142 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 
very first I began to learn the native proper names and 
their exact pronunciation. 
Samoyed is an exceedingly difficult language to pro- 
nounce. Much of it consists of breathings, inflexions, 
and unlooked-for accents, which by no system of spelling 
‘can be accurately written down. But assisted by close 
application, and a natural ear for sound, I succeeded in 
catching the exact, ring of the common words and 
sentences, so that I had but small difficulty in exchanging 
ideas. But now at the beginning it was a funny conver- 
sation, largely made up of signs and illustrations. Uano 
was a capital actor, and with this and my pencil and 
paper we got along fairly well. It is wonderful with 
how few words you can do when put to it. Thus, 
Ahnglia oleynia? Nieto? 
Ahnglia Ti? Yangho? 
England reindeer? No? 
express the question as well as half a hundred words. 
While Mekolka was gone, the reindeer were brought 
in, and after an hour Mekolka 
appeared, and with him a very 
ugly sad-looking man, whom 
they called Onaska. He drove 
a team of white reindeer, and 
was evidently a man of weight. 
We left. We had five sleighs 
and twenty-three reindeer. Uano drove five, and to the 
back of his sleigh were fastened four reindeer who pulled 
