480 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



CROSSING THE RIVER OBI IN A ROWEOAT 



Siberia has some of the largest rivers on the globe — the Obi, the Irtish, the Yenisei, and 

 the Lena — but their value as freight carriers is greatly reduced by the fact that all have their 

 outlet in the Arctic Ocean. For only a few weeks during midsummer can vessels from 

 western Europe make their way through the Kara Sea, east of Novaya Zemlya, to the Gulf 

 of Ob (Obi). 



Photographs by W. W. Cutler, Jr. 



A PASSENGER BOAT ON THE RIVER OBI 



The cabins of these steamers are small and rough but clean. "From the deck one looks 

 over a wide, smooth plain, the uniformity of the prospect in all directions broken only by 

 the sweeps and curves of the mighty stream" (see text, page 485). 



