TRAPPERS 45 



add a white fox to my menagerie. I asked the 

 guide if he were willing to sell me this specimen. 

 A long palaver as to the price thereupon 

 ensued between him and Rachlew. Terms 

 were finally agreed upon. We then learnt that 

 our guide was anxious to return to his calf. 

 Our attempts to reassure him proved as futile 

 as they were amusing. So we let him depart 

 and continued our march over sodden ground 

 and shale fields until we attained the summit 

 of a hill, from which coign of vantage we were 

 able to inspect the surrounding valleys. 



We sighted not a single bull. Nevertheless, 

 the trappers said that they were numerous 

 hereabouts, as was apparent from the fresh 

 tracks of an ox-bull and a wolf we discovered. 

 The only living thing I saw was a skua, a bird 

 very much like a cuckoo, and a harfang (snow- 

 owl) which, erect upon a rock, watched us 'from 

 a distance. A novice would probably have tried 

 to approach it . Experience of harf ang-hunting in 

 Nova Zembla had taught me the folly of such 

 an attempt. I have spent hours and hours in 

 trying to approach the bird without ever 

 getting an inch nearer. So I passed without 

 disturbing it. 



The only valley which promised to provide 

 us sport with musk-bulls ran the^whole length 



