15S 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



Lundstrom and Stuxberg, on a headland projecting a little from 

 Yalmal, on the north side of the mouth of a pretty large river. 

 The landing place was situated in lat. 72" 18', long. 08" 42'. The 

 land was bounded here by a low beach, from which at a distance 

 of one hundred paces a steep bank rose to a height of from six 

 to thirty metres. Beyond this bank there is an extensive, 

 slightly undulating plain, covered with a vegetation which indeed 

 was exceedingly monotonous, but much more luxuriant than 

 that of Vaygats Island or Novaya Zemlya. The uniformity of 

 the vegetation is perhaps caused, in a considerable degree, by 



PLACE OF SACRIFICE ON YALMAL. 



After a drawing by A. N. Lundstrom. 



the uniform nature of the terrain. There is no solid rock here. 

 The ground everywhere consists of sand and sandy clay, in which 

 I could not find a stone so large as a bullet or even as a pea, 

 though I searched for a distance of several kilometres along the 

 strand-bank. Nor did the dredge bring up any stones from the 

 sea-bottom off the coast, a circumstance which, among other 

 things, is remarkable, because it appears to shoAv that the strand- 

 ice from the Obi and Yenisej does not drift down to and melt 

 in this part of the Kara Sea. Nor do the sand beds contain any 

 sub-fossil shells, as is the case with the sand beds of the Yenisej 



