102 R. P. HORNBY'S DIARY. 



were; S-Q had, that we soon gave it up entirely 

 to "the Finns, 'whilst we sat down with our veils 

 on, endeavouring to avoid their bites, which got 

 so bad that neither of us could speak from rage. 

 When the changing of boats was finished, we 

 wended our way, by easy stages, to Naimakka, 

 where we stopped a short time for our usual cup 

 of coffee, and then went all the way to Vittangi 

 without a stop, some 20 miles, a good deal of 

 it being rapids, which were getting much more 

 difficult to negotiate now, as the river was 

 narrower and steeper the nearer we got to its 

 source. We found a woman in one of the 

 huts, who had spent four years in England as 

 cook. She spoke very good English, and 

 seemed pleased to hear of England again. Dan 

 gave her a silk handkerchief and one or two 

 other presents on leaving. She was very 

 useful to us, for by this time we had a huge 

 stock of questions which we wanted to ask 

 Peter Johann, but had been unable, owing to 

 our limited knowledge of the Finnish tongue. 

 At Vittangi we found the owner of the hut 

 anxiously awaiting us. He had a lot of Rough- 

 legged Buzzards eggs for Dan, and some 

 Red-throated Pipits. He was delighted with 

 the money Dan gave him for the eggs, as had 

 been all the people up the river, and no doubt he 



