136 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 
thirty-two poles or ‘shaistoy,’ as we afterwards came to 
call them. They were about twenty feet long, and at 
their base they formed a circle of which the diameter 
was about fifteen feet. They were brought up to a 
point and secured with a thong. 
Round the outside was wound a covering of birch 
bark. This covering is made in three layers, sewed 
together with sinew, so that the seams overlap. The 
strips were about two feet six inches in width, and were 
in four lengths—two shorter for the lower part, so as 
to leave an opening for the door, and two longer to be 
carried round higher up to the apex. A hole was left 
at the top for the exit of smoke; while the door-way 
was closed in by a flap of reindeer skin. 
The furnishing of the inside was not elaborate. In 
the middle, on the ground, was the fire, formed of drift- 
wood. Above this ran a pair of wooden bars, supported 
on perpendicular poles, carrying the long wooden hooks 
to which hung the big cooking pot called ‘yud,’ the 
kettle, and a smaller metal pan for the simmering of 
goose-fat. Away from the fire hung by three claws a 
tin bowl containing water for hand and face washing. 
You had no soap, but you tipped up the bowl and rubbed 
your face with water. You might do this tipping for 
yourself or not as you pleased. Ordinarily it was an 
act of the women’s ministration, as it is in all the 
Russian cottages. 
They had two very low wooden tables, a flour barrel, 
