Yenisei
the longest river of Siberia, rises as the Kem to the W. of the Kosso- Kol, S. of the Gurbi Mountains, flows W. as the Ulan ("Great") Kem between the Sayan and Tangnu Mountains, then suddenly breaks N. through the Sayan Mountains, and after a course of 3,300 miles falls into the Arctic Ocean. Its breadth varies from 3,400 feet to 14 miles, and during the last 140 miles it is so wide as to form an arm of the sea.
Its depth varies from 11 to 90 feet. The waters of the Yenisei are clear and rich in fish. They are navigated by paddle steamers, drawing barges, and by a number of five or six cornered flat-bottomed boxes which convey flour down stream, and are broken up at their destinations. The Yenisei receives from the right the Upper Tunguska or Angara (the outlet of Lake Baikal), the Irkut, Middle Tunguska, and Lower Tunguska.
Nordenskjöld's voyage in the summer of 1875 from Tromsö to the mouth of the Yenisei opened up a trade by sea with northern Siberia, in which a number of vessels are now engaged, finding six weeks in summer when the passage to and from the Yenisei can be made with little difficulty.
YERKES