FINE SCENERY 453 



split it, and of each half make a wide thin board ; the 

 rest is wasted, for the axe is an extravagant tool. This 

 tree is found up to lat. 67^°. 



We found the common birch up to lat. 69^°, and in 

 various places we noticed that where a pine forest had 

 been burnt or cut down, it appeared to be immediately 

 replaced by a luxuriant growth of birch. The creeping 

 birch and two or three sorts of willow were common in 

 suitable localities on the tundra as far north as we went 

 — i.e. lat. 7i|-°. 



The alder was abundant at 69^^° and the juniper at 



69°. 



I did not observe the poplar at the Kureika in lat. 

 66^°, but it was abundant at Silovanoff in lat. 66° The 

 Ostiaks hollow their canoes out of the trunk of this 

 tree. 



As we conversed upon this interesting topic of northern 

 trees, a pair of peregrines loudly protested against our 

 approaching so near the shore, and in the afternoon I 

 twice noticed a large, very dark, and long- tailed hawk 

 sail majestically between the ship and the shore, 

 apparently taking no notice whatever of our noise 

 and smoke. Possibly it might have been a female 

 goshawk. 



The next day we steamed through much more pic- 

 turesque scenery than we had hitherto seen on the 

 Yenesei. The banks were much more hilly, and the 

 course of the river much more winding. For some few 

 versts we steered due north ; the river not being more 

 than half a mile wide here, its character resembled that 

 of lake scenery. 



We stopped for two hours at Samorokova in lat. 62°. 

 Birds were not abundant ; they were as a rule in full 

 moult, and were very silent and retiring. Nearly all 



