Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VII. On the Middle Lena
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an army ready to attack the fortresses which are
threatening above their heads, while higher up stand scattered
individuals of Siberian pine, as if trying to fight their
way alone and unaided towards the fort. Then the scene is
changed, and a view slowly opens out of cliffs of beautifully
regular layers of slate and green porphyry, producing an
impression alike fantastic and unreal. Now and then the
mouth of some great cave yawns before you, or hot
sulphur-springs are seen welling forth at the foot of the mountain,
filling the air with pungent odour. And ever and again
the “shore-mountains” are cut through by nameless rivers
coming from the unknown depths of the taiga, where
the foot of civilised man has never trod.
This mighty nature overpowers you. The voices of men
on board sound strange and inharmonious, and you find
a place in the bows away from the crowd where you may
rest undisturbed, or on the captain’s bridge, at the side of
the Yakut pilot standing silent and serious at the helm,
knowing all the windings and turns of “Mother Lena”, its
currents, its shallows, and its rocks. And in the twilight
of the northern night, when the voices and noise on board
have subsided and the strong scent of the forest is
unpolluted by smells from the kitchen, you are overpowered
by the mighty spirit of nature. As the night-hours
advance, the cold increases. The glass has dropped below
freezing-point and one shivers, partly from cold, partly
perhaps from one’s surroundings. Listen! What is that?
Deep melancholy tones, as if coming from an unknown
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