The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-09-04

by the British Government to do ava,
with the local prohibitory laws of tn
Canadian Provinces, which now prac
tically override and nullify the treaty
provisions of far higher authority.
Letters from the Arctic Explorers Of
Board the sVega."
According to the Nya daylight lille
banda, q journal published at Stock
holm, a private letter has been received
in the latter part of June overland from
Lieutenant Palander, the commander
of the Vega, stating that all was wei
on board of the steamer. The mouth
of the Lena River was passed on the
9th of August last. In the beginning
everything was favorable, although thu
Arctic explorers had to contend with
ice and shallow water. They succeeded
in reaching Cape Jakan, but here fo1
three days further progress was stop
ped. That point was left Or the It'll
of September, and after many diff.
culties they arrived, on the 18th, a,
Cape North, where they were shut up
in ice until the 18th. After that the
Arctic voyagers were only able nov
and then to advance, owing to the com.
pact ice. On the 28th of September
they arrived at their present position
in latitude sixty-seven degrees six min
utes north and longitude 173 degrees
thirty minutes west. Had that point
been reached two days earlier the
steamer would have been able to pass
through Behring Strait.
The Vega is not anchored In any
harbor, but very near a shallow sand
beach, and moored to solid ice. All
hands are well and provisions plenty;
coal sufficient for two thousand-mile
cruise. One or two villages OF
Tschutsches had been passed. These
natives were believed to originate from
Greenland, and, Judging from their ap.
pearance, appeared to be related to the
Esquimaux. Their complexion il
brownish yellow, hair and eyes jet
black. They are dressed in reindeer
robes, dwell in tents of hides and live
on the fat of the seal. They are, more.
over, friendly disposed and accommo.
dating. The women's faces are tat.
tOoed, the mems not. Their language
is very difficult to understand, but the
Swedish explorers have nevertheless
acquired it and compiled q Swedish.
Tschutschean dictionary, embracing
over three hundred words. Three
camps of Tschutsches are on the shore
in the vicinity of the Vegas anchorage.
During September the temperature
was never below three degrees, and
five degrees Celsius was the coolest at
any time. On the 21st December, the
darkest day of the year, the sun was
still above the horizon. The letters
had been sent from the Vega by a Wis.
iting native chief residing in the neigh
borhood of Anadyrsk. The Polar ex-
plorers calculated to extricate them.
selves by the 1st of July, and to reach
Japan by the 10Th of August.
We are enabled also to lay before our
readers the following extract from the
famous Arctic explorers last letter to
his family. which Mrs. Nordenskjold
has had the politencss to place at our
disposal. The letter is dated:
"On board the Vega, icebound on
the north coast of Siberia, just east of
Koljuschin Bay, latitude sixty-seven
degrees seven minutes, longitude 173
degrees fifteen minutes west of Green
witch, the 9th of October, 1878.
Siuce ! last wrote from the mouth
of the Lena River the Vega has
pressed forward, though with no
little difficulty, to the vicinity of Behring
Strait. e., to part of the Polar Sea
which is every year visited by whalers
from the Pacific Ocean and trading
vessels belonging to the American
Alaska Company. These vessels have
frequently left these waters as late as
the middle of October. As result
from the northern and northwestern
winds blowing in these regions during
the whole of September. it appears,
however, that this year a most unfa-
vorable condition of the ice has pre-
vailed in the Polar Sea, near Behring
Strait. The ice-free channel which in
the proximity of the coast facilitated
our progress as far as beyond the
mouth of the Lena River ended at the
Basanow Islands, which we passed on
the Sd of September. Since then we
have gone forward through dense
masses of floating ice so slowly that we
did not reach the eastern coast of Kol-
juschin Bay until the 9th of September.
1.-The night Of the 2Sth the ocean
was covered between the glacial frag.
ments with new formed ice, so that We
were forced to abandon further at
tempts to proceed, but temporarily Law
to, alongside some large foes of solid
ice about half mile from the beach.
Three days later we were able to walk
ashore on the new formed ice. Con-
sequently everything is as satisfactory
as possible, in the event of our being
obliged to spend the winter here. The
coast is inhabited by Tschutsches, with
whom we are in communication on
most friendly terms, although, as
these natives do not understand
or speak Russian, we have some
difficulty in making ourselves mu.
tually Ineligible. Lieutenant Nord-
gvist, however, has made q good
beginning in learning their language.
They declare unanimously that the ice
will again break up; but in the svont
their prediction should fail send this
letter by Tschutsch chief, who hap
pened to visit the village near our place
Of anchorage. It is most uncertain
whether we will succeed in making
him understand the meaning of the
papers we hand him, and it is doubtful
whether they ever will reach their des-
tination. All hands are we'll, the YES
sci in perfect condition and the sup
plies of coal and provisions abundant.
The Tschutsch chief, who has appoint
ed me to be the Ispravnik in Ochotsk,
was pulled to the vessel, when he paid
us his state visit, in a sleigh drawn by
two of his dwarfed subjects. IN =.
Herald.
A SUICIDAL passenger leaped from a
British Channel steamer, and the mate
instantly plunged after him. The crew
laboriously cut away the canvas Gov
ering of lifeboat only to find the craft
half full of water, and when partly
lowered she broke in two. dropping
out the occupants, one of whom was
drowned. The passenger had in the
meantime succeeded in his suicide.