cows EAT FISH IN SIBERIA. 
397 
and, as is usual in most disputes between the sexes, con- 
vinced him of his mistake and rescued her favourite. 
And, lastly, there was the writer himself, with his red 
silk handkerchief and the unsophisticated arctic hello, 
with her embroidered boots and petulant air, to fill up 
the picture. It was a pleasant evening that we thus 
passed among those truly simple and liarmless 'North- 
erners. Finalh^ we got through with our trading and 
began to walk around and indulge in a general survey 
of every thing worth noting. We looked upon the 
horses and cattle that were sprinkled around us enjoy- 
ing the summer grass, and asked our hosts how they 
managed to feed them during their long winters. They 
pointed to the grass and made signs that they cut it 
while the sun was hot and put it up in piles; and that, 
when that was exhausted, they had recourse to the 
branches of the pine-trees, which were always plentiful, 
but not so good. 
They also said that they fed all of their animals on the 
heads and backbones of fish, and, upon our laughing at 
this as absurd, one of them reached overhead, (we were 
in the headman’s house at the time,) and, taking down 
one of them, motioned us to follow him outside, where 
he threw it to the old woman’s favourite milcli-cow, who 
made short work of it, and then wiped out her tongue as 
if asking for more. 
I must say that the sight surprised me exceedingly. 
The idea of a cow eating fish was not only ridiculous, 
but almost disgusting, when one looked Ijack upon the 
milk-drinking spree that we had just indulged in; but 
we were destined to be still further surprised by one of 
