BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 43 



much headway, that I sent Ivan and his man up the stream for 

 another, which he assured me was in much better condition. The 

 others returned for the remainder of the luggage. The latter came 

 back long before Ivan, and it was most amusing to watch those four 

 Russians ; they were just like big children, and evidently looked upon 

 Ivan as in loco parentis. They were miserable at his prolonged absence, 

 shouted or rather howled for him to return ; then made a large fire as 

 a signal, which they utilised to dry themselves. The latter they 

 effected by stripping their shirts up, and sitting with their bare backs 

 to the fire. I wandered off into the scrub and put a Wigeon off her 

 nest containing six eggs ; the nest was under a small heap of dead 

 sticks twenty yards from the river, and was well lined with down. 



Ivan at last returned towing a second boat, in far worse condition 

 than the first, and which sank finally as they reached shore ; the other 

 was just kept afloat by one man baling incessantly while the other 

 paddled. The river we had to cross was not wide, but very rapid, 

 making it difficult to work such a leaky old flat-bottomed tub. At 

 last a man got over safely, and we ferried the luggage across by means 

 of a rope tied to the bow. Another mile brought us to our proposed 

 camping-ground on the edge of Pechenga lake, and right glad we were 

 to see it. It was 7 a.m. when we finally turned in, after twenty-four 

 hours of hard work. 



July ^Tcl. — Our two tents were pitched on the edge of a large 

 moraine that formed the north side of the lake, and rose more than 

 fifty feet above the water, so that we enjoyed a considerable view over 

 the surrounding country. Plate 1 3 shows the prospect from our tent- 

 door, looking south over the lake ; it was worth the extra effort made 

 last night to reach this place. The Pechenga enters the lake at the 

 farthest point visible — a small white dot among the trees indicates 

 the broken water — and leaves it on the left hand of the picture. 

 Even this pleasant spot had its drawback; after a heavy march it 

 seemed a long way down to the water, and the bank was very steep to 

 mount again. 



