124 Chapter IV. 



TRONTHEIM'S NARRATIVE. 



Alexander Ivanovitch Trontheim has himself given an 

 account, in the Tobolsk official newspaper, of his long 

 and difficult journey with our dogs. The account was 

 written by A. Kryloff from Trontheim's story. The 

 following is a short resume : 



After having made the contract with Baron Toll, 

 Trontheim was on January 28th (January i6th by 

 Russian reckoning) already at Berezoff, where there was 

 then a Yassak- meeting,* and consequently a great 

 assembly of Ostiaks and Samoyedes. Trontheim made 

 use of this opportunity and bought 33 (this ought 

 probably to be 40) choice sledge dogs. These he 

 conveyed to the little country town of Muzhi, where he 

 made preparations for the "very long journey," passing 

 the time in this way till April i6th. By this date he 

 had prepared 300 pud (about 9,600 Ibs.) of dog 

 provender, consisting chiefly of dried fish. For 300 

 roubles he engaged a Syriane, named Terentieff, with a 

 reindeer herd of 450, to convey him, his dogs, and 

 baggage to Yugor Strait. For three months these two 

 with their caravan reindeer, drivers, dogs, women, and 

 children travelled through the barren tracts of northern 



O 



Siberia. At first their route lay through the Ural 



* Yassak is a tax paid in fur by the Siberians, 



