n board, parting gifts of
friends and acquaintances. For these lots were drawn, and many amusing
surprises excited general hilarity. So the polka was danced on the deck,
while cold reigned outside and snow whizzed through the frozen rigging.
For supper there was ham and Christmas ale, just as at home in Sweden.
Old well-known songs echoed through the saloon, and toasts were given of
king and country, officers and men, and the fine little vessel which had
carried our Vikings from their home in the west to their captivity in
the shore ice of Siberia.

The winter ran its course and the days lengthened in the spring. Cold
and continual storms were persistent. Even a Chukchi dog can have too
much of them. One day at the end of February a Chukchi who had lost his
way came on board, carrying a dog by the hind legs. The man had lost his
way on the ice, and had slept out in the cold with his dog. A capital
dinner was served for him on the middle deck, and the dog was rolled
about and pommelled till he came to life again.

During the spring the _Vega_ explorers made several longer or shorter
excursions with dog sledges and visited all the villages in the country.
Of course they became the best of friends with the Chukchis. The
language was the difficulty at first, but somehow or other they learned
enough of it to make themselves understood. Even the sailors struggled
with the Chukchi vocabulary, and tried to teach their savage friends
Swedish. One of the officers learned to speak Chukchi fluently, and
compiled a dictionary of this peculiar language.

Summer came on, but the ground was not free from ice until July. The
_Vega_ still lay fast as in a vice. On July 18 Nordenskioeld made ready
for another excursion on land. The captain had long had the engines
ready and the boilers cleaned. Just as they were sitting at dinner in
the ward-room they felt the _Vega_ roll a little. The captain rushed up
on deck. The pack had broken up and left a free passage open. "Fire
under the boilers!" was the order, and two hours later, at half-past
three o'clock, the _Vega_ glided under steam and sail and a festoon of
flags away from the home of the Chukchis.

Farther east the sea was like a mirror and free of ice beneath the fog.
Walruses raised their shiny wet heads above the water, in which numerous
seals disported themselves. With the wildest delight the _Vega_
expedition sailed southwards through Behring Strait. In the year 1553 a
daring En