330 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 
sparkle. I collected many new flowers—a large ranun- 
culus, a very pretty pink (D. superbus) and a gentian in 
seed (G. verna). 
At noon we left and and drove back to Scharok, 
where I was 
sorry to find 
Hyland still ill 
with pains in 
his back. 
It was so very hard to 
make these Samoyeds give 
you the veasons for things. 
We happened to be talk- 
ing in Alexander's isba 
about the birds, and I 
found that the Russians 
too call the snowy owl 
Koa \ ‘snuff’ (sowah).  Alex- 
x | ander said he didn’t in the 
pass \ Vy 7 least know why it was, un- 
less it was from some noise 
THE SPLENDID PINK (Dianthus superbus) they ial: I, wake knew, 
of course, that it would be because of the snowy’s 
hissing noise, tried hard to get the Samoyeds to explain 
why they also called it ‘snuff,’ or ‘sneezing’ (heinib- 
chur in the Samoyed, as I have said before). I did not 
succeed, though Uano was evidently quite satisfied that 
he had given the only explanation when he answered 
