SAILING THRO'UGH YUGOR SCHAR. 
173 
'' If one wishes to anchor at the Samoyed village one ought 
to keep about an English mile from the land on the starboard, 
and steer II.E. by the compass, until the Samoyed huts are 
seen, when one bends off from starboard, keeping the church a 
little to starboard. For larger vessels it is not advisable to go 
in shallower water than eight to nine fathoms, because the depth 
then diminishes rather suddenly to from three to four fathoms. 
“ From the Samoyed village the course is shaped right to 
the south-east headland of Vaygats Island (Suchoi Nos), which 
ought to be passed at the distance of half an English mile. 
Immediately south-west of this headland lies a very long shoal, 
which one ought to take care of. 
“ From this headland the vessel is to be steered out 
into the Kara Sea. With this course there are two shoals on 
starboard and two on port at the distance of half an English mile. 
“ The depth is in general ten fathoms; at no place in the 
fairway is it less than nine fathoms. 
'Wessels of the greatest draught may thus sail through 
Yugor Schar. In passing the straits it is recommended to 
keep a good outlook from the top, whence in clear weather 
the shoals may easily be seen.” 
In the oldest narratives very high mountains, covered with ice 
and snow, are spoken of as occurring in the neighbourhood of 
the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland. It is 
even said that here were to be found the highest mountains 
on earth, whose tops ’were said to raise themselves to a height 
of a hundred German miles.^ The honour of having the highest 
mountains on earth has since been ascribed by the dwellers 
on the plains of Northern Eussia to the neighbourhood of 
Matotschkin Schar, “ where the mountains are even much higher 
than Bolschoj Kamen,” a rocky eminence some hundreds of feet 
high at the mouth of the Petchora—^an orographic idea which 
forms a new proof of the correctness of the old saying:—In the 
kingdom of the blind the one-eyed is king.” Matotschkin Schar 
indeed is surrounded by a wild Alpine tract with peaks that 
^ Les moeurs et usages des Ostiacices, par Jean Bernard Muller, Capitaine 
de dragon au service de la SuMe, pendant sa captivite en Siberie {Recueil 
de Voiages au Nord. T. VIII., Amsterdam, 1727, p. 389). 
