82 BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



appeared to rise to hills 200 feet high or more in the interior. Much 

 snow lay on all the slopes, but the flat pieces were fairly clear ; and 

 that was all we were destined to know of the country at present, for 

 even with glasses not many details can be learned at a distance of four 

 miles ! 



We were obliged to turn and steam out of the bay in the ice, and 

 then made towards the s.s.E. in the hope that it would prove to be 

 more open. Soon after turning, a Snowy Owl passed us flying to- 

 wards the land, the first and only one seen this year. We continued 

 to the s.E. and s. along the ice until it became too dense to allow of 

 further progress. At that time the outer edge of the ice was closely 

 packed for several hundred yards in, as if two currents were driving 

 it in opposite ways ; but beyond that belt there was more ice than 

 water between us and the coast now some eight or nine miles distant. 

 The ice also extended far to the s.w. on the horizon. As the day was 

 beautifully bright and clear we had every facility for observing the 

 difficulties of our position. The ice was five to six feet thick, and 

 much of it very dirty, so it had probably come out of Mezen bay in 

 which it breaks up rather later than in other parts of the White 

 Sea; in fact, the western side, which is the commercial route to 

 Archangel, &c., becomes free from ice six weeks earlier than the 

 eastern side. It being certain that there was no possibility of making 

 land at present, we were obliged to return to our old anchorage, where 

 we arrived safely after fourteen hours' steaming, but in such a blinding 

 snowstorm that it was with difficulty the captain could find his way 

 up the river. 



June 1 2th. — As quite a week would be required to disperse the 

 ice, I decided to go into camp and send the Expres to Vardo for 

 letters and a few stores for the men. After the tents were fixed on 

 the old spot we had occupied in 1895, Kjeldsen and I crossed the 

 river to interview the headman of the village, to ensure the safety of 

 our things without being obliged to leave some one always in charge. 

 I handed him the Governor's letter, which he read, and then made a 



