ed found there, but
low willow bushes, entensive carpets of _Empetrum nigrum_ and
_Andromeda tetragona_ were seen, along with large tufts of a species
of Artemisia. Between these shoot forth in summer, to judge partly
from the dried and frozen remains of plants which Dr. Kjellman
collected in autumn, partly from collections made in spring, a
limited number of flowering plants, some of which are well known at
home, as the red whortleberry, the cloudberry, and the dandelion.

Although experience from preceding Polar journeys and specially from
the Swedish expedition of 1872-73, showed that even at the 80th
degree of latitude the sea may suddenly break up in the middle of
winter, we however soon found, as has been already stated, that we
must make preparations for wintering. The necessary arrangements
were accordingly made. The snow which collected on deck, and which
at first was daily swept away, was allowed to remain, so that it
finally formed a layer 30 centimetres thick, of hard tramped snow or
ice, which in no inconsiderable degree contributed to increase the
resistance of the deck to cold, and for the same purpose snowdrifts
were thrown up along the vessel's sides. A stately ice stair was
carried up from the ice to the starboard gunwale. A large tent made
for the purpose at Karlskrona was pitched from the bridge to the
fore, so that only the poop was open. Aft the tent was quite open,
the blast and drifting snow having also free entrance from the sides
and from an incompletely closed opening in the fore. The protection
it yielded against the cold was indeed greatly diminished in this
way, but instead it did not have the least injurious action on the
air on the vessel, a circumstance specially deserving of attention
for its influence on the state of health on board. Often under this
tent in the dark days of winter there blazed a brisk smithy fire,
round which the Chukches crowded in curious wonder at the skill with
which the smith fashioned the glowing iron. Here the cook dealt out
to the Chukches the soup and meat that were left over, and the
loaves of bread which at every baking were baked for them. Here was
our reception saloon, where tobacco and sugar were distributed to
the women and children, and where sometimes, if seldom, a frozen
hunter or fisherman was treated to a little spirits. Here pieces of
wood and vertebrae of the whale were valued and purchased, and here
tedious negotiations were carried on regardin