298 OUR JOURNEY'S END 



parts of the ship, and apparently watching with interest 

 the operations of our sailors, who, assisted by some 

 Russian peasants, were busy cutting away the ice all 

 round the vessel. The river was frozen solid to the 

 bottom where the Thames was moored, and the captain 

 was afraid that when the water rose she would remain 

 attached to the bed and be swamped instead of rising 

 with the water. This was no imaginary danger, for I 

 remember a case in point which happened in the Petchora. 

 The ship I refer to did certainly float when the water 

 rose, but she left her keel ice-bound to the bottom of the 

 river. The Thames was frozen very fast indeed. The 

 last couple of feet was frozen mud, as solid as a rock, and 

 the men found it hard and tedious work chipping away 

 this icy mass with their pickaxes. 



SAMOYEDK lll'IC OK MAMMOTH-IVORY — OSTIAK I'lPE OK WOOD INLAID WITH 

 LEAD— TUNGUSK I'll'E OK WROUCIHT IRON 



