152 KAMSGHATKA. [chap. 



with a very offensive manner, they refused to take, and after some 

 discussion among themselves, retired again to their tent. The 

 conduct of these men had been anything but agreeable in every 

 particular. They had always refused to help us in any way with 

 the ordinary work of the camp, such as getting wood or carrying 

 the baggage from the rafts ; and on our sending Afanasi in the 

 morning to cross the river and inspect two canoes upon the farther 

 bank, they would not lend him one of their boats unless he paid 

 them something. We also discovered that the canoe which we 

 had bought from them only two days before had been split from 

 stem to stern, — though whether by accident or design it was 

 impossible to say, — and would probably prove quite useless after a 

 few more hours' work. 



After some more discussion in their camp — for the natives 

 always pitched their tent at some distance from ours, and held no 

 communication either wdth ourselves or our two Eussian hunters 

 unless it was absolutely necessary — the Tschappina men now 

 appeared in a body to say that they must be paid for the distance 

 they had already accomplished, or they would not accompany us 

 any farther. This was a most transparent ruse, and we at once 

 flatly refused their request, knowing that if we gave up our only 

 hold on them, we should not be able to obtain their canoes for the 

 farther journey, except by yielding to demands even more ex- 

 orbitant than those they had already made. Our position was not 

 a very pleasant one. We were getting anxious about the yacht, as 

 the distance down the river proved to be considerably greater than 

 we anticipated, and even if we got on without further delay, it 

 seemed probable that we should still be some days late. Our 

 stores were getting rather low, and the weather, we knew, would 

 not hold much longer. Yet here we were, in the very middle of 

 the country, and as far as regarded our means of transport, 

 completely at the mercy of the natives, who were perfectly aware 

 of the strength of their position, and were using it to bleed us to 

 the last kopeck. Had time been no object to*us, w^e might, no 



