312 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



I left very soon on some pretence, for I longed to 

 escape from the pitiable into a purer air. So I walked 

 north a long way till I found a little gully, where I stayed. 



One side was all snow, the other grassy and ablaze 

 with flowers. 



Here I found a double red raspberry, and a beautiful 

 tall veronica ( V. longifolid). And there was a ringed- 

 plover evidently with young. 



' A dense fog came on,' says my diary, ' while I was in 

 a perfect labyrinth of gullies. But I think I must be 

 getting the homing instinct better developed, for I walked 

 straight back, though I could not see the choom till 

 within a few yards.' 



Sunday, August igt/i. — Our friends spent to-day in 

 recovering from yesterday. 



We caught a wazanka with the di-zha for the 

 Russian's food. I got old Ustynia to milk it for me, 

 and thought the milk exceedingly good. It was like 

 cream. But the Samoyeds kept saying 'no, no, not 

 good. Very bad, yes, yes.' It is strange that these 

 people never use reindeer milk, for the Lapps, we are 

 told, drink much of it. 



Mekolka comes in every day for a lesson in English. 

 The English he writes phonetically in Russian characters, 

 and remembers it quite well. At present we are hard at 

 work on the numerals, and it is very funny to hear his 

 attempts at pronunciation. The only one which really 



