THE GOOSING 245 
Ni-arr-way would come up and stand proudly over it 
with his tail moving slowly, and very stiff, as big dogs 
are to a puppy. Then the little fox would lie over 
on its back and mew in a deprecatory way. Besides 
this it made two other sounds—a little snarling grunt for 
human beings, and the regular night-cry of the fox, not 
unlike the noise of a bantam who has just laid an egg. 
July 21st.—I have not properly described the ‘yier- 
serk.’ It really consists of nothing better than some 
coloured cotton stuffs, obtained from the Russians in 
exchange for skins, and stretched over a frame of 
rough sticks. The wretched contrivance is far from 
waterproof. And as we had rain nearly all night, my 
poor friends were by the morning in a most deplorable 
plight. As for myself, I was comparatively comfortable 
under my boat, and during the night made more than 
one little journey round, listening to the cries of the 
foxes, and gathering mosses and plants. Finally, as 
the rain came on in torrents at about half-past eight, 
I turned in and went to sleep. About mid-day the 
rain lessened a bit, though the wind blew very strongly 
from the north-east. Then some of the men crept 
round a little, looking very miserable. It was useless, 
said Uano, to go to the goose-catching, for the boats 
could do no good with the wind from that quarter; and 
that there it might remain for several days. I knew 
from experience that this was true. 
