396 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
necessary, not only for trading with the natives, but also for 
taking fuel on board. In addition to this, the weak engine, 
although the safety valves were overloaded when necessary with lead 
iveights, was sometimes unable to make head with all the vessels 
in tow against a current which at some places was very rapid, 
and often, in the attempt to find still water near the river bank, 
the steamer ran aground, notwithstanding the continual ‘‘ ladno ” 
CHURCH VILLAGE ON A SIBERIAN RIVER. 
(After a Photograph.) 
cry of the poling pilot standing in the fore. It made so slow 
progress on this account that the passage from Saostrovskoj to 
Yenisejsk occupied a whole month. 
The two main arms into which the Yenisej is divided south 
of Yenisejsk are too rapid for the present Yenisej steamers 
to ascend them, while, as has been already stated, there is no 
