286 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 



flag was hoisted. As Russia and Germany were at war, 

 it was impossible for a German officer to command a 

 Russian ship ; therefore these had to resign their com- 

 mands and be transferred as passengers to the Skule. 

 Here they remained until they left the Yenesei, for the 

 moment that they set foot on shore, they rendered 

 themselves liable to arrest as prisoners of war. 



It would not have been possible to find a more 

 curious gathering than that on the ships at Nosonovsky. 

 In the first place, at least half a dozen nationalities 

 were represented — English, Russian, Jewish, Norwegian, 

 Swedish, and German, to say nothing of the Yuraks 

 and Samoyedes who frequently came on board to sell 

 fish. Then on the Ragna we had two live bears, two 

 wolves, a sackful of mammoth bones, a murderer, and 

 the carcase of a polar bear. The young bears and 

 wolves had been brought from Krasnoyarsk by Mr. 

 Christensen for shipment to Norway, but they suff'ered 

 so much in confinement that in the end they had to be 

 shot before we left the river. The murderer lived on 

 one of the lighters which was moored alongside the 

 Ragna. He came from one of the balagans on shore, 

 where he had stabbed a neighbour in a drunken brawl. 

 He was a tall, dreamy-looking man, who looked much 

 more gentle and inofi'ensive than the gendarmes who 

 guarded him. Miss Curtis and I were sorry for him 

 because he looked so quiet and melancholy, and 

 occasionally gave him cigarettes. He was to be tried 

 for his crime in Yenesiesk, but the Russian law is 

 merciful to the drunkard, and he expected to escape 

 with a light sentence. The polar bear had been shot 



