56 Dr. O. Finsch's Ornithological Letters. 
between Tjumen and Tomsk,, and are very comfortable ; but, 
alas ! the luxury of this excellent vessel availed us only for a 
short time. 
We went down the river Ob (1300 versts), to the village 
of Samarowa, a short distance up the river Irtisch, not far 
from the junction of this river with the Ob. Here we had 
to leave the steamer; and by the liberality of Mr. Semzoff, a 
chief merchant of Samarowa, we were furnished with two 
u lotkas,^ free of cost, for our voyage down the river. A 
“ lotka 33 is a boat about 40 feet in length, covered for its 
greater part with a deck, and is propelled by rowing or 
towing. During our voyage in the steamer we had few op¬ 
portunities for making ornithological observations. The wea¬ 
ther was not favourable and the river overflooded, so that it 
often resembled a great lake, bordered with woods of fir trees, 
and intermixed with numerous islets, covered chiefly with 
willows. Waterfowl were seen in great numbers, but so far 
off that we could not make out the species. Larus marinus 
and Sterna hirundo were plentiful. Sometimes we observed 
Haliaetus albicilla (once I got a fledgling); but the most com¬ 
mon bird was Cotyle riparia. Every time we passed high 
sandbanks we found large breeding colonies, the inhabitants 
of which were busy flying in and out of nest-holes. The situ¬ 
ation of the holes varies as the height of the bank; some¬ 
times they are very high, at other times so low that one can 
easily touch the nests; but nevertheless it is very difficult 
to catch the bird by hand. 
We left Samarowa in the early morning of the 6th of July, 
reaching the town of Berezoff on the 9th, and Obdorsk, the 
ultima Thule of civilization, on the 13th, the whole distance 
being reckoned at little more than 1000 versts. There are 
more than forty stations to be called at by rowing people, most 
of them only Ostiakian yurt-places for fishing, which is the 
chief and only business along the river Ob. The scenery on 
the river is nearly the same throughout the whole of its 
length. On the right hand the banks are high, often per¬ 
pendicular, formed by sand, and covered with magnificent 
woods of larch and birch trees. The left bank is low, and 
