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quarters of the good ship 7/ames, on the Yenesay, or 
rather a little way up the Koorayika, an affluent of the 
The crew of the 7) hames, 
Yenesay, on its right bank. 
NATURE 
[April 12, 1883 
this spot, were found on the travellers’ arrival to be well 
| who had passed a long and dreary winter, frozen up at 
| 
| and hearty, owing to the judicious precautions that had 
Fic. 3.—Driving with the ice on the Koorayika, 
been taken 
health. 
On April 23, when the travellers reached the ship, 
there were no signs of approaching summer on the 
Yenesay. On the frozen river the snow lay six feet deep, 
and was little less in the surrounding forests. Mr. 
Seebohm put on his snow-shoes and had a round with 
his gun. Birds were more plentiful than could have 
been expected. A pair of ravens were generally in sight, 
and flocks of snow-buntings flitted by. Nutcrackers came to 
the doors of the sailors’ room, to pick up the cook’s refuse, 
by their Captain for the benefit of their 
and Lapp-tits and Pine-grosbeaks were common in the | 
woods. The excursions into the forest were continued 
every day, and a few additional birds observed, but on | 
May 1 the list of identified species was only twelve in | 
number, and summer seemed nowise nearer. It was not 
until May 15 that indications of a thaw appeared, and 
geese were seen travelling north, but the next day was as 
cold as ever. 
gress was made: the water 
rise, and the summer migrants appeared one by one, 
The great battle of the Yenesay, as Mr. Seebohm calls | 
the contest between summer and winter, lasted about a 
fortnight, during which thousands of acres of ice on the 
river were hurried up and down as the water rose and 
fell. Sometimes the floes were jammed so tightly to- 
gether that it looked as though one might cross the river 
on them, at other times there was open water interspersed 
only with stray icebergs. At last the final “ march-past” 
of the ice took place ; “‘ winter was vanquished for the 
year,” and succeeded in a few days by “the triumphant 
music of thousands of song-birds, the waving of green 
boughs, and the illumination of gay flowers of every hue.” 
It was not until June 26 that the 7Zames was able to 
steam away down the river. By this date Mr. Seebohm 
and his collectors had made large collections of birds and 
eggs, and having exhausted the novelties of the surround- 
ing district, were heartily glad to be off northwards to 
fresh fields of research. Unfortunately, 
week's navigation, the 7ames grounded on a shoal, and, 
as the water was falling rapidly, could not, in spite of 
every effort, be got off again. All that could be done was 
to move what was necessary into the /d7s—a small vessel 
built on the river—and to continue the voyage down the | 
Yenesay, leaving the 7/ames to her fate. 
After that date, however, some slight pro- | 
in the Koorayika began to | 
after about a | 
| On nearing the embrochure of the Yenesay, on July 12, 
| a gale compelled the /ézs to cast anchor, and advantage 
| was taken of the delay to explore the adjacent “tundra ”— 
Fic. 4.—Summer quarters on the Koorayika. 
| 
“a wild-looking country full of lakes, swamps, and rivers, 
a dead flat in some places, in others undulating, even hilly 
| —brilliant with wild flowers, swarming with mosquitoes, 
