Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVIII. From the Anabar to the Katanga
<< 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)
whirlwind. The temperature had fallen to about 40° below
zero, the sky was clear, and the flames of the magnificent
northern lights spread their wavering glow over the desolate
waste of snow. Stretching myself at full length on the sledge,
I watched the flaming draperies and coronas in the sky,
while the impressive silence was broken only by the
crackling sound from the hoofs of the reindeer on the frozen
snow, the light slither of the sledge-runners, and now and
then the boom, as of a heavy cannonade, of the rending
of the frozen earth under the strain of the intense cold.
These were solemn occasions on the tundra, during which
we were absorbed,—as indeed the least impressionable
of individuals must have been—in beholding the splendor
of the display, whose brilliancy was reflected in the sea of
glittering silver over which we sped. As we gazed we
hardly knew whether we were still on this earth of darkness
and impurity, or whether perchance we had been translated
to some more glorious sphere of light and purity, where
the great Tangara is enthroned in eternal glory. From
this lofty dream, however, I was suddenly aroused by an
only too emphatic reminder of the earthliness both of myself
and our journey, when my equipage — driver, sledge, reindeer
and all—pitched headlong into a ravine, out of which I was
only too happy to escape with my limbs unbroken, albeit
with an ample share of bruises.
Near the mouth of the river Popigai we met with the
Dolgan chief, Michail Antonoff, and his people, camping
on the eastern shore of Katanga Bay. He had never heard
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
