LENA, a large river of Eastern Siberia, rises from a small lake among the Baikal Hills, about 50 miles N.E. of Irkutsk, and falls into the Arctic Ocean by several mouths between N. Lat. 72. and 73., and E. Long. 125. and 130. Its source is more than 2000 feet above sea-level, and its length is estimated at about 2400 miles. For the first 1000 miles to Yakutsk it flows from S.W. to N.E., and receives as tributaries on the right the Vitim and Olekma. It then turns round to the N.W., receives the Aldan on the right, and the Vilhoui on the left, and afterwards takes a northern but winding course to its entrance into the sea. The Lena, as its name signifies, is a "sluggish" river, with steep banks and great depth. It is said to be navigable at Kachuga, only 50 miles from its source. It is frozen over for nine months in the year, when sledges are employed as excellent substitutes for boats. Islands are very numerous in its course, as well as at its embouchure, and obstruct the navigation exceedingly. The upper valley of the Lena is covered with pine forests, affording excellent timber for boat-building; but as the river approaches the sea its shores become sterile, flat, and dreary, and thinly peopled. Near its mouth the river is from 3 to 4 miles in width, and, according to Ritter, its entire basin covers an area of about 800,000 square miles.
L'ENFANT, JACQUES, a French Protestant divine, the son of the Protestant pastor of Chatillon-sur-Seine, was born at Bazoches in Beauce, a district of the ancient province of Orleannois, on the 13th April 1661. After studying at Saumur and Geneva, he completed his theological course at Heidelberg, and, receiving ordination in 1684, was appointed pastor of the French Protestant church in that city, and chaplain to the Dowager Electress Palatine. In 1688, on the descent of the French under Turenne into the palatinate, L'Enfant, who had incurred the dislike of many of his countrymen by two letters which he had written against the Jesuits, retired to Berlin. Here Frederic, the Elector of Brandenburg, afterwards King of Prussia, appointed him one of the ministers of the French Protestant church, an office which he held till his death. Visiting England in 1707, it is said that he had the honour of preaching before Queen Anne, and of being requested by her to enter the Church of England, and become her chaplain. Declining this offer, he returned to Berlin, and in 1710 became chaplain to the King of Prussia, and counsellor of the high consistory. In search of materials for his historical works, he visited Helmstadt in 1712, Leipzig in 1715, and Breslau in 1725. Through the influence of the King of Prussia he had also access to the archives of the corporation of Basel. He was one of the chief supporters of the Bibliothèque Germanique, which was begun in 1720, and wrote the preface. On the 29th of July, 1728, he was suddenly attacked with paralysis, which caused his death on the 7th August following.