PET CHORA 315 



was even a more interesting sight than an 'identified' 

 duck. 



The fact was — The Zylma ice was moving. At first 

 the ice ghded on very slowly, but soon moved faster, and 

 by eleven o'clock it was rushing past at the rate of at 

 least two versts per hour. No great noise accompanied 

 it, save a rushing sound as of a distant waterfall, but it 

 conveyed an idea of steady, irresistible force. 



The ice was broken up in masses of several tons in 

 weight, and in places appeared to have been in violent 

 collision before reaching this point, thrown up in huge 

 piles upon the shore or floating majestically down. 

 Occasionally a large floe drifted along in the midst like a 

 giant raft, probably lifted bodily, by the rising water, 

 from its former resting-place on some sand-bank, higher 

 up the river. 



Looking over the river to the far shore, or up or down, 

 the river-basin presented the appearance of a great 

 moving, closely-packed flock of large and small white- 

 and black-faced sheep coming down a hollow, the con- 

 fusedly-hurled blocks of ice, here showing their white 

 upper surfaces, and there, their dark sides. But the 

 absence of any crashing noise, and the silence even 

 close to our feet, where the stream for a space ran past, 

 took away considerably from its grandeur. 



Lower down, however, as we had opportunity later of 

 observing, there must have been a grand turmoil ; huge 

 blocks of ice forced up upon the shelving beach, and logs 

 of driftwood, trees, and green pines, root and branch, 

 wedged in amongst the floes and hummocks, some trees 

 apparently standing in an almost upright position. 



The river water rose rapidly ; and partially dammed 

 back by the accumulation of ice at the mouth, began to 

 flow back into the ' kourias ' and over the meadows. 



It began soon to dawn upon the Russian chasseurs, 



