2i8 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



Kolguev ; it is somewhere between ' oh ' and ' or,' pro- 

 nounced very shortly as an exclamation. 



And Yelisei's wife was there. She was stout, and 

 wore quite a handsome dress of reindeer and dog-fur, 

 with splashes of red, yellow, and black. She was a born 

 stage-duchess. With them came their son Serieh, a 

 nice, cheery, good-looking man. 



The third 'choom' (understanding the word in the sense 

 of the family), numbered more. Its head was Marrk. 

 Marrk was a kind old fellow, but I have an idea his 

 head was going. He had curious lapses into abstraction, 

 and did little work. With him was a charming young- 

 fellow, Kallina by name, whom I took for his son ; but 

 you shall hear more about him later on. Two daughters 

 also came — good-looking girls, with a wonderful collection 

 of beads and brass about their hair ; they seemed of the 

 same age as the elder girls of our choom. 



In addition to these we had certain unattached items — 

 Onaska the prophet, for example, and another man. 



I leave you to imagine the curiosity I aroused. The 

 first Englishman they had ever seen or heard of, and 

 one who had come so strangely there. For you may 

 believe me when I say that ' Englishman ' conveyed 

 nothing to them. Hyland, indeed, they knew as 'Hylum,' 

 and me as ' Ahnglia.' I had told them our country was 

 Ahnglia, and they thought it was my name. 



I again fed Mekolka on Liebig, in return for which he 

 stopped some of the chinks in my boat. My friends were 



