142 



ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



very first I began to learn the native proper names and 

 their exact pronunciation. 



Samoyed is an exceedingly difficult language to pro- 

 nounce. Much of it consists of breathings, inflexions, 

 and unlooked-for accents, which by no system of spelling 

 can be accurately written down. But assisted by close 

 application, and a natural ear for sound, I succeeded in 

 catching the exact ring of the common words and 

 sentences, so that I had but small difficulty in exchanging 

 ideas. But now at the beginning it was a funny conver- 

 sation, largely made up of signs and illustrations. Uano 

 was a capital actor, and with this and my pencil and 

 paper we got along fairly well. It is wonderful with 

 how few words you can do when put to it. Thus, 

 Ahnglia oleynia ? Nieto? 

 Ahnglia Tii ? Yangho ? 

 England reindeer ? No ? 

 express the question as well as half a hundred words. 

 While Mekolka was o-one, the reindeer were brought 



in, and after an hour Mekolka 

 appeared, and with him a very 

 ugly sad-looking man, whom 

 they called Onaska. He drove 

 a team of white reindeer, and 

 was evidently a man of weight. 

 We left. We had five sleighs 

 and twenty-three reindeer. Uano drove five, and to the 

 back of his sleigh were fastened four reindeer who pulled 



