76 Chapter II. 



replied that he thought he himself could arrange this for 

 me, as he was just on the point of undertaking his second 

 scientific expedition to Siberia and the New Siberian 

 Islands. He proposed to send the dogs to Khabarova, on 

 Yugor Strait. On his journey through Tinmen in January, 

 1893, by the help of an English merchant named Ward- 

 roper, who resided there, he engaged Alexander Ivanovitch 

 Trontheim to undertake the purchase of thirty Ostiak 

 dogs, and their conveyance to Yugor Strait. But Von 

 Toll was not content with this. Mr. Nikolai Kelch 

 having offered to bear the expense, my friend procured 

 the East Siberian dogs, which are acknowledged to be 

 better draught dogs than those of West Siberia (Ostiak 

 dogs), and Johan Torgersen, a Norwegian, undertook to 

 deliver them at the mouth of the Olenek, where it was 

 arranged that we should touch. 



Von Toll, moreover, thought it would be important to 

 establish some depots of provisions on the New Siberian 

 Islands, in case the Fratu should meet with disaster and 

 the expedition should be obliged to return home that 

 way. On Von Toll's mentioning this, Kelch at once 

 expressed himself willing to bear the costs, as he 

 wished us in that event to meet with Siberian hospitality 

 even on the New Siberian Islands. As it was difficult 

 to find trustworthy agents to carry out a task involving 



and Hudson Bay, but there proved to be insuperable difficulties in the 

 way of getting them conveyed from there. 



