r to the worshippers of the Shaman faith, who had left
these offerings. We slept on the northern side of the mountain at a
_povarnia_ renowned even amongst the natives for its revolting
accommodation. In the Yakute language "Siss-Ana" signifies literally
"one hundred doors," and the name was given to this sieve-like structure
on account of the numberless and icy draughts which assail its
occupants. The place is said to be accursed, and I could well believe
it, for although a roaring fire blazed throughout the night, the walls
and ceiling were thickly coated with rime in the morning, and towards
midnight a bottle of "Harvey's Sauce" exploded like a dynamite shell,
not ten feet from the hearth! The condiment was far too precious to
waste, so it was afterwards carried in a tin drinking-cup, in a frozen
state, and not poured out, but bitten off, at meals!

Between Siss-Ana and the _stancia_ of Malofskaya the country becomes
much wilder, and forests dwindle away as we near the timber line.
Occasionally not a tree would be visible from sled to horizon, only a
level plain of snow, which under the influence of wind, sunshine and
passing clouds would present as many moods and aspects as the sea. On
one day it would appear as smooth and unbroken as a village pond, on
another the white expanse would be broken by ripples, solid wavelets
stirred up by a light breeze, while after a storm, billows and rollers
in the shape of great drifts and hillocks would obstruct our progress.
As we neared the frozen ocean many storms were encountered, and
approaching Sredni-Kolymsk these occurred almost daily as furious
blizzards. On such occasions we always lay to, for it was impossible to
travel against the overwhelming force of the wind. Frequently these
tempests occurred in otherwise fine weather, and on such days the snow
did not fall but was whirled up from the ground in dense clouds, and
during the lulls, a momentary glance of sunshine and blue sky had a
strange effect. And, as we gradually crept further and further north, a
sense of unspeakable loneliness seemed to increase with every mile we
covered. Let the reader try and realise that during the journey from
Verkhoyansk of over one thousand miles, we had seen perhaps fifty human
beings and--a dead ermine! When at Irkutsk I spoke of journeying to
Sredni-Kolymsk I was regarded as a lunatic by the majority of my
hearers. Yakutsk was their end of the world! And now that cold,
monotony and sil