CHAPTER I 
RE-CROSSING 
June 30th.—We were now in—though we did not 
know it—for more than a three months’ stay with the 
Samoyeds, 
When I actually came to live among the Samoyeds 
and to see all their manner of living, I found all so dif- 
ferent in many ways from the books, that I think a good 
deal that has been written must have been taken at 
second-hand. 
It is possible of course that I have—nay, I must have 
made some mistakes as to meanings and significances— 
they are always hard to be sure about—but facts are facts. 
And you will have them here at all events, in an accurate 
record of our life among these interesting people as we 
knew them. 
You know what winter hop-poles look like when 
stacked ready for putting out. Well, cover them round 
with birch bark and you have in appearance the outside 
of a choom. 
The word ‘choom,’ or ¢schumen, as I have seen it spelt, 
is of course a Russian word. The Samoyed’s name for 
his dwelling is ‘mya.’ 
The ‘mya’ in which we found ourselves was built of 
135, 
