I 93-l Allen^ Mammals from Northeast Siberia. 115 



and rest the dogs for the last stage of our trip. The starosta, 

 or head man of the village, in whose house I stopped, assured 

 me that there was neither flour nor sugar in the settlement, 

 and that all they had to live on was fish, reindeer, and tea. 

 Between here and Marcova there are four small log houses at 

 convenient intervals for the accommodation of travellers when 

 caught in one of the numerous protracted storms which occur. 

 March 4. Got away at daybreak and reached the first 

 station on the Chorna River at 3 P.M., when we stopped for 

 tea and then pushed on, the moon being full, until midnight, 

 when we reached the next station. My sledge was ahead and 

 we had arrived, started a fire, unpacked our sledge, and fed 

 our dogs before the other Cossack arrived. His sledge, which 

 was heavily loaded with our outfit and provision, had broken 

 through the ice in crossing a small river and it was with diffi- 

 culty that he escaped drowning and saved the sledge. Our 

 small supply of sugar and hardtack was soaked, but the can- 

 vas in which the main part of the load was lashed somewhat 

 protected the rest of the outfit. After a few cups of boiling 

 tea, some boiled dried salmon, and a kettle of soup, we turned 

 in and slept until 5 A.M., and then resumed our journey. We 

 soon crossed to the headwaters of the Orlofky River and 

 reached the last station at 3 P.M. Encountered a howling 

 blizzard in the Roosky Pass, which separates the Orlofky 

 from the Anadyr valley, and lost our way, but finally got over 

 the pass and reached Marcova at 9 o'clock, where our arrival 

 was heralded by a chorus of the entire dog population. I 

 found Mr. Axelrod and Mr. Bogoras, and the next morning 

 called on the nechalnik, Mr. Sokolnikoff , and the priest who 

 has been here since 1862 and of whom Mr. Kennan speaks in 

 his book. I found people in Gichiga, Pengina, and Marcova 

 who still remembered the members of the telegraph explora- 

 tion party, and fondly recalled how the ' Americanskis ' skated, 

 danced, snowballed, and played ball, and not a few of them 

 still retained a few words of English that they had learned at 

 that time. During the winter of 1 899-1 900 a Chukchee brought 

 to the nechalnik at Marcova a letter written by Lieutenant 

 Macrae, dated September 25, 1865, which stated that he and 



