422 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



dangerous, because the slope nearly always ends with a steep 

 escarpment. We came once, without observing it, to the edge of 

 such a precipice, and if we had not succeeded in time in slackening 

 our speed a nice confused mass of men, dogs, and sledges would 

 have tumbled over it. In order to excite their draught animals 

 the Chukches avail themselves of their dogs' inclination to run 

 after the reindeer, and during their journeys they endeavour to 

 spur them on yet more by now and then imitating the reindeer's 

 cry. After twa or three hours travelling we fell in with the 

 first reindeer, and then by degrees with more and more, until 

 finally about 11 o'clock P.M. we came to a numerous herd, 

 tended by Yettugin. I applied to him, asking him to barter a 

 reindeer in good condition for a gun which I had brought along 

 with me. After various evasions Yettugin at length promised 

 to give us next day the reindeer for the gun. He would not 

 however himself, or with his own knife, kill the reindeer ; on 

 which account I requested Dr. Almquist to give it the coup 

 de grace. 



" In consecpience of the soft state of the snow we were obliged 

 to defer the commencement of our return journey to the evening 

 of the 16th. We now travelled over the chain of hills which 

 unites Table Mount with Tenen, and descended their northern 

 steep slope towards an extensive plain, studded for the most 

 part with bogs and marshes. The 17th came in with mist and 

 considerable warmth. The mist limited the circle of vision to a 

 distance of some few metres, and the high temperature in a 

 short time destroyed the crust which had been formed in the 

 course of the preceding night on the surface of the snow, and 

 melted the layers of snow which still covered the northern sloj)es 

 of these two hills. The southern slopes on the other hand were 

 almost quite bare, and the valleys began to be filled with water. 

 Four or five days as warm as these and I believe there scarcely 

 would be any snow remaining round Kolyutschin Bay. The 

 illusions caused by the white fog illuminated by the sunlight were 

 very astonishing. Every small spot of ground appeared as an 

 extensive snow-free field, every tuft of grass as a bush, and a fox 

 in our immediate neighbourhood was for a moment taken for a 

 gigantic bear. Besides, during such a fog the action of the sunlight 

 on the eyes was exceedingly painful even in the case of those who 

 carried preservers. During the return Rotschitlen lost his way in 

 consequence of the numerous different tracks. Fortunately I 

 had observed how we travelled, and could with the help of 

 the compass pilot our two small craft to a good haven. On the 

 17th of June at 1.30 P.M. we were again in good condition on 

 board the Vega." 



In the society on board the prospects of an alteration in the 



