WASSILI PILOTS US SOUTH. 247 



On Wednesday morning, September 21st, Wassili, with 

 two other natives, started with us, and pursued the same 

 course that \ve had done on the previous forenoon to the 

 southward and eastward among the mud-flats. He went 

 ahead, and had his two men on the flanks constantly sound- 

 ing with their paddles. Their boats, or veatkas, are about 

 fifteen feet in length and twenty inches beam, modeled very 

 much like a paper race-boat, and provided with a double 

 paddle. The native faces the bow, pulling alternately with 

 the right and left hand, the fulcrum of the lever being an 

 imaginary point between the two hands. It is a very grace- 

 ful and fascinating movement, and the natives make their 



NATIVE BOATS 



boats skim along very rapidly, sounding at each stroke when 

 going in shoal water. Wassili found a channel among the 

 mud- flats for our boats, which at this time drew about twenty- 

 six inches. We worked all day to the southward and east- 

 ward, and about eiglit o'clock P. M. hauled out on a flat beach 

 and camped for the night, Wassili giving us fish for supper. 

 The weather was very cold and raw, with a strong breeze 

 blowing, and our pilot was very anxious about the state of 

 the river, fearing that we would be stopped by young ice at 

 any moment. 



The next morning the banks were fringed with young ice, 

 but this we broke our way through and continued our course 

 up the river. After the sun came out, the ice melted, and 



