VII].] 
THP] DELTA OF THE LENA. 
367 
as being very broad, and also appears to have been made use of 
by the vessels of '' the great northern expeditions.'’ ^ 
Forty kilometres east of the northern extremity of the Lena 
delta Johannesen encountered three sandbanks, which he sailed 
round. After passing these the water became deeper, so that 
he could advance at a distance of five kilometres from land. 
On the 1st September Johannesen anchored in a bay on the 
mainland in the neighbourhood of the Bychov mouth, whence 
on the 3rd September, at 2.30 a.m., he continued his course up 
the river, but by 10 o’clock the Lena was aground. The w^ater 
was falling, and did not begin to rise until an hour after mid¬ 
night. It was not, therefore, until 8 a.m. the following day 
that the Lena was got off, and that with great difficulty. 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 sandbanks, there are now large islands, 
overgrown with wood and grass. At other places again whole 
islands have been washed away by the river. 
While the vessel was aground nine Tunguses came on board 
They rowed in small boats, which were made of a single tree 
stem, hollowed out, and could just carry a man each. Johan¬ 
nesen endeavoured 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 Eussian inter¬ 
preter, a proof of the slight contact these Tunguses had had 
^ According to Latkin Mittheilungen^ 1879, p. 92), the Lena 
delta is crossed by seven main arms, the westernmost of which is 
called Anatartisch. It debouches into the sea at a cape 58 feet high 
named Ice Cape (Ledjanoi). Next come the river arm Bjelkoj, then Tumat, 
at whose mouth a landmark erected by Laptev in 1739 is still in existence. 
Then come the other three main arms, Kychistach, Trofimov, and Kisch- 
lach, and finally the very broad eastmost arm, Bychov. Probably some of 
the smaller river arms are to be preferred for sailing up the river to this 
broad arm, which is fouled by shoals. 
