* * * * *


THE IVORY MINE:

A TALE OF THE FROZEN SEA.


IV.--THE FROZEN SEA.

Ivan soon found himself received into the best society of the place.
All were glad to welcome the adventurous trader from Yakoutsk; and
when he intimated that his boxes of treasure, his brandy and tea, and
rum and tobacco, were to be laid out in the hire of dogs and sledges,
he found ample applicants, though, from the very first, all refused
to accompany his party as guardians of the dogs. Sakalar, however,
who had expected this, was nothing daunted, but, bidding Ivan amuse
himself as best he could, undertook all the preparations. But Ivan
found as much pleasure in teaching what little he knew to Kolina as
in frequenting the fashionable circles of Kolimsk. Still, he could not
reject the numerous polite invitations to evening parties and dances
which poured upon him. I have said evening parties, for though there
was no day, yet still the division of the hours was regularly kept,
and parties began at five P.M., to end at ten. There was singing and
dancing, and gossip and tea, of which each individual would consume
ten or twelve large cups; in fact, despite the primitive state of the
inhabitants, and the vicinity to the Polar Sea, these assemblies very
much resembled in style those of Paris and London. The costumes, the
saloons, and the hours, were different, while the manners were less