BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 27 



they were here, nor did we by any means exhaust its treasures on 

 this first visit. 



After leaving the marsh we climbed a steep hill — an offshoot 

 from the range bordering the valley — through which the river, or its 

 predecessor the glacier, had cut its channel. Then, down to two 

 decent houses inhabited by Russians, of whose language Einar, our 

 Norwegian, understood very little. Temminck's Stints and other 

 birds, including of course White Wagtails, were about the houses. 

 Next, more wooded marsh without birds, although it looked just as 

 suitable for them as the first ; and then another bluff. In the hills 

 we passed on our side of the river were three pairs of Rough-legged 

 Buzzards, two of whose nests we found. One of these was inaccessible 

 without a rope ; the other contained two well-marked and fresh eggs. 

 This nest had taken us above the tree-line, and we continued round 

 the hill for some distance until we obtained a good view for several 

 miles up the valley, but no trace of a lake could we see. Below us 

 was a strong rapid in the river, and several more rapids were in sight, 

 all of them sufiicient to stop a boat. The sun now came out for a 

 short time and lit up the scene ; the hills, where clear from snow, 

 showed a pretty faint emerald-green colour, owing to their universal 

 covering of reindeer-moss and lichens. All the hills in sight had 

 been ground down and rounded by ice, their tops were covered by 

 erratics in all directions. As it occupied tAvo and a half hours to 

 walk back to the fjord, we had probably penetrated about seven miles 

 up the river, and could see over three more, so that there is no lake 

 within ten miles of the sea, and from what the natives told us I feel 

 sure none exists higher up on this river. I have on several occasions 

 been taken long " wild-goose " chases after lakes which never existed, 

 and I think the mistake arose from the natives using the same term 

 for a long deep reach in the river — a salmon pool in fact — as they do 

 for a lake. 



On arriving at the shore we found the Finn's boat 1 5 o yards 

 from water, and could see our own in the distance, quite half a mile 



