102 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEl 



technically it is illegal for a private person to carry 

 more than a certain quantity of liquor north of 

 Vorogovo. KutcherenkofF overcame the difficulty by 

 arranging that his cargo should be registered as part 

 of the personal luggage of every one of his numerous 

 crew ! A year or two before, when the scandal could 

 no longer be winked at, the authorities impounded his 

 steamer. Unluckily they stopped him a few versts 

 south, instead of north, of Vorogovo. Consequently 

 when Kutcherenkoff issued a cross-summons for unlaw- 

 ful detention of his property, he not only won his case, 

 but was able to claim compensation as well ! 



The natives drank as deeply as the Siberiaks, but 

 however intoxicated they might be, they were never 

 quarrelsome. The native settlement was on the left 

 bank of the Golchika River. Only one family lived 

 there all the year round. The rest came with the birds 

 in the spring, and, with the birds, went south in the 

 autumn. This was the family of Sylkin the Samoyede. 

 Sylkin was one of the institutions of Golchika, and was 

 by far the most Europeanised of the natives. He lived 

 in a sort of patriarchal fashion with his numerous 

 family in a small and exceedingly dirty balagan. 

 Those who could not find room inside, overflowed into 

 the choom, which stood beside it like a kind of annexe. 

 Sylkin was a person of some importance among the 

 other natives, and as he could speak, not only his own 

 language and Russian, but also the Dolgan and Yurak 

 tongues, he often acted as interpreter. He was a tall 

 and not ill-looking man ; but unfortunately, with the 

 European language and ways, he had acquired a good 



