The Nome nugget., 1921-07-30
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permit trading with the populace. licence of 16o1 rubles was exacted for this privilege and no citizen Was per mitted to purchase more commodities himself. Tha trading was Il somewhat
 unequal in That the resources of the half starved people were few and their wants many. Relief being on'
 of the objects of the expedition. Capt. Gudmundson frequently took fufs at smuch less than their market value in the United States and also extended to the government representatives a credit of q 200 on their promise to reiraburse the schooner through tn. central government at Moscow. IT, out their stay tn" crews of the 'wo traders were shown all possible hoso'- tality by both officials and public. Af- ter concluding generous eNchar'e oi commodities on both sides, Cap: Gud- mundson Jeff on Angus, 2S intending to return to Nome but found the e; IT
 miles further passage through the ice foes became impossible. The weather also turned bad. with heavy squalls making passage though the grinding ice doubly hazardous. It was also freezing hard the fros' adding further difficulties. The ship finally became blockaded and winter in the ice pack seemed imminent. Polac' Bears ire
 quently visited the vessel while she lay in the puck but made no 4tteaUp. to molest anyone. Realizing the d.f- ficuIties and dangers of a winter in .he ice, Capt. Gudmnndson consulted with his crew regarding their prefer ence for winterng at sea. living on seal and polar bear meat. or returning to kolyma. The crew unan mously choSe the latter alternative an the vessel was again headed westward
 shorty aftes returning to the kolyr'a the Polar Bear was placed in writer quarters in Il slough and was s,pr frozen in. The Belinda had alredy been hauled mp on the river bank some 70 miles below and the crew O. the two marooned vessels prepared to make the best of the situation until spring However, a new development arose which shattered further pros poets of peaceful winter. This came in the shape of an order from the Omsk sovernmen. to seize all goods authorities of Nizhni-K olyma were apparently i'll disposed to repay their benefactors in this way but were left no alternative bu. to obey orders. Af- ter vainly attempting to secure relic: through the officials of Nizhni and Sredni-ko olyma. another tow,. situated some two hundred odd miles I.rther up 'he Eolyma rive, Cap. Gudr,und- Son determined to proceed to Yakutsk. t'e s"Herhmen; seat and capital of the state of Iukutsk, 200 miles in the interior. \ journey of such length presented no terrors to Grd- mundson. who has mushed many thousand miles over Alaska ..ails dur ing his long residence in this section and is thoroughly familiar with life on the winter trail. Securing a dog team, Gudmundson left the Polar Bear dur ing the middle of October las. nead- ing up the kolyma, accompanied
 interpreter Olson. Proceeding Sredne-k olyma. some two hundred miles above Kolyma, the two travellers headed straight across country. cross ing :hrea lofty mountain ranges and passing through numerous small set dement's. a majority of which were peopled principally by natives Among the various native tribes encountered were the' Chuskieo. which include a majority of the Siberian coast na- tives, the Totmutes, fairly numerous people who inhabit the more inland sections of Yukutsk and the Fungus. The last named tribe inhab,. the rein deer country and own vast herds of deer. All of the various tribes are mo- ticably different from the Eskimo of North America. and in the case of the Totmutes and Fungus the customs, oc- equations and methods betoken q much higher class of civilization thai is found among the Alaska coast na- lives. Gudmundson and his compan- ion were received everywhere with the greatest courtesy, Russians and na- lives alike affording them every fa- cility and displaying great interest in the strangers from far land.
 After leaving the KoIma, :he route