No. 295.
Mr. Andrews to Mr. Fish.
Stockholm, December 28, 1875. (Received January 21, 1876.)
Sir: * * * * * *
The expedition of Mr. A. E. Nordenskjöld, professor of mineralogy in the Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, to Nova Zembla and the mouth of the Yenisei River, has attracted much attention. It was his seventh expedition to the Polar Sea, and, like that to Spitzbergen in 1872–’73, was fitted out wholly at the expense of a public-spirited private citizen of Sweden, Mr. Oscar Dickson, of Gothenburg. I think I ought to call your attention to it on account of the interesting observations made by Professor Nordenskjöld on the resources of Siberia during his extensive return-trip of nearly 7,000 miles overland.
The expedition left Tromsö, on a small Norwegian vessel called the Prophet, on the 8th of June last. It was detained by contrary wind five days in the sound between Carl and Ren Islands, and did not pass the North Cape till June 17. It reached Nova Zembla June 22, where [Page 536] a month was passed in explorations. The Kara Sea was found to be open, was crossed, and the expedition reached the mouth of one of the great rivers of Siberia, the Yenisei, on the 15th of August. From there, after a stay of three days, the Prophet returned under the charge of Dr. Kjelman, to her port in Norway, while Professor Nordenskjöld, accompanied by Drs. Lundström and Stuxberg and a crew of three Norwegian whale-fishermen, started up the Yenisei River in an open boat, loaded to the gunwale, on the return trip through Siberia.
Near Dudinha, a short distance south of the seventieth parallel of latitude, Professor Nordenskjöld and party reached the steamer Alexander, trading on that river, on which he took passage to the town of Yenisei; thence by the way of Krasnojarsk, Tomsk, and Omsk, (the route taken by Mr. Perry McD. Collins on his journey to the Amoor in the winter of 1856-’57) he reached Ekatarenberg, in the Ural Mountains, on the 29th of October.
Numerous botanical as well as other collections were made in the valley of the Yenisei, and after these have been examined and studied in connection with the plants of other countries and latitudes, a full report of the expedition will be made, which will doubtless shed new light in respect to the climate and agricultural resources of that but little known region.
Professor Nordenskjöld describes the shores of the Yenisei Bay as consisting of low, rocky, naked hills. The bay itself contains numerous islands of a similar appearance. On the 21st of August he arrived at Cape Schaitonskoi, where, for the first time, the dwarf-birch was seen. There, also, large quantities of cloud-berries, also the Swedish cranberry, (Lingon,) were found. The second landing-place was Krestowskoje, a deserted settlement of aborigines, the houses having earth roofs. Vegetation in the neighborhood of the cabins was abundant. At Sopotschnaja Konga (Boot nose) were found the remains of a village; also low bushes with red flowers, (Empetrum nigrum,) and grass and herbs 2 feet high. Some of the inhabitants of the valley were first met at the confluence of a small stream called the Mesenkin, from the right shore of the Yenisei, and from among whom a guide was hired.
At that point there was abundant grass, dark-green alder-bushes 2 feet high, and many kinds of other bushes, high-grown, namely, Sanguis orba, Galium, Delphinium, Hedysarum veratrum. The slopes of the sandhills in the interior were partly covered with Alyssum, Dianthus, Oxytropis, Saxifraga, Thymus, &c. No erratic blocks were there found in size like those in Sweden, from which he inferred that the sand layers of the adjacent untimbered country were not of glacial origin. At Cape Gostinoi, among other vegetation, the Angelica was found 4 feet high. By the 28th of August he began to meet dwellings of fishermen. He bought 25 pounds of fish for one ruble, (77 cents.) He also put up in spirits a collection of the different sorts of fish in that river, which will be brought to Stockholm.
The Yenisei contains an abundance of good fish, among them being the njelma, tscher, and omul of the Coregonus or salmon family; also the ocetrina or “sterlet,” which at St. Petersburg is considered the most luxurious sort of fish.
The first sight of anything like timber was had near Dudina, at about the seventieth degree of latitude. But it was only pine, 30 feet high. This continues for about a hundred miles south, when good pine forest begins; and thence all the way up the valley to a point a little south of the town of Yenisei is a vast primeval forest of large pines. This extends not only toward the west but a great distance to the east, and [Page 537] constitutes, probably, the most extensive forest in the world. All of the way from Krasnojarsk, on the Upper Yenisei, to the Ural Mountains the country is generally level, a prairie of very rich, black soil, called in Russian tschernosem, with occasional patches of hard wood, for the most part birch. On the route of travel settlements occur about every 20 miles, bat they do not extend north of the main route. In this part of Siberia abundant crops of rye and other grain are produced, the price of which, for want of a market, is very low.
Four steamers now trade on the Yenisei, while on the Ob, the next large river to the west, twenty steamers are employed.
The chief trade on the Yenisei is in furs, ivory, and fish. The current of this river is tolerably strong, though not to the extent of hindering navigation. It is of a dark color and deep. By making some improvements on its eastern fork, the Angara, which takes its rise in Lake Baikal, it is claimed there can be continuous navigation to the lake itself from the sea. From Lake Baikal to Tschita, which Mr. Collins reported to be the head of navigation on the Amoor, the distance is comparatively short. A glance at the map will show what a vast line of water-transportation may there some time be opened up.
Professor Nordenskjöld thinks it probable the Kara Sea is open six weeks every year; but admitting that as often as every third year it is closed with ice, still he thinks its navigation may be availed of to some useful extent, since it requires but four days for a steamer to make the passage from Archangel to the Yenisei, and but three and a half days from the North Cape to the Yenisei.
Some twenty years ago there were public men in our country who supposed that the Amoor River would soon become a field of very extensive and profitable commerce for Americans, but their expectations have not been realized. Nor is it best to be too sanguine in respect to the advantages of this new sea-route to the Yenisei, which it is claimed has been opened by Professor Nordenskjöld. His expedition, however, will, on the whole, prove of much scientific value, and such is the general estimate which has been placed upon it. At Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Helsingfors splendid banquets by the first official, scientific, and commercial people were given him, and he has received similar compliments here and at Gothenburg.
In 1877 he intends to undertake a voyage through the Polar Sea and Behring’s Strait. It is understood that expedition also will be fitted out at the private expense of Mr. Oscar Dickson.
Such a voyage will naturally attract the attention of our countrymen on account of our interests in Alaska.
I am, sir, &c.,