352 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



September i ^th. — ' N E. Strong wind with rain showers. 

 (It may be worth noticing that the barometer in the 

 last three clays stood 29*8, 29*3, 28*9, 29-5 in. These 

 extraordinary fluctuations boded no good.) Alexis, who 

 also has an aneroid, says he cannot understand what I 

 mean by saying it won't be fine, for the finger of his 

 glass points, he says, to "fine." I tried, but without 

 any success, to explain to him how we calculate from 

 relative rise and fall. His answer always was that if the 

 glass said "wet" it must be wet, if it said "fine" it must 

 be fine, unless the glass was broken.' 



September i$tk. — ' Now both the karbasses are ready. 

 Their holds are filled with barrels full of reindeer meat 

 and the seal-fat from last winter's catch. Over these 

 are spread reindeer and seal-skins, and the pelts of two 

 walrus (all they have taken), and skins also are hanging 

 from the rigging to dry.' 



Alexis' karbass was rather smaller than ours, but the rig 

 was the same. My sketch will explain this better than 

 any words. So at six o'clock on this evening we made 

 a move, and sailed out till we were just inside the entrance 

 to the harbour. 



We had a visit from Verrmyah and Katrina just before 

 we left, and divided between them and their parents such 

 little property as we could spare — to Uano our saucepan 

 (the only cooking utensil we possessed), to Katrina the 

 red flannel flag (for Adski), to Mekolka the axe, and so 



