ice. The
temperature of the water again rose to +5.8 deg., and its salinity
diminished considerably. But the depth now decreased so much, that,
for instance, on the night before the 26th we had great difficulty
in getting past some shoals lying west of the delta of the Lena, off
the mouth of the Olonek.

It had originally been my intention to let the _Vega_ separate from
the _Lena_ at some anchorage in one of the mouth-arms of the Lena
river. But on account of the shallowness of the water, the
favourable wind and the ice-free sea, that now lay before us to the
eastward, I determined to part from the _Lena_ in the open sea off
Tumat Island. This parting took place on the night between the 27th
and 28th August, after Captain Johannesen had been signalled to come
on board the _Vega_, to receive orders, passport,[199] and letters
for home. As a parting salute to our trusty little attendant during
our voyage round the north point of Asia some rockets were fired, on
which we steamed or sailed on, each to his destination.

During our passage from Norway to the Lena we had been much troubled
with fog, but it was only when we left the navigable water along the
coast to the east of Cape Chelyuskin that we fell in with ice in
such quantity that it was an obstacle to our voyage. If the coast
had been followed the whole time, if the weather had been clear and
the navigable water sufficiently surveyed, so that it had been
possible to keep the course of the vessel near the land, the voyage
of the _Vega_ to the mouth of the Lena _would never have been
obstructed by ice_, and I am convinced that this will happen year
after year during the close of August, at least between the Yenisej
and the Lena. For I believe that the place where ice-obstacles will
perhaps be met with most frequently will not be the north point of
Asia, but the region east of the entrance to the Kara Sea.

[Footnote 189: Namely, according to Dr. Kjellman's determination,
the following:

Saxifraga oppositifolia L.
Saxifraga rivularis L.
Saxifraga caespitosa L.
Cardamine bellidifolia L.
Cochlearia fenestrata R. BR.
Ranunculus hyperboreus ROTTB.
Stellaria Edwardsii R. BR.
Cerastium alpinum L.
Alsine macrocarpa FENZL.
Sagina nivalis FR.
Salix polaris WG.
Glyceria vilfoidea (ANDS.) TH. FR.
Catabrosa algida (SOL.) FR.
Aira caespitosa L.
Juncus biglumis L. ]

[Footnote 190: I can remember only one other instance of finding
self-dead vertebra