78 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



much thicker than cow's milk, and rich in cream, but 

 the quantity is small, an average hind yielding not 

 more than a couple of glassfuls a day. They spend 

 four months of the year in darkness, and sparingly 

 light their lamps, which consist of a small bowl filled 

 with seal oil and a taper. One of their favourite 

 dainties is a lump of reindeer fat dipped in the oil as 

 a sauce. 



Having mentioned to Doctor Bogoraz that we were 

 on a sporting trip after Kamchatka bighorn, he in- 

 formed us that he had come across wild sheep in the 

 Verkho-Yansk range of Northern Siberia. These 

 hills were situated about 600 versts (400 miles) north- 

 east of Yakutsk. Their coat, he said, was light, and 

 their horns comparatively small. He had also found 

 a species of Oi'is differing from the former, as he 

 thought, inhabiting mountains running along the 

 Arctic Ocean east of Kolymsk ; these in every way 

 resembled the Kamchatkan kind. I had every reason 

 to believe his assertions, and am inclined to think 

 that the Verkho-Yansk sheep may be an undescribed 

 species. 



On the subject of sledge-dogs our friend's narra- 

 tives were highly interesting. Reindeer and dogs 

 with the Esquimaux take the place of horses. It 

 requires the utmost skill and great experience to 



