The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-10-15
A Strange Corner of the World.
New York Tribune of Oct. 4th.

1t may be some time yet before the full
significance of the daring voyage Of the
Vega along the north coast of Asia, with
reference to navigation, is fully known.
Prof NOrdenskjold has not vet reported his
views upon that point. He has merely
told US a few facts. For instance, he saws
he has discovered that the coast of Siberia
west Of the Lena is vast plain, devoid of
trees, in the navigation to which an en-
counter with impenetrable ice-foes is gen
orally to be feared. There are no great
islands out to sea there to prevent the
wind from driving the ice down toward the
land: and there are vast distances where
few rivers empty into the Polar Ocean,
and, by their warm current, preserve
space Of open water along the shore. For
several hundred miles i'm the vicinity of
the Lena, however, great rivers pour into
the ocean and large islands lie off to the
northward, and there Is almost no ice along
shore. East of the Kolima, toward Behring
strait, there are no great rivers, and al
though the climate is milder and the
woodlands creep down almost to the sea,
the frozen foes crowd closer to the shore
and in the fall and winter they are liable
to bar the way to shipping. They gave
Nordenskjold great trouble, and on the
9th of September they left him enchained
in solid ice a few miles from the open
miles from the strait itself. They kept
him there eight weary months While
communicating these facts, the daring
Swede has not yet published his conclu-
sions thereupon.
II he has left US in the dark in regard to
the commercial navigation of the Siberian
coast however, he has at least taken the
pains to reveal the interesting nature of the
region he has Just passed through. When
the ice closed in upon the Vega, and left
the stout ship enslaved in those northern
solitudes Professor Nordenskiold ,fote a
letter to DR. Oscar Dickson the main con-
tributor toward the fitting out of the ex-
petition, describing the scenes along the
coast. The letter, despatched on the goth
of February, has at last reached its destI-
nation and Is now published in the Lon
don Standard. The letter calls attention,
in the first place, to a group of islands
which are very remarkable from scien-
/ tific point of view. These islands, the
New Siberian, open the book of the history
of the world at new place. The ground
there is strewn with wonderful fossils.
Whole hills are covered with the bones of
the mammoth, rhinoceros, horses, uri,
bison, oxen, sheep, &c. The sea washes up
ivory upon the shores In this group Is
possibly to be found the solution of the
question Of the ancestry of the Indian ele-
/ plant and important facts with regard to
/ the vertebrates which existed at the time Of
mans first appearance upon earth. How
came horses and sheep in a region row
I locked in the letters of an eternal winter,
uninhabited by man, not now supporting
animal life in any form, and almost impos-
sible of access? Professor NordenskJold
was unable to solve the question himself,
and he suggests that it is of the utmost i'm
portance to science to send light draught
steel steamer to these islands for thorough
] exploration.
At Cape Schelagskoff the Vegas passed
the point where the Siberian merchant
Schalawroff ended his persistent and intrepid
attempts to reach Behring Strait from tho
River Lena by a lonely DEATH with hi:
/ whole company of men in a hut on the
snow-clad shore. Upon rounding this cape
/ Nordenskiold met the first natives seen
| along that whole coast. They spoke a
tongue utterly unknown. Not a cOmpre-
hensible sentence could they utter III any
European language They lived IN tents
pitched on the sand banks separating the
iagoons peculiar to this coast from the sea.
A hardy, iovial, handsome race, tur-clai,
keen at barter, ignorant of the value o.
money, and preterring red flannel shirt, q
few brass buttons and the piece of tin toll
or a cake of soap to golden rubles ano
silver coins they live an active and healthy
life. use stone and bone implements, anC
are without trace of religion IN then
customs. Their tents are double, one with
in the other The children are totally
naked within the inner tent, and were Otter
seen outside, running about on the frozei
ground, with the temperature down below
20 degrees The women wear nothing whel
within the tents except glrdie, ana I'M
men have shaven heads. A remarkablt
} similarity was noticed between the lmplt
f ments. dresses and customs of these peopl
and those of the Esq uimax and Aorti
81 American Indians. These people are In
, | TschuktSehers.
Tbouoh armed with stone and bone wea
, mons and though wild and itiGerant, the.
; evidently have history. They drove o
: the original inhabitants of the region ZO
, wears ago. the Onkilons, whose houses
4 nlaces of sacrifice, circle of moss-grown pea
skulls and weapons are still to De louh
almost everywhere on the coast. Lleulei
ant Nordqvist devoted himself to learnln
[ their language. These Indians are on u
+ original highway between the cradle OF IN
, human race and the home of the aborlglne
, of the northern part of North Amerlc'
: and it is not thought that the resemolah'
hetween them and the Greenlanders Is acc
: dental. The arrival of the Vega on the 1 SCI
i ulitscher coast WIS an event ike the iahS
IS ing of Columbus in the New "or,u'
g was an Unprecedented occurrence, and mao
e ! a sensation throughout 1uC 49,
o East of the Lena Professor Nordensklol
e found no scattered blocks of stone such
= are distributed over a continent by giacle
4" and such as are found elsewhere IN Sieerl
y This fact was held to point to the absenC
ii of land out to sea north OF that coast an
It il excited anticipations as to the p0sslp,
" discoveries which are TO be MADE py u
a Jeanette. Not the least OF the pecui! "a
= t;as Of this strange region is the fact tn
|" tbe coast appears to be rising slowly out
L tbe sea. The inhabitants have to shift the
"a Villages at times nearer to the edge OF T
is wateT which is gradually receding fT0r
IS them Prof. Nordenskjold's letter Is full
e facts like these, and the scientific world ', w
# wait with impatience the further Puole
- -. .os,,Its Of his discoveries.