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. CHAPTER IX. The new Siberian Islands--The Mammoth--Discovery of Mammoth and Rhinoceros mummies--Fossil Rhinoceros horns--Stolbovoj Island--Liachoff Island--First discovery of this island--Passage through the sound between this island and the mainland--Animal life there--Formation of ice in water above the freezing point--The Bear Islands--The quantity and dimensions of the ice begin to increase--Different kinds of sea-ice--Renewed attempt to leave the open channel along the coast--Lighthouse Island--Voyage along the coast to Cape Schelagskoj--Advance delayed by ice, shoals, and fog--First meeting with the Chukches--Landing and visits to Chukch villages--Discovery of abandoned encampments--Trade with the natives rendered difficult by the want of means of exchange--Stay at Irkaipij--Onkilon graves--Information regarding the Onkilon race--Renewed contact with the Chukches--Kolyutschin Bay--American statements regarding the state of the ice north of Behring's Straits--The _Vega_ beset. CHAPTER X. Wintering becomes necessary--The position of the _Vega_--The ice round the vessel--American ship in the neighbourhood of the _Vega_ when frozen in--The nature of the neighbouring country--The _Vega_ is prepared for wintering--Provision-depot and observatories established on land--The winter dress--Temperature on board--Health and dietary--Cold, wind, and snow--The Chukches on board--Menka's visit--Letters sent home--Nordquist and Hovgaard's excursion to Menka's encampment--Another visit of Menka--The fate of the letters--Nordquist's journey to Pidlin--_Find_ of a Chukch grave--Hunting--Scientific work--Life on board--Christmas Eve. PORTRAITS. Engraved on Steel by G.J. Stodart of London. King Oscar II Oscar Dickson Alexander Sibiriakoff LITHOGRAPHED MAPS. 1. Map of North Europe, from Nicholas Donis's edition of Ptolemy's _Cosmographia_, Ulm, 1482 2. Map of the North, from Jakob Ziegler's _Schondia_, Strassburg, 1532 3. Map of North. Europe from _Olai Magni Historia de gentium septentrionalium variis conditionibus_, Basil, 1567 4. Map of Port Dickson, by G. Bove. Map of Cape Bolvan on Vaygats Island, by the author. The _Lena's_ cruise in Malygin Sound, by A. Hovgaard. Map of Cape Chelyuskin, by G. Bove