BACK TO SCHAROK 309 



So I wrote a third note to be left in the chapel, 

 and sent Verrmyah galloping off with this after his 

 father. 



This was a memorable day because of a great thunder- 

 storm. At one time it was pouring rain and flashing- 

 lightning on every side. Only where we were was a 

 single clear spot. 



Our poor Samoyeds were very frightened by thunder- 

 storms. They were good Christians while it lasted. At 

 every extra big flash or peal they crossed themselves 

 religiously. Mrs. Uano brought out a little ikon (a 

 picture image) on a stick, which she stuck in the ground. 

 When first we came we saw a good deal of this little 

 ikon. (I think it was St. Vasili of Solovetsk.) For we 

 were then supposed to have come from the Governor of 

 Archangel. But in the familiarity of these later days 

 poor little Vasili had been kept in the bag, and now he 

 was only brought out for thunderstorms. 



To-day Mekolka brought me in wonder a common 

 earthworm — just lumbricus terrestris to all appearance — 

 which he had found lying on the ground. But I had no 

 spirit for its preservation. It interested me much. When 

 one considers that the ground for seven months out of 

 twelve is frozen solid, it seems strange that a creature so 

 highly specialised as the earth-worm, a creature too, 

 whose development is direct, should be able to survive. 

 But Mekolka had never seen a worm before, and this one, 

 I suspect, had been brought over in the crop of a gull. 



