VI.] EODIVAN IVANOV. 207 



bear and the fox. The flesh of the bear and the walrus, how- 

 ever, was considered unclean,^ on which account it was eaten 

 only in case of necessity, and the flesh of the fox had an un- 

 pleasant flavour. Sometimes the want of food was so great 

 that they were compelled to eat the leather of their boots and 

 furs. The number of the seals and walruses which they caught 

 was so great, "that the killed animals, laid together, would 

 have fonned a heap ninety fathoms in length, of the same 

 breadth, and six feet high." ^ They found, besides, on the island 

 a stranded whale. 



In spring Samoyeds csime from the mainland, and plundered 

 the Russians of part of their catch. Probably for fear of the 

 Samoyeds, the surviving hunters did not go over the ice to the 

 mainland, but remained on the desert island until by a fortunate 

 accident they were rescued by some of their countrymen engaged 

 in a hunting exT)edition. In connection with the account of this 

 voyage Witsen states that the previous year a Russian hunting 

 vessel stranded east of the Ob. 



It is probable that towards the close of the sixteenth century 

 the Russian hunting voyages to Novaya Zemlya had already 

 fallen off considerably. The comrnercial voyages perhaps had 

 long before altogether ceased. It appears as if after the com- 

 plete conquest of Siberia the land route over the Ural mountains, 

 formerly regarded with such superstitious feelings, was preferred, 

 to the unsafe sea route across the Kara Sea, and as if the Govern- 

 ment even put obstacles in the way of the latter by setting 



^ The stringent regulations regarding fasting of the Russians, especially 

 the Old Believers, if they be literally observed, form an insuperable obstacle 

 to the colonisation of high-northern regions, in which, to avoid scurvy, 

 man requires an abundant supply of fresh flesh. Thus, undoubtedly, 

 religious prejudices against certain kinds of food caused the failure of the 

 colony of Old Believers which was founded in 1767 on Kolgujev Island, 

 in order that its members might undisturbed use their old church books 

 and cross themselves in the way they considered most proper. The 

 same cause also perhaps conduced to the failure of the attempts which 

 are said to have been made after the destruction of Novgorod by Ivan 

 the Terrible in 1570 by fugitives from that town to found a colony on 

 Novaya Zemyla (Historische Nachrichten van den Samojeden und den 

 Lap2)lunderii, Riga und Mietau, 1769, p. 28). This book was tirst printed in 

 French at Konigsberg in 1762. The author was Klingstedt, a Swede in 

 the Russian service, who long lived at Archangel. 



2 The statement is incredible, and probably originated in some mistake. 

 To form such a heap of walruses at least 50,000 animals would have been 

 required, and it is certain that fifteen men could not have killed so many. 

 If we assume that in the statement of the length and breadth, feet ought 

 to Btand in place of fathoms, we get the still excessive number of 1,500 

 to 3,000 killed animals. Probably instead of 90 we should have 9, in 

 which case the heap would correspond to about 500 walruses and seals 

 killed. The walrus tusks collected weighed 40 pood, which again indicates 

 the capture of 150 to 200 animals. 



