JOHANNESEN 's EXPLORATIONS. 107 



operation of the Governor and Bishop of Yakutsk, who were 

 much interested in the proposed voyage. But notwithstand- 

 ing all this, the affair was attended with no better success 

 than that the pilot celebrated the receipt of the large sum of 

 money by getting thoroughly intoxicated ; and while in that 

 state he broke one of the bones of the fore-arm, and was" 

 unable to start for the appointed rendezvous. 



After the Lena had parted with the Vega she steamed 

 toward land, and came the same clay to the northernmost 

 cape of the Lena delta, where the pilot's landmark was to 

 have been erected; but there was no pilot there, and no flag- 

 staff was visible. Johannesen then sailed westward along 

 the shore, but as his search in this direction was not attended 

 with success, he turned back to the first-mentioned place and 

 landed there. On the ^horc stood a very old hut, already 

 completely filled with earth. It probably dated from some 

 of the expeditions which visited the region in the beginning 

 of the century. AVild reindeer were ^ecn in large numbers. 



Left tbus to his own resources, Captain Johannesen 

 steamed again to the westward, as near to the land as pos- 

 sible, but as the water became shallower and shallower he 

 determined to search for the broad easternmost arm of the 

 river (named Bychov), and on the 1st of September he 

 anchored in a bay on the main-land in the neighborhood of 

 its mouth. 



On the 3d of September, Johannesen continued his course 

 up the river, but the Lena soon got aground, and it was sev- 

 eral hours before the water rose enough so it could be got 

 off. While the vessel was aground, nine Tunguses came on 

 board. They paddled small boats,which were made of a single 

 log of soft wood, hollowed out, and could just carry a man 

 each. Johannesen endeavored in vain to induce some of the 

 Tunguses to pilot the steamer. He did not succeed in 

 explaining his wish to them, notwithstanding all the attempts 

 of the Russian interpreter a proof of the slight contact 

 these Tunguses had had with the rulers of Siberia, and also 



