xpress_ to take command, as Sibiriakoff's commissioner,
of the two vessels bound for the Yenisej, the _Fraser_, with the
_Express_ in tow, started from Port Dickson for the river. The
voyage passed without other adventures than 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 I 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 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 therefore themselves compelled by means
of frequent soundings, which were commonly made from a steam launch
in advance, to endeavour to find out the proper course. The
navigable water between the level islands covered with bushy
thickets and rich grassy meadows was often very narrow, but appears
to have been pretty deep, as, even when the vessels went forward
without the guidance of a skilful pilot, there was a depth of from 5
to 30 metres; and after a fisher, who knew the river better than
Feodor, had been taken on board, it was found possible to go at full
speed between the more southerly of the Briochov Islands[200] in a
depth of 30 to 50 metres. On 14th August the vessels reached
Tolstojnos, where a very well preserved _simovie_ is situated about
70 deg. 10' N.L., 370 kilometres south of Port Dickson. On the
15th August they anchored in a good haven at Saostrovskoj, a
_simovie_ lying 100 kilometres farther up the river at the limit of
trees, where the goods were to be discharged and another cargo taken
on board. After a jetty had been constructed on the 16th, the
landing of the goods began on the 17th, and was finished on the
20th. The _Fraser_ went still farther up the river to Dudino, in
order to load various goods laid up there--tallow, wheat, rye, and
oats. On the 2nd September the steamer returned to Saostrovskoj,
where in the meantime the _Express_ had