174 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. 



against stream, and laid his vessel up in winter-quarters just 

 within the entrance of the Koo-ray'-i-ka river, on the arctic 

 circle, where she was frozen up the next morning. When the 

 ice on the river had frozen sufficiently hard to make sledging 

 safe, Capt. Wiggins left his ship in charge of the crew, and 

 returned to England by the overland route. 



I did not meet Capt. Wiggins until the 24th of February ; 

 but finding that he was intending to return to his ship almost 

 immediately, I came to the conclusion that an opportunity 

 of visiting the Yen-e-say' in company with a gentleman who 

 knew the way so well might never occur again, and 1 hastily 

 made up my mind to return with the captain to his ship, and 

 take my chance of coming home in her by the Kara Sea. I 

 am much indebted to Count Schouvaloff for kindly providing 

 me, almost at a moment's notice, with letters of introduction, 

 which proved of the greatest service to me. 



We left London on the evening of the 1st of March, and, 

 after spending a few days in St. Petersburg, reached Nishni 

 Novgorod on the morning of the 10th, a distance of about 

 2400 English miles. At Nishni we bought a sledge, and 

 travelled over the snow 3240 English miles, employing for 

 this purpose about a thousand horses, sixteen dogs, and forty 

 reindeer. We left Nishni on the evening of the 10th of 

 March, and travelled day and night in a generally easterly di- 

 rection, stopping a couple of days at Tyn-maiu', and a day at 

 Omsk, and reached Kras-no-yarsk' on the morning of the 

 2nd of April, soon after crossing the meridian of Calcutta. 

 We rested a day in Kras-no-yarsk', and sledged thence nearly 

 due north, spending four days in Yen-e-saisk' and three days 

 in Toor-o-kansk', and reached the ^Thames' on the Koo- 

 ray'-i-ka in the afternoon of the 23rd of April. 



For the first few days we found sledge-travelling somewhat 

 irksome ; but we soon got into the full swing of it. After 

 having sledged a thousand miles or so, we began to feel that 

 the process might go on for weeks or months, or even years, 

 without serious results. I soon began to enjoy it. My 

 sledge-fever entirely left me ; and I used to find a pleasant 

 lullaby in the never ceasing music of the " wrangling and the 



