130 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



her manner betrayed a quiet self-possession very remark- 

 able among such a people. 



Her sister-in-law Ustynia was really, if you accept the 

 type, a pretty girl. Her broad forehead was banded by 

 a' circle of brass ornaments and beads, which keeping 

 back her black hair wound about it as it fell in two long 

 plaits, and finally about her waist, divided into a triple 

 row of heavy beads joining the two ends together. This 

 is the common fashion with unmarried women. And I 

 think if English girls knew how pretty and becoming 

 this forehead band is they would wear something like it 

 too. Ustynia's eyes were bright, and a pleasant smile 

 played about her lips. When she laughed — and these 

 people are always laughing — she betrayed the most 

 perfectly beautiful teeth it is possible to imagine. In- 

 deed all these people, even old Uano, had most wonder- 

 ful teeth — white, regular, and perfectly shaped. On her 

 fingers Ustynia wore heavy rings of white and yellow 

 metal, and her hands, like those of all Samoyeds, were 

 faultless in shape and extraordinarily supple. If you add 

 to this a dress reaching to the knees, formed of young 

 reindeer skin, worked in many stripes of white and brown, 

 the skirt — (th dress is all in one piece and fastens in front) 

 — banded with scarlet cloth and dog-skin fur, and foot and 

 leo- coverings of soft, patterned skin reaching above the 

 knee — there you have Ustynia, the belle of Kolguev. 



Anka was a replica of her sister on a smaller scale. 

 She would be about fourteen years old. 



