A SPILL IX THE SNOW 



CHAPTER VIII. 



LIFE IN UST-ZYLMA. 



May-day Snow-buntingsjackdaws Game Birds of Prey Sunday 

 at Ust-Zylma A Fire Marriage Ceremony Tenure of Land The 

 Commune Preparations for Summer. 



ON May-day the thaw continued in real earnest. A warm 

 wind and a hot sun made great havoc with the snow. All 

 traces of the heavy fall of the previous Sunday night 

 soon disappeared, and a considerable portion of the old 

 accumulation of winter melted. Ust-Zylma became once 

 more a vast dunghill, and on the hills, where the snow in 

 some places lay exceptionally deep, it was too soft to bear 

 our weight, even on snow-shoes. We attempted our 

 usual ramble in the woods at the back of the town ; but 

 travelling was very laborious, and we returned to our 

 quarters with broken snow-shoes, and without having 



