-east passage would
be traversed.

But the Fates decreed otherwise. No wind appeared, the temperature fell,
and the ice increased in thickness. If the _Vega_ had come a few hours
sooner, she would not have been stopped on the very threshold of the
Pacific Ocean. And how easily might these few hours have been saved
during the voyage! The _Vega_ was entrapped so unexpectedly in the ice
that there was not even time to look for safe and sheltered winter
quarters. She lay about a mile from the coast exposed to the northern
storms. Under strong ice pressure she might easily drift southwards, run
aground, capsize, or be crushed.

The ice-pack became heavier in all directions, and by October 10 the
Chukchis were able to come out on foot to the vessel. Preparations were
made for the winter. High banks of snow were thrown up around, and on
the deck a thick layer of snow was left to keep the heat in. From the
bridge to the bow was stretched a large awning, under which the Chukchis
were received daily. It was like a market-place, and here barter trade
was carried on. A collection of household utensils, implements of the
chase, clothes, and indeed everything which the northern people made
with their own hands, was acquired during the winter.

The _Vega_ soon became quite a rendezvous for the three hundred Chukchis
living in the neighbourhood, and one team of dogs after another came
daily rushing through the snow. They had small, light sledges drawn by
six to ten dogs, shaggy and strong, but thin and hungry. The dogs had to
lie waiting in the snow on the ice while their masters sat bargaining
under the large awning. At every baking on board special loaves were
made for the native visitors, who would sit by the hour watching the
smith shaping the white hot iron on his anvil. Women and children were
regaled with sugar and cakes, and all the visitors went round and looked
about just as they liked on the deck, where a quantity of articles,
weapons, and utensils lay about. Not the smallest trifle disappeared.
The Chukchis were honest and decent people, and the only roguery they
permitted themselves was to try and persuade the men of the _Vega_ that
a skinned and decapitated fox was a hare. When it grew dusk the fur-clad
Polar savages went down the staircase of ice from the deck, put their
teams in order, took their seats in the sledges, and set off again over
the ice to their tents of reindeer skins.

The winter was stormy and severe.