pedition sent by the Siberian
authorities to our relief, and that he was therefore willing in
return for suitable compensation to give us some reindeer I availed
myself of the offer, and purchased three animals for sugar, tea, and
a little tobacco. Noah besides was a friendly and easy-going man,
who, Christian though he was, travelled about with two wives and a
large number of children, who all of course would see the vessel and
get their treat of tobacco, clay pipes, sugar, _ram_, &c.

[Illustration: NOAH ELISEJ. (After a photograph by L. Palander.) ]

So much flood water had now begun to collect on the ice, especially
near the land, that it was exceedingly difficult to walk from the
vessel to the shore and back. Many a proposed land excursion was
broken off by somebody, immediately after leaving the vessel,
sinking into some deep hole in the ice and thus getting a cold bath.
Excursions on land however began to be exceedingly interesting to
the botanists and zoologists, and therefore to avoid the
inconveniences mentioned I caused a tent to be pitched by the side
of the large lagoon between Pitlekaj and Yinretlen, and a light boat
to be carried thither. The bottom of the lagoon was still filled
with ice, above which however the water stood so high that the boat
floated in it. The naturalists settled by turns in the tent, and
from it made excursions in different directions, as I hope with the
result that the neighbourhood of Pitlekaj is now the best known
tract on the north of Asia, which after all is not saying much. The
first plant in flower (_Cochlearia fenestrata_, R. Br.) was seen on
the 23rd June.[264] A week after the ground began to grow green and
flowers of different kinds to show themselves in greater and greater
numbers.[265] Some flies were seen on a sunshiny day in May (the 27th)
in motion on the surface of the snow, but it was not until the end
of June that insects began to show themselves in any large numbers,
among them many Harpalids, two large species of Carabus, and a large
Curculionid. The insects occurring here however are not very
numerous either in respect of species or individuals, which is not
strange when we consider that the earth at a limited depth from the
surface is constantly frozen. As even the shallow layer, which thaws
in summer, is hard frozen in winter, all the insects which occur
here must in one or other phase of their development endure being
frozen solid for some time. But it may