368 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
with the rulers of Siberia, and also of the difficulty and un¬ 
willingness with which the savage learns the language of the 
civilised nations. 
It was not until the 7th September that the delta was finally 
passed, and the Lenct steamed in the river proper, where the 
fairway became considerably better. Johannesen says in his 
account of the voyage that it is improbable that any of the 
western arms of the Lena are 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 completely 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 voyagers landed to 
get information about the fairway, 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 jDroceed, and supposing that it 
too was inhabited wholly by ''Asiatics,’'^ Johannesen 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 Lem then anchored. Two 
Crown officials and a priest came on board, and the latter 
performed a thanksgiving service. 
Even at that remote spot 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 this in the year 1875. While still rowing 
up the river in my own Nordland boat with two scientific men 
and three hunters, before we got up with the steamer Alexander 
we landed, among others, at a place where a number of Dolgans 
^ A common name used in Siberia for all the native races. 
^ This has been incorrectly interpreted as if they shot at the vessel. 
