THE BYSTRAIA VALLEY 237 



delight, that the clouds were clearing, and that patches 

 of blue sky were visible through the grey veil of the 

 mist. A hard frost had set in during the night, and it 

 was bitterly cold when I came out of the hut at four a.m. 

 The weather had cleared. The flat stretch of tundra 

 before me was now as white as a snowheld, and a 

 light vapour still hung over the river beyond, soon 

 to be dissolved by the rays of the rising sun. Though 

 the men strongly advised me to abandon the Bystraia 

 valley for that of the Paratunka, saying that the road 

 was bad, and that we should very likely all be 

 drowned at the crossing of the river, I decided, 

 nevertheless, to stick to my first plan, and try the 

 former. Some vague instinct prompted me towards 

 this apparently unreasonable resolution, and it proved 

 later to be highly successful. 



We left Kluchi at five, with four men and as 

 many ponies, besides the General and Nikolai's son, 

 acting as guide. The path lay through birch woods 

 and high grass, the latter hiding us entireh" at places, 

 horses and all, drenching us with the previous day's 

 rain and dew before we had orone half a mile from 

 the village. We proceeded in this manner for a 

 couple of hours before entering the nullah. Here 

 the underwood grew thicker and the slopes more 

 precipitous ; the path being no longer visible, our 



