[202] The particulars of the voyages of these vessels are taken from a copy which I have received of Captain Emil Nilsson's log.
[203] The goods carried by me and by Wiggins to the Yenisej; in 1876, and those which Schwanenberg carried thence in 1877, were properly only samples on a somewhat large scale. I have no knowledge of the goods which the Zaritza had on board when she ran aground at the mouth of the Yenisej.
[204] According to Johannesen's determination. On Wrangel's map the latitude of this cape is given as 73° 30'. Johannesen found the longitude to be 125° 31' instead of 127°.
[205] According to Latkin (Petermann's 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 Kischlach, 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.
[206] A common name used in Siberia for all the native races.
[207] This has been incorrectly interpreted as if they shot at the vessel.
[208] A coal seam is often unfit for use near the surface, where for centuries it has been uncovered and exposed to the action of the atmosphere, while farther down it may yield very good coal. It is probable besides that the layers of shale, which often surround the coal seams, have in this case been mistaken for the true coal. For those who are inexperienced in coal-mining to make such a mistake is the rule and not the exception.
[209] In order not to write without due examination about figures which have been written about a thousand times before, I have, with the help of Petermann's map of North and Middle Asia in Stieler's Hand-Atlas, calculated the extent of the areas of the Siberian rivers, and found them to be:—
Square Geographical
kilometres. square miles.
River area of the Ob (with the Tas) 3,445,000 62,560
River area of the Yenisej 2,712,000 49,250
River area of the Lena 2,395,000 43,500
Of these areas 4,966,000 square kilometres, or about 90,000 geographical square miles,
lie south of 60° N.L.
[210] For the northern hemisphere it is the general rule that where rivers flow through loose, earthy strata in a direction deviating considerably from that of the parallels of latitude, the right bank, when one stands facing the mouth of the river, is high, and the left low. The cause of this is the globular form of the earth and its rotation, which gives rivers flowing north a tendency towards the east, and to rivers flowing south a tendency to the west This tendency is resisted by the bank, but it is gradually eaten into and washed away by degrees, so that the river bed, in the course of thousands of years, is shifted in the direction indicated.