28: 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



the great rivers which in Siberia cross the country and appear 

 to be intended by nature to form not only the arteries for its 

 inner life, but also channels of communication with the rest of 

 the world, all flow towards the north and fall into a sea which, 

 down to the most recent times, has been considered completely 

 inaccessible. 



Of these rivers the double river, Ob-Irtisch, with its numerous 

 affluents, occupies an area of more than 60,000 geographical 



YAKUTSK IN OUR DAYS. 



(After a recent Russian drawing.) 



square miles, the Yenisej -Angara, not quite 50,000, and the 

 Lena, somewhat over 40,000.^ As the map of the river system 



1 In order not to write without due examination about figures which 

 have been written about a thousand times before, I have, with the help of 

 Petermann's map of North and Middle Asia in Stieler's Hand- Atlas, cal- 

 culated the extent of the areas of the Siberian rivers, and found them 

 to be : — 



River area of the Ob (with the Tas) . . . 



„ „ „ Yenisej 



„ ,, ,, Lena,.. 

 Of these areas 4,966,000 square kilometres, or about 90,000 geographical 

 square miles, lie south of 60° N.L. 



