A LITERARY PRIEST 447 



side of the bows of the ship, are constantly calling out 

 the depth of the water (which they measure with long 

 poles), Chetire ; Tre spolovina, etc., and in a moment all 

 is hurry-skurry and bustle, and the shallow side of the 

 steamer suddenly develops a score or more legs like a 

 centipede, the men straining on the long poles till they 

 bend again, organising a strong push and a push all 

 together by the most unearthly screams and yells. 



When we left Silovanoff we were minus one passenger, 

 Michael Susloff, the second 

 priest of Furukansk, by far 

 the most active and intelli- 

 gent Russian I had met. He 

 was sent by the Archbishop 

 to visit the Ostiaks on the 

 Taz, and was busy writing 

 a report for his Eminence. 

 He promised me a copy 

 of it. It contained much 

 interesting ethnological in- 

 formation, and a number of 

 valuable historical facts re- 



BUXCH OF SQUIRRELS' SKINS 



garding the ancient town of 



Mangaze, extracted from the archives of Turukansk. 

 Susloff told me that he did his best to prevent a rupture 

 between the late Zessedatel and Wiggins and Schwanen- 

 berg when the two captains passed through Turukansk 

 in the previous autumn, but the Blagachina and the 

 Postmaster egged them on for private reasons of their 

 own ; Sotnikoff and Ivanoff were also among the 

 conspirators for obvious considerations. 



At the monastery the Blagachina of Turukansk came 

 on board to install his mother as a passenger on the 

 ship ; he was, however, so inebriated that he could hardly 



