A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 181 



are landed with one end of the net. The rest then row 

 out for a couple of hundred yards, gradually lowering 

 the net as they go, and presently return to the shore, 

 bringing the other end with them. Then the whole 

 family unites to pull the net in. Sometimes it is so 

 heavy with omul that one is reminded of the old 

 pictures of the Miraculous Draught of Fishes. At 

 others it is almost empty. But, whether the catch be 

 good or bad, the natives are always gay and full of 

 chatter. They accept fair or ill w^eather as it comes, 

 alike without either gratitude or grumbling, and if you 

 ask them whether it will be fine or wet in the morning, 

 they answer stolidly, " How can we tell ? We are not 

 acquainted with God ! " The fishing at Golchika has 

 been growing worse for the last eight years. The 

 record season's catch was 15,000 pouds, but in the year 

 of which I write scarcely 2000 pouds were exported, 

 though at Breokoffsky Ostrov, two hundred versts to the 

 south, one net alone landed 700 pouds of omul. Each 

 boat chooses its own pitch and works there all day. 

 In between the hauls, the natives sit on the sand and 

 smoke or make tea. 



When I came up, a number of Siberian herring-gulls 

 were flying round the boats, and presently I shot one 

 bird, which fell wounded into the water. The oldest 

 and dirtiest of the natives gave a roar, and pushed off 

 his boat. I tumbled into the bows and took the oars, 

 and away we went in pursuit, while all the rest of the 

 family ran up and dow^n the shore in high amusement. 

 The gull led us a fine chase into the river, and by the 

 time that we had retrieved it, both my Samoyede and I 



