SUMMER SPORT IN NOVA ZEMLA. 77 



aghast at the phenomenon. " Oh that I had been 

 writ down an ass ! " Andrew might have exclaimed 

 with Dogberry, reloaded his rifle, and secured his 

 deer. But now the abuse he levelled at that depart- 

 ing animal far surpassed the terms in which Shake- 

 speare's beadle reproaches Borachio and Conrade. 



The Russian walrus - hunters whom we found at 

 Matotchkin Shar had done very well with the rein- 

 deer ; and we, seeing that they had plenty of venison 

 hanging in their rigging, asked where they got it, 

 when they directed us to the other end of the strait, 

 about fifty miles away. Next day it transpired that 

 the strait was still choked by ice up to within six 

 miles of where we lay. Such are the wiles by which 

 sportsmen strive to deceive even one another. 



Amongst the most exciting of the sports in which 

 a summer visitor to Nova Zemla may take part is the 

 capture of the beluga, or white whale (Delpliinapterus 

 leucas), whose skin supplies us with the so-called 

 porpoise -hide, of which shooting-boots are now so 

 generally made. The white whale fishery is carried 

 on in Nova Zemla by the Eussian schooners, the gain 

 which may be expected from this pursuit being the 

 attraction which chiefly draws them to these seas. 

 This being the case, it behoves the amateur whaler 

 not to interfere with the fishery, unless at the invi- 

 tation of the men whose livelihood depends upon 

 their success, or endless difficulties will ensue. There 

 is even a story that the whole crew of a Norwegian 



