522 Mr. H. J. rearson ua the Birds observed 



the entrance of the White Sea^ waiting for the ice to allow 

 them to reach Archangel. 



On June 1 4th we at last reached the head of Peisenfjord, 

 having forced a way through the remaining ice ; but it was 

 clearly impossible to get up the country for at least a 

 fortnight. The river was blocked with masses of ice ; snow 

 lay 4 feet deep over most of the land; and the buds of the 

 birch-trees had scarcely commenced to swell. The few bare 

 places round the peasants' houses were, however^ alive with 

 Bluethroats, Pipits, Temminck^s Stints, &c., and we there- 

 fore decided to make an excursion round the Ribatschi 

 peninsula — steaming first to Vaidda Guba, a small fishing- 

 port close to its north-west point. The snow here was 

 beginning to melt, and the birds had dispersed more over the 

 country. Sibt Havolok, at the north-east extremity, was our 

 next anchorage. This was at one time an important place, 

 with church, hospital, &c. ; but the fish having left the 

 neighboviriug sea, most of the population removed also. 

 There are large marshes behind the town, which are evidently 

 much frequented by Waders and Arctic Terns in normal 

 years. On June 19th the ground was solid ice a few inches 

 below the surface, and the birds were in flocks or pairing. 

 Continuing o^xv voyage round the south coast, we landed in 

 every bay where the shores showed any considerable area 

 free from snow, seeing little of interest beyond someBuffon's 

 Skuas nesting. The Ribatschi peninsula consists chiefly 

 of high ground which even in good seasons must have a very 

 bare and desolate character. A number of lakes and tarns 

 are scattered over the interior, forming the sources of several 

 small rivers. We saw nothing that could possibly be called a 

 tree, although some of the valleys contained low birches and 

 willow-scrub. I do not think Geese breed commonly in the 

 district, as a Norwegian said he had never seen their eggs, 

 but his father had once found a nest many years ago. 

 Port Novaya Zemlya (named by Liitke), at the head of the 

 inlet separating the peninsula from the main, is only a 

 collection of some dozen fishermen's huts ; and the isthmus 

 is scarcely an English mile across, with several well-marked 



