CHURCHES 39 



winter by Samoyedes, who erect their chooms in the 

 neighbouring forest. When we reached Ust-Zylma, and 

 for a week or more afterwards, a great migration of these 

 curious people was going on, and we often saw a score 

 or more of their sledges in a day, and sometimes there 

 were as many reindeer as horses to be seen in the streets. 



The flat country on the banks of the Petchora, upon 

 which the village is built, does not extend more than a 

 few hundred yards. The land then rapidly rises, and 

 these slopes are cultivated for some way up the hillside. 

 We found the peasants busily employed in carting 

 manure in sledges and spreading it on the snow. The 

 monotony of the long village is broken by three churches, 

 one a very ancient and picturesque structure, in some 

 places rather artistically ornamented. This was formerly 

 the church of the Old Believers, but it is now too rotten 

 for use, and a more modern-looking building has been 

 erected. The third church is that of the Orthodox Greek 

 Church. All the houses in Ust-Zylma are of course built 

 of wood, solid balks of timber with moss and tar in the 

 joints, and notched into each other at the corner, and 

 they are more or less carved and ornamented in various 

 places. Sometimes the slopes of the hills are relieved by 

 a large tree which has been left standing, and here and 

 there is an old windmill. Beyond the cultivated ground 

 is the forest, clothing the hilly country stretching away 

 north, the trees gradually dwindling in size as far as the 

 Arctic Circle, beyond which lies the mysterious tundra. 



Our quarters in Ust-Zylma were two excellent rooms 

 on the second floor of the best house in the village, for 

 which we paid two roubles a month. No doubt we could 

 have had them for half the money if we had taken them 

 for six months. The house was built by M. Sideroff, the 

 founder of the Petchora Timber-trading Company, and 



