MOSQUITOES 439 



bluethroats, also, had fully-fledged young. In some of the 

 more sheltered valleys patches of snow were still lying 

 unmelted. The wild flowers were very brilliant, and,, 

 after I had shot off all my cartridges, I gathered a few 

 and pressed them. Rhubarb and a species of thyme- 

 were abundant there. One of the passengers on board 

 was my friend the second priest of Turukansk, and he 

 gathered a quantity of each for medicinal purposes^ 

 saying that the natives were ignorant of their uses. 



Early in the morning of the 30th July, we stopped 

 an hour at an island to take some barrels of salt fish on 

 board. I went on shore and found a large colony of 

 Siberian herring-gulls sleeping on the sand. By far the 

 larger proportion were immature birds, which apparently 

 do not go farther north. I shot one, and the rest flew 

 off to a distance. The day turned out very wet, and we 

 did not go again on shore. We had scarcely had a fine 

 day since we left Golchika. We were told that this was 

 an exceptionally cold summer; and for one great blessing 

 We had to thank the keen winds — they banished the 

 mosquitoes. We had, indeed, almost forgotten their 

 existence until the preceding day. When I was on 

 shore it was a dead calm, the clouds were black as 

 before a thunderstorm, and the bloodthirsty insects were 

 swarming in thousands. I had neglected to take my 

 gauntlets, and was, in consequence, much bitten on the 

 wrists, causing me some slight suffering; the irritation of 

 my hands prevented my sleeping, but it was accompanied 

 by little or no swelling. Either the mosquitoes had 

 exhausted their stock of poison, or my blood had grown 

 so thin that they did not care to expend much virus 

 upon it. 



In the evening we stopped an hour at Igarka to take 

 our leave of the ill-starred Thames. The water had 



