56 Messrs. Alston and Harvie Brown's 



The innumerable islands of the delta present very varied 

 features. Some of them are composed of alluvial soil, and 

 others of dry sand. They are covered in some instances 

 with low tangled thickets of alder, in others with tall, 

 straight, large-leaved birch. Some bear old pine- woods; some 

 are overgrown with low open scrub ; while the outer islands 

 are for the most part sandy, and covered with short grass 

 which is cut for hay, and round their edges waves the long 

 sea-bent. 



The mainland is on the whole more densely wooded. 

 Behind the town, a damp moor stretches back to the Urus 

 river, covered with Iceland and Reindeer moss, mingled with 

 short shrubs of juniper, dwarf birch, stunted pines, and small 

 clumps of alder and willow, and on every side grow great 

 quantities of " maroushka " or cloud-berries. Here two 

 families of Samoyedes have taken up their abode, and live by 

 begging or working in the town, and feeding on the oifal of 

 the slaughter-houses, close to which they have pitched their 

 camp of three filthy " chooms," covered with squares of birch- 

 bark sewed together. Numbers of this curious race visit 

 Archangel in winter; but all save these pauper families go 

 further north in summer to find pasturage for their reindeer. 

 At Waldushki r a village opposite Archangel on the south side 

 of the river, the land gains an altitude of about 100 feet, and 

 from here an extensive view can be obtained of the town and 

 of the delta. Seen in the rich red glow of a northern sunset, 

 all her gilded domes and minarets gleaming and changing in 

 intensity of colour in the setting rays, Archangel appears to 

 great advantage. Surely Mr. Hepworth Dixon cannot have 

 stood on the heights of Waldushki on one of these glorious 

 nights, and looked at the panorama stretched out beneath, 

 and then found it in his heart to describe the town as " a camp 

 of shanties," or the country around it as "a vast green 

 marsh." Verily the good folks of Archangel may well be 

 annoyed at having their picturesque and pretty town so 

 maligned. 



Making the town our head quarters, we undertook two 

 trips to the outer islands of the delta, one to a village on the 



