VIII.] 
A THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 
3G9 
were collected. When they understood clearly that we had 
come to them, not as brandy-sellers or fish-huyers from the 
south, but from the north, from the ocean, they went into com¬ 
plete ecstasies. We were exposed to unpleasant embraces from 
our skin-clad admirers, and finally one of us had the misfortune 
to get a bath in the river in the course of an attempt which the 
Dolgans in their excitement made to carry him almost with 
violence to the boat, which was lying in the shallow water some 
distance from the shore. At Dudino, also, the priests living 
there held a thanksgiving service for our happy arrival thither. 
Two of them said mass, while the clerk, clad in a sheepskin 
caftan reaching to his feet, zealously and devoutly swung an 
immense censer. The odour from it was at first not particularly 
pleasant, but it soon became so strong and disagreeable that I, 
who had my place in front of the audience, was like to choke, 
though the ceremony was performed in the open air. Soon the 
clerk was completely concealed in a dense cloud of smoke, and 
it was now observed that his skin cloak had been set fire to at 
the same time as the incense. The service, however, was not 
interrupted by this incident, but the fire was merely extin¬ 
guished by a bucket of water being thrown, to the amusement 
of all, over the clerk. 
At nine in the morning the Lena continued her voyage up 
the river with the priest and the Crown officials on board, but 
they had soon to be landed, because in their joy they had 
become dead drunk. On the 13th September Schigansk was 
reached, and samples of the coal found there were taken 
on board, but these proved unserviceable,^ and on the 21st 
September the Lena reached Yakutsk. The first vessel which, 
1 A coal seam is often unfit for use near the surface, where for centuries 
it has been uncovered and exposed to the action of the atmosphere, while 
farther down it may yield very good coal. It is probable besides that the 
layers of shale, which often surround the coal seams, have in this case 
been mistaken for the true coal. For those who are inexperienced in coal¬ 
mining to make such a mistake is the rule and not the exception. 
B B 
