neighbourhood of the
vessel. The temperature of the air, which in the ice-field had sunk to
-3 deg., now rose at once to + 4.1 deg., while that of the water rose from -1 deg..2
to +3.5 deg., and its salinity fell from 2.4 to 13 per cent. All showed that
we had now come into the current of the Kolyma, which from causes which
have been already stated, runs from the mouth of the river along the
land in an easterly direction.

[Illustration: BEAKER SPONGES. From the sea off the mouth of the Kolyma. ]

[Illustration: LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND. After a drawing by O. Nordquist. ]

The Bear Islands lying off the mouth of the Kolyma are, for the most
part, formed of a plutonic rock, whose upper part has weathered
away, leaving gigantic isolated pillars. Four such pillars have
given to the easternmost of the islands the name Lighthouse Island
(Fyrpelaroen). Similar ruin-like formations are found not only on
Cape Baranov, which lies right opposite, but also at a great number
of other places in that portion of the north coast of Siberia which
lies farther to the east. Generally these cliff-ruins are collected
together over considerable areas in groups or regular rows. They
have thus, when seen from the sea, so bewildering a resemblance to
the ruins of a gigantic city which had once been surrounded by
strong walls and been full of temples and splendid buildings, that
one is almost tempted to see in them memorials of the exploits of a
Tamerlane or a Chingis Khan, up here in the high north.

The north side of the hill-tops was powdered with new-fallen snow,
but the rest of the land was clear of snow. The distance between the
south point of Ljachoff's Island and the Bear Islands is 360'. This
distance we had traversed in three days, having thus made 120' in
the twenty-four hours, or 5' per hour. If we consider the time lost
in dredging, sounding, and determining the temperature and salinity
of the water, and the caution which the navigator must observe
during a voyage in quite unknown waters, this speed shows that
during this part of our voyage we were hindered by ice only to a
slight extent. Cape Baranov was passed on the night before the 5th
September, the mouth of Chaun Bay on the night before the 6th
September, and Cape Chelagskoj was reached on the 6th at 4 o'clock
P.M. The distance in a right line between this headland and the Bear
Islands is 180'. In consequence of the many _detours_ in the ice we
had required 2-1/2 days to travers