T 93-] Allen, Mammals from Northeast Siberia. 113 



' Tent Life in Siberia.' Since their time I was the first Ameri- 

 can to make the trip. I left Kooshka at noon February 21, 

 and although the road was heavy from the recent severe 

 snowstorm, we covered the twelve miles to Gichiga in an hour 

 and a half, where we stopped over night. Next day we went 

 as far as Christova, a little settlement of five houses, twenty 

 miles further up the river, and stopped for the night. 



February 23. Fair, calm. Got away at daybreak and fol- 

 lowed up the valley of the Chooma River until noon, where we 

 stopped half an hour for tea. Here we left the river and our 

 way for the rest of the day lay across the vast rolling tundra 

 which stretched away in billows of spotless white to the dis- 

 tant mountains whose outlines could be traced on the pale 

 blue sky. At dusk we found a place on the crest of a hill, 

 where we could obtain enough creeping-pine to make a fire, 

 and stopped for the night. After tea and a cup of soup I 

 turned into my 'pavoska,' or covered sledge, and my Cossacks 

 lay down on the snow beside it and slept soundly until morn- 

 ing. Weather too cold for my thermometer, which registers 

 only 24 F. 



February 24. Strong northeast wind blew all forenoon, 

 which filled the air with snow, and later in the day much snow 

 fell, which made travelling slow and laborious. Met two men 

 from Anadyr at noon, and late in the afternoon met six 

 traders. Camped at dusk and made a fire of green stone-pine 

 which we dug from under the snow. The ease with which the 

 Cossacks start a fire, even with a fierce wind blowing, and the 

 celerity with which they prepare tea is wonderful and never 

 ceases to excite my admiration. Twenty minutes after stop- 

 ping they have a kettle of snow melted, the water boiling, and 

 the tea ready to serve. 



February 25. Strong north wind and overcast. Broke 

 camp at daylight and reached Parane River at noon, where 

 we stopped for tea. Some of the cottonwoods along this 

 river were 40 feet high, and 18 inches in diameter. Just at 

 dusk we reached Quail, a Koryak settlement of ten yomtas, 

 and stopped for the night. 



February 26. Crossed the head of the bay upon which the 



[March, 1903} 8 



