VIII.] 
A yenisp:j steamer. 
895 
rally master {liosain). After the steamer, or floating commercial 
store, there was towed one or two lodjas, which served as maga¬ 
zines, in which meal and salt and other heavy goods were stored, 
the purchased fish were salted and looked after, fresh bread baked 
for the numerous crew, &c. And as there was not a single jetty 
to be found the whole way between Yenisejsk and the sea, both 
the steamer and the lodjas, in order to be able to load and deliver 
goods at any point, had a large number of boats and lighters 
in tow. No place was set apart for passengers, but travellers 
were received in a friendly and hospitable manner when they 
came on board, where they were then allowed to look out for 
themselves as best they could. The nautical command was 
held by two mates or pilots of a stately and original appearance, 
who, clad in long caftans, sat each in his watch on a chair at 
the wheel, generally without steering, mostly smoking a cigarette 
made of coarse paper and, with the most careless appearance in 
the world, exchanging jests with those who were going down the 
river. The prohibition of taking away the attention of the 
steersman from his work by conversation was thus not in force 
hereabouts. A man stood constantly in the fore, uninterruptedly 
testing the depth with a long pole. For in order to avoid the 
strong current of the main stream the course was always shaped 
as near the shore as possible, often so near that one could almost 
jump ashore, and my own Nordland boat, which was towed by 
the side of the steamer, was occasionally drawn over land. It 
will be seen from this of how light draught the steamer was. 
Siberia, especially the river territory of the Yenisej and the 
Lena, possesses rich coal seams, which probably extend under 
considerable portions of the Siberian plain, but are yet unworked 
and have attracted little attention. The river steamers accord¬ 
ingly are fired, not with coal, but with wood, of which, if I 
remember right, 180 fathoms went to the voyage of the steamer 
AUxandm-' up the river. As the vessel could carry only a small 
portion of this quantity of wood at one time, frequent halts were 
