THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA
ROUND
ASIA AND EUROPE.
VOL. I.
OSCAR, IITHE
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. NORDENSKIÖLD
TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER LESLIE
WITH FIVE STEEL PORTRAITS, NUMEROUS MAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS
London
MACMILLON AND CO.
1881
IN TWO VOLUMES—VOL. I 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
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
In the work now published I have, along with the sketch ofthe voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, of the naturalconditions of the north coast of Siberia, of the animal andvegetable life prevailing there, and of the peoples with whomwe came in contact in the course of our journey, endeavouredto give a review, as complete as space permitted, of previousexploratory voyages to the Asiatic Polar Sea. It would havebeen very ungrateful on my part if I had not referred atsome length to our predecessors, who with indescribablestruggles and difficulties—and generally with the sacrifice ofhealth and life—paved the way along which we advanced,made possible the victory we achieved. In this way besidesthe work itself has gained a much-needed variety, for nearlyall the narratives of the older North-East voyages contain inabundance what a sketch of our adventures has not to offer;for many readers perhaps expect to find in a book such asthis accounts of dangers and misfortunes of a thousand sortsby land and sea. May the contrast which thus becomesapparent between the difficulties our predecessors had tocontend with and those which the Vega met with duringher voyage incite to new exploratory expeditions to the sea,which now, for the first time, has been ploughed by the keel[pg xi]of a sea-going vessel, and conduce to dissipate a prejudicewhich for centuries has kept the most extensive cultivableterritory on the globe shut out from the great Oceans ofthe World.
The work is furnished with numerous maps and illustrations,and is provided with accurate references to sources of geographicalinformation. For this I am indebted both to the liberalconception which my publisher, Herr FRANS BEIJER, formedof the way in which the work should be executed, and theassistance I have received while it was passing through thepress from Herr E.W. Dahlgren, amanuensis at the RoyalLibrary, for which it is a pleasant duty publicly to offerthem my hearty thanks.
A.E. NORDENSKIÖLD.
STOCKHOLM, 8th October, 1881....