i8o 



ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



good. It is ; but when you have eaten white-fronted 

 goose, bean goose, king eider, and long-tailed duck for 

 many days on end, you begin to feel with Mark Twain's 

 American after watching the dead bodies, ' Cussed if I 

 want any breakfast.' 



And after all the white-fronted goose and the bean 

 goose, though they have different names and different 

 feathers, when they are cooked are only — goose. 



Of the other two, however, king eider is excellent, but 

 long-tailed duck very poor. We came to hate long- 

 tailed duck. 



Verrmyah, also called Philipo, Katrina's husband and 

 Uano's eldest son, appeared to-day. It seemed he had 



been southward. He 

 brought very cheering 

 news. The ice, he 

 said, did not touch the 

 south of the island. 

 I asked him whether 

 any ships could get 

 through to the south. 

 He did not know; 

 there might be a 

 channel, and a boat might get into the gulf; but truly, 

 he did not know. 



But this set me thinking whether we ought not to be 

 somewhere nearer the gulf or Scharok harbour in case 

 a vessel should come. For this was just about the time 



UANO AND VERRMYAH HIS SON 



