Supported by Mr. Oscar Dickson of Gothenburg, Nordenskjöld sailed on the _Proven_. He first visited Nova Zembla, and then, passing through Jugor strait, entered the Kara sea, which was entirely free from ice, and reached the Yenisei river without much difficulty. During this journey, he and his assistants made valuable collections of the products of the animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms. They succeeded in increasing the number of known insects to be found in Nova Zembla from seven to one hundred, and in the Kara sea, which had been thought barren, they found five hundred species of animal life. Upon reaching the mouth of the Yenisei river, Nordenskjöld sent the _Proven_ home, while he and a few chosen companions proceeded up the river in a small boat. It was summer time and the tundras were covered with a scanty vegetation. The tundras are the plains of Russia and Siberia which lie between the tree limit and the Arctic ocean. Most persons think of them as entirely barren; in some parts the soil is fertile and would be suitable for cultivation, if the climate permitted. In the winter they are frozen, but in the summer they afford pasture to herds of reindeer. All Siberia is colder than other places in the same latitude. One of the best-known cold regions on the earth is in Siberia, in latitude 67° 54ʹ N. Here the average temperature of the winter months is often as low as -53°, while some days the thermometer falls to -75° and -85° F. The tundras are inhabited by a tribe of Siberian Indians called Samoyeds. These natives travel about during the summer, hunting and fishing, setting up their skin tents wherever they find game plentiful. They usually have with them a large number of dogs, which they use for sledging in winter and drawing boats against the current during the summer. The dogs run alongshore and drag the boats after them up the river, very much as mules draw our canal boats. The Samoyeds are small of stature and very dirty. Their hair is matted and unkempt, and they wear clothes of skin, with sometimes a bright-colored cotton shirt over the skin blouse. [Illustration: SAMOYED HUTS IN SUMMER.] These people worship idols, which look like dolls made of skin, and which they always carry with them on their travels. Some of these idols, or gods, have faces of brass or copper, and some carry bows made of forged iron. The Samoyeds worship by making pilgrimages to certain spots, where they offer sacrifices and make vows; they eat the flesh of their victims, and besmear their idols with the blood. At these sacred places there are piles of bones and skulls of the reindeer, with the horns. Near by are also found quantities of old iron, and hundreds of small wooden sticks, carved to look like human faces. [Illustration: A SAMOYED FAMILY IN WINTER COSTUME.]