, for the
products of the Samoyeds' reindeer husbandry, hunting and fishing.
At first the natives fled when they saw the Norwegians coming, and,
when they could not make their escape, they saluted them with great
humility, falling on their knees and bending their heads to the
earth, and were unwilling to enter into any traffic with them or to
show them their goods. But since the Samoyeds observed that the
Norwegians never did them any harm, the mistrust and excessive
humility have completely disappeared. Now a visit of Europeans is
very agreeable to them, partly for the opportunity which it offers
of obtaining by barter certain articles of necessity, luxury, or
show, partly perhaps also for the interruption thereby caused in the
monotony of the _tundra_ life. When the walrus-hunters row or sail
along that open coast, it often happens that natives run backwards
and forwards on the shore, and by signs eagerly invite the
foreigners to land; if they do so, and there are any wealthy
Samoyeds in the neighbourhood, there immediately begins a grand
entertainment, according to the customs of the people, with more
than one trait reminding us of the sketches from the traditionary
periods of the civilised nations.

What I have stated here is about all that we know of Yalmal, and we
see from this that a very promising, yet untouched field for
researches in ethnography and natural history here lies before
future travellers to the Yenisej.

What sort of winter is there at the mouth of the Yenisej? We have
for the present no information on this point, as no scientific man
has wintered there. But on the other hand we have a very exciting
narrative of the wintering of the Fin, NUMMELIN, at the Briochov
Islands in the Yenisej in lat. 70 deg. 48' north.

[Illustration: "JORDGAMMOR" ON THE BRIOCHOV ISLANDS. After a sketch
by the Author. ]

I visited the place on the 27th August 1875. It consisted of a fishing
post, occupied only in summer, and at that season of the year very
attractive, surrounded as it is by luxuriant vegetation of grass and
bushes. The houses were situated on a sound running between the Briochov
Islands, which form the northernmost group of the labyrinth of islands
which occupy the channel of the Yenisej between 69-1/2 deg. and 71 deg. N.L. At
the time of our visit the fishing was over for the season and the
place deserted. But two small houses and a number of earth-huts
(_jordgammor_), all in good repair, stood o