WE START IN THE "IBIS" 



389 



With all his faults, Captain Wiggins is an Englishman 

 to the backbone, possessing the two qualities by which 

 an Englishman may almost always be recognised, the 

 two marked features of the national character which are 

 constantly showing themselves in English private, social, 

 and commercial life, and most of all in English political 

 and military life. One of these is an unlimited capacity 

 to commit blunders, and the other is indomitable pluck 

 and energy in surmounting them when made. 



At length, after much unpleasantness, the last finish- 

 ing touch was given to the rigging of the Ibis, and on 

 Monday the 9th of July we 

 were en route for Golchika. 

 We bade adieu to our dogs 

 and foxes and the larger 

 half of the crew, and finally 

 weighed anchor at three 

 in the afternoon, in a stiff 

 gale. Unfortunately the 

 wind was nearly dead 

 ahead, but we had a cur- 

 rent of three or four knots 

 in our favour. The Ibis 

 sailed far better than we 



anticipated ; in spite of her flat bottom we could sail 

 her pretty near the wind, and we beat down the great 

 river very satisfactorily, leaving Igaka and the ill-fated 

 Thames far behind us, and nearing the tundra at the rate 

 of seven or eight versts an hour. Just before we left the 

 scene of our last disaster three swans alighted on the 

 shore, a verst above the ship. I walked up to the spot 

 and took the measure of their footprints on the sand. 

 From the centre of the ball of the heel to the centre of 

 the ball next the claw, the middle toe measured five and 



MAMMOTH TOOTH 

 (Upper view) 



