here were to be found spotted deerskins from Siberia, ivory from the
Diomedes, walrus skins from the shores of the Arctic, strange stone
lamps, passing in trade from tribe to tribe, no one knew whence, and,
once, a hunting-knife of English make; and here, Subienkow knew, was the
school in which to learn geography. For he met Eskimos from Norton
Sound, from King Island and St. Lawrence Island, from Cape Prince of
Wales, and Point Barrow. Such places had other names, and their
distances were measured in days.

It was a vast region these trading savages came from, and a vaster region
from which, by repeated trade, their stone lamps and that steel knife had
come. Subienkow bullied, and cajoled, and bribed. Every far-journeyer
or strange tribesman was brought before him. Perils unaccountable and
unthinkable were mentioned, as well as wild beasts, hostile tribes,
impenetrable forests, and mighty mountain ranges; but always from beyond
came the rumour and the tale of white-skinned men, blue of eye and fair
of hair, who fought like devils and who sought always for furs. They
were to the east--far, far to the east. No one had seen them. It was
the word that had been passed along.

It was a hard school. One could not learn geography very well through
the medium of strange dialects, from dark minds that mingled fact and
fable and that measured distances by "sleeps" that varied according to
the difficulty of the going. But at last came the whisper that gave
Subienkow courage. In the east lay a great river where were these blue-
eyed men. The river was called the Yukon. South of Michaelovski Redoubt
emptied another great river which the Russians knew as the Kwikpak. These
two rivers were one, ran the whisper.

Subienkow returned to Michaelovski. For a year he urged an expedition up