The vessel was manned by Captain Schwanenberg, the mates Nummelin and Meyenwaldt, and two exiled criminals, who in this unexpected way returned to their native country. I take it for granted that by the rare nautical exploit they took part in, they there won forgiveness for former offences. [Illustration: THE SLOOP UTRENNAJA SARIA. ] [Footnote 159: Compare: "The names of the places that the Russes sayle by, from Pechorskoie Zauorot to Mongozey" (_Purchas_, III. p. 539): "The voyage of Master Josias Logan to Pechora, and his wintering there with Master William Pursglove and Marmaduke Wilson, Anno 1611" (_loc. cit._ p. 541): "Extracts taken out of two letters of Josias Logan from Pechora, to Master Hakluyt, Prebend of Westminster" (_loc. cit._ p. 546): "Other obseruations of the sayd William Pursglove" (_loc. cit._ p. 550). The last paper contains good information regarding the Obi, Tas, Yenisej, Pjaesina, Chatanga, and Lena. ] [Footnote 160: The stringent regulations regarding fasting of the Russians, especially the Old Believers, if they be literally observed, form an insuperable obstacle to the colonisation of high-northern regions, in which, to avoid scurvy, man requires an abundant supply of fresh flesh. Thus, undoubtedly, religious prejudices against certain kinds of food caused the failure of the colony of Old Believers which was founded in 1767 on Kolgujev Island, in order that its members might undisturbed use their old church books and cross themselves in the way they considered most proper. The same cause also perhaps conduced to the failure of the attempts which are said to have been made after the destruction of Novgorod by Ivan the Terrible in 1570 by fugitives from that town to found a colony on Novaya Zemlya (_Historische Nachrichten von den Samojeden und den Lapplaendern_, Riga und Mietau, 1769, p. 28). This book was first printed in French at Koenigsberg in 1762. The author was Klingstedt, a Swede in the Russian service, who long lived at Archangel. ] [Footnote 161: The statement is incredible, and probably originated in some mistake. To form such a heap of walruses at least 50,000 animals would have been required, and it is certain that fifteen men could not have killed so many. If we assume that in the statement of the length and breadth, feet ought to stand in place of fathoms, we get the still excessive number of 1,500 to 3,000 killed animals. Probably instead of 90 we should have 9, in which case the heap would correspond to about 500 walruses and seals killed. The walrus tusks collected weighed 40 pood, which again indicates the capture of 150 to 200 animals. ] [Footnote 162: _Witsen_, p. 915. Klingstedt states that fifty soldiers with their wives and children were removed in 1648 to Pustosersk, and that the vojvode there had so large an income that in three or four years he could accumulate 12,000 to 15,000 roubles (_Historische Nachrichten von den Samojeden_, &c., p. 53). ]