and the rest divided into three parties
under Laptev himself, Chekin, and Chelyuskin, who were to survey
each his portion of the coast between the Chatanga and the Pjaesina
and then meet at the Yenisej. These journeys were successfully
accomplished, the explorers travelled several times without, it
would appear, excessive difficulty, over the desolate _tundra_
between the Chatanga and the Taimur rivers, discovered Lake Taimur,
and surveyed considerable stretches of the coast. But when they were
all again assembled at Dudino, it was found that the north point of
Asia had not yet been travelled round and surveyed. This was done in
1742 by Chelyuskin in the course of a new sledge journey, of which
the particulars are only incompletely known, evidently because
Chelyuskin's statement, that he had reached the northernmost point
of Asia, was doubted down to the most recent times. After the voyage
of the _Vega_, however, there can be no more doubt on this
point.[325]

5. _Voyages from the Lena Eastward_--During these Lieutenant
Lassinius and after his death Lieutenant DMITRI LAPTEV had the
command. A double sloop was built at Yakutsk for the voyage of
Lassinius. As I have already mentioned, he left this town,
accompanied by several cargo-boats, at the same time as
Prontschischev, and both sailed together down the Lena to its mouth.
Lassinius was able to sail to the eastward as early as the 20th/9th
August. Four days after he came upon so much drift-ice that he was
compelled to lie to at the mouth of the river, 120 versts to the
east of the easternmost mouth-arm of the Lena. Here abundance of
driftwood was met with, and the stock of provisions appears also to
have been large, but notwithstanding this, scurvy broke out during
the winter. Lassinius himself and most of his men died. On being
informed of this, Behring sent a relieving party, consisting of
Lieutenant CHERBININ and fourteen men to Lassinius' winter quarters.
On their arrival on the 15th/4th June they found only the priest,
the mate, and seven sailors alive of the fifty-three men who had
started with Lassinius the foregoing year from Yakutsk. These too
were so ill that some of them died during the return journey to
Yakutsk. Dmitri Laptev and a sufficient number of men, were sent at
the same time to take possession of the ship and renew the attempt
to sail eastwards. He went to sea on the 10th Aug./30th July. At
first he had to contend with serious obstacles from ice,