52 A SNOW-STORM. 



into play, their legs being folded under them ; there 

 was little worthy of note except the precision with 

 which rnusic and movements accompanied each other. 



There is a termination to all human events; we 

 were at last* released from this inhuman persecution, 

 performers and gazers departed, and our, literally, 

 shake-downs were prepared. Mahkatzan and his 

 wife hung a curtain of skins from the roof of the 

 apartment, laid down others for couches and coverlets ; 

 then, pointing out to us the places we were to occupy, 

 extinguished the lamp and all lay down to sleep ; nor 

 were we disturbed until grey dawn appeared, and with 

 it a heavy gale and terrible snow-drift, which threatened 

 at first to prevent our return to the ship, Mahkatzan 

 refusing to guide us thither. On our evincing, how- 

 ever, a determination to depart, even if alone, he 

 reluctantly harnessed the dogs and set forth with us. 



Those who have never witnessed a heavy snow- 

 storm can have but slight idea of the difficulty of 

 traveUing in it, especially over a barren country where 

 there is little shelter, and no check to the furious rush 

 of drift. Martin and I were choking and blinded 

 before we had gone half-a-dozen yards, and began to 

 think our guide was right in his objections ; however 

 we persisted in trying it yet awhile, and when we 

 had gone some distance, though the weather became 



