A.M. Lieut
Hovgaard and I travelled from Pitlekaj in dog-sledges into
the interior in a S.S.E. direction. Hovgaard and I had
each a Chukch as driver. Menka had with him a servant, who
almost all the time ran before as guide. My comrade's
sledge, which was heaviest, was drawn by ten dogs, mine by
eight, and Menka's, which was the smallest and in which he
sat alone, by five. In general the Chukches appear to
reckon four or five dogs sufficient for a sledge with one
person.

"The _tundra_, with marshes and streams scattered over it,
was during the first part of our way only gently
undulating, but the farther we went into the interior of
the country the more uneven it became, and when, at 8
o'clock next morning, we reached the goal of our
journey--Menka's brother's camp--we found ourselves in a
valley, surrounded by hills, some of which rose about 300
metres above their bases. A portion of the vegetable
covering the _tundra_ could still be distinguished through
the thin layer of snow. The most common plants on the
drier places were _Aira alpina_ and _Poa alpina_; on the
more low-lying places there grew Glyceria, Pedicularis,
and _Ledum palustre_; everywhere we found _Petasites
frigida_ and a species of Salix. The latter grew
especially on the slopes in great masses, which covered
spots having an area of twenty to thirty square metres. At
some places this bush rose to a height of about a metre
above the ground. The prevailing rock appeared to be
granite. The bottoms of the valleys were formed of
post-Tertiary formations, which most frequently consisted
of sand and rolled stones, as, for instance, was the case
in the great valley in which ilenka's brother's camp was
pitched.

[Illustration: CHUKCH DOG-SLEDGE. ]

"When, on the morning of the 9th, we came to the camp
there met us some of the principal Chukches. They saluted
Menka in the Russian way, by kissing him first on both
cheeks and then on the mouth. The Chukches however, appear
to be very averse to this ceremony, and scarcely ever
touched each other with the mouth. Us they saluted in the
common way, by stretching out the hand and bowing
themselves. We then went into Menka's brother's tent, in
front of which the whole inhabitants of the encampment
were speedily assembled to look at us. The camp c