A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 61 



reminded me of a capital letter Y. The stem of the 

 letter represented the Golchika River, which, just before 

 its junction with the Yenesei, forked on either side of 

 a fiat delta island. 



There were but three permanent houses at Golchika, 

 and two of them were built upon this island. Almost 

 as soon as the Oryol cast anchor, boats put off and the 

 inhabitants came on board. Siberiaks in shuhas and 

 fur caps strolled into the saloon, and natives in saJcooy 

 pattered round the decks. Captain Ello introduced us 

 to the two principal men in the place. The first was 

 a short, stout Siberiak with a good-natured, clean-shaven 

 face and a bluff manner. He was Michael Petrovitch 

 Antonoff, and he lived in the largest of the houses on 

 the island. He seemed disposed to be friendly to us ; 

 but when Captain Ello, who was shocked at the idea 

 of us camping out in the snow, asked whether there 

 was not some place where we could sleep for that night, 

 he replied evasively that he must ask his wife. 



The other merchant, Prokopchuk, was the agent 

 of Mr. KutcherenkofF, who had given Miss Czaplicka 

 an introduction to him. He was a very imposing - 

 looking personage in a fine reindeer-skin coat, and his 

 manner was cordial to the verge of effusiveness. He 

 lived on the mainland, about a verst up the left bank 

 of the Golchika River, and he was insistent that we 

 should go home with him until we found a suitable 

 camping ground. 



Meanwhile all our baggage had been stowed away in 

 the boat with the fish barrels ; and as there was no 

 room for us all to go with it, our new acquaintance 



