VOYAGE THROUGH THE KARA SEA 211 



seemed to be formed of strata of sand and clay, the 

 margin sloping steeply to the sea. 



Many reindeer herds were to be seen on the plains, 

 and next morning (September 8th) I went on shore on 

 a hunting expedition. Having shot one reindeer I was 

 on my way farther inland in search of more, when I 

 made a surprising discovery, which attracted all my 

 attention and made me quite forget the errand I had 

 come on. It was a large fjord cutting its way in 

 through the land to the north of me. I went as far 

 as possible to find out all I could about it, but did not 

 manage to see the end of it. So far as I could see, it 

 was a fine broad sheet of water, stretching eastward to 

 some blue mountains far, far inland, which, at the ex- 

 treme limit of my vision, seemed to slope down to the 

 water. Beyond them I could distinguish nothing. My 

 imagination was fired, and for a moment it seemed to 

 me as if this might almost be a strait, stretching right 

 across the land here, and making an island of the Chel- 

 yuskin Peninsula. But probably it was only a river, 

 which widened out near its mouth into a broad lake, 

 as several of the Siberian rivers do. All about the clay 

 plains I was tramping over, enormous erratic blocks, of 

 various formations, lay scattered. They can only have 

 been brought here by the great glaciers of the Ice 

 Age. There was not much life to be seen. Besides 

 reindeer there were just a few willow-grouse, snow-bunt- 

 ings, and snipe ; and I saw tracks of foxes and lem- 



