430 RETURN TO KUREIKA 



unknown before; besides eggs of the dusky ouzel and the 

 Little bunting, which were also of great rarity. Had my 

 original programme been carried out, I should certainly 

 have missed all of these, except the eggs of the Siberian 

 chiffchaff. Of my other novelties, the eggs of the 

 mountain accentor and of the Asiatic golden plover, I 

 .should probably have obtained a more abundant supply. 

 Then again, the voyage across the Kara Sea would 

 probably have been somewhat barren of ornithological 

 results, whereas my journey home overland, though a 

 somewhat fatiguing one, was, as I hope the reader may 

 learn for himself, extremely interesting, and not wanting 

 in important ornithological and ethnological results. 



We left Golchika on Tuesday, the 24th of J uly. There 

 were three persons on board with whom I could converse. 

 Besides my aide-de-camp Glinski, I had Boiling's com- 

 pany as far as Yeneseisk. Boiling was a well-read man 

 who could talk sensibly on almost any subject, and who 

 had lived many years in Siberia. As far as Vershinsky 

 we were to enjoy the society of Uleman, a native of 

 Saxony, who had emigrated to Poland, and was exiled 

 thirty years before. He lived by himself at Vershinsky 

 with no other companions than his dogs and his birds ; at 

 one time he had amused himself by rearing foxes, wolves, 

 and birds of different kinds. 



In the summer he went down to Golchika to fish, and 

 in the winter he carved boxes, cigarette-holders, studs, 

 combs, etc., out of mammoth-ivory, and the horns of the 

 wild goat or sheep which inhabits the rocky mountains of 

 the tundra. He was also somewhat of a doctor, and was 

 friendly with all the Asiatic tribes who frequented that 

 country. During our journey he gave me some interesting 

 information concerning the natives, which I looked upon as 

 more reliable than any I had hitherto obtained. 



