society of the place.
All were glad to welcome the adventurous trader from Yakoutsk; and
when he intimated that his boxes of treasure, his brandy and tea, and
rum and tobacco, were to be laid out in the hire of dogs and sledges,
he found ample applicants, though, from the very first, all refused
to accompany his party as guardians of the dogs. Sakalar, however,
who had expected this, was nothing daunted, but, bidding Ivan amuse
himself as best he could, undertook all the preparations. But Ivan
found as much pleasure in teaching what little he knew to Kolina as
in frequenting the fashionable circles of Kolimsk. Still, he could not
reject the numerous polite invitations to evening parties and dances
which poured upon him. I have said evening parties, for though there
was no day, yet still the division of the hours was regularly kept,
and parties began at five P.M., to end at ten. There was singing and
dancing, and gossip and tea, of which each individual would consume
ten or twelve large cups; in fact, despite the primitive state of the
inhabitants, and the vicinity to the Polar Sea, these assemblies very
much resembled in style those of Paris and London. The costumes, the
saloons, and the hours, were different, while the manners were less
refined, but the facts were the same.

When the carnival came round, Ivan, who was a little vexed at the
exclusion of Kolina from the fashionable Russian society, took care
to let her have the usual amusement of sliding down a mountain of ice,
which she did to her great satisfaction. But he took care also at all
times to devote to her his days, while Sakalar wandered about from
yourte to yourte in search of hints and information for the next
winter's journey. He also hired the requisite _nartas_, or sledges,
and the thirty-nine dogs which were to draw them, thirteen to each.
The he bargained for a large stock of frozen and dry fish for the
dogs, and other provisions for themselves. But what mostly puzzled
the people were his assiduous efforts to get a man to go with them
who would harness twenty dogs to an extra sledge. To the astonishment
of everybody, three young men at last volunteered, and three extra
sledges were then procured.

The summer soon came round, and then Ivan and his friends started out
at once with the hunters, and did their utmost to be useful. As the
natives of Kolimsk went during the chase a long distance toward Cape
Sviatoi, the spot where the adventurers were to