PETCHORA 419 



At the bar we found the cutter, and we took her in tow 

 alongside. We then proceeded on an easterly course 



(s: 



until Cape Constantinovka was passed, at which there is 

 a beacon, after which our course was changed almost due 

 north, by the chart 2° E. of N. 



The coast in view on the east of the Boluanski Bucht 

 is low and sandy, with flat tundra extending far inland ; 

 and in the far distance — S.E. by S. from Cape Constan- 

 tinovka — the Pitkoff mountains appear, which, according 

 to the chart, are 563 English feet in height. Many little 

 rivers run to the sea from the Pitkoff mountains through 

 what we are informed by Engel is a vast swamp. The 

 mountains are just ten English miles from the sea at the 

 nearest point, and the range is about sixteen miles in 

 length, culminating towards the eastern extremity in the 

 highest point. 



As we crossed the bar where the cutter was lying, 

 soundings were constantly taken with the lead. The 

 water shallowed to the bar very gradually on the river- 

 side, and deepened a little more rapidly towards the sea. 

 The soundings were cried out from 25 feet to 12 feet on 

 the bar and then 13, 13^, 14, 13, 15, 15i to 25 feet 

 beyond. 



Outside the bar and at the mouth of the Boluanski 

 Bucht numbers of Belugas, or White Whales, were seen 

 at a distance, one coming pretty close to the steamer. 

 They rolled along much in the same way as porpoises do, 

 and seemed to keep pretty well together, though there 

 were some in view in all directions round the vessel. 



Lying on the shore is the wreck of a large trading 



