MELVILLE AND THE " MALINKI POPE." 



461 



as he had no authority. I told him that there were two or 

 three empty houses in the village, and that on the following 

 day he must see that the two men had proper accommoda- 

 tion. That night I slept in the hole with the two men. 



Next morning the man came, and, feeling that he had 

 overstepped his authority, did not want me to have a house; 

 but, finding where a good empty house was, I told him that 

 as there was no authority in the village I would take the 

 authority upon myself. So I inspected the vacant huts, 

 selected the best, notwithstanding the protests of two or 

 three people who had gathered around the 'Malinki pope,' 

 in particular told the men to come, built a fire, and then 

 took possession of the new quarters. I told the ' Malinki 

 pope,' further, that I must have reindeer meat for the men, 

 and that they must have as much bread as they could eat. 

 I informed him, at the same time, that I was an officer of 

 the United States that the governor commanding the dis- 

 trict, General Tchernieff, would not allow an American, 

 cast on the Siberian shores, to be abused. This appeared 

 to bring him and the rest of the Russians and natives to 

 their senses. They immediately got me a bag of meal, a 

 quarter of a reindeer, the pope himself sending a live rein- 

 deer, candles, sugar and tea for the use of the two men. 

 Both of them believed that their companions had long since 

 been dead when they themselves were found. " 



