242 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 
that I can see is that the uric acid which passes off 
the ground in such places is not agreeable to the fly. 
There they stand, heads down, feet stamping and hoofs 
clicking. Their heads are all one way, their tails to 
the wind. They leave an open avenue at intervals 
which runs the whole length of the herd. Into this 
avenue a beast will move when he can’t restrain himself 
any longer, and then re-enter the herd at another point. 
I think this formation in columns is perhaps peculiar 
to the reindeer. Does the cariboo, I wonder, do the 
same? I wish some hunter would tell me. 
I went nearly mad myself with the musquitoes while 
I was skinning my white brent. 
One unpleasant result of the reindeer herd coming up 
so close was that the whole camp was smothered in 
hair which flies off the beasts with every twitch of 
their skins; and when the fly is about they are always 
twitching. 
In the evening we moved off, going up with the idea 
of crossing the Pesanka and reaching a new goose- 
ground. Verrmyah had been off in the morning to visit 
his choom and get some necessaries. 
And when we reached, after some hours, a hill some 
three miles from the river, we waited for him. Here I 
first gathered some plants of the pretty Arctic raspberry 
(Rubus arcticus). And here occurred one of those small 
simple scenes which well illustrate the happy, good- 
tempered character of these child-like people. 
