CHAP. VI.] BEARS. Ill 



AVe passed two of the level seas of marshy ground that for lack 

 of a better name I have hitherto called tundras. The term is, 

 strictly speaking, applied only to the vast stretches of ground of 

 tliis nature that are so wearisome to Siberian travellers. Here, 

 however, the only difference lies in the size, and as we have no 

 corresponding English word, I have preferred to retain the Eussian 

 name. The thick forests of birch were no longer to be seen, and 

 the country, though still wooded, was more open, large clearings 





BELFRY AT GUXAL. 



being not infrequent. The familiar monkshood, too, whose spikes 

 of flower are in Kamschatka snowy white, as well as of the 

 ordmary shade of violet that our English gardens exhibit, had 

 almost entirely disappeared, and we saw but little more of it 

 durmg the rest of our journey. The number of bilberries was 

 enormous, but the cranberry was much less abundant, and its 

 berries as yet were hardly ripe. 



Piiding quietly along in advance of our party, we suddenly 

 came almost upon the top of two very fine bears, with a young 

 cub between them. We were unfortunately without our rifles at 

 the time, and before we could get them the animals had made off. 



