r had any sail been seen. At
this time the whole shore of Yugor Strait and all the sea within sight
was covered with ice, driven there by northerly winds. The sea was
not quite open till July 22d. Trontheim passed the time while he was
waiting for the Fram in hunting and making excursions with his dogs,
which were in excellent condition. He was often in the Sibiriakoff
colony, a meeting-place for the Samoyedes of the district, who come
here in considerable numbers to dispose of their wares. And it was a
melancholy phase of life he saw here in this little "world-forsaken"
colony. "Every summer two or three merchants or peasant traders,
generally from Pustozersk, come for the purpose of bartering with the
Samoyedes, and sometimes the Syrianes, too, for their wares--bearskins,
blubber, and sealskins, reindeer-skins, and such like--giving in
exchange tea, sugar, flour, household utensils, etc. No transaction
takes place without the drinking of brandy, for which the Samoyede
has an insatiable craving. When the trader has succeeded in making
a poor wretch quite tipsy, he fleeces him, and buys all he wants at
some ridiculous price--the result of the transaction generally being
that the Samoyede is in debt to his 'benefactor.' All the traders that
come to the colony bring brandy, and one great drinking-bout goes on
all the summer. You can tell where much business is done by the number
of brandy casks in the trader's booth. There is no police inspection,
and it would be difficult to organize anything of the kind. As soon as
there is snow enough for the sledges, the merchants' reindeer caravans
start from the colony on their homeward journey, loaded with empty
brandy casks and with the proceeds of this one-sided bartering.

"On July 30th [this ought to be 29th] Trontheim saw from the shore,
first, smoke, and soon after a steamer. There could be no doubt
of its being the Fram. He went out in a little Samoyede boat to
meet her, and called out in Russian that he wanted to be taken on
board. From the steamer they called back, asking who he was, and when
they heard his name he was hauled up. On deck he met Nansen himself,
in a greasy working-jacket. He is still quite a young man, of middle
height...." Here follows a flattering description of the leader of
the expedition, and the state of matters on board. "It is evident,"
he then goes on, "that we have here one family, united and inspired
by one idea, for the carrying out of which all