R. P. HORNBY'S DIARY. 101 



Hawk Owls and Buzzards, > whose , appetites, 

 were still growing. Da*n nlariaged to' get a 

 Capercailzie hen and three or four young birds, 

 which we shared with the Buzzards. 



We got to Siikavuopio just before midnight 

 (there was no night), and found the place 

 swarming with mosquitoes. This was just at 

 the foot of an impassable rapid, and it was 

 necessary to carry all our luggage three or 

 four hundred yards overland to another boat, 

 which was awaiting us at the top. Dan found 

 a lot of eggs here, so that he was kept busy 

 marking and packing them, whilst 1 skinned 

 the Scoter and one or two other birds; so that 

 we had very little sleep. We were surprised 

 to find in the hut the names of several Russian 

 officers who had been up the river, two years 

 before, in order to observe the eclipse of the 

 sun, and had brought a telescope with them r 

 which must have been a difficult undertaking. 

 One of the Finns had a photograph of them 

 all muffled up in mosquito nets, so I do not 

 suppose they enjoyed their observations much. 

 We wrote our names under theirs on the wall 

 of the hut to the great delight of the owner, 

 who seemed pretty easily pleased. 



On the aQth, we started to carry our luggage 

 overland to the other boat, but the mosquitoes 



