182 THE GOLIEVSKI ISLANDS 



short one, but it proved very eventful. After a refreshing 

 wash and a promenade on deck for half an hour, we 

 dined and smoked a pipe. By that time the boats were 

 ready, and we went on shore a couple of versts south of 

 the river Dvoinik, there to erect another beacon, which 

 we were afterwards told the Samoyedes had pulled down. 



Harvie-Brown and I struck off at once for the tundra 

 in the direction of the Pytkoff Mts. (580 feet high), 

 about fifteen miles distant. The tundra was very flat, 

 and we soon came upon ground exactly similar in 

 character to that tenanted by the grey plovers near 

 Alexievka. We had not walked far when we heard the 

 well-known cry, and there rose four ^rey plovers. My 

 companion soon after met with another pair and lay down 

 to watch them. We parted company here, and I heard later 

 that, feeling ill the effect probably of irregular meals and 

 sleep he soon after returned to the ship, having met with 

 nothing of interest, except the grey plovers and a few 

 Buffon's and Richardson's skuas, and also picking up the 

 feathers of a snowy owl. 



After leaving him I went on for about a quarter of an 

 hour, then finding the tundra "flat, stale, and unprofit- 

 able," I turned sharp to the north, towards what I took 

 to be a large lake, but which in the maps is set down 

 to be a bay of the sea. En route I saw nothing but an 

 occasional Lapland bunting or red-throated pipit. Arrived 

 at the water's edge, however, I spent an interesting hour. 

 A large flock of sandpipers were flying up and down the 

 banks. They looked very small and very red, and in 

 order to watch them I hid amongst some dwarf willows, 

 teeming with mosquitoes. I did not heed their bites, 

 for my hopes and doubts and fears made me for 

 the time mosquito-proof. Presently some birds swirled 

 past, and I gave them a charge of No. 8. Three 



