Juncus biglumis L. Luzula hyperborea R. BR. Luzula arctica BL. Lloydia serotina (L.) REICHENB. ] [Footnote 199: Before our departure, I had through the Swedish Foreign Office obtained from the Russian Government letters patent in which the Russian authorities with whom we might come in contact were instructed to give us all the assistance that circumstances might call for. ] CHAPTER VIII. The voyage of the _Fraser_ and the _Express_ up the Yenisej and their return to Norway--Contract for the piloting of the _Lena_ up the Lena river--The voyage of the _Lena_ through the delta and up the river to Yakutsk--The natural state of Siberia in general--The river territories--The fitness of the land for cultivation and the necessity for improved communications--The great rivers, the future commercial highways of Siberia--Voyage up the Yenisej in 1875--Sibiriakoff's Island--The _tundra_--The primeval Siberian forest--The inhabitants of Western Siberia: the Russians, the Exiles, the "Asiatics"--Ways of travelling on the Yenisej: dog-boats, floating trading stores propelled by steam--New prospects for Siberia. I have mentioned in the Introduction that the _Vega_ during the first part of the voyage was accompanied by three other vessels, which together with the principal vessel of the Expedition stood at my disposal and under my orders, and I have stated in passing that their voyages too deserve a place in the history of navigation. Now, when we were parted from the vessel which had accompanied the _Vega_ farthest in her route eastwards, it may be the proper place to give a brief account of the close of the voyages of the _Fraser_, the _Express_, and the _Lena_ and give reasons for what I have said of the importance of these voyages. [Illustration: THE STEAMER "FRASER." ]