LENA, THE, river of Asiatic Russia, which flows from the western slopes of the Baikal mountains to the Arctic Ocean and has a length of about 3,00o m. and a drainage area of roughly 1,o00,000 sq.m. Its tributaries probably number L000 and the volume of its water entering the Arctic is calculated to be ir,000 cubic yds. per second. It rises in 54° ro' N. and 107° 55' E. as a clear mountain torrent and, until it is joined by the Vitim on its right bank, flows through forest-clad cliffs of red sandstone. The Vitim rises in a small lake in the Barguzinsk mountains at 5,53o ft. above sea level, 8o m. from the east coast of Lake Baikal. After a semicircular course of 1,200 m. through a little explored tundra and forest plateau region, it joins the Lena at the town of Vitim in 59° 55' N., 23' E., and altitude 670 ft. The Lena then flows through thickly wooded plains until it re ceives its right bank tributary the Olekma, whose head-waters are on the eastern slopes of the Vitim plateau. The Olekma flows for 800 to L000 m. through an almost uninhabited valley, in a for ested and mountainous country and enters the Lena near Olek minsk, at an altitude of 375 f t. above sea level; its strong cur rent affects the Lena for 20 m. below the confluence. Some dis tance further down, the Botama joins the Lena on the right, and in this neighbourhood are the famous Lena Stolbi or columns of perpendicular limestone cliffs, rising in places to 2,000 ft. and having remarkably even green and red strata, each about 20 in. thick. Yakutsk in 62° 5' N., 129° 4o' E., is a nodal trading point, where the river widens and trails branch off on the west to the Vilui river and its short portage to the Lower Tunguska, and on the east through Allakh to Okhotsk, and also northward to the Kolyma river. A hundred miles below Yakutsk, on the right bank, the Lena is joined by the Aldan, 1,500 m. in length and navigable for Boo m. The headwaters of this stream rise near those of the Zeya and Olekma on the Aldan plateau; its eastern branches are but 4o to 5o m. from the Sea of Okhotsk, and of its tributaries, the Uchur is 35o m. long, the Amga Boo m. and the Maya 400 m. Below the mouth of the Aldan, the Lena flows for 1,200 m. with an average fall of 2 in. per mile ; throughout this part of its course it is a majestic stream varying from 4 to 20 m. in breadth, with unstable alluvial islands interrupting its course and with sandy banks stretching inland on either side. About lat. 64° N. it is joined on the left bank by the Vilui, rising south of the Vilui mountains, and flowing for 1,500 m. to its delta on the Lena. It is navigable for 90o m., and has a drainage area of about 2,000 sq.m., the north-east of which is mainly marsh. From lat. 66° N. it becomes narrower, and from Bulun to the delta flows between the Khara-Ulakh mountains on the east and the Lower Chek anovsk mountains on the west. It. discharges in a delta which begins ioo m. inland and is 25o m. wide on the coast line. This delta is a vast sandbank, intersected in every direction by num berless channels of all sizes, which change their direction from year to year and render navigation difficult. The many low flat
islands are covered with moss and grass during the short summer, when fish is abundant. In winter the natives rely entirely on dried or frozen fish, but their stock often gives out with disastrous results. Upon the breaking up of the ice in the upper portions of the river, great blocks are carried down by the floods and piled up on the delta, still frozen to a depth of several feet ; these blocks tear away huge portions of the bank and alter the navi gable channels completely. The delta ice, as a rule, begins to break up about July ro and freezing over is usually complete by Oct. 15. At Yakutsk the respective dates are June xo and Oct. 12, while at Kirensk in 56' N. they are May 24 and Nov. 4. Steamer traffic on the Lena has a total annual freightage of about 15,000 tons and consists mainly of stores for the Vitim mining districts, and to a small extent of trade from Okhotsk via the Aldan and other routes. Furs, fossil ivory and small quantities of fish are brought from the north. The delta was discovered in 1637 by the Cossack Elisei Busa, who sailed down the Lena and through the western arm of the delta to the Olenek river where he wintered. In 1737 Prontschischev and his young wife attempted to sail from the Lena delta to the Yenisei, but both died of scurvy. Laptev made further attempts in 1739. Dezhnev's voyage from the Lena through the straits later named after their re-discoverer Bering, took place in 1648. A tragedy of the Lena delta was the loss of many of de Long's party in 1881. He was an American whose steamer the Jeannette was wrecked in June, 1881, north east of the New Siberian islands in 15' N. and 59' E. His party broke up into three groups; one boat, under Chipp, was lost and the other two boats, under Melville and de Long were separated. Melville and his party reached the Lena delta safely and at Bulun met two of de Long's party sent on to search for food and help. Melville arrived too late and found de Long and his party dead from starvation, under circumstances show ing that his last act had been to try to place the results of his observations in safety. A wooden cross is erected on Monument Cape in memory of de Long and the eleven others who perished. In 1878 Nordenskiold on the Vega expedition was accompanied by a vessel, the "Lena," which, under the command of Johansen suc cessfully sailed from the Arctic up the Lena to Yakutsk, and this vessel later continued to make three voyages per annum from Yakutsk to Bulun, a distance of Boo m. The Lena and its tribu taries are rich in minerals ; the Vitim and Aldan gold mines and the salt of the Vilui are successfully exploited. For further details see under YAKUTSK, Far Eastern area and Siberian area, as also for the sulphur springs and iron and aluminium mud cures. See A. E. Nordenskiold, The Voyage of the Vega (1881); G. W. Melville, In the Lena Delta (1885) and Handbook of Siberia and Arctic Russia I.D. 1207 (1920).