BACK TO SCHAROK 305 
August 16th.—This was our record day for heat. 
The diary runs :— 
‘Wind S., very light—thermometer, 7 a.M., 70° in 
sun; noon, 76° in shade, 86° in sun; midnight, 54°, bar. 
29°9 in. Clear all night, which is most unusual. The 
hottest day we have had. I went into flannels. The 
dogs dead beat, lying about just as they did last Wednes- 
day, and yet the heat would not compare with that of a 
hot English summer day. Even the Samoyeds felt it, 
and opened flaps in their choom. They lit their fire 
outside for the first time. The girls came out to-day in 
red skirts and belts; the men also. They wear the 
shirt-tail outside in the Russian peasant fashion. (Baby 
was hawked about all day without its cradle or its 
clothing.) 
‘The bulls’ horns are now beginning to lose the velvet, 
but the steers retain theirs.’ 
‘In spite of the heat we had no musquitoes to-day, no 
doubt because of our high position. But the fly was 
very bad indeed. 
‘While Mekolka was out adliurgo to-day his dog 
caught a young red fox. It was little hurt, and he 
brought it back. He had tied its legs together, and 
muzzled it also with a leather thong. I was sketching it 
as it lay on the ground, when suddenly it slipped the 
thong from its feet, and was off down the snow ravine at 
the back. Instantly every man, woman, child, and dog 
1 The majority of the gelded deer never lose the velvet. 
U 
