Description of the sledge and its seven pairs of dogs--The harness--The useful _polka_--The start-off a gymnastic performance for the driver--Methods of steering and avoiding obstructions while going at full speed--Dog-trading _en route_--Dog-fights are plentiful--Prices of sable and other skins in the native market--The four grades of sables--How they live and what they live on--A Russian writer on sable hunting--Days when a native would barter eighteen sable skins for an ax 116 IX. OFF FOR THE NORTH--A RUNAWAY My winter wardrobe of deerskin--Shoes that keep the feet warm when it is sixty degrees below zero--_Plemania_, a curious native food in tabloid form--Other provisions--Outline of proposed exploration about the sources of the Ghijiga River--Four hours of sun a day--When dog meets deer--A race for life and a ludicrous dénouement--More queer native dishes--Curious habits of the sledge-dog 139 X. THROUGH THE DRIFTS Sledging over snow four feet deep--Making a camp in the snow--Finding traces of gold--A grand slide down a snow-covered hill--My polka breaks with disastrous results--Prospecting over the Stanovoi range 155 XI. BURIED IN A BLIZZARD A trip to the northern side of the Stanovoi range of mountains--Nijni Kolymsk, the most-feared convict station--Sledging by light of the aurora--Lost in a blizzard on the vast tundra--Five days in a snow dug-out--I earn a reputation as a wizard--Back at Chrisoffsky's 167 XII. CHRISTMAS--THE "DEER KORAKS" I celebrate Christmas day with the over-kind assistance of two hundred natives--Koraks as sharp-shooters--Comic features of a Russian dance--Off for Kaminaw--Another runaway--Slaughtering deer--A curious provision of nature--Eight families in one yourta--Korak method of washing dishes--A herd of ten thousand deer 177 XIII. HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE KORAKS The hour-glass houses--Their curious construction--The natives prove to be both hospitable and filthy--Dialects of Dog Koraks and Deer Koraks--Some unpleasant habits--How they reckon time--Making liquor out of mushrooms--Curious marriage customs--Clothes of the natives--Queer notions of a deity--Jealousy of the wandering Koraks--Thieving a virtue and childbirth a social function 205 XIV. OFF FOR BERING SEA--THE TCHUKTCHES The Tchuktches are the Apaches of Siberia--Their hospitality to Americans and their hostility to Russians--Wherein my experiences differ from those of Mr. Harry DeWindt--Result of licking a piece of stone with the thermometer at 45° below zero--Konikly--Power of moral suasion in dealing with a rebellious Korak--The cure of a dying woman and the disgust of her husband--Poll-tax and the Tchuktches 224 XV. A PERILOUS SUMMER TRIP