NATIVE CHARACTERISTICS 347 



places. The day added only one bird to my list, the 

 common sandpiper. 



I had a talk with Schwanenberg about the Asiatics, 

 as he called the natives. He said the Ostiaks are very 

 friendly people, but the Tungusks are bad, and think 

 nothing of shedding human blood. The Dolgans again 

 are good people. The Yuraks are dangerous, and the 

 Samoyedes vary according to locality. 



Matters were looking somewhat brighter at the ship. 

 The carpenter was busy making a new rudder. At low 

 water, when the stern was aground, he did some caulking, 

 and as the vessel was only leaking a little we were in 

 hopes that she might yet be made seaworthy after all. 



The next morning the wind was north-east, and 

 changed in the afternoon to south-west. The weather 

 was as changeable as the wind : we had clouds, sunshine, 

 heavy gales, thunder, and rain. Scarcely a bird came 

 near the house all day, but before breakfast I shot a 

 very interesting one close to the door — a pine-bunting 

 [Embertza leucocephald). I also secured a reed-bunting, 

 the common species, a larger and browner bird than the 

 one I got on the 9th. I shot a hazel-grouse in the forest, 

 but saw nothing else of special interest. The Siberian 

 chiffchaffs seemed common enough, but snow still lay 

 too thick upon the ground to hunt them successfully. 



The river rose considerably during the following 

 night, but during the day it fell slightly, and the current 

 was down the Kureika. Surely, we thought, this must 

 be the last march-past of ice. From what Schwanenberg 

 told me, I fancy half the ice that goes up the Kureika 

 never comes down again. He said that some ten versts 

 from our quarters the banks of the river were low. When 

 he came back from his wild-goose chase after graphite, 

 this part of the country was flooded for miles on each 



