Produced by Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Million Book Project) THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA ROUND ASIA AND EUROPE. VOL. I. [Illustration: OSCAR, II ] THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA ROUND ASIA AND EUROPE WITH A HISTORICAL REVIEW OF PREVIOUS JOURNEYS ALONG THE NORTH COAST OF THE OLD WORLD BY A.E. NORDENSKIOeLD TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER LESLIE _WITH FIVE STEEL PORTRAITS, NUMEROUS MAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS_ IN TWO VOLUMES--VOL. I London MACMILLAN AND CO. 1881 TO HIS MAJESTY KING OSCAR II. THE HIGH PROTECTOR OF THE VEGA EXPEDITION THIS SKETCH OF THE VOYAGE HE SO MAGNANIMOUSLY AND GENEROUSLY PROMOTED IS WITH THE DEEPEST GRATITUDE MOST HUMBLY DEDICATED BY A.E. NORDENSKIOeLD. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. In the work now published I have, along with the sketch of the voyage of the _Vega_ round Asia and Europe, of the natural conditions of the north coast of Siberia, of the animal and vegetable life prevailing there, and of the peoples with whom we came in contact in the course of our journey, endeavoured to give a review, as complete as space permitted, of previous exploratory voyages to the Asiatic Polar Sea. It would have been very ungrateful on my part if I had not referred at some length to our predecessors, who with indescribable struggles and difficulties--and generally with the sacrifice of health and life--paved the way along which we advanced, made possible the victory we achieved. In this way besides the work itself has gained a much-needed variety, for nearly all the narratives of the older North-East voyages contain in abundance what a sketch of our adventures has not to offer; for many readers perhaps expect to find in a book such as this accounts of dangers and misfortunes of a thousand sorts by land and sea. May the contrast which thus becomes apparent between the difficulties our predecessors had to contend with and those which the _Vega_ met with during her voyage incite to new exploratory expeditions to the sea, which now, for the first time, has been ploughed by the keel of a sea-going vessel, and conduce to dissipate a prejudice which for centuries has kept the most extensive cultivable territory on the globe shut out from the great Oceans of the World. The work is furnished with numerous maps and illustrations, and is provided with accurate references to sources of geographical information. For this I am indebted both to the liberal conception which my publisher, Herr FRANS BEIJER, formed of the way in which the work should be executed, and the assistance I have received while it was passing through the press from Herr E.W. Dahlgren, amanuensis at the Royal Library, for which it is a pleasant duty publicly to offer them my hearty thanks. A.E. NORDENSKIOeLD. STOCKHOLM, _8th October_, 1881. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.