plain with the appearance of a rich
watered _tundra_, full of marshes and streams, and
therefore presenting a very green appearance. In order to
meet with the Samoyeds we now went westwards, passing
several rivulets which cut deeply into the land and had
high banks, until after half an hour's walking we came to
a broad but not very deep river, which it was impossible
to ford. We therefore returned to our boat with the view
of seeking a landing-place on the other side of the river;
but as the _Lena's_ distance from land was considerable
and the breeze was freshening, the captain considered that
the time at our disposal did not permit us to undertake so
long an excursion.

"So far as we may judge from our hasty visit, the
vegetation on this part of Yalmal struck us as being
remarkably abundant. The high banks especially were richly
covered by phanerogamous plants and lichens, and would
have deserved a closer examination. Our cursory
observations of the plants here may however be interesting
for comparison with the flora of Beli Ostrov; we collected
and noted the higher plants[96] and about 40 species of
lichens. Nordquist found that the fauna resembled that of
the neighbouring island, and collected besides two species
of Coleoptera.

"After lying 26 hours in the sound we weighed anchor again
and went westwards, following a channel with ten to
sixteen metres water. We could not find its course farther
to the east, and were compelled, although we were near the
eastern extremity of Beli Ostrov, to turn in order to pass
out through the western entrance of the sound. We saw a
quantity of stranded ice on the north coast of the island,
which, seen from the sea, did not present any
dissimilarity to the part which we had visited. On the 7th
August we arrived at Port Dickson."

From Lieutenant Hovgaard's report on this excursion, a map is given
here of Beli Ostrov and the neighbouring coast of Yalmal, in which I
have named the sound between the island and the mainland after
MALYGIN, one of the gallant Russian seamen who first sailed through
it nearly a century and a half ago.

Yalmal has been visited by Europeans so seldom, and their
observations are scattered in printed papers so inaccessible, that
it may perhaps not be out of place here to collect the most
important facts which are known re