173 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



them, as they flew along, almost as naked as the sea, of which they saw the 

 margin in the east ; and had not the wind here and there driven away the snow 

 which Heaven in its mercy strews over this gloomy land, they might have been 

 in doubt on which element they were travelling. Daily, from time to time, some 

 dwarf firs made their appearance, or clumps of low willows, which generally de- 

 note the presence of some little brook slowly winding through the flat tundra. 



The village of Xess, on the north coast, was the first halting-place, and here 

 Castren flattered himself he had at length found what his heart desired, in the 

 person of a Samoiede teacher who knew Russian, and was gifted with a clear- 

 er head than is usually possessed by his race. 



" The man was conscious of his superiority, and while acting as a professor 

 looked down with contempt ujDon his weaker brethren. Once, some other Samo- 

 i'edes venturing to correct one of his translations, he commanded them to be si- 

 lent, telling them they were not learned. I tried by all possible means to se- 

 cure the services of this Samoiede phenomenon. I spoke kindly with him, I 

 paid him well, gave him every day his allowance of brandy, and never once for- 

 bade him to get drunk when he felt inclined to do so. Yet, in spite of all my 

 endeavors to please, he felt unhappy, and sighed for the liberty of the tundra. 



* Thou art kind, and I love thee,' said he one day to me, * but I can not endure 

 confinement. Be therefore merciful, and give me my freedom.' 



" I now increased his daily pay and his rations of brandy, sent for his wife 

 and child, treated his wife also with brandy, and did all I could to dispel the 

 melancholy of the Samoiede. By these means I induced him to remain a few 

 days longer with me. 



" While I was constantly occupying him, the wife w^as busy sewing Samoiede 

 dresses, and sometimes assisted her husband in his translations. I often heard 

 her sighing deeply, and having asked for the reason, she burst into tears, and 

 answered that she grieved for her husband, who was thus imprisoned in a room. 



* Thy husband,' was my rej^ly, ' is not worse off than thyself. Tell me, what 

 do you think of your own position ?' ' I do not think of myself — I am sorrow- 

 ful for my husband,' w^as her ingenuous reply. At length both the husband 

 and the wife begged me so earnestly to set them at liberty that I allowed them 

 to depart." 



On the way from Pjoscha to Pustosersk, after Castren had once more vainly 

 endeavored to discover that vara avis^ a Samoiede teacher, he became thorough- 

 ly acquainted with the January snow-storms of the tundra : " The wind arose 

 about noon, and blew so violently that we could not see the reindeer before our 

 sledges. The roof of my vehicle, which at first had afforded me some protec- 

 tion, Avas soon carried away by the gale. Anxious about my fate, I questioned 

 my guides, whenever they stopped to brush off the snow which had accumulated 

 upon me, and received the invariable answer,/ We do not know where we are, 

 and see nothing.' We proceeded step by step, now following one direction, 

 now another, until at length we reached a river well known to the guides. The 

 leader of the first sledge hurried his reindeer down the precipitous bank, and 

 drove away upon the ice to seek a more convenient descent ; but as he did not 

 return, the other guide likewise left me to look after his companion, and thus I 



