102 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



are swept down in vast quantities, portions of which are left 

 upon the labyrinth of islands which form the delta, and the 

 remainder are carried into the Polar Sea, to be drifted away 

 with the current which flows from east to west along; the 



O 



Siberian coast. 



The delta of the Lena has a frontage on the sea, from the 

 eastern channel around to the western channel, of nearly 200 

 miles, and, according to Latkin, it is crossed by seven great 

 arms. The westernmost arm is called Anatartisch, and it 

 debouches into the sea at a cape fifty-eight feet high, named 

 Ice Cape. Next comes the river arm Bjelkoj ; then Tumat,at 

 whose mouth a landmark erected by Laptev in 1739 is still 

 in existence. Then come the other three main arms, 

 Kychistach, Trofimov, and Kischlach, and finally the very 

 broad castmost arm, Bychov, which is fouled by shoals. The 

 river divides into these several arms at a point distant about 

 100 miles from the sea. 



The total length of the Lena is about 2,500 miles, with a 

 fall of 3,000 feet. Its waters are drained from an area of 

 800,000 square miles, and the river, with its numerous afflu- 

 ents, occupies an area of over 40,000 square miles. 



North of Yakutsk, in the valley of the Lower Lena, there 

 arc no towns, but only a few miserable settlements or villages, 

 hundreds of miles apart, and scattering huts, in which a com- 

 paratively few natives Yakuts, Tunguses, and Yukaghirs 

 hibernate through the long winter, and w r ait for the return 

 of summer, when they can renew their hard-earned supplies 

 of provisions by hunting and fishing. There are also a few 

 unhappy exiles, banished mostly for their crimes, and some 

 Russians. Bulun, Schigansk,and Kumak Surka are the best 

 known of the settlements. Tas Ary is on the delta, and is 

 the most northern fixed dwelling-place on this part of the 

 coast ; it is inhabited entirely by Tunguses. Bulun is about 

 100 miles further south, and boasts of a priest and two Crown 

 officials. 



Between Bulun and Yakutsk arc stations at intervals, coir 

 structcd of logs. Lieutenant Dancnhowcr describes one of 



