only part of the
proposed route which has not been traversed by some small vessel, and
is rightly considered as that which it will be most difficult for a
vessel to double during the whole North-East Passage; but our vessel,
equipped with all modern appliances, ought not to find insuperable
difficulties in doubling this point, and if that can be accomplished,
we will probably have pretty open water towards Behring's Straits,
which ought to be reached before the end of September. From Behring
Strait the course will be shaped for some Asiatic port and then onwards
round Asia to Suez."

King Oscar and others offered to pay the expenses of the expedition,
and preparations were urged forward. The _Vega_ of 300 tons, formerly
used in walrus-hunting in northern waters, was purchased, and further
strengthened to withstand ice. On 22nd June all was ready, and with
the Swedish flag with a crowned O in the middle, the little _Vega_,
which was to accomplish such great things, was "peacefully rocking
on the swell of the Baltic as if impatient to begin her struggle against
waves and ice." She carried food for thirty people for two years, which
included over three thousand pounds of bacon, nine thousand pounds
of coffee, nine thousand pounds of biscuits. There were pemmican from
England, potatoes from the Mediterranean, cranberry juice from
Finland. Fresh bread was made during the whole expedition. A few days
later the _Vega_ reached Copenhagen and steamed north in the finest
weather.

"Where are you bound for?" signalled a passing ship.

"To Behring Sea," was the return signal, and the Swedish crew waved
their caps, shouting their joyful news.

At Gothenburg they took on eight sledges, tents, and cooking utensils,
also two Scotch sheep dogs and a little coal-black kitten, which lived
in the captain's berth till it grew accustomed to the sea, when it
slept in the forecastle by day and ran about stealing the food of the
sleeping sailors by night.

On 16th July they crossed the Polar Circle. "All on board feel they
are entering upon a momentous period of their life," says the explorer.
"Were we to be the fortunate ones to reach this goal, which navigators
for centuries had striven to reach?"

The south-west coast of Nova Zembla was reached on 28th July, but the
weather being calm and the sea completely free of ice, Nordenskiold
sailed onwards through the Kara Strait or Iron Gates, which during
the winter was usually one sheet of