164 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEl 



was wont to declare that when he had served his time he 

 would never again meddle with politics. Cherniavinski 

 was the only soul, with the exception of our own party, 

 with whom I could talk in any language except Russian. 

 He often ferried me across the river when I went on 

 shooting excursions, and we found that we under- 

 stood each other fairly well if he spoke in Yiddish 

 and I replied in German. These two men had been 

 sent to Golchika by KutcherenkofF, ostensibly to help 

 with the fishing, but actually to keep watch over 

 the dealings of Prokopchuk, their nominal superior. 

 As Kutcherenkoff's packing station was on the island 

 beside that of AntonofF, Cherniavinski and his com- 

 panion lived in one of the little balagans close to the 

 waterside. 



The Turukliansk also brought as passengers two 

 workmen for AntonofF. These were Alexis Petrovitch, 

 a tall, long-bearded Lett, and his handsome son Vassilli. 

 With the addition of all these newcomers, Golchika 

 became quite a populous place, especially when the Samo- 

 yedes began to come in from the tundra. The native 

 settlement, which on our first arrival consisted only of 

 Sylkin's hut and two or three chooms, increased until 

 by the middle of July there were seven or eight 

 families encamped beside the river bank ; and the 

 neighbouring tundra was dotted with herds of grazing 

 reindeer. Much of the marsh was already free from 

 snow, and the rivers, which until now had overflowed 

 their banks, subsided until long stretches of sand lay 

 bare on each side of the mouths of the Golchika. 



But meanwhile it behoved us to look about for a 



