SAMOYEDE SLEDGES 59 



The dogs were all white except one, which was quite 

 black. They were stiff-built little animals, somewhat like 

 Pomeranian dogs, with foxlike heads and thick bushy 

 hair ; their tails turned up over the back and curled to 

 one side. 



The next morning we turned out of our hammocks at 

 four and strolled in the brilliant sunshine, hoping to meet 

 with some birds ; but, with the exception of the hooded 

 crows, magpies, snow-buntings, and redpolls, we met 

 with none feeding. In the woods we saw an eagle, a pair 

 of marsh-tits, a pair of Siberian jays, and occasionally a 

 pair of ravens. 



After breakfast we visited the chooms, and very pic- 

 turesque they looked in the white landscape in the dazzling 

 sunshine. Here and there a few willows dotted the undu- 

 lating ground near a winding rivulet. The reindeer were 

 not to be seen, all were away feeding. Two chooms 

 stood a few feet apart from the rest ; in front of these the 

 sledges were drawn up, twenty-three in number, some 

 light and elegant in shape, with four carefully hewn ribs 

 on each side, and a low sloping back. In these the 

 Samoyedes and their families travelled. Others were 

 not quite so finely finished, and had only three ribs on 

 each side ; these were used for the lighter baggage, 

 reindeer-skins, malitzas, and so forth, covered over in 

 some cases with a tarpaulin made of pieces of birch- 

 bark, neatly sewn together with reindeer-sinew. Other 

 sledges again were of much stronger and clumsier make, 

 with only two ribs on each side, adapted for the heavy 

 baggage. Some of these were a simple gantry upon 

 runners, carrying casks of reindeer-meat, others a wooden 

 chest with an angular roof like the recognised Noah's ark 

 model, containing loaves of black bread and other perish- 

 able articles. 



