FAREWELL TO NORWAY 129 



to celebrate the day by going to church and then getting 

 roaring drunk. We were in need of men in the morning 

 to help in filling the boiler with fresh water and the 

 tank with drinking-water, but on account of this festival 

 it was difficult to get hold of any at all. At last, by dint 

 of promising sufficient reward, Trontheim succeeded in 

 collecting some poor fellows who had not money enough 

 to drink themselves as drunk as the day required of 

 them. I was on shore in the morning, partly to arrange 

 about the provision of water, partly to collect fossils, in 

 which the rock here abounds, especially one rock below 

 Sibiriakoff s warehouse. I also took a walk up the hill 

 to the west, to Trontheim's flag-staff, and looked out to 

 sea in that direction after the Urania. But there was 

 nothing to be seen except an unbroken sea-line. Loaded 

 with my find I returned to Khabarova, where I, of 

 course, took advantage of the opportunity to see some- 

 thing of the festival. 



From early morning the women had been dressed in 

 their finest clothes — brilliant colors, skirts with many 

 tucks, and great colored bows at the end of plaits of 

 hair which hung far down their backs. Before service 

 an old Samoyede and a comely young girl led out a lean 

 reindeer which was to be offered to the church — to the 

 old church, that is to say. Even up here, as already 

 mentioned, religious differences have found their way. 

 Nearly all the Samoyedes of these parts belong to the old 

 faith and attend the old church. But they go occasion- 



