I 93] Allen, Mammals from Northeast Siberia. 107 



employees of the Russian Sealskin Company which owns the 

 magazine and most of the buildings. After spending a couple 

 of hours ashore in collecting flowers which grow abundantly 

 here, climbing the larch- and fir-covered hills, and taking 

 photographs, we left again the same evening. 



August 4. To-night anchored in the open roadstead three 

 miles off Okhotsk. The village, consisting of about a hun- 

 dred weather-beaten log houses, is situated on a tongue- 

 shaped sand-spit that separates the sea from the lagoon which 

 forms the mouth of the Okhotsk River. The coast, from 

 about four miles above to fifteen miles below the town, is low 

 and extends inland as a wide flat valley through which winds 

 the river. Besides being one of the largest settlements in the 

 marine province of Northeast Siberia, and an important trad- 

 ing centre, Okhotsk is known as the best place on the Okhotsk 

 Sea for salmon. Two species, and perhaps more, are taken 

 here in large numbers, and many of them are smoked and 

 salted and sent to Vladivostok. Fish taken further north in 

 the sea are poor and pale in color. Hundreds of seals were 

 congregated at the mouth of the lagoon catching the fish as 

 they entered the river. Salmon could undoubtedly be taken 

 here in sufficient numbers to supply a cannery, and of very 

 good quality. We remained here five days discharging cargo 

 and left on the Qth and reached Ola the next afternoon. This 

 little collection of Russian and Tungus huts was brought 

 about by the recent discovery of a short and practicable route 

 from here to the headwaters of the Kolyma River. It is 

 located similarly to Okhotsk, on a lagoon formed by the 

 mouth of the Ola River, which has thrown down a large de- 

 posit of gravel in the valley between the mountains which 

 end on the sea in high bluffs. Larch and fir trees crowd the 

 river-bottom down quite to its mouth. 



August 13. Resumed voyage to Gichiga, and on the i6th 

 came to anchor in the Gichiginski Gulf and went ashore. 



Three miles above the mouth of the Gichiga, on its left 

 bank, is a collection of blockhouses called Kooshka where 

 the commanding officer, or nechalnik, and his assistants live. 

 Here we took up quarters in a cabin which had been occupied 



