94 BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



wood I have ever met with. There must have been considerably 

 over a thousand tons on the beach and up both sides of the river 

 as far as the tide affected it, consisting of uprooted trees large and 

 small, felled trees and poles, great square baulks, parts of ships, 

 Archangel deals, &c. I measured one pine tree 50 feet long from 

 the roots to where it was broken oif, and 3 feet diameter at 4 feet 

 above the roots; it is shown in Plate 37. Such trees are not often 

 found now in the Archangel district, within reach of a river and a 

 saw-mill. A large timber importer told me the other day that when 

 the men find a tree which will cut into an 1 1 inch deal, they sit 

 down and have a smoke ! Much of the wood was too decayed even 

 for burning, and some of the oldest on the south side lay consider- 

 ably higher than any storm could carry it now. The Samoyeds 

 doubtless remove the best of the sawn timber, as the chapel, also 

 the houses, in Plate 3 5 were built of 9 inch and 1 1 inch deals ; 

 one house, only half up, appeared to be waiting for a shipwreck to 

 furnish a fresh supply. 



After putting the camp a little in order, we walked inland up 

 the north bank of the river. The greater part of the land both in 

 the valley and uplands is covered with dense willow-scrub two to 

 three feet high, through which it is most difficult to force a way. 

 We soon found however there were well-defined tracks, of sufficient 

 width for a sledge and three or four reindeer, running in various 

 directions from the chapel, which had been cut or kept clear for 

 miles through the scrub. The Samoyeds inhabiting this peninsula 

 spend the winter months in the lowlands to the south, where they 

 remain until they are driven north by the mosquitoes ; when these 

 pests arrive at their most active stage, all the inhabitants and their 

 reindeer congregate on the highest land at Kanin Nos; there the 

 cold sea winds must often give them relief from their tormentors. 

 The district about our camp seems to be a halting-place on their 

 spring and autumn journeys. 



Where the land is free from scrub, most of the surface is thickly 



