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VAYGACH (variously Waigats, Waigatch,...

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 962 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

VAYGACH (variously Waigats, Waigatch, &c.) , an See also:island off the See also:Arctic See also:coast of See also:Russia, between it and Novaya Zemlya, bounded S. by the narrow Yugor Strait, and N. by that of Kara. It is roughly oblong in See also:form; its length from S.E. to N.W. is 70 m., and its greatest breadth 28. Its greatest See also:elevation scarcely exceeds 300 ft. For the most See also:part it consists of See also:tundra, with frequent marshes and small lakes. Slight rocky ridges run generally along its length, and the coast has See also:low cliffs in places. The island. consists in the See also:main of See also:limestone- and its elevation above the See also:sea is geologically See also:recent. Raised beaches are frequently to be traced. The rocks are heavily scored by See also:ice, but this was probably marine ice, not that of glaciers. See also:Grasses, mosses and Arctic flowering See also:plants are abundant, but there are no trees excepting occasional See also:dwarf willows. Foxes and lemmings are met with, but whereas animals are few, birds are very numerous; a variety of ducks, waders, &c., frequent the marshes and lakes. The island is visited periodically by a few See also:Samoyedes; they formerly considered it sacred, and some of their sacrificial piles, consisting of See also:drift-See also:wood, See also:deer's horns and the skulls of bears and deer, have been observed by travellers. In spite of their See also:conversion to See also:Christianity, the Samoyedes still regard these piles with superstition.

The origin of the name Vaygach is as dubious as its See also:

orthography; it has been-held to be Dutch (waaien, to See also:blow, and gat, a strait, hence " windy strait ") or See also:Russian, in which See also:case it is probably a surname. Comparatively little was known of the interior of the island until Mr F. G. See also:Jackson made the See also:circuit of it on See also:foot in 1893 (see his See also:Great Frozen See also:Land, See also:London, 1895; also H. J. See also:Pearson, Beyond Petsora Eastward, London, 1899).

End of Article: VAYGACH (variously Waigats, Waigatch, &c.)

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