Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI. The Upper Lena
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“pauski.” A pausk, being a special product of this part
of the world, needs perhaps a moment’s description. It
is a floating shop, a drinking saloon, and a cargo-boat at
one and the same time, and its appearance and construction
are peculiar. The bottom is flat, and constructed of heavy
timbers; the sides are perpendicular and made of clumsy
planks, sawn by hand. The deck—or roof, as it might be
more accurately called—is slightly rounded. The stern is
as square as the end of a house, and the bows form an
obtuse angle. Viewed from above, the craft strongly
resembles a box-iron. The cargo is placed in the
middle, the shop and the saloon occupy the forecastle,
while aft are to be found the kitchen and the
sleeping-places. These craft stop at the villages and towns selling
their goods, or are towed up the rivers Vitim and
Olekma to the gold-fields. Having reached their destination,
they are sold as building-material or fuel, and the
merchants return southwards in the fall by steamer. Besides
the pauski there are other kinds of boats—a sort of barge,
and the kayuks, which are provided with mast and sails, and
resemble primitive and old-fashioned fishing-smacks. In not
one of these vessels, from the smallest to the largest, is
there a single nail or bolt. All are fastened by wooden
pegs only, and all the planks and knees are sawn by hand.
On the 1st of June we started on our way down the
gigantic Lena on the small steamer Synok. In sailing
down the river you get the impression that you are passing
through a mountainous country. On each side a continuous
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