Collecting in Northeastern Siberia 

 By John Karm 



1WAS tired of Australia. — One year spent in " the bush " had been suffi- 

 cient to do away with my illusions as to this semi-tropical country. 

 Not so that I have reasons to regret that I went there, for I can look back 

 upon a series of very pleasant and interesting events and many a "nice time," 

 and it must be admitted that at least in the beginning I found the sport of 

 chasing kangaroo, emu and dingo fascinating enough. 



But after a twelve months roaming about the nature had become noth- 

 ing short of trivial. I got tired of the endless bush -woods with their naked 

 ground and total absence of underbrush, as well as the wide, almost life- 

 less sand-fields, the nearly always cloudless sky and the torturing ever- 

 shining sun. And following the old word : "Variatio delictat " I chose a 

 rather extreme change, when deciding to leave for a year's stay on the 

 Tchoukotsk peninsula, N. E. Siberia, for the purpose of zoological and 

 ethnological collecting. 



Together with my friend H. J. Jensen who had accompanied me all 

 the way from Norway, I left Melbourne, March 18, 1908, on the Japanese 

 jiner " Kumano Maru" for Yokohama. From Yokohama we continued the 

 voyage to Hakodate, where we had to spend three weeks awaiting the first 

 ship of the year bound for Petropaulovski (Kamchatka.) 



It was a nasty rainy day when we, the 15th of May, left Hakodate on 

 board the Russian mail steamer " Asia" but no sooner was the coast left be- 

 hind than the sky cleared and we got the most beautiful weather, to last for 

 the whole trip. 



The picturesque Kurile Islands gave a splendid view in the bright sun- 

 light. Snow-covered almost to their bases they reminded us that spring 

 had not advanced very far yet in these latitudes (45 to 50°). Still the eoasts 

 of the islands were literally all alive with swarming seabirds, and while the 

 steamer worked its way northward we had one day the strange sight of 

 thousands of Red Phalaropes practically covering the surface of the smooth 

 sea for miles. 



On May 19 the high, rocky coast of Kamchatka was sighted and 

 noon the next day we entered the Avutcha Bay, where the only town of the 

 large peninsula (the population of the town, 350 inh.) is situated. The country 



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