Note 3 — Chapter XIX · A VISIT TO A GOLD-MINE.

A party of this kind will go where, perhaps, the foot of man has never trodden. Fortunate is the tayoshnik if he have by his side a faithful native who can direct; otherwise he throws himself into a labyrinth of small valleys and hills, intersected in all directions by rushing mountain streams. He has no path to guide him save the course of the rivers, often no compass save the sun, and in this manner he travels—mounted, perhaps, on a small Siberian pony, or, in the far north, on the back of a reindeer. In situations where it is impossible for him to make use of small sledges drawn by reindeer on the frozen rivers, he has to run on snow-shoes, everywhere encountering hardship and dangers, with certain death in store for him should he lose his way.