resses,
and telegrams of welcome, among others from the _riksdag_ of Sweden,
the _storting_ of Norway, and the principal towns of Norway and
Finland, from the student corps at Upsala and Helsingborg, from the
St. Petersburg Geographical Society, from women in Northern Russia
(the address accompanied by a laurel wreath in silver), &c. In a
word, the Stockholm _fetes_ formed the climax of the remarkable
triumphal procession from Japan to Stockholm, which stands unique in
the history of festivities. Even after the Expedition was broken up
in Stockholm, and the _Vega_ had sailed on the 9th May for
Karlskrona and Gothenburg, where she was again taken over by the
whaling company that previously owned her, the _fetes_ were repeated
at these towns. They commenced anew when the _Vega_ exhibition was
opened with appropriate solemnities by His Majesty the King in one
of the wings of the Royal Palace, and when some months after I
visited Berlin, St. Petersburg, and my old dear fatherland, Finland.

But I may not weary my reader with more notes of festivities. It is
my wish yet once again to offer my comrades' and my own thanks for
all the honours conferred upon us both in foreign lands and in the
Scandinavian North. And in conclusion I wish to express the hope
that the way in which the accounts of the successful voyage of the
_Vega_ have been received in all countries will give encouragement
to new campaigns in the service of research, until the natural
history of the Siberian Polar Sea be completely investigated and
till the veil that still conceals the enormous areas of land and sea
at the north and south poles be completely removed, until man at
last knows at least the main features of the whole of the planet
which has been assigned him as a dwelling-place in the depths of the
universe.

Hearty thanks last of all to my companions during the voyage of the
_Vega_; to her distinguished commander Louis Palander, her
scientific men and officers, her petty officers and crew. Without
their courage and the devotion they showed to the task that lay
before us, the problem of the North-East Passage would perhaps still
be waiting for its solution.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: Map of the North Coast of the Old World from Norway to
Behring's Straits, with the track of the _Vega_, constructed
from old and recent sources, and from observations made during the
Voyage of the _Vega_, by N. Selander, Captain in the General Staff. ]