238 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



teeth, and their hind legs, while the roes generally attempt to spring with their 

 fore feet upon the edge of the boat. When the hunter is thus overset, his only 

 chance of safety is to cling to a strong animal, which safely brings him to the 

 shore. But the dexterity of the hunters renders such accidents rare. A good 

 hunter will kill a hundred reindeer and more in half an hour. In the mean 

 time the other boats seize the killed animals, which become their property, 

 while those that are merely wounded and swim ashore belong to the hunters, 

 who, in the midst of the tumult, where all their energies are taxed to the ut 

 most, direct their strokes in such a manner as only severely to wound the larger 

 animals. The noise of the horns striking against each other, the waters tinged 

 with blood, the cries of the hunters, the snorting of the affrighted animals, form 

 a scene not to be described. 



The people of the Aniuj were already suffering great distress when, on 

 September 12, 1821, the eagerly-expected reindeer herds made their appear- 

 ance on the right bank of the river. Never liad such a multitude been seen ; 

 they covered the hills, and their horns might have been mistaken at a distance 

 for a moving forest. In a short time numbers of the Siberian tribes had as- 

 sembled, ready to destroy them. But the wary animals, alarmed by some cir- 

 cumstance or other, took another road, and, leaving the banks of the river, van- 

 ished on the mountains. The despair of the people may be imagined ; some 

 lamented aloud and wrung their hands, others threw themselves upon the 

 ground and scratched up the snow, others stood motionless like statues — a 

 dreadful image of the universal misery. The later fishing-season likewise failed 

 in this deplorable year, and many hundreds died in the following winter. 



While the men of Kolymsk are busily employed during the short summer 

 in hunting, fishing, and hay-making, the women wander over the country, par- 

 ticularly in the mountains, to gather edible roots, aromatic herbs, and berries 

 of various kinds, which latter, however, do not every year arrive at maturity. 

 The berry-gathering here, like the vintage elsewhere, is a time of merriment. 

 The younger women and girls go together in large parties, passing whole days 

 and nights in the open air. When the berries are collected, cold water is 

 poured over them, and they are preserved in a frozen state for a winter treat. 

 Social parties are not unknown at Kolymsk, and are perhaps not less entertain- 

 ing than in more refined communities. Floods of weak tea (for the aromatic 

 leaves " which cheer, but not inebriate," are A^ery dear at Kolymsk) form the 

 staple of the entertainment ; and as sugar is also an expensive article, every 

 guest takes a lump of candy in his mouth, lets the tea which he sips flow by, 

 and then replaces it upon the saucer. It would be considered very unmannerly 

 were he to consume the whole piece, which thus is able to do duty at more 

 than one soiree. Next to tea, brandy is a chief requisite of a Kolymsk party. 



The busiest time at Kolymsk is m February, when the caravan from Ja- 

 kutsk arrives on its way to the fair of Ostrownoje. It consists of about tw^en- 

 ty merchants, each of whom leads from ten to forty sumpter horses. This is 

 the time not only for sale and purchase, but also for hearing the last news from 

 the provincial capital Jakutsk, and receiving intelligence six months old from 

 Moscow and St. Petersburg. 



