Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. Through the Lena Delta
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
his place, and they were therefore short of food. We were,
however, invited to his hut, where all the women and
children of the place assembled, whom we treated to tea,
dried black bread, and tobacco.
During the night we had a long talk with the chief about
his people and their manner of life. Formerly the inhabitants
of the delta had numbered about 1000 souls, but about
ten years ago nearly half that number had perished from
the terrible small-pox, so that the whole population at
present is not much more than 500. These are divided into
groups, each under an “elder,” somewhat after the fashion
of the Russian peasant communities. They lead a nomadic
life, moving from place to place according to the conditions
of fishing, hunting, and trapping. In the spring, that is
to say in the latter part of June, with the arrival of the
geese and other sea-birds, the natives go out to the islands
of the delta in their small canoes to gather eggs, and later
on in the spring to catch the wild-geese by means of nets,
enormous quantities being thus taken.
The greater part of the eggs and flesh of the geese
are spoilt, but the down is always carefully kept to be
sold to the merchants. During the whole summer they
catch fish in the channels and in the lakes on the islands.
The summer heat and the mosquitoes in the taiga of the
south drive thousands upon thousands of wild reindeer to
the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and especially to the delta
with its innumerable islands. In the fall these beautiful
animals, now fattened, return southwards, swimming in
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
