156 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



reindeer for those who can afford time to go after 

 them. As it was, the only one we nearly got was 

 hit by one of our men, who then dropped his rifle 

 and ran up to finish the deer with a stick ; but the 

 animal promptly recovered and ran off, followed by a 

 shower of uncomplimentary epithets in the Scotch 

 language. Sir Henry Gore-Booth and Mr Grant, in 

 the Kara, got plenty of deer ; but they went further 

 up the strait, where the animals had not been 

 frightened. 



As the weather cleared up again, and seemed 

 settled, it was decided to take the Hope herself to 

 Suchoi Noss, and with that intention we left after 

 a very short stay, and commenced coasting as near 

 the land as possible, in order that we might see the 

 Eira's boats or their encampment, should they be 

 on their way down. Whilst thus engaged the sea 

 being perfectly smooth, and no breakers visible over 

 shoals we unfortunately grounded on a rocky bank, 

 lying two miles out at sea. This shoal is not marked 

 on the Admiralty chart, but is on a Russian one ; 

 and in consequence of this, Sir Allen Young had 

 made inquiries about it through our interpreter, who 

 said the Russian skippers had found 18 feet over it. 

 We found just half that depth. 



The way in which the crew worked, without any 

 rest during the twenty-six hours we spent on that 

 shoal, was beyond all praise, and the assistance 

 rendered by Sir Henry Gore-Booth's little craft con- 



