108 KAMSCHATKA. [chap. 



draw a weight of 360 lbs. a distance of five-and-thirty or forty 

 miles with ease in a day's work ; and with an unloaded sledge with 

 a single occupant, a pace of eight versts an hour can be kept up 

 for a considerable time. On the road they are given one-third of 

 a fish twice during the day, and a fish and a half at night, which 

 they wash down with a few gulps of snow. The dogs are castrated 

 when puppies, and have their tails cut at the end of the first year. 

 Each has a name, which he answers to when he is driven in the 

 sledge just in the same way as a Cape ox in a waggon team, for no 

 whips are used. If chastisement be necessary, the driver throws 

 his stick at the delinquent, or pounds the unfortunate creature with 

 any stone that comes handy. There are many ways of tethering 

 these animals, all having in view the one object of keeping them 

 apart, as, excepting upon the road, they seize every opportunity of 

 fighting. One method — the one that obtrudes itself most upon the 

 traveller's notice — is by making a large tripod of poles, and tying a 

 dog at the bottom of each ; and in many villages, owing to the large- 

 number of dogs which have to be kept, these tripods form a 

 characteristic feature. 



We had many reasons to induce us to take a couple of days' 

 rest at Gunal. Louis was suffering from a chill consequent on 

 the wetting of the previous day ; one of us had a slight touch of 

 fever caught some years before in Africa ; and at the camp kitchen 

 Cook sat a prisoner as a surgical patient, imperturbably smoking 

 cigarettes and picking up Eussian from Afanasi. A slight injury 

 to the ankle, combined with mosquito bites and many hours of 

 riding, had produced an inflamed leg, — a rather awkward accident 

 at this juncture, as we w^ished to press on as rapidly as we could. 

 In addition, the camp gear needed drying after Vodki's exploit, 

 and as there were said to be plenty of bear in the neighbourhood, 

 we settled to remain. 



The following day was gloriously hot, and before long the camp 

 presented the appearance of a washerwoman's drying -ground. 

 The sun heat was, indeed, so great that w^e gladly took refuge in 



