CHAP. i. OUR OUTFIT. 5 



commercial speculation, and to have sent their spoils to a 

 dealer in Dresden, through whom some rare eggs, doubtless 

 from this district, found their way to Mr. Dunn, of Orkney, 

 and were subsequently distributed amongst English collectors. 

 In consequence of the trade jealousy of the dealers these eggs 

 were sold without authentication, and hence possess no 

 scientific value whatever ; therefore, practically, the Petchora 

 may be considered to have been virgin ground to the orni- 

 thologist. 



Our outfit was simple. We determined to be trammelled 

 with as little luggage as possible. Besides the necessary 

 changes of clothing we took each a pair of Cording's india- 

 rubber boots, which we found invaluable. To protect our faces 

 from the mosquitoes, we provided ourselves with silk gauze 

 veils, with a couple of wire hoops inserted opposite the bridge 

 of the nose and the chin, like little crinolines. These simple 

 Jcomarniks proved a complete success. On a hot summer's 

 day life without them would have been simply unendurable. 

 Of course the heat and sense of being somewhat stifled had 

 to be borne, as by far the lesser of two evils. Our hands we 

 protected by the regulation cavalry gauntlet. We took two 

 tents with us, but had no occasion to use them. Our net 

 hammocks served as beds by night, and sofas by day, and 

 very luxurious we found them. We each took a double- 

 barrelled breech-loader, and a walking-stick gun. Five hundred 

 cartridges for each weapon, with the necessary appliances for 

 re-loading, we found amply sufficient. The only mistake we 

 made, we afterwards found, was in not taking baking powder, 

 nor sufficient dried vegetables and Liebig's extract of meat. 



