Ice-Bound on Kolguev. A chapter in the exploration of Arctic Europe, to which is added a record of the natural history of the island ... With numerous illustrations by J. T. Nettleship, C. Whymper, and the author, and three maps

Front matter

BY THE SAME AUTHOR Crown &vo, price 6s. PICTURES IN PROSE OF NATURE, WILD SPORT, AND HUMBLE LIFE BY AUBYN TREVOR-BATTYE, B.A. F.L.S., F.Z.S., ETC. MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION %* This is a collection of sketches descriptive oj sport at home and in zvild countries, original contributions to the study of animals and plants, and observations upon native life abroad and rural life in England. LONDON AND NEW YORK LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV A CHAPTER IN THE EXPLORATION OF .ARCTIC EUROPE TO WHICH IS ADDED A RECORD OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ISLAND BY AUBYN TREVOR-BATTYE F.L.S., F.Z.S., ETC. MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. T. NETTLESHIP, CHARLES WHYMPER AND THE AUTHOR AND THREE MAPS (Wtetminettt ARCHIBx1LD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE 14 PARLIAMENT STREET, S.W. SECOND EDITION Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION LORD LILFORD, F.Z.S. THIS RECORD IS INSCRIBED AS AN EARNEST OF LOYAL REGARD Of gentle, strange, unlettered men, Of Holy Hills, of frosty fen And ice and island foam ; Of flowers and of antlered herds And all the nesting of the birds He brings the story home.

Not his the crystal to divine With those clear eyes the charmed page Where Nature, in the inner shrine, Enrols her children's heritage. Yet, when your roses welcome June, This tale of far-off errantry May serve to cheat a languid noon With breezes of the Northern Sea.

Preface

Many like to read of travels in new or curious places who are little interested in scientific results. So it has seemed wise to relegate these to a separate part. For the rest, this is a journal, for the greater part put historically, where the various sides of the life of our island fall into the place where we knew them as part of any day. To Colonel H. W. Feilden — Arctic Naturalist and unfailing friend to every beginner in the same field — belongs my first thought of going to Kolguev. I feel that I can never be grateful enough to him for lessons out of his great experience and wide research, so generously and untiringly given. I want also sincerely to thank many other kind friends and distinguished men for that ungrudged advice and help which is so real an encouragement. Especially my thanks are due to Clements R. Markham, C.B., F.R.S., Professor Alfred Newton, F.R.S., Mr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., Dr. Albert Giinther, F.R.S., Dr. Edward B. Tylor, F.R.S., Mr. William Carruthers, F.R.S., Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, Mr. Lamont, Mr. Raymond Tucker, Mr. Howard Saunders, Mr. Henry Seebohm, Mr. Harvie-Brown, and Mr. Edmund Meade-Waldo.

X The companionship of my friend Mr. Mervyn Powys made the voyage to Kolguev a pleasant one for me. To him is due very much of the success of the venture, for upon his hands fell the preliminary work connected with the sailing. I was as sorry for his sake that Kolguev proved so disappointinga sporting ground as I was delighted to find he had met with some success during his adventurous visit to the wilds of Novaya Zemblya. Credit is also due to him for his subsequent attempts to reach the island. It was not surprising that he failed. The ice borne down with the tide, the con stant fog, the treacherous sand-banks, the shallow sea, were odds too great. They would have been serious difficulties even had he possessed — as he could not possess — an intimate knowledge of the dangerous entry to our harbour ; a harbour which, because of the bar at its mouth, could never have admitted the Saxon.

Later on two ladies, Mrs. Leybourne Popham and Mrs. Ponsonby, started from Vardo in the steam yacht Blencathra to our relief, but were driven back by storms. They could never have landed, but I thank them much. I am glad, none the less, that the gallant intention and kind thought were never realised ; for 'Rescue by Ladies' in the morning papers would, I think, have been harder to survive than even a winter upon Kolguev. And one more word.

PREFACE.

XI When it seemed that we were in difficulties, Her Majesty's Foreign Office and the Russian authorities used every effort possible in our behalf. The Royal Geogra phical Society opened a subscription list, and more friends than I knew I had responded with wonderful kindness. The Committee of the SavaQe Club were active in making our position known in the proper quarters. The Press, too, most generously gave much room to our case. And in this connection I should like to thank my brother, who, from pleasant country pursuits, was called back to London and plunged into a merciless correspondence on my behalf. Fortunately the event proved these measures unnecessary. But I put these efforts on record not only because I am grateful, but because it is right that I should do so. There is much happiness in the fact that the idea of an Englishman abroad in danger is itself a claim sufficient upon the practical sympathies of all Englishmen at home.

Mr. Henry Arthur Cooke, British Vice-Consul, who has proved himself often before a kind friend to any who visits the remote town in which he lives, not only undertook a voyage in the hope of relieving us, but showed us constant kindness during the whole of our stay in Archangel. I cannot thank him sufficiently. One of the great charms of travelling in Russia is the kindness of the Russian officials. From the highest authority down to the police-master of the railway station, every official with whom I have been brought into relationship has done far more in my interests than I had any right to expect. Particularly I would offer my sincere thanks to his Excellency the Russian Am bassador to London, his Excellency the Governor of the Province of Archangel, to both of whom I owed the papers which carried me through; the Ispravnik of Ust Tsilma, who went even to the length of advancing me a considerable sum of money without further assurance than my word that he would get it back.

(Which of us, I wonder, would do this for an unknown foreigner?) If I have said anything that may seem a little hard of my honest and faithful companion on Kolguev, Thomas Hyland, I beg he will take it in good part. It is not said in an unkind spirit. To take a quiet and inex perienced country man away from his simple occupations to the wild life of an Arctic island is necessarily an ex periment of doubtful event. But I trust the experience is not found an unpleasant one now that he comes to look back on it from the quiet of his home. Searching through old records is always arduous work ; and in this connection I cannot but acknowledge the kindness of Mr. J. Scott Keltie, Assistant Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society, and the courteous assistance of every official related to that body.

PREFACE.

XIII I am indebted to Mr. Arthur Montefiore, the Secretary of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition, for one important reference. Travellers owe much to those who, like Mr. Montefiore, generously give them the benefit of their greater opportunities for literary research. It would be ungracious for me to close this preface without some reference to the illustrations in this book. Mr. J. T. Nettleship's beautiful work needs no words from me. Nor does that of Mr. Charles Whymper, unless indeed on this ground, namely, that he has been obliged to limit his artistic power to the simple expression of facts as they were. Also I am under obligations to Mr. Edward Thornton for several careful pen-and-ink drawings from my pencilled or coloured sketches. About the pictures which have been transferred straight from my sketch-book I need only say that they are correct in detail, as they were done on the spot.

For this reason I am sure my critics will forgive an amateur for work that is amateurish. Often on Kolguev the means of living were found for us by one whom it is difficult to thank ; for I refer to old Sailor, the spaniel, one of the most faithful and accomplished dogs who ever followed the gun. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction . . . . . . . . . xix KOLGUEV AND THE NAVIGATORS ...... xxiii Part I. . . . . . . . . , Shows how we sailed for Kolguev — Tells of the conditions of the ice of Barents Sea in 1894 — How we at length defeated the ice and reached Kolguev — Of our various landings on that island — Of what it looked like and what we found there, and of how at last, being short of coal and the ice threatening to overwhelm us, the Saxon was obliged to hurry away, leaving myself and Thomas Hyland on the lonely isle.

Part II. ......... 67 Shows our life in our first solitary camp — How we followed vain hopes — Of foolish wanderings — A seal hunts for ducks — How we walked right across the island — Our interests by the way — Of snow gullies — Of icy rivers — Of the birds and animals — The geology and natural features — And of how, finally, we fell in with the Samoyeds. Part III. ......... 133 Shows how we re-crossed the island with sleighs and many reindeer — Of the wonders these animals performed — Of the manner of life of the Samoyeds — The choom, the sleeping, etc. — How we met On Tipa, the rich man — Of the wolf-like dogs, of knives and boats — Of the crossing of a river, with other matters domestic and not so— And finally, of how we travelled to ScharoU harbour to wait for the Saxon, which yet could not come for the ice.

Part IV .187 Which treats of our solitary life at Scharok harbour — With how we explored the district — How we sounded the harbour — Of ' the waiter ' and his ways, and of new faces — A baby is described somewhat particularly, and a Samoyed Saga is given— The reader will learn with other matters how we met the father of the island— How we took the wild geese — And finally, how through want of bread we were compelled to return to life with the Samoyeds. ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV XVI PAGE Part V. ......... 271 Peaceably and with little event our life with the natives goes on — Reindeer are killed and wild swans are shot — We have a visitor from the mainland of Arctic Russia. Part VI. ......... 317 Tells of the Holy Hills and of household gods— Of Samoyed labour and of traders' ways — Of the lamp of St. Nicholas and the bringer of storms — We leave Kolguev, and after much painful effort reach the mainland, and finally home.

Part VII. ......... 377 An Abstract from the Saxon's log — Remarks on the Samoyeds of Kolguev — Note on the Samoyed language — Note on the geology — Note en the flora of Kolguev — List of flowers — Note on the birds recorded — List of birds — Note on the mammals — Remarks on the climatic conditions. Index .......... FULL-PAGE PLATES bringing UP THE herd ...... Frontispiece the s.v. 'saxon' ....... face page 4 IN YARDO HARBOUR ...... ,, 18 ICE OFF THE KANIN COAST . . . . ,,28 THE SWAN'S NEST . . . . . . ,,43 THE RIVAL WILLOW-GROUSE ..... 1, 83 A HUNTER OF DUCKS ...... ,,85 USTYNIA ........ ,,130 THE PROPHET'S TEAM AT REST ..... ,, 142 IN LINE ........ ,,165 REINDEER COWS AND CALVES TRAVELLING ... „ 167 THE WOMEN HARNESSING UP .... . ,, 184 A HALT . . . . . ,,212 DRIVING THE GEESE ...... ,, 226 THROWING THE DI-ZHA ...... ,, 237 THE WOMEN CACHING THE BRENT GEESE ... ,, 238 A REINDEER HELD WITH THE DI-ZHA . . . . ,, 275 A CORNER OF THE GOOSE CAMP ON THE PESANKA PLATEAU ,, 284 A SAMOYED version OF 'the profligate' . . between pp. 288 and 289 swan shooting ....... face page 291 native drawing, samoyed driving and handwriting . „ 294 „ hunting scenes, .... ,, 298 • 300 mekolka's captive — 'tchuornia,' the red fox of kolguev ,, 305 our quarters at scharok . . . . . ., 347 The Maps are at the end of the Volume. b I NTRODUCTION As Kolguev Island lies but fifty miles off the coast of Arctic Europe it may fairly be regarded as European.

A glance at the map will show that it is the only island in that part of the Arctic Ocean known as Barents Sea. It seemed time that something more certain should be known about it than could be gathered from chance references in the old books, x^lso, lying thus between east and west, it held out to a naturalist promise of interesting things. In the autumn of 1893 I crossed in a trading vessel from this country to the White Sea, with the object of finding out something about Kolguev. I failed. I asked the Governor of the Archangel Province. He was kindness itself, but confessed himself uninformed on the subject. 'But,' he added, 'when my gun-boat goes next year to Novaya Zemblya they might possibly be able to set you down.' It was a kind offer, but the gun-boat would be going altogether too late for my purpose.

I asked of the traders and fishermen, I asked of the monks on Solovetsk — but with no result. They knew nothing of Kolguev ; only they were agreed XX that it was a nasty place. So I came back again to shoot the pheasants, no wiser than before. I knew that it would be useless to go from Archangel, because the White Sea would be blocked till too late for the first summer days. It therefore seemed best to engage a Vardo walrus-sloop to take me over. That was my plan. In the meantime, however, my friend Mr. Mervyn Powys, glad of the opportunity of sport in those regions, determined to join me. This in every way improved the chances of the enterprise. For he chartered the steam-yacht Saxon, of Birkenhead. She was manned with a crew of Scotch whaling-men belongingto Peterhead, and from that port we sailed on June 3rd. xAlso we took Thomas Hyland, a young man, who, though he had but lately opened a small business in this country, was glad to come and skin the birds.

In all, we were twelve on board. The Saxon is 90 feet 6 inches in length, over all. Her depth is 12 feet 2 inches, with a beam of 18 feet. She is built of wood sheathed with copper. Her draught of water is 12 feet. Her net registered tonnage is 48-58, and by yacht measurement .she is 117 tons. She is schooner-rigged. 00 I do not think that Kolguev is yet exhausted. I think that a naturalist who, fortunate enough to find

Introduction

XXI the conditions of ice more favourable than they were in 1894, would pitch his tent by Lake Promoince, and stay there, might do good work. Whether it is useful or not to have determined geographical points on Kolguev, it is certain that our acquaintance with the Samoyeds is a gain. Any one who in the future may be landed or wrecked on Kolguev will know that there are natives there, and that they remain there all the year. And he will know exactly where to look for them. He will not make my mistake of expecting to find them near the river mouth, but will move up at once to the head waters of the streams. Here on the Gobista, the Pugrinoy, or the Pesanka for example, he will certainly fall in with the chooms. If he should meet Uano he will be fortunate ; if On Tipa, more fortunate still. These are the best men on the island, but all are kind and any one of them would be a friend.

I am often asked about the pronunciation of the word Kolguev. I believe that strictly it is a word of three syllables, but in pronunciation it comes to be a dis syllable, and might be phonetically written ' Kol-gwev. I am aware that a strict transliteration from the Russian would make it ' Kolgueff,' but the ' v ' better conveys the sound of the final syllable, and has also the sanction of use. The Russian name of the curious people who call themselves 'Nyanitz' has been much discussed. That the word is simply Samo-yedi, i.e. self-eaters, is the common view in Russia. The peasants and small traders of Arctic Russia — men who have lived for generations among the Samoyeds, and are well beyond the reach of books and theories — gave me this explana tion as one which admitted of no question. They said that the Russians had ' always ' called the Samoyeds by that name 'because they used to be cannibals.' And the Samoyeds, when we asked them, always agreed.

The words of On Tipa the Samoyed, when we talked it over in Alexander's hut, were ' Da, da-Pravdah. Tepair nieto, nieto-Davno, davno ! ' i.e. 'Yes, truly. But not now, no, no, long, long ago ! ' At the same time it would seem not impossible that the idea may have originated from their habit of eating raw flesh. The Russians of the Petchora familiarly address these people as 'Samodine.' This I take to be a diminutive. When speaking of them in the common colloquial way they say ' Sam-yad,' because, as Alexander explained, it is said 'more quickly.' My own imperfect knowledge of the subject does not entitle me to an opinion ; so with this I leave the word to the ethnologist. KOLGUEV -AND THE NAVIGATORS With us the name of Kolguev had hitherto been familiar only to students of old Arctic literature, where indeed it fills a very small place.

Nor is this strange. A harbourless island with a dangerous coast, it was wisely avoided by any who had a more distant mission on those seas. 1 553. Willoughby s Land(?) — Sir Hugh Willoughby this year sailed from the Thames to try and find a passage by the North to the treasures of the East (though afterwards he died on the Murman Coast) with three ships, Bona Esperanza, Edward Bonaventure, and Bona Confi dentia. The Edward Bonavetiture was commanded by Chancelor, and Stephen Burrough was among the crew. This ship became separated from her consorts, the other two, after being compelled to return west ward, sailing about and trying to make Vardohuus. And then we read, on August 14th, ' Early in the morning descried land, which land we bare with all, hoising out our boat to discover what land it might be, but the boat could not come to land, the water was so shoale, where was very much ice also, but there was no similitude of habitation, and the land lyeth from Seynam East and by North 160 leagues, being in latitude 72 degrees.'1 Where was this ' Willoughby's Land ' ?

Later writers have thought it was Novaya Zemblya, and geographers have put it there. Nordenskiold believed it to be Kolguev, and this better agrees with the data given, in spite of the difference of 2°. 1556. — And in this year Stephen Burrough, the future chief pilot of England, sighted Kolguev as he went eastward on that eventful voyage during which he discovered and passed the Kara gates. The account is entitled, ' The navigxition and discoverie toward the 1 Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 236. river of Ob, made by Master Steven Burrough, master of the Pinnesse called the Serchthrift, with divers things worth the noticing passed in the yere 1556.' In this we read on August 25th, 'At a west north-west sunne we sounded and had 29 fadoms blticke sandie oze, and then we were north-east, five leagues from the north-east part of the island Colgoieue.' 1 1580. — Pet and Jackman sailed this year under commission from the Russian Company to go ' eastwards to the countries and dominions of the mightie prince, the Emperor of Cathay, and in the same unto the cities of Cambalu and Quinsay, or to either of them.' Neither of them of course they reached, but on their return from Waigats they managed to get their ships aground, on -August 20th, on the sand-banks to the south of Kolguev.

The account runs : ' At twelve of the clocke we were upon the suddaine in shoale water among great sands, and could find no way out. By sounding and seeking about we came aground, and so did the William; but we had no hurt, for the wind was off the shore and the same night it was calme. All night we did our best but we could not have her aflote. These shoals doe lie off Colgoyeue ; it is very flat a great way off, and it doth not high aboue 2 or 3 foote water. It floweth north-east and south-west.' 2 1594. — The famous Dutch explorer, William Barents, on his first voyage ' say led til the 14th of August, five or six miles south-west, sailing close by the land, which (as they gesse) was the island of Colgoyeu.' 3 161 1. — Richard Finch, in a letter to Sir Thomas Smith, Governor of the ' Worshipfull Companie of English Merchants trading into Russia,' wrote as follows : — ' The seventh of August, William and I with our shallop went on shoare.

This Colgoieue is a very long and broad Hand with many vallies in it. On the same are many geese, which the Russes use to take with nets in the time of the yere, before they be ouer fledge. In this Hand seemeth to be store of Hawkes. Here William 1 Purchas his Pilgrimes, 1589-99 to 1601. - Hugh Smith in Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 508, ed. 1810. 3 G. de Veer in Hakluyt. Hakluyt Society's edition, 1S50, vol. xiii. p. 35. KOLGUEV AND THE NAVIGATORS XXV Gourdon and our cooper caught two hawkes, whereof one was spoyled in the taking, the other remayneth aliue.'1 And William Gourdon himself writes in the same year that ' the third (August) at noone we had sight of Colgoieue Hand and took the latitude, being on the north side of the island, which was 69 degrees 20 minutes : and at night I went on shoare to see the Land, which was high clay ground : and I came where there was an airie of slight falcons, but they did flie all away save one, which I tooke up, and brought aboard.

This He of Colgoieue is but thirtie leagues from the Barre of Pechora.' 2 It seems that such Russian coast-maps or charts of Kolguev as existed at the beginning of this century were drawn by the small traders, seamen of the opposite coast. No attempt to fix positions seems to have been made until the years 1823, 1824, nearly three hundred years after Willoughby's death. 1823-24. — In those years Admiral Lutke, during his third and fourth voyages to Novaya Zemblya, crossed to the coast of Kolguev and determined the latitude and longitude of the north-western, and the longitude of the western points, and took views of some points of the north-west coast.3 1826. — A Russian expedition was equipped in this year for the survey of the ocean east of the White Sea as far as the mouth of the Petchora, and including Kolguev.

This expedition, under the ' under pilot' Berejnyeh, sailed right round the island in four days, and so executed its commission.4 1841. — This year is memorable in the history of Kolguev as being the first during which any landing or attempt at scientific examination was made. Professor Saweljew, accompanied by Dr. Ruprecht (Con servator of the Botanical Museum of the Imperial Academy of Science), paid two visits to the island in the months of July and August of this year. In a most interesting paper,5 in which Saweljew gives the results 1 Purchas his Pi/grimes, vol. iii. book 3, chap. ix. - Ibid., chap. viii. rl Cf. ~L\ilke's Journey lo Novaya Zemblya, Erman's Translation, vol. ii. p. 325. 4 Memoires (Sapiski) of the Hydrographical Dept., v. p. 18. '"' Archiv fur Wissenschaftliche Kunde von Russland, 1852, A. Erman, x. 313 316. of their voyage, he says : ' We first landed on its southern point at the mouth of the river Waskina, whence Ruprecht made an excursion into the interior with reindeer.

After spending ten days here we deter mined to travel right round the island, and began sailing along the west coast, landing at the small stream Gusina (N. lat. 69° 26') and at the Konkina ; however, when we had reached the northern end of the island we were compelled by an unfavourable wind to turn and steer for Swyatoi Nos, on the shore of Timan. In August we again visited Kolgujew, and, since we wished to sail round the east coast, we repaired to Stanavoi Scharok, where we stayed six days, which Ruprecht again utilised for an excursion into the interior. It must, however, be mentioned that our stay on Kolguev was made under the most un favourable conditions. Of the sixteen days which we passed at the mouth of the Waskina and in Stanavoi Scharok, the weather on ten was such that it was impossible to think of investigations and excursions on the island.

The violent storms did not allow us once to leave the cabin.' Thus Professor Saweljew. The work they did in the six days at their disposal, excellent as it was, could obviously not be exhaustive, and as I spent not six days, but three months, on the island, I was able to add a great deal to it. In our own day Kolguev has been sighted by the various Arctic voyagers going east and north-east, but I can find no record of any other visit but one. 1858. — In this year a priest, who does not give his name, but who, I believe, was chief priest of Archangel, sailed to Kolguev in a fisher man's boat — probably from Mezen, and has left a curious Russian paper about it,1 which, in the translation, is very quaint. ' I intended to go to Kolguev,' he said, ' to preach Jesus Christ and to baptize. Before starting there I sang Te Deums during three days. . . .

The chief thing to be dreaded is the crossing of 150 versts of the open sea. ' ... I do not desire to speak about all I had to endure during this voyage. One cannot gain much lying on one's back ; if you use knowledge and prudence in dealing with the sea you shall never be 1 Maximow's Morskoi Sbornik. KOLGUEV AND THE NAVIGATORS XXVII a loser. We coastmen know well how to sail : every child understands how to manage an oar, and every woman — beings inferior to men in every respect — would know how to direct a rudder.' And, further on in the same account : — 'It is true that 130 years ago Barmine, a merchant in Archangel, a Raskolnik,1 settled in Kolguev at his own expense forty men and forty women who desired to found a hermitage, and all but four died during the first year of their settlement ; but they were all old people, and belonged to a very strict sect which allowed during some months to take food only once a week.' This version differs from Saweljew's. In view of my own experience at the goose-catching, this good priest's account is well worth quoting.

He does not himself appear to have witnessed it, but quotes an informant from Mezen. ' It takes us two or three days to arrive to Kolguev ■ and there birds are come a great multitude and variety — and what a noise they make ! The goose gaggles, the eider-duck lets hear its voice, and the drake does not remain behind, and the seagull. ' We begin to shoot it, and during May and June shoot a great deal of it. The dead bird lies in heaps and sometimes begins to stink — but we do not mind it. In the beginning of July the barren geese begins to lose their feather. On the 8th of July a laziness overcomes them. The lazy goose cannot fly, — he has few feathers upon him, and all his down is gone as if some one has plucked him. Such goose sits like an insulted one ; he is silent and sad as if hiding himself and ashamed of his nakedness.

Now as soon as these geese occupy the small lake, leaving the big one to go there for food, we put our guns aside and took to snares. We spread the snares on every passage from the small lake into the large one for birds to enter in. At the gate we arrange out of the swamp the entrance ; sloping towards the lake and very steep in the centre that the goose might not go back after having once gotten into the snare. Having finished this arrangement (which scarcely takes us an hour), we let dogs loose and we ourselves begin to make a noise and to bark in unison with the dogs, showing thus to the geese that they must move from the small lake into the large one. 1 The Raskolniks or ' Old Believers ' seceded from the Greek Church in the days of St. Philip of Solovetsk. They now live chiefly in the villages of the Petchora. ' Now we must be very careful to prevent the leading goose to direct his steps towards the mountain instead of our snares.