358 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
that in consequence of unacquaintance with the navigable 
waters the vessel sometimes gently grounded. On the 11th 
August Korepovskoj was reached, the same place where I laid up 
in 1876 the goods which 1 had brought with me in the Ymer. 
Here my old friend from my voyages of 1875 and 1876, the 
Cossack Feodor, was taken on board. He however proved now 
as unskilful a pilot as before. Notwithstanding his experience 
in 1876, when he several times ran the Ymer aground, he had 
THE STEAMER “ERASER.’ 
not yet got a clear idea of the difference between the build of 
an ocean vessel and of the common flat-bottomed Yenisej 
lighters, and his conception of the responsibility of a pilot was 
expressed by his seeking, when he was allowed to take his own 
course, to forget in the arms of sleep all dangers and difficulties. 
Mr. Serebrenikoff and the captains of the vessels were there¬ 
fore themselves compelled by means of frequent soundings, 
