Dogs begin to howl at the approach of a poorga, long before men can see any indication of it.  They display a tendency to burrow in the snow if the wind is cold and violent.  Poorgas do not occur at regular intervals, but are most prevalent in February and March.

A few years ago a party of Koriaks crossing the great tundra north of Kamchatka encountered a severe storm.  It was of unusual violence, and soon compelled a halt.  Dogs and men burrowed into the snow to wait the end of the gale.  Unfortunately they halted in a wide hollow that, unperceived by the party, filled with a deep drift.  The snow contains so much air that it is not difficult to breathe in it at a considerable depth, and the accumulation of a few feet is not alarming.  Hour after hour passed, and the place grew darker, till two men of the party thought it well to look outside.  Digging to the surface, the depth proved much greater than expected.

Quite exhausted with their labor, they gained the open air, and found the storm had not ceased.  Alarmed for their companions they tried to reach them, but the hole where they ascended was completely filled.  The snow drifted rapidly, and they were obliged to change their position often to keep near the surface.  When the poorga ended they estimated it had left fifty feet of snow in that spot.

Again endeavoring to rescue their companions, and in their weak condition finding it impossible, they sought the nearest camp.  In the following summer the remains of men and dogs were found where the melting snow left them.  They had huddled close together, and probably perished from suffocation.

[Illustration:  TAIL PIECE, REINDEER]

CHAPTER VIII.

We remained four days at Ghijiga and then sailed for Ohotsk.  For two days we steamed to get well out of the bay, and then stopped the engines aird depended upon canvas.  A boy who once offered a dog for sale was asked the breed of the pup.

“He was a pointer,” replied the youth; “but father cut off his ears and tail last week and made a bull-dog of him.”

Lowering the chimney and hoisting the screw, the Yariag became a sailing ship, though her steaming propensities remained, just as the artificial bull-dog undoubtedly retained the pointer instinct.  The ship had an advantage over the animal in her ability to resume her old character at pleasure.

On the fourth day, during a calm, we were surrounded by sea-gulls like those near San Francisco.  We made deep sea soundings and obtained specimens of the bottom from depths of two or three hundred fathoms.  Near the entrance of Ghijiga Bay we brought up coral from eighty fathoms of water, and refuted the theory that coral grows only in the tropics and at a depth of less than two hundred feet.  The specimens were both white and red, resembling the moss-like sprigs often seen in museums.  The temperature of the water was 47 deg.  Fahrenheit.  Captain Lund told me coral had been found in the Ohotsk sea in latitude 55 deg. in a bed of considerable extent.