20 DAN MEINERTZHAGEN'S DIARY. 



single-handed, they force one stick into the 

 wolf's mouth, and with another break his back. 

 The foxes are nearly all killed by poison. We 

 saw plenty of tracks of the latter all the way 

 across the mountains, and one or two fresh 

 wolf -tracks. 



Naimakka, April i jth. We rose again early 

 this morning, and I skinned the Hawk Owl, 

 before starting. Judging from the state of her 

 ovaries I don't think she would have laid for at 

 least five weeks. There are no Magpies and 

 Grey Crows to be seen here. The last we saw 

 were at Helligscoran. The sledging was chiefly 

 down the river ; there was no sun, and the 

 weather was decidedly cold. The Finns tell me 

 that the large tracks on the mountain snow, were 

 not wolves, but gluttons or Fjeld-fras as they are 

 called. 



At a hut, in Vittanyi, a man offered us a white 

 fox in the flesh for 6 kr., but we did not buy 

 it. The Finns say that the river won't be open 

 till the end of May. Peter Johann's brother's 

 name is Mathias, and he is coming on with us 

 .as far as Muonioniska. There is also another 

 brother and a sister. The man who lives here, 

 Daniel by name, wants to collect eggs for me. 

 I have asked him to try and get Smew's eggs, 

 but though he knows the bird, he has never yet 



