OUR HOSTS 43 



shooting-parties for our benefit. M. Znaminski was a 

 stout handsome man, very dignified in his manners, but 

 active in the field, and we were under very great obliga- 

 tions to him for his uniform kindness and hospitality to 

 us. Another official who, as well as his charming wife, 

 was most hospitable to us was the Public Prosecutor, 

 M. Miranoff, the "Schltidevatel," as Captain Engel always 

 called him. We were also most kindly entertained by 

 the "Maravoi," who appeared to be a gentleman of con- 

 siderable education. Unfortunately none of these gentle- 

 men spoke either English, French, or German, so that 

 our communication with them was necessarily very 

 limited. Interpreting was certainly not Piottuch's forte. 

 Any information we got through him was so largely 

 mixed with his own ideas and opinions, that we soon 

 ceased to attach much value to it, besides which his bad 

 French was often as difficult to understand as the original 

 Russ. 



We got a great deal of information respecting the 

 country and its inhabitants from two gentlemen in the 

 employ of the Petchora Timber-trading Company, Cap- 

 tain Arendt, the manager or " Provalychik " in the 

 Petchora, residing temporarily at Ust-Zylma, and Captain 

 Engel, the commander of the steamer belonging to the 

 company, which was then lying in winter quarters at 

 Habariki, about twenty-seven miles down the river. 

 These gentlemen called upon us the day after our arrival, 

 and we were indebted to both of them for innumerable 

 acts of kindness. 



Among our first purchases on our arrival at Ust-Zylma 

 was a couple of pairs of snow-shoes, without which it is 

 impossible to travel on the snow. No one can form the 

 slightest idea how utterly helpless one is without snow- 

 shoes when there is scarcely three feet of snow on the 



