THE GANAL TUNDRA 175 



few yards through the tundra when clouds of these 

 merciless insects instantly surrounded us, blinding the 

 ponies and men. It was almost impossible to advance. 

 Littledale and I, who took it in turns to walk, there 

 being no spare pack-animals, had to dash ahead now 

 and again, stumbling over mossy knolls, in order to 

 find the path by freeing ourselves for a few seconds 

 from the buzzing circle of mosquitoes. Tallent's 

 patience was brought to such a severe test that he 

 complained that this suffering had not been included 

 in the agreement, and that he never would have come 

 out if he had only known of it beforehand ! I kept 

 every moment brushing off the insects Irom my 

 clothes, killing thousands of them in one sweep ot my 

 gloved hand, and at one place Littledale simply fled 

 at my approach to avoid the lumps of mosquitoes 

 on my net. The horses streamed with blood, and it 

 was no easy job for the men to prevent a stampede. 

 In this manner we toiled along over the spongy moss, 

 amidst cranberry and briar, a distance of twenty miles. 

 It was presumably the hardest day on record. 



During the march we saw several large caribou 

 antlers, which lay half rotten on the tundra. Camp 

 was pitched late in the afternoon on a drier part of the 

 tundra, and v/e learnt that we were half-way to a vil- 

 lage called Pushina, on the Kamchatka River. Fires 



