The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-04-02
The Voyage OF the Vega.

The large volume OF TAI pages which A. T..
| NoRDEEsKIoLD has prepared, under the above
| title and OF which an English version Is now
| published by Macmillan. offers us not only q
narrative OF the famous voyage in which the ex-
plorer circumnavigatcd Asia. but an interest
ing and nearly complete historical survey Of
the previous cndeavors to solve the problem OF
| q northeast passage to China and India As
regards the execution of the translation we
need only say that 1t bears many marks Of
haste. and is disngurod by some obvious errors
| that will doubtless he corrected in n second
edition. some OF the English words for in
stance, which have been chosen to represent
Swedish terms. have no meaning. or a mani
testify wrong meaning, in the context, for
which want OF appostcness or significance
it il probably fair to presume that the
original narrative is not responsible. 1t
seems pity, too. when we consider
how essential clear notion Of distances Is TO a
readers appreciation ofan explorers work, that
the translator. Mr. Leslie. did not take the
trouble to substitute English miles for the
Swedish miles which figure in Nordensk io!d's
computations. A word too. should be pre-
missed regarding the substantive contents of the
book. which for the most part confines itself TO
recording the superficial incidents of the voy-
age. most OF the strictly scientific observations
''i"te iNN'' VIVA ''i " H'P'i"'' f"'i'"'''i' ~
good deal Of light. however is thrown in the
present volume on the othnogralhy and soci-
o!ogy Of the north and northeast coasts of Asia
We have called attention from time to time to
such glimpses Of these discoveries were AZ
ioif:cd 10y letters published III if'eJ7dnu"S VIZ
he'H"9e1'. nut u tull view is now. for the FIRST
time. obtainablc in tho DO TX before us.
To comprehend the Importance Of Norden-
skiolds achievement we must state the terms
SO 10 speak. Of the problem which he
solved. by CHANGING at tho preceding attempts
to find a northeast passage. So fat as we know
the northcrnmost point ot Europe was first
doubled 10y n Norwegian Otherc from HeiEc-
land, that part Of the Norwegian coast which
lies between 6js and &C. north latitude. An ac-
count Il this voyage was set down by King Al.
| fred Ito whom CthCre gave it ia his Anglo
Saxon REPRODUCTION IF the history of Orosus.
| There seems 10 bc no doubt thai Othcrc pcnc-
trated NJ far rs 10 the mouth of tho Dwina or
AZ least Of the M"scn. in the land Of Bcormas.
W" learn from him also that the northcrnmpst
part OF Scandinavia was already. though
siarSeiy peop'cd by Larps. whose mode al life
dId not dliter much IRON that followed by their
u'e'ohuhhtS VINO I'VE on the sam" coast al the
present DAY. In othere 5 time the Who'll" country
north oil the Gun oil Finland was occupied 10y
rims Tor IL was not unt!l the thirteenth CEN
fury mat the scandinavian race first migrated
70 flhharn' from III" latter period there
was ha'urAIy sVro"" anf"ad more knowledge
o! me northern regions "l Europe although
'h's WIS '"f lohs uil' lhc"mpIrb' ana IN
some respects loss correct thah otheres. The
map OF me N"r'" drawn by tile swedish bishop
o!aNs ha&h"s IN 1859 was the 'irst I" give sean
uIhaNih an approximately correct boundary
anu ooo ''a,S HI" run 'H''r course hlorc
oIn're iouhd successor 10 SIR HuSh VIII
"u~n"H, "'"to""u N''"r"SAl"'d huS ~ ""uht
.""' uu''"s t'u h''''h'u century N"rW'-NttH
h"9@'"''9' anu H"'e'i""a ""i o''Il u"Nc'cu III
"'''9 VII uht''"iHcu 'Ir'HdS p"'h anu loF'h
nr'"eeh inc west coast "i NORWAY ana the
Nhhe sea. ~ Is Know" that one surh journey
.'",h '"o "h!I' so" u ir"'"eh'n ''"h lIaor
!" ''e yehF IAN ana an account " II Hprcarcd
III 'il e,''ion "l h'r'fils'cIh WORK Oh h"Nsla
printed AT venice III iooo' Whl'h not impro"a-
uE """'" eo'i. ooc"'h' KNOWN 10 me venetian
'"o"t' WIN" al 'n"' ''h.' rs "rahH iilo' 81 Ing
ANA was s"perlh''h'ihG Win great care the
! "'''"F ""' 81 'h' MS LhsIish expedition TO
'"c ""''''"s'
SIR h"Sh Ni'I"ughhys disastrous voyag" in
1903 was however. the hrSt attempt made
~ western fuF"i"ahs 10 open Il northeast
route 10 ASIA oi SIR HuEh's fate We know
only that No rrgshod after reaching harhor
on the coast oil Russian Ihpland at the mouth
oi the river Ar'na' HIS companion however,
'"dh'e'l"r' had aNoyage which. from COM
iheF''ai point OF view, must he deemed highly
successful though he hllcd to reach. ar even
aPpr"a'h the OBJECT Of his expedition He
landed AZ inc mouth OF the river bwinn in the
"n''' sea, anu "i''r opening m"fcahti" re-
,''"''9 WV" ""sr"Ig, Drought ms vessel safe
mum :" ''Si'h'. ms neat 7'eP Ia t"c pro-
r'S7 Oh Northeastern discovery was made by
stephen IhriOtEh VOYAGE in lJlk which first