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)
large herds over the channels at certain fixed places, known
to the natives from time immemorial.
At these places the natives lie in wait for the animals,
and when the herd is swimming over, the hunters in their
vetkas make a sudden attack upon them, killing the deer
sometimes by scores at a time with their iron-pointed wooden
spears. Every year at least 1000 reindeer are thus killed
in the Lena delta. Then there is the white polar fox,
which the natives catch in traps. Late in the fall, i.e. in
September, when the reindeer-hunts are ended, the Tunguses
go in their vetkas to the islands and the shores of the
Arctic Ocean, putting up their fox-traps for the winter.
Later still, when the channels and the sea have frozen,
they move to their large winter-villages, such as
Bykoff-Myss, in the eastern part of the delta, Turak at its western
border, and Balkalak near the mouth of the Olenek. All
these villages are situated at places where there is winter
fishing, with which the natives occupy themselves during
this season, using ice-nets. As means of transport the
people of this region use dogs instead of reindeer.
Sometimes the winter fishing fails, and then their dogs are
decimated by famine, which means great losses, and the natives
themselves also suffer famine from the same cause. This
year there was a famine of this nature in the Lena delta
caused, it was said, by the absence of strong northerly
winds, which seem to drive the fish up to the mouths of
the large rivers.
During the night snow fell on the frozen ground, and
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
