sources; and here began the ascent of
the Ural Mountains by the Pass of Kjaila (Kjola). In their crossing
of the chain they tried to skirt along the foot of the mountains,
climbing as little as possible....

"They noticed one marked contrast between the mountains in the northern
and those in the southern part of the Ural chain. In the south the snow
melts quickly in the lower regions and remains lying on the tops. Here
(in the northern Ural), on the contrary, the mountain-tops are free
from snow before the sun's rays penetrate into the valleys and melt
it there. In some valleys, especially those closed by mountains to
the south, and more exposed to north winds, the snow lies the whole
summer. When they had got across the Ural Mountains they first
followed the course of the River Lemva, then crossed it, and now
followed a whole system of small rivers, for which even the natives
have no names. At last, on May 4th, the expedition reached the River
Ussa, on the banks of which lay the hut of the Syriane Nikitsa." This
was "the one inhabited spot in this enormous tract of country," and
here they stopped two weeks to rest the reindeer and get provender
for them. "The country lying between the sources of the Voikara and
the Ussa is wooded in every direction." "Between the River Ussa and
the River Vorkuta, and even beyond that, Trontheim and his company
travelled through quite luxuriant wood. In the middle of May, as the
caravan approached the tundra region, the wood got thinner and thinner,
and by May 27th it was nothing but scattered underwood. After this came
quite small bushes and weeds, and then at last the interminable tundra
came in sight. Not to be without fuel on the tundra, they felled some
dead trees and other wood--eight sledge loads. The day after they got
out on the tundra (May 29th) the caravan set off at full speed, the
Syrianes being anxious to get quickly past a place where a whole herd
of reindeer had perished some years before. The reindeer-drivers take
good note of such places, and do everything possible to avoid them, as
the animals may easily be infected by gnawing the bones of their dead
comrades. God help the herd that this happens to! The disease passes
rapidly from animal to animal, and scores may die of it in a day. [23]

"In this region there are many bogs; the low land forms one continuous
morass. Sometimes we had to walk up to the waist in water; thus on
June 5th we splashed about the whole day in