of nova zembla, but all these efforts proved fruitless against the superior power of a stormy and ice-blocked sea. yet in spite of these repeated failures, two enterprising men—klokow, a chief inspector of forests, and brandt, a rich merchant of archangel—fitted out three ships in 1832 for the purpose of solving the mysteries of the sea of kara.
one of these vessels, commanded by lieutenant krotow, was to penetrate through mathew’s straits, and, having reached their eastern outlet, to sail thence across the sea to the mouth of the obi and the jenissei; but nothing more was heard of the ill-fated ship after her first separation from her companions at kanin nos.
the second ship, which was to sail along the western coast of nova zembla, and, if possible, to round its northern extremity, was more fortunate, for148 though it never reached that point, it returned home with a rich cargo of walrus-teeth.
the third ship, finally, under pachtussow’s command, was to penetrate through the gate of kara, and from thence to proceed along the eastern coast. when pachtussow, according to his instructions, had reached the straits, all his efforts to effect a passage proved ineffectual. it was in vain he more than once steered to the east; the stormy weather and large masses of drift ice constantly threw him back, the short summer approached its end, and thus he was obliged to put off all further attempts to the next year, and to settle for the winter in rocky bay within the gate of kara. a small hut was built out of the drift-wood found on the spot, and joined by means of a gallery of sail-cloth to a bathing-room, that indispensable comfort of a russian. the laying of traps, in which many arctic foxes were caught, and the carrying of the wood, which had sometimes to be fetched from a distance of ten versts, occupied the crew during fair weather. in april a party under pachtussow’s command set out for the purpose of exploring the western coast. on this expedition they were overtaken on the twenty-fourth day of the month by a terrible snowstorm, which obliged them to throw themselves flat upon the ground to avoid being swept away by the wind. they remained three days without food under the snow, as it was impossible for them to reach the dépôt of provisions buried a few versts off.
on june 24 the gate of kara was at length open, and pachtussow would gladly have sailed through the passage, but his ship was fast in the ice. he therefore resolved, in order to make the best use of his time, to examine the eastern coast in a boat, and reached in this manner the small sawina river, where he found a wooden cross with the date of 1742. most likely it had been placed there by loschkin, his predecessor on the path of discovery. he now returned with his boat to the ship, which, after an imprisonment of 297 days, was at length, july 11, able to leave the bay.
on stadolski island, near cape menschikoff, they found a wretched hut, which proved that they were not the first to penetrate into these deserts. but the hut was tenantless, and a number of human bones were strewn over the ground. one of pachtussow’s companions now related that in 1822 a samojede, named mawei, had gone with his wife and children to nova zembla, and had never returned. on gathering the bones, they were found to compose the skeletons of two children and of a woman, but no remains could be discovered of the man. most likely the unfortunate savage had been surprised by a snowstorm, or had fallen a prey to a hungry ice-bear, on one of his excursions, and his family, deprived of their support, had died of hunger in the hut.
on july 19 they reached the river stawinen, and on the 21st lütke’s bay, where a number of white dolphins and seals of an unknown species were found. here contrary winds arrested the progress of the navigators during eighteen days. on august 13 pachtussow entered matoschkin schar, and reached its western mouth on the 19th. thus he succeeded at least in circumnavigating the southern island, which no one had achieved before him, and as his exhausted provisions did not allow him to spend a second winter in nova zembla, he149 resolved to return at once to archangel. but contrary winds drove him to the island of kolgujew, and thence to the mouth of the petschora, where, on september 3, a dreadful storm at length shattered his crazy vessel. the crew found refuge in a hut, but this also was filled by the water; so that they had to wade several versts before they could reach the dry land.
pachtussow now travelled by way of archangel and onega to st. petersburg, where he communicated the results of his journey to the minister of marine, who gave him a most flattering reception, well merited by his ability and courage. the success he had already obtained encouraged the hope that a second expedition would be able to complete the undertaking, and consequently, by an imperial order, the schooner krotow and a transport were fitted out, with which pachtussow once more sailed from the port of archangel on august 5. his instructions were to winter in mathew’s straits, and thence to attempt in the following summer the exploration of the eastern coast of the northern island. the winter hut he built at the western entrance of the straits was ready for his reception by october 20. it was of stately dimensions, for a nova zembla residence—25 feet long, 21 broad, 8 feet high in the centre, 5 at the sides, and consisted of two compartments, one for the officers and the other for the crew. they found the cold very endurable, but were rather incommoded by the smoke, which did not always find a ready passage through the opening in the roof. sometimes the snow accumulated in such masses, or the storm raged so furiously round the hut, that they could not leave it for eight days running, and frequently the hole in the roof had to serve them for a door.
eleven white bears were killed about the hut during the winter; one on the roof, another in the passage. pachtussow, well aware that occupation is the best remedy against melancholy, kept his crew in constant activity. they were obliged to fetch wood from distances of ten or eleven versts, not seldom during a cold of -36°, which, thanks to their thick fur dresses, they bore remarkably well, particularly as a temperature lower than -25° never occurred, unless during perfectly calm weather. he also made them lay fox-traps at considerable distances from the hut, and amused them with shooting at a mark and gymnastic exercises. by this means he succeeded in preserving their health, and warding off the attacks of the scurvy.
as early as april the indefatigable pachtussow fitted out two sledge-parties, for the exploration of the eastern coast. the one, consisting of seven men, he commanded in person; the other was led by the steersman ziwolka. both parties travelled in company as far as the eastern entrance of the straits, where one of the huts in which rosmysslow had wintered seventy years before was still found in a good condition.
pachtussow now returned for the purpose of accurately surveying the straits, while ziwolka proceeded along the east coast, with a small tent and provisions for a month. all his men had samojede dresses, but they were already so hardened that they did not wear the upper coat with the hood even during the night, although snow-storms not seldom occurred. once their boots were frozen so hard that they could not pull them off before they had been previously thawed, and as drift-wood was nowhere to be found, they were obliged to150 burn the poles of their tent, and to keep their feet over the fire until the leather became soft. on may 18, the thirty-fourth day of his journey, ziwolka returned to his commander, after having explored the east coast northward to a distance of 150 versts.
meanwhile pachtussow had been busy building a boat eighteen feet long, with which he intended to proceed along the western coast to the northern extremity of the island, and, the elements permitting, to return to the straits along its eastern shores. about the beginning of june the migratory birds made their appearance, and introduced a very agreeable change in the monotonous fare of the navigators, who, a few weeks later, enjoyed the sight of blooming flowers, and gathered antiscorbutic herbs in large quantities.
thus the high northern land had assumed its most friendly aspect, and looked as cheerfully as it possibly could, when, on july 11, pachtussow and ziwolka set out for the north with the boat and the transport, the schooner being left behind in the straits with the surgeon and a few invalids. at first the wind and weather favored their course, but on july 21 the boat was smashed between two pieces of ice, so that they had hardly time to escape upon the land with the nautical instruments, a sack of flour, and some butter.
in this unpleasant situation they were obliged to remain for thirteen days, until at last a walrus-hunter appeared, who took the shipwrecked explorers on board, and brought them safely back to their winter-quarters on august 22.
thus this first attempt ended in complete disappointment, and the season was already too far advanced to permit of its renewal. yet pachtussow, resolving with praiseworthy zeal to make the most of the last days of the short summer, set out again on august 26 for the eastern entrance of the straits, and proceeded along the coast, until he was stopped by the ice at some distance beyond the small islands which bear his name.
convinced of the fruitlessness of all further efforts, pachtussow bade adieu with a sorrowful heart to the coast, which still stretched out before him in undiscovered mystery, and sailed back again to archangel on september 20. soon after his return he fell ill, and four weeks later his mourning friends carried him to his grave.
the arctic ocean is so capricious that in the following year the walrus-hunter issakow, of kem, who had no discoveries in view, was able to round without difficulty the north-eastern extremity of nova zembla, but, fearful of encountering the dangers of that dreadful coast, he almost immediately returned.
during the two winters he spent in nova zembla, the steersman ziwolka had daily consulted the thermometer, and the result of his observations gave to the western entrance of mathew’s straits a mean annual temperature of +17°.
thus nova zembla is colder than the west coast of spitzbergen, which, although still farther to the north, is more favorably situated with regard to the winds and currents, and from five to ten degrees warmer than the high northern parts of siberia and continental america, which sustain a comparatively numerous population, while nova zembla is uninhabited. hence this want, and the circumstance that the vegetation of these islands scarcely rises a span151 above the ground, while the forest region still penetrates far within the confines of the colder continental regions above mentioned, are to be ascribed not to the low mean annual temperature of nova zembla, but to the unfavorable distribution of warmth over the various seasons of the year. for although high northern siberia and america have a far colder winter, they enjoy a considerably warmer summer, and this it is which in the higher latitudes determines the existence or the development of life on the dry land. during the winter the organic world is partly sheltered under the snow, or else it migrates, or it produces within itself sufficient warmth to defy the cold—and thus a few degrees more or less at that time of the year are of no material consequence, while the warmth of summer is absolutely indispensable to awaken life and determine its development.
the comparatively mild winter of nova zembla (no less than thirty-three degrees warmer than that of jakutsk) is therefore of but little benefit to vegetable life, which on the other hand suffers considerably from a summer inferior even to that of melville island and boothia felix. a coast where the sun, in spite of a day of several months’ continuance, generates so small a quantity of heat, and where yet some vegetation is able to flourish, must necessarily be well worthy the attention of botanists, or rather of all those who take an interest in the geographical distribution of plants. for if in the primitive forests of brazil the naturalist admires the effects of a tropical sun and an excessive humidity in producing the utmost exuberance of vegetation, it is no less interesting for him to observe how flora under the most adverse circumstances still wages a successful war against death and destruction.
thus a few years after pachtussow’s expedition, the desire to explore a land so remarkable in a botanical point of view, and to gather new fruits for science in the wilderness, induced herr von baer, though already advanced in years, to undertake the journey to nova zembla.
accompanied by two younger naturalists, mr. lehmann and mr. röder, the celebrated petersburg academician arrived on july 29, 1837, at the western entrance of mathew’s straits, sailed through them the next day in a boat, and reached the sea of kara, where he admired a prodigious number of jelly-fishes (pleurobrachia pileus) swimming about in the ice-cold waters, and displaying a marvellous beauty of coloring in their ciliated ribs. this excursion might, however, have had very disagreeable consequences, for a dreadful storm, blowing from the west, prevented their boat from returning, and forced them to pass the night with some walrus-hunters, whom they had the good-fortune to meet with. on the following day the storm abated, so that the return could be attempted; they were, however, obliged to land on a small island in the beluga bay, where, wet to the skin, and their limbs shaking with cold, they fortunately found a refuge in the ruins of a hut in which rosmysslow had wintered in 1767. meanwhile the wind had veered to the east, accompanied by a very disagreeable cold rain, which on the mountains took the form of snow; they were now, however, able to make use of their sail, and arrived late at night at the spot where their ship lay at anchor, completely wet, but in good health and spirits.
“we could esteem ourselves happy,” says von baer, “in having paid so152 slight a penalty for neglecting the precaution, so necessary to all travellers in nova zembla, of providing for a week when you set out for a day’s excursion.”
on august 4, after a thorough botanical examination of the straits, the party proceeded along the west coast. the wind, blowing from the north, brought them to the kostin schar, a maze of passages between numerous islets, where the walrus-hunters in nova zembla chiefly assemble.
on august 9 an excursion was made up the river nechwatowa, where they rested in a hut which had been erected by some fisherman employed in catching “golzi,” or arctic salmon. on returning to the ship, a dreadful storm arose from the north-east, which lasted nine days, and, very fortunately for the botanists, caught them in the kostin schar, and not on the high sea. although they were anchored in a sheltered bay, the waves frequently swept over the deck of their vessel, and compelled them to remain all the time in their small, low cabin. only once they made an attempt to land, but the wind was so strong that they could hardly stand. their situation was rendered still more terrible and anxious, as part of the crew which had been sent out hunting before the storm began had not yet returned.
when at last the storm ceased, winter seemed about to begin in good earnest. every night ice formed in the river, and the land was covered with snow, which had surprised the scanty vegetation in its full bloom. at length the hunters returned, after having endured terrible hardships, and now preparations were made for a definitive departure. a general bath was taken, without which no anchorage in nova zembla is ever left, and, according to ancient custom, a votive cross was likewise erected on the strand, as a memorial of the expedition.
on august 28 the anchors were weighed, but they were soon dropped again in the schar, to examine on a small island the vegetable and animal products of the land and of the shore. the former offered but few objects of interest, but they were astonished at the exuberance of marine life. after having been detained by a thick fog in this place for several days, they at length sailed towards the white sea, where they were obliged by contrary winds to run into tri ostrowa. dreary and desolate as the tundras at this extreme point of lapland had appeared to them on their journey outward, they were now charmed with their green slopes, a sight of which they had been deprived in nova zembla.
on september 11 they at length reached the port of archangel, with the agreeable prospect of passing the winter in a comfortable study at st. petersburg instead of spending it, like barentz and his associates, as might easily have happened, in a wretched hut beyond the 70th degree of northern latitude.
having thus briefly sketched von baer’s adventures, i will now notice some of the most interesting scientific results of his journey.
the rocky west coast of nova zembla has about the same appearance as the analogous part of spitzbergen, for here also the mountains, particularly in the northern island, rise abruptly to a height of three or four thousand feet from the sea, while the eastern coast is generally flat. in both countries, angular blocks of stone, precipitated from the summits, cover the sides of the hills, and frequently make it impossible to ascend them. in fact, no rock, however hard153 or finely grained, is able to withstand the effects of a climate where the summer is so wet and the winter so severe. nowhere in nova zembla is a grass-covered spot to be found deserving the name of a meadow. even the foliaceous lichens, which grow so luxuriantly in lapland, have here a stunted appearance; but, as von baer remarks, this is owing less to the climate than to the nature of the soil, as plants of this description thrive best on chalky ground. the crustaceous lichens, however, cover the blocks of augite and porphyry with a motley vesture, and the dingy carpet with which dryas octopetala invests here and there the dry slopes, formed of rocky detritus, reminds one of the tundras of lapland.
the scanty vegetable covering which this only true social plant of nova zembla affords is, however, but an inch thick, and can easily be detached like a cap from the rock beneath.
on a clayey ground in moist and low situations, the mosses afford a protection to the polar willow (salix polaris), which raises but two leaves and a catkin over the surface of its covering.
even the most sparing sheet of humus has great difficulty to form in nova zembla, as in a great number of the plants which grow there the discolored leaf dries on the stalk, and is then swept away by the winds, so that the land would appear still more naked if many plants, such as the snow ranunculus (ranunculus nivalis), were not so extremely abstemious as to require no humus at all, but merely a rocky crevice or some loose gravel capable of retaining moisture in its interstices.
but even in nova zembla there are some more favored spots. thus when von baer landed at the foot of a high slate mountain fronting the south-west, and reflecting the rays of the sun, he was astonished and delighted to see a gay mixture of purple silenes, golden ranunculuses, peach-colored parryas, white cerastias, and blue palemones, and was particularly pleased at finding the well-known forget-me-not among the ornaments of this arctic pasture. between these various flowers the soil was everywhere visible, for the dicotyledonous plants of the high latitudes produce no more foliage than is necessary to set off the colors of the blossoms, and have generally more flowers than leaves.
the entire vegetation of the island is confined to the superficial layer of the soil and to the lower stratum of the air. even those plants which in warm climates have a descending or vertical root have here a horizontal one, and none, whether grasses or shrubs, grow higher than a span above the ground.
in the polar willow, a single pair of leaves sits on a stem about as thick as a straw, although the whole plant forms an extensive shrub with numerous ramifications. another species of willow (salix lanata) attains the considerable height of a span, and is a perfect giant among the nova zembla plants, for the thick subterranean trunk sometimes measures two inches in diameter, and can be laid bare for a length of ten or twelve feet without finding the end. thus in this country the forests are more in than above the earth.
this horizontal development of vegetation is caused by the sun principally heating the superficial sheet of earth, which imparts its warmth to the stratum of air immediately above it, and thus confines the plants within the narrow154 limits which best suit their growth. hence also the influence of position on vegetation is so great that, while a plain open to the winds is a complete desert, a gentle mountain slope not seldom resembles a garden.
the absence of all trees or shrubs, or even of all vigorous herbage, imparts a character of the deepest solitude to the nova zembla landscape, and inspires even the rough sailor with a kind of religious awe. “it is,” says von baer, “as if the dawn of creation had but just begun, and life were still to be called into existence.” the universal silence is but rarely broken by the noise of an animal. but neither the cry of the sea-mew, wheeling in the air, nor the rustling of the lemming in the stunted herbage are able to animate the scene. no voice is heard in calm weather. the rare land-birds are silent as well as the insects, which are comparatively still fewer in number. this tranquillity of nature, particularly during serene days, reminds the spectator of the quiet of the grave; and the lemmings seem like phantoms as they glide noiselessly from burrow to burrow. in our fields even a slight motion of the air becomes visible in the foliage of the trees or in the waving of the corn; here the low plants are so stiff and immovable that one might suppose them to be painted. the rare sand-bee (andrena), which on sunny days and in warm places flies about with languid wings, has scarcely the spirit to hum, and the flies and gnats, though more frequent, are equally feeble and inoffensive.
as a proof of the rarity of insects in nova zembla, von baer mentions that not a single larva was to be found in a dead walrus which had been lying at least fourteen days on the shore. the hackneyed phrase of our funeral sermons can not therefore be applied to these high latitudes, where even above the earth the decay of bodies is extremely slow.
however poor the vegetation of nova zembla may be, it still suffices to nourish a number of lemmings, which live on leaves, stems, and buds, but not on roots. the slopes of the mountains are often undermined in all directions by their burrows. next to these lemmings, the arctic foxes are the most numerous quadrupeds, as they find plenty of food in the above-mentioned little rodents, as well as in the young birds, and in the bodies of the marine animals which are cast ashore by the tides. white bears are scarcely ever seen during the summer, and the reindeer seems to have decreased in numbers, at least on the west coast, where they are frequently shot by the russian morse-hunters.
the hosts of sea-birds in some parts of the coast prove that the waters are far more prolific than the land. the foolish guillemots (uria troile), closely congregated in rows, one above the other, on the narrow ledges of vertical rock-walls, make the black stone appear striped with white. such a breeding-place is called by the russians a bazar. on the summit of isolated cliffs, and suffering no other bird in his vicinity, nestles the large gray sea-mew (larus glaucus), to whom the dutch whale-catchers have given the name of “burghermaster.” while the ice-bear is monarch of the land animals, this gull appears as the sovereign lord of all the sea-birds around, and no guillemot would venture to dispute the possession of a dainty morsel claimed by the imperious burghermaster.
this abundance of the sea has also attracted man to the desert shores of155 nova zembla. long before barentz made western europe acquainted with the existence of nova zembla (1594–96), the land was known to the russians as a valuable hunting or fishing ground; for the dutch discoverer met with a large number of their vessels on its coast. burrough, who visited the port of kola in 1556, in search of the unfortunate willoughby, and thence sailed as far as the mouth of the petschora, likewise saw in the gulf of kola no less than thirty lodjes, all destined for walrus-hunting in nova zembla.
whether, before the russians, the adventurous norsemen ever visited these desolate islands, is unknown, but so much is certain, that ever since the times of barentz the expeditions of the muscovites to its western coast have been uninterruptedly continued. as is the case with all fishing speculations, their success very much depends upon chance. the year 1834 was very lucrative, so that in the following season about eighty ships, with at least 1000 men on board, sailed for nova zembla from the ports of the white sea, but this time the results were so unsatisfactory that in 1836 scarce half the number were fitted out. in 1837 no more than twenty vessels were employed, and von baer relates that but one of them which penetrated into the sea of kara made a considerable profit, while all the rest, with but few exceptions, did not pay one-half of their expenses.
the most valuable animals are the walrus and the white dolphin, or beluga. among the seals, the phoca albigena of pallas distinguishes itself by its size, the thickness of its skin, and its quantity of fat; phoca grœnlandica and phoca hispida rank next in estimation. the greenland whale never extends his excursions to the waters of nova zembla, but the fin-back and the grampus are frequently seen.
the alpine salmon (salmo alpinus), which towards autumn ascends into the mountain-lakes, is caught in incredible numbers; and, finally, the bean-goose (anser segetum) breeds so frequently, at least upon the southern island, that the gathering of its quill-feathers is an object of some importance.
