t the heap of bones the
entrails of a newly-killed reindeer. Close beside were found the
remains of a fireplace, and of a midden, consisting of reindeer
bones of various kinds and the lower jaws of bears.

"As the sandy slopes of the beach offered no suitable breeding-place
for looms, black guillemots, or other sea-fowl, and there were no
islands along the coast which could serve as breeding-places for
eiders and other species of geese which breed in colonies, the
abundant bird-life of the Polar Sea was wanting here. At the mouth
of the river, however, large flocks of eiders and long-tailed ducks
flew about, and on the sandy banks along the shore, flocks of
_Calidris arenaria_ and a Tringa or two ran about restlessly seeking
their food. The solitude of the _tundra_ was broken only by a couple
of larks and a pair of falcons (_Falco peregrinus_) with young.
Traces of reindeer were also seen, and two fox-traps set on the
strand-bank showed that foxes occur in these regions in sufficient
numbers to be the object of capture.

"Later in the afternoon, when some solar altitudes had been taken,
in order to determine the geographical position of the place, we
rowed back to our vessel and sailed on, keeping at some distance
from the coast, and at one place passing between the shore and a
long series of blocks of ground-ice, which had stranded along the
coast in a depth of nine to sixteen metres. During night we passed a
place where five Samoyed tents were pitched, in whose neighbourhood
a large number of reindeer pastured. The land was now quite low, and
the sea had become considerably shallower. The course was therefore
shaped for the N.W., in which direction deeper water was soon met
with. Notwithstanding the slight salinity and high temperature
(+ 7.7 deg.) of the surface water a _Clio borealis_ and a large
number of Copepoda were taken at the surface."

The excursion now described and Almquist's and Hovgaard's landing in
1878 were, as far as I am aware, the only occasions on which
naturalists have visited the northern part of that peninsula which
separates the Kara Sea from the Obi. The Norwegian hunters also
visit the place seldom, the main reasons being the inaccessibility
of the shallow east coast, and the want of harbours. They now,
however, land occasionally to take in water, and perhaps to barter
the tobacco they have saved from their rations, knives they have no
use for, and old-fashioned guns, gunpowder, lead, &c.