220 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. chap, xviii. 



with ns, to skin birds well, and was by this time a fair 

 nester. Simeon, our thorough-bred Samoyede, was a philo- 

 sopher, stolid, phlegmatic, and a good worker. He was our 

 bird-nester par excellence. He knew the tundra well and 

 the birds upon it ; for three years he had lived in Varandai, 

 and in his palmier days had reindeer of his own. Nothing 

 moved Simeon; success did not elate him, nor failure 

 depress him. He would take the extra rouble we always 

 gave him when he brought us a rare bird's nest as a matter 

 of course, without a "thank you." And when, as we wit- 

 nessed once, he steadied the boat for a drunken German 

 captain, who brutally trod upon his hand, evidently thinking 

 it a fine thing to show his contempt for the poor Samoyede, 

 Simeon equally took the insult as a matter of course, did not 

 offer to withdraw his hand nor move a muscle of his face. 

 If Simeon had any hot blood in him, the veins of it must 

 have run very deep under his sallow skin. 



The next day I did not do much either, but Cocksure 

 being out of birds, I turned out amongst the mosquitoes and 

 got him a few. I shot several yellow-headed wagtails, which 

 were as abundant as ever, and also three Terek sandpipers, 

 the first we had secured, although we had occasionally heard 

 their notes on the island. A nest of shovellers' eggs, quite 

 fresh, was brought to us during the day. 



Our ninth nest of the grey plover we took on the 12th of 

 July. A stiff warm gale from the east, with occasionally a 

 smart shower of rain, kept the air clear of mosquitoes in the 

 morning. In the afternoon the wind fell, and the mosquitoes 

 were as bad as ever ; but we were too busy to heed them 

 much. At eleven we crossed to the tundra. We soon came 



