XX ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 
that it was a nasty place. So I came back again to shoot 
the pheasants, no wiser than before. 
I knew that it would be useless to go from Archangel, 
because the White Sea would be blocked till too late for 
the first summer days. It therefore seemed best to 
engage a Vardé walrus-sloop to take me over. That 
was my plan. 
In the meantime, however, my friend Mr. Mervyn 
Powys, glad of the opportunity of sport in those regions, 
determined to join me. This in every way improved 
the chances of the enterprise. For he chartered the 
steam-yacht Saxon, of Birkenhead. 
She was manned with a crew of Scotch whaling-men 
belonging to Peterhead, and from that port we sailed on 
June 3rd. Also we took Thomas Hyland, a young man, 
who, though he had but lately opened a small business 
in this country, was glad to come and skin the birds. In 
all, we were twelve on board. 
The Saxon is 90 feet 6 inches in length, over all. Her 
depth is 12 feet 2 inches, with a beam of 18 feet. She 
is built of wood sheathed with copper. Her draught of 
water is 12 feet. Her net registered tonnage is 48°58, 
and by yacht measurement she is 117 tons. She is 
schooner-rigged. 
I do not think that Kolguev is yet exhausted. I 
think that a naturalist who, fortunate enough to find 
