PETCHORA 337 



rounding it is about 50 feet above the winter level of the 

 river, which is then at its lowest level or nearly so. This 

 season the floods have raised the level about 20 to 30 feet, 

 but in exceptionally high floods, after the disappearance 

 of the ice, a few acres of the open ground around 

 Habarika and the village itself alone remain above water. 

 On all sides the land slopes gradually away except on that 

 facing the ' kouria ' and the river, where it terminates in 

 a steep earth bank. All the low-lying willow-meadows 

 and other lower lands are now flooded, and the place 

 where, little more than a month ago we watched the 

 Samoyedes lassoing their deer, and where their ' chooms ' 

 were pitched, is under water. All round Habarika is a 

 semicircular piece of land cleared of timber and tilled for 

 grain and other crops. Surrounding this at the distance 

 of a quarter of a verst or less, fine forest of pine, spruce, 

 and old larch flourishes, with undergrowth in places of 

 alder and willow. 



Some parts of the forest are open, especially those 

 where pines only appear to exist, and where a few old 

 trees have been left uncut, and a younger growth has 

 sprung up. Here there is a soft carpet of Reindeer-moss, 

 thickly sprinkled with crowberry, cranberry, and bilberry 

 plants. All over these opener parts also lie the bleached 

 and barkless and decayed stems and branches and frag- 

 ments of old pines. So thickly do the latter cover the 

 ground that it is often difficult to put down a foot without 

 snapping one or more of them in pieces. 



Other parts of the forest are denser and more mixed. 

 Many noble old larches are still untouched by the axe, 

 but the stumps and prostrate stems leave sad record of 

 the ruthless destruction done and still going on. Small 

 spruce firs comprise the bulk of the growth, but in some 

 places the larches are also quite abundant. Underneath 

 in the swampy places, with the roots and parts of the 



