108 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



of the difficulty and unwillingness with which the savage 

 learns the language of the civilized nations. 



The sailing through the delta was rendered difficult by the 

 maps, which were made 140 years ago, being now useless : 

 for the delta has undergone great alterations since then. 

 Where at that time there were sand-banks, there are now 

 large islands, overgrown with wood and grass. At other 

 places, again, whole islands have been washed away by the 

 river. It was not until the 7th September that the delta 

 was finally passed and the Lena steamed in the river proper, 

 where the fair-way became considerably better. Johannesen 

 says, in his account of the voyage, that it is improbable that 

 any of the western arms of the Lena arc of importance ; 

 partly because the mass of water which flows in an easterly 

 direction is very considerable in comparison with the whole 

 quantity of water in the river ; partly because the western 

 and northern arms, which Johannesen visited, contained 

 only salt water, while the water in the eastern arm was com- 

 pletely free from any salt taste. 



On the 8th, early in the morning, the first fixed dwelling- 

 place on the Lena, Tas-Ary, was reached. Here the voya- 

 gers landed to get information about the fair-way, but could 

 not enter into communication with the natives because they 

 were Tunguses. In the afternoon of the same day they came 

 to another river village, Bulun. Impatient to proceed, and 

 supposing that it also was inhabited wholly by " Asiatics " (a 

 common name used in Siberia for all the native races), Jo- 

 hannesen intended to pass it without stopping. But when 

 the inhabitants saw the steamer, they welcomed it with a 

 salute from all the guns that could be got hold of in haste. 

 The Lena then anchored. Two Crown officials and a priest 

 came on board, and the latter performed a thanksgiving 

 service. 



"Even at that remote spot," says Nordenskiold, "on the 

 border of the tundra, the Asiatic comprehended very well 

 the importance of vessels from the great oceans being able 

 to reach the large rivers of Siberia. I, too, had a proof of 



