1 1 6 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XIX, 



four comrades had been landed at the mouth of the Anadyr 

 River and had been kindly received by the native Chukchees. 

 This letter was written with a pencil on a leaf torn from a 

 notebook and was tied up between two pieces of thin board, 

 after the custom of the country. It was as clean and legible 

 as the day it was written, notwithstanding that it had been 

 carried thirty-five years by the wandering Chukchees before 

 being delivered. 



Marcova is a little collection of rough log cabins clustered 

 about the conventional blue-domed Greek Russian church and 

 has, with the outlying fishing stations along the river, a popu- 

 lation of about 400. It is situated one half-mile from the 

 Anadyr River, on one of its small tributaries. It requires 

 nine days to go by boat from Marcova to the river's mouth, 

 and fourteen days to return, during the summer. The same 

 journey is made with dogs in the winter in five days. The 

 river is navigable for boats, with a draught of two and a half 

 to three feet, from its mouth to a point fifteen miles below 

 Marcova. Its bottom is thickly lined with a growth of cot- 

 ton woods, alders, birches, and willows. 



Salmon and herring ascend it during the summer, and sev- 

 eral species of Coregonus are caught from it in large numbers, 

 especially during the winter. 



Mr. Axelrod had prepared most of the few specimens that 

 had been sent, so that after preparing the balance I had but 

 little to do and turned my attention to making a collection of 

 the fish found in the rivers there. In company with Dr. 

 Calleenen we made daily trips to the streams, set nets under 

 the ice, and explored the surrounding country on snow-shoes. 

 Mr. Sokolnikoff gave me a collection of birds that he had 

 made, and I secured much valuable information from him 

 concerning the country between Marcova and the Gulf of 

 Anadyr. The winter weather is very superior to that at 

 Gichiga, and every day I was there it was cold, clear, and calm. 



Late on the night of March 21 word was received from Mr. 

 Bogoras, at Baronesskorf Gulf, that he was in poor health and 

 was returning from Kamchatka to the mouth of the Anadyr 

 River, whence he would depart for the north as soon as Mrs. 



