98 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 



won him the attention of the European workmen at 

 Krasnoyarsk, but the natives at Golchika, although 

 they could not but respect him, had not nearly such a 

 high opinion of him as they had of Prokopchuk, who 

 cheated them systematically. Indeed, they had a sort 

 of awed admiration for the latter, which was difi&cult 

 to understand unless one saw him in their company. 

 Then one realised that his influence was partly physical. 

 He towered above the little tundra men in stature, and 

 instinctively perhaps they felt that he must dominate 

 them intellectually. Therefore they gave him a homage 

 and confidence that AntonofF, for all his jovial bonhomie, 

 could never win from them. 



The only time that Prokopchuk really lost his 

 dignity was, as has already been related, on the 

 occasion of our first introduction. Afterwards, even 

 when in his cups, he always preserved his stately 

 demeanour. If anything, perhaps his manners were a 

 little more gracious, in measure as his gait became a 

 little more uncertain, but otherwise he did not betray 

 himself. One evening he came in to supper after he had 

 obviously been drinking. He shook hands with charm- 

 ing politeness, seated himself with a deliberation which 

 was if anything a little over elaborate, and then with 

 engaging frankness asked us to excuse any eccentricities 

 in his conduct. "For a man is not always responsible 

 for his actions ! " 



However, drunkenness, on the Yenesei at any rate, 

 is not looked upon as the disgrace which it is considered 

 in England. Rather is it pitied as a sort of regrettable 

 weakness, such as the tendency to sea-sickness would 



