New-York tribune., 1879-10-04
4 srRlyGE cORYER OF THE WOELD.

II may be some time yet before the full siguii-
cauce of the daring voyage 0i the vega along thc
north coast Of ASIA with ref renee to navigation. is
fully known. Professor Nordeushj0ld has lot vet
reported bis views upon that point. He has merely
tod Us a few facts. For instance he says hc has
discovered that Che coast of siberia wcst - the
Lena is vast plain. devoid Of trees. in The navi-a-
tion % which an encounter with imDtnciraOe lee
foes IS generally 10 De feared. There are no great
islands ont TO sea there to prevent rle wind from
driving the ice down toward the land aud there
are vast distances where few rivers empty into
the Polar Ocean, and, by their warm current,
preserve 4 space Of open water along the shore.
For several hundred miles in the vicinity of
the Lena however. great rivers pour ilrO the
ocean, aud large islands Ire Oh to the norihward,
and there is almost ice along shore. East OF tue
hOl!ma toward Bohrng strait, there are no great
rivers and although the climate is mil1er and the
woodlands creep down almost to the sea. the frozen
foes crowd closer to the shore, and IL the Fab and
Winter they are liable TO bar the way 30 shipping.
They gave Nordenski5d great trouble, and on the
9th Of September they left him onchained in solid
ice few miles from the open water north OF
Behriug Strait and only 1870 mile, from tLc strait
itself. They kept him there eight weary months.
While communicating these facts, the daring
Swede has not set published lns conclusions there
upon.
Ii he has left us in the dark in regard TO the
mercial navigation of The Siberian coast however,
ne has at least taken the pains % reveal the inter-
esting 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
soltudes Professor Nordeushj0ld wgo.e letter 20
Dr. Oscar Dickson, the main contributor toward the
fttIng-out of the expedti0u describing The scenes
along the coast The letter. dispatched on Tho 2Oih
Of February. has ut last reached its destiunton and
is now published in INo Load0R SiradqrI.
The letter calls attention, the first place, 90 Il
group Of Islands which are very remarkable fon a
scientific point of view. These islands. the New
SIBERIAN open the book Of the history of the world
at new place The ground There is strcwn with
wonderful fossils Whole Hillsarc covered with the
bones Of the mammoth. rh.noceros. horse ur bison.
oxen, sheep, etc. The washes mp ivory upDn
the shores. In tbs group Is possibly - ho found
the solution OF the question Of the ancestry Of the
Indian elephant. and important faces with regard 10
rhe vertcbratcs which existed at the tlme of mans
first appearance upon earth How cana horses and
sheep in u region now locked in the fetters
of an eternal Winter. uninhahited by man. not now
supporting animal life in any form, and almost i'm
possible OF access : Professor Nordenshia was
unable to solve the question himself, and he sug-
gcsts that 1T is OF the utmost Importance to science
lands for thorough exploration.
At Cape ScheIagsko1 tle Vega passed the point
where the Siberian merchant Schaawroff ended his
persistent and intrepid attempts to reach Behrng
Strait from the river Lena. by lonely death with
his whole company OF men in hut OF the snow-cad
shore. Upon rounding this cape, AOrdenskj0ld met
the first natives seen along that whole coast They
spoke tongue utterly unknown. Not a compre-
hensbe sentence could they utter IN any European
language. They lived in tents. pitched on the sand
banks separating the aroons peculiar to this coast
from the hardy, jovial, handsome race, fur
clad. keen at barter, ignorant of the value Of
money, and preferring u rcd lannel shirt, a few
brass buttons, and the piece of iH-lo on cake of
soap 10 golden roubes and silyercoirs, they live an
active and healthy life uSa stone and bone
Implements and without trace Of religion in
thcir customs. IheIr tents are double, ono within
the other. The children are totally naked within
the nner tent, and were often seen outside running
about On the frozen ground, with the tempcratnre
down below 80. The women wear nothing when
within che tents except girdle, and the men have
shayen heads. remarkable similarity was noticed
between the implements dresses aud customs OF
these people and those OF the Esqu;maux and North
American Indians. These people are the Tschnkt-
schcrs. Though armed With stone and bone weapons
and though Will and itinerant they evidently have
a history. They drove of the original inhabitants
Of the region 200 Yeas ago. tho Onkilons whose
houses. places of sacrifice, circles of mOss-grown
bear skulls aud weapons still 60 be found almost
everywhere ou the coast. Lieutenant Nordqvst de-
voted himself to learning their language. These
Indians are on the original highway between the
cradle of the human and the homo of tho abo-
rignes OF the northern part of North America, and
IL is not thought that the resemblance between |
them and the Greenlandes is accidental. The ar |
rival of the Vega on the Tschuktscher coast was |
an event like tho landing of Columbus in the New
World. 1t was an unprecedented occurrence, and |
made sensation throughout the region.
East of the Iona Professor Nordenskj5ld found on
shore no scattered blocks Of stone such as are dis
trbutod over a continent by rlaciers and sucb .a