162. An Evening in the Gun-room of the _Vega_ during the Wintering, drawn by ditto, engraved by R. Lindgren
165. Section of the Beach Strata at Pitlekaj
166. Christmas Eve on the _Vega_, drawn by V. Andrén
ERRATA [ Transcriber's note: these have been applied to the text ]
Page 44, under Wood-cut _for_ "chammmorus" _read_ "chamæmorus."
Page 58, lines 21, 24, end 28 _for_ "pearls" _read_ "beads."
Page 140, line 13 from top, _for_ "swallow" _read_ "roll away."
Page 184, last line, _for_ "one-third" _read_ "one-and-a-half times."
Page 377, note, _for_ "It is the general rule" _read_ "For the northern hemisphere it is a general rule."
Page 476, line 12 from top, _for_ "leggins" _read_ "leggings."
Page 481, under wood-cut, _for_ "half the natural size" _read_ "one-third of the natural size."
Page 494, under wood-cut, _for_ "half the natural size" _read_ "one-third of the natural size."
The voyage, which it is my purpose to sketch in this book, owed its origin to two preceding expeditions from Sweden to the western part of the Siberian Polar Sea, in the course of which I reached the mouth of the Yenisej, the first time in 1875 in a walrus-hunting sloop, the _Procven_, and the second time in 1876 in a steamer, the _Ymer_.
After my return from the latter voyage, I came to the conclusion, that, on the ground of the experience thereby gained, and of the knowledge which, under the light of that experience, it was possible to obtain from old, especially from Russian, explorations of the north coast of Asia, I was warranted in asserting that the open navigable water, which two years in succession had carried me across the Kara Sea, formerly of so bad repute, to the mouth of the Yenisej, extended in all probability as far as Behring's Straits, and that a circumnavigation of the old world was thus within the bounds of possibility.
It was natural that I should endeavour to take advantage of the opportunity for making new and important discoveries which thus presented itself. An opportunity had arisen for solving a geographical problem--the forcing a north-east passage to China and Japan--which for more than three hundred years had been a subject of competition between the world's foremost commercial states and most daring navigators, and which, if we view it in the light of a circumnavigation of the old world, had, for thousands of years back, been an object of desire for geographers. I determined, therefore, at first to make use, for this purpose, of the funds which Mr. A. SIBIRIAKOFF, after my return from the expedition of 1876, placed at my disposal for the continuation of researches in the Siberian Polar Sea. For a voyage of the extent now contemplated, this sum, however, was quite insufficient. On this account I turned to His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, with the inquiry whether any assistance in making preparations for the projected expedition might be reckoned upon from the public funds. King OSCAR, who, already as Crown Prince, had given a large contribution to the Torell expedition of 1861, immediately received my proposal with special warmth, and promised within a short time to invite the Swedish members of the Yenisej expeditions and others interested in our voyages of exploration in the north, to meet him for the purpose of consultation, asking me at the same time to be prepared against the meeting with a complete exposition of the reasons on which I grounded my views--differing so widely from the ideas commonly entertained--of the state of the ice in the sea off the north coast of Siberia.