BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 93 



the same as now, for the numerous old courses it has excavated and 

 deserted in this flat area are similar in size to its present bed. The 

 older ones at higher levels are now occupied by bogs, and the more 

 recent form long pools fringed by rushes, each the home of divers 

 and ducks. 



Above the part of the valley last described is another area in 

 which a series of large mounds, some isolated, others joined to the 

 bluffs, indicate a previous period of rest in the process of upheaval. 

 The denuding power of the river must have been much greater, or 

 exercised over a far larger period, than during the formation of the 

 lower part of the valley. There are also fewer traces of deserted 

 river beds here. After passing beyond both the above, the channel 

 assumes the ordinary character of a valley cut by a stream through 

 soft strata. 



And what of the inhabitants ? All those in the neighbourhood 

 during our visit were asleep on the other side of the chapel under 

 two or three feet of earth ; we saw none alive, although our men met 

 with two some miles to the south, when they took the steamer down 

 the coast in search of a harbour. Two of the graves here were 

 surrounded by neat wooden railings, while others were marked with 

 crosses ; one of the latter was far beyond the ordinary size, it stood 

 14 feet out of the ground, and was made from square baulks of 

 timber measuring 11 in. by 11 in. ; no date was visible, but it 

 was evidently more than fifty years old. A skull was engraved 

 on those crosses erected over graves. We counted nine graves here, 

 but from the crosses it is probable others had become obliterated. 

 The chapel itself appeared to have been erected in 1 8 8 1 , from a 

 date carved over the door. It measured 1 6 feet by 1 1 feet outside, 

 and was 6 feet high at the eaves. The interior was divided into 

 an anteroom 4 feet, and the chapel proper 1 2 feet ; and as will be 

 seen in Plate 36, none entered either without a profound bow! as 

 the doors were little more than four feet hi^^h. 



About the mouth of the river was the largest collection of drift- 



