Discovery of the Bemains of a Mammoth. 123 



machoff, and by Bellkoff, a merchant of Schigansk, and 

 attended by my huntsman, three Cossacs, and ten Toun- 

 gouses. 



The Toungouse chief was the first person who dis- 

 covered the mammoth, and he was proprietor of the 

 territory through which our route lay. Bellkoff, the 

 merchant, had spent nearly his whole life on the shores 

 of the Frozen- Sea. His zeal, and the details he pro- 

 cured me, have the strongest claims to my gratitude : 

 I am even indebted to him for the preservation of my 

 life at a moment of imminent danger. 



At first I found great difficulty in sitting upon a rein- 

 deer ; for, the saddle being attached by a girth of lea- 

 ther only, it was very insecure, and often occasioned 

 me very disagreeable falls. Besides, my position was 

 very inconvenient for want of stirrups, which are never 

 used among the Toungouses. 



On our route we traversed high and rugged moun- 

 tains, valleys which followed the course of small rivu- 

 lets, and parched and savage plains, where not a shrub 

 was to be seen. After two days' travelling, we at last 

 approached the shores of the Frozen- Sea-. This place 

 is called by the Toungouses Angardam, or terra firma. 

 In order to attain the mammoth, it was necessary to 

 traverse another isthmus, called Bykoffskoy-Mys, or 

 Tumut. This isthmus, which projects into a spacious 

 gulf, is to the right of the mouth of the Lena, and ex- 

 tends, as I was informed, from south-east to north- 



