IN THE FOREST 449 



constitutions/probably utterly demoralised with extrava- 

 gant habits unfitting" them for their former life. Many 

 never reach home at all. Some die on the way, and 

 others are robbed and murdered in the forest for the sake 

 of the gold on their persons. The Russian law prohibits 

 the purchase or sale of gold, and compels the owners of 

 mines to sell to the Government only. Nevertheless a 

 large trade in the precious metal, principally in that which 

 has been stolen, is carried on, and considerable quantities 

 find their way to China, or are bought by the Kirghis. 

 This is well known to the police, who are, nevertheless, 

 seldom able to detect it. Siberia is rich in gold mines, 

 but its true wealth is to be found in its soil, not under 

 it. 



We had an hour on land the following afternoon. We 

 were now in lat. 64°. I went first into the deep forest, 

 the pines of which had evidently been burnt some years 

 ago. Only a few charred trunks remained, and the 

 forest had become a dense mass of birch-trees. Under 

 foot spread a thick soft carpet of moss, lichen, and liver- 

 wort, thinly sprinkled over with cranberries laden with 

 unripe fruit, the aromatic Ledum palust7^e, the graceful 

 Eqidsetuvi sylvaticum, and the Lycopodiuni annotimim. 

 I also found three ferns, the first I had seen for some 

 time : Polypodiuin dryopteris, Athyriiim filix-fcemina, 

 and Lastrea nmltijiora. During half an hour's walk we 

 saw only one bird, a capercailzie or a blackcock, the 

 thickness of the forest preventing the identification of the 

 species. On the bank, among some willow thickets, birds 

 were more numerous. I shot two young Siberian chiff- 

 chaffs out of a family noisily flying from tree to tree like 

 a brood of tits. Young bluethroats were also on the 

 wing. During the evening we saw several birds, two 

 pairs of grey-headed white- tailed eagles, and a pair ot 



2 F 



