284 TURUKANSK AND THE WAY THITHER 



with very bushy hair. They have sharp noses, short 

 straight ears, and a bushy tail curled over the back. 

 Some are black, others white, but the handsomest variety 

 is a grey-fawn colour. Another sign of having entered 

 northern latitudes met us in the appearance of snow- 

 shoes, and occasionally our yemschiks would run on them 

 at the sides of the sledge for a mile or more together. 



We had very little opportunity of seeing the birds of 

 the district, as our road was almost always on the river. 

 Sparrows and magpies disappeared before we reached 

 the Kamin Pass. At most stations carrion crows and 

 snow-buntings were seen, and now and then a raven flew 

 over our heads. We were often offered willow-grouse, 

 capercailzie and hazel-grouse, but we very seldom saw 

 these birds alive. Seven hundred versts north of Yene- 

 seisk the nutcracker appeared. At most stations one or 

 two of these birds were silently flitting round the houses, 

 feeding under the windows amongst the crows, perching 

 on the roof or on the top of a pole, and if disturbed, 

 silently flying, almost like an owl, to the nearest spruce, 

 where they sat conspicuously on a flat branch, and 

 allowed themselves to be approached within easy shot. 

 I secured eight of them without difficulty. In the 

 summer this river must be a paradise for house-martins. 

 At every station the eaves of the houses were crowded 

 with their nests, sometimes in rows of three or four deep. 

 Two hundred versts south of Turukansk I bought the 

 skin of a bittern which had been shot during the previous 

 summer. The only four-footed wild animal we saw was 

 a red fox. 



Thirty versts from Turukansk we stopped to inspect 

 a monastery. Two hundred and fifty years ago the 

 ancient town of Mangaze, at the head of the gulf of the 

 Taz, was destroyed by the Cossacks. An attempt was 



