A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 165 



new lodging, for, kind and hospitable as the Antonoffs 

 were, we could not occupy their bakehouse indefinitely. 

 Michael Petrovitch himself was to go to Krasnoyarsk 

 in the TuruJchansk to sell his furs, and during his 

 absence, the house was to be rebuilt and enlarged. 

 It is true that we had brought a tent with us, but 

 Golchika is the w^orst place in the world for camping, 

 and its flat, boggy shores, under their covering of snow, 

 looked most uninviting. At this juncture, how^ever, 

 Prokopchuk came forward with a proposal. On the 

 mainland, half-way between his house and the mouth 

 of the river, stood a disused bathhouse, which at one 

 time had belonged to his workmen. With a little 

 alteration it was turned into a capital hut, and a few 

 days later we moved into it. 



The hut stood on the mainland, about half a verst 

 up the left arm of the Golchika River. From the door 

 you could see everything that went on in every corner 

 of the settlement. If you turned to the left, and looked 

 down the river and over to the island, you could see 

 the Antonoffs' house, with the two fishing stations in 

 front of it ; and, were you curious enough to take field- 

 glasses, you could see Anastasia hanging up her washing 

 to dry, and Nura and Tania gossiping with Vassilli, the 

 handsome young Lett. If you turned to the east you 

 looked up the Golchika River and saw the low hills 

 which bordered the tundra ; and nearer at hand, just 

 where the river disappeared behind a curve a quarter 

 of a mile away, was the low grey homestead of 

 Prokopchuk. If you looked straight in front, you saw 

 the shallow Golchika River and the island, and beyond 



