298 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



A Samoyed has not room on his little sleigh for very 

 much besides himself, but three things he never moves 

 without — his rifle, his axe, and his sovik. 



His rifle is bound to the sleigh. Every Samoyed has 

 an old flint-lock rifle besides his bow and arrow. The 

 bullets he himself makes in an ingeniously-made mould 

 formed of stone set in a wooden pair of scissors. His 

 axe is of the Russian pattern, with a nail extractor on it. 

 The sovik I have described. He sits on it, and wears it 

 at night when sleeping on the ground. 



So Uano and I went down to Scharok. I was driving 

 by far the finer team, none the less Uano, as the better 

 Jehu, more than held his own. He could get more work 

 out of his deer, by some silent skill I could not com- 

 prehend, than I out of mine, with all my prodding and 

 noise. 



Arrived at Scharok I was delighted to find the ice 

 entirely disappeared. I fixed high up on a pole the two 

 yards of red flannel I brought for a faja or kummerbund, 

 and there it waved, a noble flag. Also I wrote a second 

 note to Powys, and nailed it on the flag-staff, where I 

 thought it mio-ht be better seen. 



Visiting the site of our camp I was disagreeably sur- 

 prised to find that a fox had scratched a passage into the 

 cache and dragged out several of the brent. I did not 

 mind that, but was sorry only that he had let in dorn- 

 daftsa, the blue-bottle fly. So I set two traps to take 

 him there. 



